The Hunger
by Marsha Forchuk SkrypuchBoardwalk Books
1999
$12.99 paperback
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Fifteen-year-old Paula's perfectionism drives every facet of her life, from her marks in Grade 10 to the pursuit of a "perfect body." A history project brings her face to face with her grandmother's early life and, as she delves deeper, she is disturbed to find eerie parallels between her own struggles and what she learns of the past.
As Paula slowly destroys the very body she's trying to perfect, her spirit is torn between settling for her imperfect life or entering the shadowy mystery of her grandmother's Armenian past. The shimmering Euphrates River beckons her, but, as she soon discovers, there are many things worse than imperfection.
Nobody's Child, a sequel to The Hunger, is now available.
"By merging Paula's struggle with an eating disorder and
Marta's struggle to survive the Turkish atrocities, Skrypuch
creates a narrative that highlights the physical and emotional
effects of Paula's self-inflicted 'hunger' and Marta's enforced
starvation."
"Recommended", "***/4"
Darleen Golke, CM Magazine
