Home :: Books :: Horror  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror

Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
The Hunger

The Hunger

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chilling, heart-wrenching, haunting.
Review: A beautiful love story, yet, at the same time, a chilling tale of the supernatural. The contrasts within the main character, Miriam, are astonishing. From the cool, calculated slaying to quench her thirst, to her fiery passion and undying love for her partner/s. I felt the fear of the prey, the resentment of the past loves and the agonising pain of Miriam in her loneliness. A must read.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: boaring
Review: Cruel story writting, no heart or love in this book.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hunger Strike
Review: First things first, I don't think Miriam and her fellows are vampires as we know. Surely they are a kind of bloodsuckers, but they don't match the steriotypical concept of vampires, such as Count Dracula, Nosferatu, Lestat and his peers.

"The Hunger" is the story of Miriam a creature who has been living for thousands of years and creating lovers from time to time. Mostly of the action happens in the late XX century while she gets in touch with a scientist called Sarah Roberts, who is working on sleeping disturbs and aging experiments As the novel goes on Miriam and Sarah get more and more involved -- phisically, mentally and even sexually. The results of this union can be nothing but tragic.

I have read many vampire novels and seen a lot of movies. And all of them seem to have their own peculiarities. In this book, as it was aforementioned, the creatures here aren't really vampires. The don't have fangs, so they must used a knif or something alike in order to reach their victims' blood, but Miriam, who is a natural born bloodsucker, has got a special tongue that allows her to cut and then suck the blood. Plus, they don't need to hide from the Sun and only fire can kill them.

In my opinion, the novel is very entertaining, but it misses some details. For instance, it kept me wondering where these creatures come from. Miriam is born in this way, and she has been sucking blood ever since. But, if the person stop aging in the moment he/she is transformed, how could she grow up? Moreover, she is said to be 30 so did she grow up until adult age and stoped aging? There are some points that really aren't very clear to me. I also wanted to know much more about her life in ancient times, like in Rome, Greece, Egypt. Another point that isn't very clear to me is when Tom is at Miriam's trying to save Sarah, what really happens? What did John do? It is no more mentioned later, so I could not be sure of what had gone on.

Whitley Strieber is very able to mix styles, which is a pro for the book. He can floats between fantasy and sci-fi in a turn of page, although it gets a bit annoying after a time, when the narrative becomes much more sci-fi than fantasy. While reading this novel I tried to think of it in a higher level. Maybe it was metaphor somehow, but I couldn't come up with something yet.

All in all, perhaps I am too addicted to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles to appreciate other kind of bloodsuckers. Some instalments of her work are much better than this one. I also missed some gothic details and dark events in this novel. But anyway, it is a very interesting reading for whose who enjoy the subject. The film version is very good. I can't think of any better actress to play Miriam than Catherine Deneuve -- she is a perfect iceberg blond.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dont think that u know this story cause you've seen the film
Review: Great book, very worthwhile reading...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: one of the 10 best vampire novels of all time
Review: I finally read "The Hunger" recently and am annoyed with myself that I didn't read it sooner. An excellent look at vampire mythology through a scientific lens, "The Hunger" is one of the best novels in the genre. Even if you have seen the movie (which was reasonably faithful), check out this masterwork of vampiric passion. If you like vampires, you won't be disappointed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent
Review: I found this on an "Impulse" rack at the grocery store. I am so glad that I did. It is an excellent book. I can't wait to read The Last Vampire (just ordered it). This is a different sort of vampire story. Even though Miriam is a vampire there is some sort of a sentimental quality she has regarding the ones she loves. You almost feel sorry for her.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent
Review: I found this on an "Impulse" rack at the grocery store. I am so glad that I did. It is an excellent book. I can't wait to read The Last Vampire (just ordered it). This is a different sort of vampire story. Even though Miriam is a vampire there is some sort of a sentimental quality she has regarding the ones she loves. You almost feel sorry for her.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Have to read between the lines!!
Review: I just finished reading this book that I stumbled upon in the library. It was a refreshing take on vampire story. The motive behind the creation of vampire is the age-old quest for eternal youth and immortality. After reading other readers' reviews, I would ask the readers to see beyong the vampire facade and to taste the sadness of those who were lured into the falsehood of immortality. Miriam's promise of love only hides "its" selfish intent to trap companions and the deceit "it" hides from them. In this book, vampires can parish, so must do their captives. But Miriam, out of "its" "noble" promise to "love" its "lovers", kept them "alive" after their ability to stay ageless had ceased. Miriam could have just released them into eternal darkness by giving them a good burn in the furnace. Sarah, the one Miriam couldn't conquer, chose rather to be "locked" up than to surrender. For those who think the vampire's "gift" of immortality is attractive, as evident in couple of the reviews, think further and deeper of the kind of price to be paid. God is given us seasons of change with good reason. It would be terribly lonely(like Miriam) and terribly tiresome(like the characters in "Interview With Vampire") to outlive every generation. To conclude, as long as you can see beyond the surface, this book is enjoyable.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of a few vampire books that really scared me
Review: I read this book in college and recently re-visited it after seeing the movie. I don't know about you, but I found it scary. Forget all the lesbianism and explicit sex; that's not what I'm talking about.

Miriam is not a weepy, broody, remorseful vampire. She is an inhuman killer, to whom humans are like animals. This is done subtly in the book, from the way she treats her human lovers and dominates them, to the matter-of-fact way she stalks people (ordinary people, like me!) and kills them, knowing that no one will ever be able to stop her. She has sociopathic traits that make her chilling. The book makes you feel for her loneliness, as the last of her kind, but then reminds you what it means to be loved by her, that you could end up spending eternity rotting conscious in a box.

And the ending of the book, unlike the similarly scary _Wolfen_ by the same author, does nothing to comfort you.

If you've only seen the movie, you're missing out. This book is sad, exciting, and scary if you let yourself think about it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Sorry, But Not This Time
Review: Okay no offense, Strieber can write. His creative genious is envious. But this book really sunk. The sequel to this book was really much better.

This one left me confused and wanting backstory like crazy. I was only able to understand what happened in THIS one because I read the sequel FIRST. Although, if you want to spend time inside the mad, self-righteous mind of the vampire Miriam Blaylock (I highly recommend it!) you'll be fascinated and horrified all at once. She's the kind of villain you'll love to hate, and she makes Lestat look like a sweet angel by comparison.

-LV


<< 1 2 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates