Details Regarding Books Sacred Hunger (Sacred Hunger #1)
| Title | : | Sacred Hunger (Sacred Hunger #1) |
| Author | : | Barry Unsworth |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 630 pages |
| Published | : | November 17th 1993 by W.W. Norton Company (first published 1992) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction |
Barry Unsworth
Paperback | Pages: 630 pages Rating: 4.11 | 6082 Users | 518 Reviews
Commentary Supposing Books Sacred Hunger (Sacred Hunger #1)
Sacred Hunger is a stunning and engrossing exploration of power, domination, and greed. Filled with the "sacred hunger" to expand its empire and its profits, England entered full into the slave trade and spread the trade throughout its colonies. In this Booker Prize-winning work, Barry Unsworth follows the failing fortunes of William Kemp, a merchant pinning his last chance to a slave ship; his son who needs a fortune because he is in love with an upper-class woman; and his nephew who sails on the ship as its doctor because he has lost all he has loved. The voyage meets its demise when disease spreads among the slaves and the captain's drastic response provokes a mutiny. Joining together, the sailors and the slaves set up a secret, utopian society in the wilderness of Florida, only to await the vengeance of the single-minded, young Kemp.Mention Books In Pursuance Of Sacred Hunger (Sacred Hunger #1)
| Original Title: | Sacred Hunger |
| ISBN: | 0393311147 (ISBN13: 9780393311143) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Sacred Hunger #1 |
| Characters: | William Kemp, Erasmus Kemp |
| Setting: | United Kingdom |
| Literary Awards: | Booker Prize (1992) |
Rating Regarding Books Sacred Hunger (Sacred Hunger #1)
Ratings: 4.11 From 6082 Users | 518 ReviewsJudge Regarding Books Sacred Hunger (Sacred Hunger #1)
I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this more than I did. The writing was uniformly excellent and the story made great insights into human relationships and power. I think it may have been timing, and it may have just been me. But as much as I could appreciate the quality of the novel I had a hard time getting back to it after putting it down. In fact, I read about 200 pages today in a sprint because I wanted to finish it before I completely lost interest.This book is about England and her role in the slave trade. It is also about how men and women thought in the mid-1700s, how they viewed justice and freedom and success, and those of the opposite sex. In its accurate depiction of these times, it is an excellent work of historical fiction. Here follows a quote from chapter 40, so you can judge how you may react. It is a diary entry written by Paris, the surgeon on the Liverpool Merchant slave ship: April 26: I continue, in spite of these terrible
This was one of the best books I have ever read. Beautiful, rich, full of adventure and sadness. Set in the mid 1700's it tracks the final business venture (a slave ship) of a well to do Liverpudlian merchant. The melancholy tone of the book works extremely well with the cruel methodical life aboard a slave ship. This is set against the merchants family back in Liverpool. Although written in third person, Sacred Hunger is told mainly from the viewpoint of the ships surgeon who happens to be the
This is a very good novel about the slave trade, but what takes it beyond simply a retelling of the brutality of capturing and buying slaves is the on-board rebellion that occurs during the Middle Passage and the makeshift society that the seamen and slaves fashion afterward.
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I just finished this book this morning after spending the last week or two completely engrossed in it. I was moved and disturbed on so many levels that I don't think I'm even ready to talk about yet. Maybe I need to let it "marinate" for a few days before I try to write a review. Like so many others I picked this book up after hearing a review of it on NPR. That was two years ago! And it has sat on my bookshelf all this time. I'm a believer that things come into our lives sometimes only when
A page turner is a good description. Good versus evil and of course evil wins. Paris a disgraced doctor due to a pamphlet he wrote questioning Christianitys 6000 year time line. He is given a job on the Liverpool Merchant a newly built slave ship by his Uncle. Paris cousin Erasmus the son of Kemp has a chip on his shoulder from when they were children and Paris lifted him up from an incoming tide while he was building a dam. Bizarre. Erasmus also is going through a courtship with the lovely
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