What do you think?
Rate this book
The Hunger
Ireland in the 1840s, where the beleaguered population fell victim to massive famine following the spread of an uncontrollable potato blight. Against this harsh background of turmoil, starvation and disease, an English landowner and an Irish peasant struggle to keep alive not only themselves and those around them, but the love they feel for one another in a society and era that violently condemn it. By the author of The Milkman`s On His Way.
- GenresLGBTGay FictionFiction
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1986
1 person is currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
David Rees
40 books24 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
David Rees was born in London in 1936, but lived most of his adult life in Devon, where for many years he taught English Literature at Exeter University and at California State University, San Jose. In 1984, he took early retirement in order to write full-time. Author of forty-two books, he is best known for his children's novel The Exeter Blitz, which in 1978 was awarded the Carnegie Medal (UK), and The Milkman's On His Way, which, having survived much absurd controversy in Parliament, is now regarded as something of a gay classic. He also won The Other Award (UK) for his historical novel The Green Bough of Liberty. David Rees died in 1993.
David Rees was born in London in 1936, but lived most of his adult life in Devon, where for many years he taught English Literature at Exeter University and at California State University, San Jose. In 1984, he took early retirement in order to write full-time. Author of forty-two books, he is best known for his children's novel The Exeter Blitz, which in 1978 was awarded the Carnegie Medal (UK), and The Milkman's On His Way, which, having survived much absurd controversy in Parliament, is now regarded as something of a gay classic. He also won The Other Award (UK) for his historical novel The Green Bough of Liberty. David Rees died in 1993.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 1, 2020
Rating: I really don't know. Five, three, none of them capture the relived reality of the book. Say four.
Okay, so it's like this. I re-read this book because of Kick-Ass Katie's January Reading Through Time thread on The Irish Potato Famine. I was thoroughly delighted by it in 1986. I found it at Liberty Books in Austin, the first exclusively gay/lesbian bookstore we'd ever had. It was a joy to have something every bit as good as A Different Light, the New York store that seemed like Mecca to my book-loving queer self; there wasn't A Section, like there was at the University Co-Op on the Drag, it was the point of the place! BOOKS BY QUEER PEOPLE!! ABOUT US!! All over the place there were covers with *men*touching*men*!! It was heady stuff. I spent $400 (in 1986!) in the first month it existed. This book was one of the first I bought. I'd heard of the Famine, had a vague sense that the English did it on purpose, and that Irish folks in the USA were still pissed about it. That struck me as weird, and it still does to be honest, but it made me think there was some kind of good story here. That, and the cover had a lovely tableau of a dark-haired man tenderly cradling what was clearly his heart's treasure, a blond guy with closed eyes. Sold!
Wealthy Englishman Anthony Altarnun and Irish smith's son Michael Tangney are lovers in pre-Famine Ireland. The neighbours (to misspell it in the manner of the London-published book) are, well, suspicious...the men behave queerly (in the old sense) in their intimacy, as they are pretending to be master and servant. But Altarnun is a fine, upstanding man, honest, forthright, and genuinely good to his tenants.
Then the Famine hits.
Altarnun beggars himself to feed his people. The politics of the Famine means that, because of the duration of the engineered crisis, he ends up destitute and on a Famine Ship to America with Michael. He contracts typhus, is nursed by his not-quite-faithful Michael, and dies before they reach America. And that's where a framing device, the family left behind family members' heirs receiving a mysterious bequest, comes into play. Michael's life in America is apparently successful. Of course his left-behinds wouldn't keep in touch with him, since he was a Sodomite and a catamite and a vile shirt-lifter. So this descendant, unnamed and without any evident personality, has set their eyes on recovering and retelling the story.
It was an astounding blow to my generally poor acceptance of how we were written out of history by our dearly beloathèd families, by the set-up of a society that wouldn't let us form legal families...Michael is telling an Irish fellow emigrant about Anthony:
And there it was. That year, 1986, was mid-AIDS crisis. My older boyfriend from my teens, Paul, had died not long before. But there was nothing for me to hang my grief on, "geez what's wrong with you, he was just a friend!", and you know what? That moment on, I was absolutely convinced that marriage equality was not going to make a damn bit of difference because human beings are vile and irredeemable. This idea was borne out once and for all on 9 November 2016 and subsequent events.
The end of the book:
The blight that is prejudice afflicts populations as well as people. Survivors of one, both, more than enough forms of this uniquely human evil don't have nearly enough of y'all's...our...attention for their stories. As the President of Ireland said to the English government's flunkies on a 1995 visit:
Fat goddamned chance.
Okay, so it's like this. I re-read this book because of Kick-Ass Katie's January Reading Through Time thread on The Irish Potato Famine. I was thoroughly delighted by it in 1986. I found it at Liberty Books in Austin, the first exclusively gay/lesbian bookstore we'd ever had. It was a joy to have something every bit as good as A Different Light, the New York store that seemed like Mecca to my book-loving queer self; there wasn't A Section, like there was at the University Co-Op on the Drag, it was the point of the place! BOOKS BY QUEER PEOPLE!! ABOUT US!! All over the place there were covers with *men*touching*men*!! It was heady stuff. I spent $400 (in 1986!) in the first month it existed. This book was one of the first I bought. I'd heard of the Famine, had a vague sense that the English did it on purpose, and that Irish folks in the USA were still pissed about it. That struck me as weird, and it still does to be honest, but it made me think there was some kind of good story here. That, and the cover had a lovely tableau of a dark-haired man tenderly cradling what was clearly his heart's treasure, a blond guy with closed eyes. Sold!
Wealthy Englishman Anthony Altarnun and Irish smith's son Michael Tangney are lovers in pre-Famine Ireland. The neighbours (to misspell it in the manner of the London-published book) are, well, suspicious...the men behave queerly (in the old sense) in their intimacy, as they are pretending to be master and servant. But Altarnun is a fine, upstanding man, honest, forthright, and genuinely good to his tenants.
Then the Famine hits.
Altarnun beggars himself to feed his people. The politics of the Famine means that, because of the duration of the engineered crisis, he ends up destitute and on a Famine Ship to America with Michael. He contracts typhus, is nursed by his not-quite-faithful Michael, and dies before they reach America. And that's where a framing device, the family left behind family members' heirs receiving a mysterious bequest, comes into play. Michael's life in America is apparently successful. Of course his left-behinds wouldn't keep in touch with him, since he was a Sodomite and a catamite and a vile shirt-lifter. So this descendant, unnamed and without any evident personality, has set their eyes on recovering and retelling the story.
It was an astounding blow to my generally poor acceptance of how we were written out of history by our dearly beloathèd families, by the set-up of a society that wouldn't let us form legal families...Michael is telling an Irish fellow emigrant about Anthony:
"My...he...died of typhus. On the ship."
"He?"
"There isn't a name like husband, because the world doesn't admit such things exist. But I was as married to him as any mand and his wife are to each other."
And there it was. That year, 1986, was mid-AIDS crisis. My older boyfriend from my teens, Paul, had died not long before. But there was nothing for me to hang my grief on, "geez what's wrong with you, he was just a friend!", and you know what? That moment on, I was absolutely convinced that marriage equality was not going to make a damn bit of difference because human beings are vile and irredeemable. This idea was borne out once and for all on 9 November 2016 and subsequent events.
The end of the book:
So nothing of Michael Tangney's exists now.
Except for a silver spoon, which {a lawyer} sent to {the writer's great-aunt}; it has engraved on it the initials M.T. and this motto: Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings. It is on my desk in front of me, as I write this.
The blight that is prejudice afflicts populations as well as people. Survivors of one, both, more than enough forms of this uniquely human evil don't have nearly enough of y'all's...our...attention for their stories. As the President of Ireland said to the English government's flunkies on a 1995 visit:
Even now, it is not too late to say sorry. That would mean so much.
Fat goddamned chance.
September 16, 2018
Viscerally rich in historical detail, this book is much more about the impact of the Famine on Ireland than it is about the romance between Michael and Anthony (the rather awkward cover might suggest otherwise). At times it felt like reading nonfiction. The men face a number of trials due to prejudice, which one would expect in 19th century Ireland. Between that and the devastation around them, it's not a happy read, but I enjoyed it.
June 18, 2015
An unusual book set in an unusual time in the history of Ireland - during the Great Famine between 1845 and 1847. The novel itself would have been interesting in its own right but this particular book concentrates on the relationship between two men, one the brother of an absentee landlord and one of his tenant's sons, Michael. The world in microcosm is to be found living on or around the estate. When the famine hits in earnest the characters of the self righteous are tested in their adversity - and generally found wanting. The clergy of course come off in a bad way.
The relationship is well developed and Michael is shown as having a wandering eye despite his love for Anthony. He is trying to come to terms with his situation as he has no precedents, unlike his public school, army officer landlord who has enough for both of them. It is the ignorance of the people on the land and the professional classes that allows the two men to continue their relationship. No one could have assumed that it was even possible that two men could ever love one another so their situation was looked at from a superficial stance only.
The story is told through the eyes of the younger Michael and I felt that Anthony was neglected to the extent that we don't always get the sense that there is any emotional life at all. He is concerned with the management of the estate in a time of great stress and turmoil in Ireland. I won't reveal the ending but it is a book well worth reading. It is not necessary to know anything about the Famine as he explains what needs explaining as he goes along.
The desperate unfolding of the famine and the consequent diseases are well written and there are the recurring scenes of the famished Irish desperate for any nourishment. Remarkably, despite the human devastation about them, the villagers still have time to indulge in hatred and prejudice with the connivance and active denunciation of the Catholic priest who otherwise is a decent man.
They have to leave Ireland and hope for a better life elsewhere so they head for America. This part is short and is about two chapters but it is probably the most intense.
I read this about once a year as it is an easy and short read. Rees is not in the league of Chris Hunt for historical writing but he didn't specialise in that genre so maybe it is an unfair comparison.
It's out of print of course following the death of the author but his own estate could try having it reprinted or put into electronic format as the trauma of the Great Famine in Ireland between 1845-1847 still has echoes to this day.
Anthony and Michael had no intention of leaving but were in effect driven out of Ireland by the prejudices of people who had been shown great forbearance. It's a sad read but an interesting take on love in a harsh climate.
The relationship is well developed and Michael is shown as having a wandering eye despite his love for Anthony. He is trying to come to terms with his situation as he has no precedents, unlike his public school, army officer landlord who has enough for both of them. It is the ignorance of the people on the land and the professional classes that allows the two men to continue their relationship. No one could have assumed that it was even possible that two men could ever love one another so their situation was looked at from a superficial stance only.
The story is told through the eyes of the younger Michael and I felt that Anthony was neglected to the extent that we don't always get the sense that there is any emotional life at all. He is concerned with the management of the estate in a time of great stress and turmoil in Ireland. I won't reveal the ending but it is a book well worth reading. It is not necessary to know anything about the Famine as he explains what needs explaining as he goes along.
The desperate unfolding of the famine and the consequent diseases are well written and there are the recurring scenes of the famished Irish desperate for any nourishment. Remarkably, despite the human devastation about them, the villagers still have time to indulge in hatred and prejudice with the connivance and active denunciation of the Catholic priest who otherwise is a decent man.
They have to leave Ireland and hope for a better life elsewhere so they head for America. This part is short and is about two chapters but it is probably the most intense.
I read this about once a year as it is an easy and short read. Rees is not in the league of Chris Hunt for historical writing but he didn't specialise in that genre so maybe it is an unfair comparison.
It's out of print of course following the death of the author but his own estate could try having it reprinted or put into electronic format as the trauma of the Great Famine in Ireland between 1845-1847 still has echoes to this day.
Anthony and Michael had no intention of leaving but were in effect driven out of Ireland by the prejudices of people who had been shown great forbearance. It's a sad read but an interesting take on love in a harsh climate.
November 8, 2012
I got this book expecting to read a novel about the Irish famine, but the Brokeback Mountain bit was entirely unexpected.
I didn't give this book just three stars because of that (I'm the last person to care), but because Rees lags far behind Rutherford and Michener in his ability to mesh the historical fact with the creativity of the novel's story. At times it seemed to be too much like a teacher lecturing a high school class. Contrast it with the famine chapter in Rutherford's second volume of his Dublin saga.
I didn't give this book just three stars because of that (I'm the last person to care), but because Rees lags far behind Rutherford and Michener in his ability to mesh the historical fact with the creativity of the novel's story. At times it seemed to be too much like a teacher lecturing a high school class. Contrast it with the famine chapter in Rutherford's second volume of his Dublin saga.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews