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A review by janaroos
The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller
4.0
Book club read, posting the review here as well.
I didn't like the title (a bit too on the nose I'd say) but that can be blamed either on the publisher or the translator, since the German title is different. So I'll graciously let that go.
A bit difficult to break this one down into categories but I'll do it that way anyway.
1) Characters: excellent. The minor characters are subtle and fully formed even though we often only see a few instances of them, and I think this is achieved through the 'singular We' mechanic. I definitely bought the fact that all the characters were equally broken down by camp life until they could barely be differentiated anymore, and that made them relatable even though the book was written from a first person perspective (which I often think is limiting).
I'm also always impressed when an author writes a main character of their opposite gender very well, but now I'm wondering whether this was actually that. Not that Leo was badly written, not at all, but considering the author's close collaboration with the poet who inspired the story, perhaps this was not that much of a stretch.
2) Language and writing: I think that the translation becomes an obstacle in some places because of the emphasis on connections between German and Russian homophones and the emotional baggage that certain words have for the narrator. Can't help feeling that I missed meaning in the whole 'hase-vey' thing. German compound words are (awesome and) difficult to translate, so when I saw 'onedroptoomuchhappiness' I can't help but feel a little meh because I'm sure German has a word for that but in English we have to make do with removing the spaces.
In general I appreciated the author's writing style. I often don't like when authors don't differentiate dialogue (like Jose Saramago's The Cave, what a chore) but here I think it serves a purpose. Same with the lack of question marks for questions--I think it was effective in depicting the mental haze of a camp dweller.
The same goes for the actual prose, but only up to a point. There were some places where I felt the style crossed into indulgence. I marked the (overly long) passage about the boredom of different things, and the literal list of adjectives in the 'On camp happiness' section. Unnecessary, in my opinion.
3) Themes: Honestly the whole 'hunger angel' thing did get a little tired for me, and at some points I felt the metaphor was stretched beyond recognition. I do however allow for it, because I think that that kind of hunger does take over one's entire life and thought.
I'm unsure what to make of that fact that the narrator was gay. I get that it makes him more of an outsider and influences his relationships with and perceptions of others, but that seemed to be kind of it. I suppose I'm so used to sexual orientation being a plot point or a major 'thing' in a story or for a character that I kept waiting for something more to be made of it, when it's not really necessary for that to happen. So that was actually good.
I liked that Muller added a substantial part at the end after Leo's return from the camp (this is not a spoiler, he says at the start he comes back). That was really interesting and actually made the book for me--the near-impossibility of readjusting to a normal life, and the difficulty of everyone else in dealing with his unexpected and kind of inconvenient return.
All in all a very interesting read, though not an easy one, and perhaps not one I see myself revisiting in future (this matters because I am a compulsive re-reader).
I didn't like the title (a bit too on the nose I'd say) but that can be blamed either on the publisher or the translator, since the German title is different. So I'll graciously let that go.
A bit difficult to break this one down into categories but I'll do it that way anyway.
1) Characters: excellent. The minor characters are subtle and fully formed even though we often only see a few instances of them, and I think this is achieved through the 'singular We' mechanic. I definitely bought the fact that all the characters were equally broken down by camp life until they could barely be differentiated anymore, and that made them relatable even though the book was written from a first person perspective (which I often think is limiting).
I'm also always impressed when an author writes a main character of their opposite gender very well, but now I'm wondering whether this was actually that. Not that Leo was badly written, not at all, but considering the author's close collaboration with the poet who inspired the story, perhaps this was not that much of a stretch.
2) Language and writing: I think that the translation becomes an obstacle in some places because of the emphasis on connections between German and Russian homophones and the emotional baggage that certain words have for the narrator. Can't help feeling that I missed meaning in the whole 'hase-vey' thing. German compound words are (awesome and) difficult to translate, so when I saw 'onedroptoomuchhappiness' I can't help but feel a little meh because I'm sure German has a word for that but in English we have to make do with removing the spaces.
In general I appreciated the author's writing style. I often don't like when authors don't differentiate dialogue (like Jose Saramago's The Cave, what a chore) but here I think it serves a purpose. Same with the lack of question marks for questions--I think it was effective in depicting the mental haze of a camp dweller.
The same goes for the actual prose, but only up to a point. There were some places where I felt the style crossed into indulgence. I marked the (overly long) passage about the boredom of different things, and the literal list of adjectives in the 'On camp happiness' section. Unnecessary, in my opinion.
3) Themes: Honestly the whole 'hunger angel' thing did get a little tired for me, and at some points I felt the metaphor was stretched beyond recognition. I do however allow for it, because I think that that kind of hunger does take over one's entire life and thought.
I'm unsure what to make of that fact that the narrator was gay. I get that it makes him more of an outsider and influences his relationships with and perceptions of others, but that seemed to be kind of it. I suppose I'm so used to sexual orientation being a plot point or a major 'thing' in a story or for a character that I kept waiting for something more to be made of it, when it's not really necessary for that to happen. So that was actually good.
I liked that Muller added a substantial part at the end after Leo's return from the camp (this is not a spoiler, he says at the start he comes back). That was really interesting and actually made the book for me--the near-impossibility of readjusting to a normal life, and the difficulty of everyone else in dealing with his unexpected and kind of inconvenient return.
All in all a very interesting read, though not an easy one, and perhaps not one I see myself revisiting in future (this matters because I am a compulsive re-reader).