Swain, H. A. Hungry, 372 p. Feiwel, 2014. $17. Language PG-13 (50+ swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG (implied baby factory treatment of girls); Violence: G.
In Thalia’s world eating is illegal. Hunger has been eradicated by a liquid formula that provides all necessary nutrients and the physical need to eat has been eliminated. The nutrient supply is controlled by the corporation who created it, effectively giving them control of the world, and Thalia’s family are VIP’s in the company. However, Thalia has never been able to immerse herself in the same vapid amusements as her friends and lately she has been feeling a weird sensation - no matter how carefully she drinks her nutrients, her body craves something else - hunger, the need to eat. When Thalia meets a boy who calls himself Basil, she learns that there is a whole movement of people who either hate the corporation because it has so much control, or they too feel the need to eat that can’t be assuaged by the nutrients. Are they an aberration than can be “cured”? Are they the heralds of the world-wide failure of the nutrients?
If you can buy the concept of a world where there seem to be absolutely no plants (at least within the immediate area), then it will be easier to buy into the premise of the story. The beginning of the story is interesting enough, but not completely realized at the end. Instead it rushes through the final action, making leaps of logic that left me feeling unsatisfied. It will be a possible addition in a larger collection where Hunger Games like books are still in high demand.
MS, HS - ADVISABLE. Cindy, Library Teacher
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