The Hunger Man by Scott D Pomfret

by Scott D. Pomfret

At the outset of the Great Irish Potato Famine of 1845-50, a family of Irish revolutionaries attacks a British food convoy and kidnaps a young English officer named Julian Hawke. This first act of overt rebellion unleashes a series of events that both inextricably ties the O’Rahilly clan to Hawke and to the gay seanachie (storyteller) Ciaran Leath, but also seals their fates.The only daughter, Muireann O’Rahilly, an aspiring physician, fails to resist the strong mutual attraction between her and Hawke. Hawke tries to balance his love for Muireann and his growing love for Ireland with his duty to suppress the budding rebellion. Ciaran Leath, who falls in love with both Julian Hawke as well as an angelic young tinker man, foresees both the coming famine and the disintegration of his adopted O’Rahilly clan, but finds himself unheard and powerless to protect them—or himself. Encountering spirits of the dead and other bad portents, Ciaran Leath invokes his old benefactor, the ancient Faerie Fin Bheara, but in doing so learns something devastating about himself and of what he is capable. When the O’Rahilly clan sets its sights on assassinating Queen Victoria, whom Hawke is sworn to protect, during her 1848 state visit to Cork, the stakes loom large for all involved, and the story turns inexorably toward a tragic end.Against the backdrop of the terrible beauty and exquisite misery of southwestern Ireland during the famine years, this part-comic, part-romantic struggle against starvation, oppression, and one’s own worst impulses plots an epic arc from London and Dublin to Cork and New York City. Magic, Faeries, haunts, spirits, legends, ancient kings, monsters, and lovers richly populate this clash between the British Crown and the Irish people, and there can only be one survivor.This is a work of literary/genre fiction.

Genres: Historical, Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Unknown Binding

About the author

Scott Pomfret is author of Since My Last Confession: A Gay Catholic Memoir; Hot Sauce: A Novel; the Q Guide to Wine and Cocktails, and dozens of short stories published in, among other venues, Ecotone, The Short Story (UK), Post Road, New Orleans Review, Fiction International, and Fourteen Hills. Scott writes from the cramped confines of his tiny Provincetown beach shack, which he shares with his partner of twenty-one years. He is currently at work on a comic queer Know-Nothing alternative history novel set in antebellum New Orleans. www.scottpomfret.com.

Reviews

[Kazza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pffff... how the hell do I review this? Maybe just look at my crazy amount of status updates. Also know my reading experience of literary Irish books always = deep sorrow and I can't say The Hunger Man changed my track record or personal notion of this. Lord, it's beautiful writing. Writing of the highest calibre. Passionate and meticulous in nature, one that shows the love of the Irish and their troubled history. Very much a book of several layers - the fae, superstition, folklore, myths, Gaelic, Catholicism, British oppression and a people with an iron will, enough to shake anyone sent in with their ideas of Queen and Country or that God is an Englishman.
From me to Scott D Pomfret: céad míle fáilte because I'll be reading more of you in the near future.

Because I love history, because I love Irish history, and I loved this book - my family are right now planning on their emancipation from me if I mention potato, famine, Irish folklore or fae again - there is a very, very long review on the blog, as in over 4,000 words. Treat it as a spoiler review.


PS: Because I got caught up in the story and I forgot to mention it before, and now I will, that cover is perfection.

[Free_dreamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Scattered Thoughts And Rogue Words Review

If I had only two words to describe “The Hunger Man”, they’d probably be “difficult” and “strange”.

Difficult because of all the Gaelic words. Difficult because of the subject matter. Difficult because of the countless references to Irish mythology. Difficult because this book broke my heart. And difficult, if not impossible, to forget.

And strange mostly because of Ciarana, the seanachie. I’m still not entirely sure what to think of him. Did he really spend years living with the Fae? Or was he just insane and hallucinated it all? Or did he just pretend to be insane?

One thing’s for sure: “The Hunger Man” was incredibly intense. I was captivated. Still am, really, even a week after finishing it. In all honesty, this book left me speechless, so I’m having a very hard time coming up with the right words.

I’m not very familiar with Irish history, and while I’ve heard about the Potato Famine, I didn’t know any details. Having finished “The Hunger Man”, I feel a lot more educated on the topic. The book definitely works without background knowledge, but I think it would have been easier to understand had I been more familiar with the topic.

I really liked all the way the author made Irish mythology such an easy, natural part of the story. Once again, I now feel better educated, without getting an info dump. More than once, I ended up hitting Google to find out more.

There is a lot of Gaelic in this story. Now, I have a thing for languages, so I’m always thrilled to learn new words. There is a glossary at the end, but sometimes the Irish just got a little too much for me. I even considered getting myself a dictionary, but couldn’t find anything for a decent price. Some more translations in the book itself wouldn’t have hurt. But that was a minor annoyance overall.

This story had real depth. Every character was unique, no matter how minor they were. Muireann, Ciaran (the only one in first person) and Julian each get their own POV. Neither of them was easy to like. Ciaran was very strange and felt a little other-worldly. Muireann was incredibly pious and always tried to impress her older brother. And Julian was horribly ignorant and arrogant. Still, they did grow on me. They just felt like real people, each with their own weaknesses.

The tone is very dark and does get pretty violent at times, which was to be expected.

Overall, this book was simply brilliant. I lack the words to do it justice, so I’m going to shut up now.

If you’re interested in historical novels and aren’t necessarily looking for an easy read, then go for it. Just don’t expect a sweet love story with a historical backdrop. This is a literary novel that happens to have an MC who prefers men over women.

First I thought four stars would be an appropriate rating, because I did struggle with all the Gaelic. But that felt incredibly unfair, because I’ve read other books with lots of Japanese, which I didn’t mind because I have a friend to help me with that. Then I gave it 4.5 stars. That looked a little better. But ultimately, I think this book deserves the full 5 stars. It woke an interest for the topic in me and the MCs won’t let me go. And it’s not often that a book makes me feel so conflicted.

The cover by Natasha Snow shows a heap of stones, probably one to mark a grave. The sky looks ominous and stormy. That part looks really good. I’m not too fond of the green mist on the edges. And the publisher’s logo is extremely jarring.

[Joyfully Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Joyfully Jay review.

4.25 stars

One thing I grew to enjoy with particular relish is the character development through the story. Take Julian, for instance. At first blush, he appears like the archetypal Hero! character, yet as I read more and more, I found him to be wholly despicable. He flits from foible to foible—condescending against the Irish, failing to understand love comes before duty, and mansplaining. Muierann is virtually his opposite in every way and 200% badass, but social times being what they were, it’s not like anyone but she would acknowledge the fact. Ciaran is pretty fascinating, too. While the whole rest of the lot are steeped in the dreary existence that is famine era Ireland, he is a touch of the fantastic with his pagan ways and connection to the Faeries—one that I wasn’t 100% convinced of until nearly the very end of the story.

Amidst the relentless theme of hunger that turns to starvation and worse, Pomfret does a commendable job weaving in social issues like political unrest (through Aengus), feminism (through Muireann), religious freedom and the lack there of (through Ciaran and Muireann), and Imperialism (through Julian) into the story. These lend a bit more flavor to the characters themselves, also…a cause to champion while they work through the hunger, starvation, and worse that accompanies the famine. Plus there’s the whole English occupation of Ireland (not really “occupation” but actually, you know, “occupation”).

I will admit, it took me a while to get into the story. First, it was because I notice that Pomfret’s descriptives ran in these great long lists—like there was a rule that things had to be described in groups of three or more.

Read Camille’s review in its entirety here.

[Mel]

*sigh* I'm having no luck with books at the moment.

This book is way longer than I thought and it feels long, too. I struggled and life is too short for meh reading time, which does not imply that the book is meh. It's not. It's just not for me. I'm flighty.

I think it's well researched and told in a unique and interesting way, from three very different point of views. It's just too slow for me.

_____________________________
Genre: historical
Tags: famine, Ireland under English occupation
Rating: dnf, no star rating

[Diverse · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars


Scott Pomfret is a stunning writer. The Hunger Man only proves that point further. The passion escalates with each page. Scott clearly has a lot of education in Irish History and Mythology.
Bravo to that!

I was floored with his knowledge.
This was an odd book at times, I’ll admit that. And I was confused since I know very little about Irish history. I don’t know Gaelic either so Google was my friend. But nonetheless I was thrust into this haunting beauty that was The Hunger Man.

If you love Irish Mythology, great storytelling with twists of mythology and magic; this book will be your nirvana that’s for sure. It’s beyond captivating. Scott is for sure a gem in the genre and well deserving of high praise.

The Hunger Man is a deep, passionate, magical, sorrowful, emotional, and poetic tale. A must read for the ever expanding creative hungry mind.

[Elisa Rolle · Rating 5 out of 5]

2016 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: The Hunger Man by Scott D. Pomfret
Very difficult read for non-native speaker, but worth the trouble; not a romance, historical literature.

[Matthew Angelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read

While taking me a while to read, I found the style and history fascinating and thoughts provoking. I'd recommend this book to anyone.