Hunger by Jackie Kessler

I have had this one for a while and a lot of people have been posting about the sequel so I thought that I better get on it.

“Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world.”

Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home: her constant battle with hunger, and her struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life, and to face the horrifying effects of her phenomenal power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power — and the courage to battle her own inner demons

As an English teacher I love book that touch on sensitive topics for my student in a captivating, but appropriate way. (basically, this way I don't have to over step my bounds, the book does). As an avid, young-adult reader, I love paranormal and supernatural. Hunger is a combination of both. Kessler talks about Lisabeth having an eating disorder. I found the "thin" voice to be very captivating and wondering if that is what it is like for people who suffer from an eating disorder. Kessler also, at the end of her book, explains she wrote this story for a friend who later died from the disorder, which I think is a beautiful gesture.

As for the story Lisabeth portrays the problems of self-perception and how it has been altered, primarily by her mother, who doesn't realize what she is doing to her daughter. People try to help and Lisabeth pulls right away from them, going as far as to wish she was dead. Well here comes Death, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. He offers her a choice, die or become famine.

I really had an opinion that Lisabeth was going to full embrace being famine and not struggle with it the way she did. From about the mid point of the book, you start to see a beautiful inner strength emerge in Lisabeth.

Some quick thoughts:

It's a quick read...you'll get it done in a day.

"Death" in the story, is hott.

It's a great read to promote awareness for anorexia.

I am curious to see what the novel Rage is about.