fishface's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Visceral
cilie's review against another edition
challenging
fast-paced
3.0
Meget udfordrende og forvirrende første halvdel, hvorefter det hele samler sig og narrativet bliver mere 'normalt' i anden halvdel. En fortælling om vold i dens mange former og en persons forsøg på at løsrive sig fra den voldsspiral han synes fanget i.
Tror den ville vokse med en genlæsning og dermed høste flere stjerner herfra.
Tror den ville vokse med en genlæsning og dermed høste flere stjerner herfra.
mariastefpopa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
najspaulina's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
herald's review against another edition
3.0
ambivalent. something initially abrasive but relatively easy to sink into that eventually became a confusing triptych of pretentious abstraction, disjointed timelines and beautiful prose. perhaps meant to represent the schizophrenic stream of consciousness within the main character, but nonetheless somewhat tedious to read. zimbabwe characterized to resemble just about anywhere else in the world, veritably composed of victims and their abusers, either detailing the graphic exploits of marginalized sex workers or the violence of ephebophilic rapists.
it's hard to find a resonating emotional throughline in a story that relays most of its tragedy with a detached observational tone or passively introduces characters late into its narrative, while the main character themselves remains unnamed. i also didn't care for the amount of uninterrogated white obsession - whether it was the fetishistic musings of fictional black men, multiple romances with said women or the erudite namedrops of slavic authors who are likely literary influences.
marechera's strengths lie in recounting arbitrary cruelties with subdued humor and microcosmic acuity that captures the moral depravity of his home country, if not the macabre nature of africa at large. how he navigates the despondency of abject poverty with fleeting visceral language and mystic proverbial vignettes is poetic, disrupted only by disparate moments of abstraction that aren't always compelling enough to reap understanding from.
upon learning this is at least somewhat autobiographical and a novella of intentionally bifurcated stories, i'm inclined to give it more grace in a potential reread - but i doubt i'll ever be able to tap into any regional significance it'd have for black people living in zimbabwe or continental africans. ultimately, house of hunger is the drunken stupor of 'gut rot' and mercurial suffering excised onto the youth, paralleling the antiblack legacy of colonialism we continue to struggle against.
it's hard to find a resonating emotional throughline in a story that relays most of its tragedy with a detached observational tone or passively introduces characters late into its narrative, while the main character themselves remains unnamed. i also didn't care for the amount of uninterrogated white obsession - whether it was the fetishistic musings of fictional black men, multiple romances with said women or the erudite namedrops of slavic authors who are likely literary influences.
marechera's strengths lie in recounting arbitrary cruelties with subdued humor and microcosmic acuity that captures the moral depravity of his home country, if not the macabre nature of africa at large. how he navigates the despondency of abject poverty with fleeting visceral language and mystic proverbial vignettes is poetic, disrupted only by disparate moments of abstraction that aren't always compelling enough to reap understanding from.
upon learning this is at least somewhat autobiographical and a novella of intentionally bifurcated stories, i'm inclined to give it more grace in a potential reread - but i doubt i'll ever be able to tap into any regional significance it'd have for black people living in zimbabwe or continental africans. ultimately, house of hunger is the drunken stupor of 'gut rot' and mercurial suffering excised onto the youth, paralleling the antiblack legacy of colonialism we continue to struggle against.
glittercherry's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
blackandbound's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
noleek's review against another edition
4.0
Zimbabwe does not seem like a wonderful place to live. The struggle of the common citizen to find their place in an almost lawless society where adolescence sex, drug and alcohol abuse, rape, and poverty are everyday regular occurrences. The entire narrative is thought provoking and speaks about racism as well as dysphoria for one's own people and society. I have heard some arguments that this novel is sexist. I have to disagree. I think it sheds light on the disgusting truth of what happened in Rhodesia, that the horrors women endure are unfortunately common place. I think this novel brings those horrors to a much needed larger group of observers. Hopefully one day the abuse will stop.
The House of Hunger is written in an almost Kafkaesque flow of consciousness style narrative where everything is miserable and there is no hope. The narrator is in a constant struggle with his own identity. He is not only aware of his self-loathing but so are others.
The tie in short stories help expand and give clarity to the bleak universe the narrator lives in. A sort of constant limbo between his homeland of Rhodesia and Britain.
Of the shorts I enjoyed Protista the most. It was a surreal look at exile and the madness it causes.
The final Harare trilogy, as I have come to call it, ties the book together with the narrator returning home make for a depressing ending. The last short consisting of a conversation between a Rasta and a cop about what abuse and corruption really mean at their core.
The House of Hunger is written in an almost Kafkaesque flow of consciousness style narrative where everything is miserable and there is no hope. The narrator is in a constant struggle with his own identity. He is not only aware of his self-loathing but so are others.
The tie in short stories help expand and give clarity to the bleak universe the narrator lives in. A sort of constant limbo between his homeland of Rhodesia and Britain.
Of the shorts I enjoyed Protista the most. It was a surreal look at exile and the madness it causes.
The final Harare trilogy, as I have come to call it, ties the book together with the narrator returning home make for a depressing ending. The last short consisting of a conversation between a Rasta and a cop about what abuse and corruption really mean at their core.