Hunger (Paperback)

Blackwell's narrator is an elderly Russian botanist living in America, looking back at his time in the blockaded city, remembering his wife and coworkers - remembering the choices that he and the others made in order to survive. Before and during the war, he traveled the world with his colleagues, collecting specimens of plants and seeds from every continent in order to study them and find ways to better feed people in need. The institute where he works - like every facet of Russian society at the time - is caught up in the political upheaval of a country being painfully reborn. The director of the institute, once widely revered and respected both as a scientist and a human being, falls out of favor with the authorities and is sentenced to die. Those who are left behind must choose to bend and survive or resist and perish - professionally, physically or both. Once the German blockade of the city begins, however, they realize that there are far more pressing choices to make. Do they open the storehouses of the institute and distribute the grain samples to the people, or do they preserve them in the name of science, for future generations? The scientists at the institute agree to preserve the samples, to starve before they touch them - but it's a difficult promise to keep.

All around them in Leningrad, people from all walks of life are facing similar decisions. As the blockade drags on - and it lasted for 900 days - desperation becomes more and more intense. Horses disappear - then family pets, even rats are killed for their meat. People begin to strip the bark from the trees to eat - lichen-covered stones are boiled for soup. Food becomes the currency of the city - and people are willing to do all sorts of things to obtain it.

More than simply a picture of a horrible time, when so many people died and suffered, Elise Blackwell's novel is an incredibly moving portrait of humanity itself, a picture of what it truly means to be human and to be forced to make unthinkable decisions based on the need to survive. The thoughts and memories of the narrator - and the words and actions of those around him - paint moving images in delicate but sure strokes. An incredible amount of not only research, but sheer thought and contemplation went into the conception and creation of this book. It would be a stunning accomplishment by a seasoned writer - as a debut, it shimmers. This is a writer of great talent, soul and promise.

As one person after another that he cares about dies, he ponders his own death. Feeling guilty for past infidelity against his wife, he wonders why he was allowed to live while so many others have perished. But as days turn into weeks, he is confronted daily with the fact that he may lose his life as well.

From the thought-provoking questions to the day-to-day struggle for survival, "Hunger" provides an interesting look into one man's moral conflicts.

It's an easy to read, distinct novel that explores a subject that most readers have never been confronted with. Part history lesson, part examination of a man's fight for life, "Hunger" focuses on the basic need for man to sustain himself through food.

And I was not disappointed in the sociology of science ....changes in Science often take the form of "Revolutions," and though the ultimate acceptance of theories is based on knowledge and demonstrable fact, the road leading to final consensus is also paved with the lesser virtues of social standing in the community, ambition, and even greed, and when Vavilov is lead off that field.... Moreover, the political importance of Lysenkoism to the Soviet system should not be underestimated, and though far less extreme its reflected opposite in the US was social Darwinism, particularly the early use of "survival of the fitness" in justifying laissez faire capitalism, and the legacy of the robber barons. What is most fascinating to me about Hunger, is the way that biology and social and human insight are intertwined. It is simply remarkable, and one would think that Blackwell is both a novelist and trained biologist. In short, Hunger informs us a great deal about the field of Biology as the study of life, a shaper of society, and institutionalized in political power. These are things we should all be keenly aware of as this just-developing age of genomics, genetic modification, biological weapons and inevitably several forms of cloning reshape social consciousness, as for example in the debates on embryonic cloning, and become institutionalized, e.g., in the systematic collection and recording of DNA fingerprints. These things also force us to make unprecedented individual choices, such as a pre-parental choice for genetic screening of birth defects, and then what to do with that information. And, do you want to clone your cat or dog? Would you eat genetically unique seeds?

In the bargain, I had a great read of a story, and agree with the general consensus of other "reviewers," in Hunger being riveting, haunting, and leaving a lasting impression. Hunger is also a metaphor for the modern yet chronic neglect that herbarium's are facing all over the world. Perhaps as some have suggested the book IS too short, leaving readers hungry for more, and eagerly awaiting Blackwell's next book. In the end, Hunger is about individual character and choices, something we could all use reminding of.