Declare Books As 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) |
Barry Unsworth
Paperback | Pages: 630 pages Rating: 4.11 | 6082 Users | 518 Reviews
Details Of Books Sacred Hunger (Sacred Hunger #1)
Title | : | Sacred Hunger (Sacred Hunger #1) |
Author | : | Barry Unsworth |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 630 pages |
Published | : | November 17th 1993 by W.W. Norton Company (first published 1992) |
Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction |
Interpretation 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.Rating Of Books Sacred Hunger (Sacred Hunger #1)
Ratings: 4.11 From 6082 Users | 518 ReviewsCriticize Of 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.From the book jacket: A stunning and engrossing exploration of power, domination, and greed. Filled with the sacred hunger to expand its empire and its profits, England entered fully into the slave trade and spread the trade throughout its colonies. This book, which won the Man Booker Award in 1992, 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
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
Here's another 5 star novel I never reviewed. Barry Unsworth was an English guy, son of a miner (something he has in common with DH Lawrence, and more importantly, with me). He knocked out all kinds of interesting novels and this is a real pearl, all about slavery, so of course it's a historical horror story. In the middle of the story there's a ship that finds itself randomly beached on the coast of pre-Miami Florida and the slaves and sailors then get busy and create for themselves a nearly
Another bloated Booker prize winner. Shared the prize with the infinitely more sophisticated and innovative The English Patient. Another baffling decision on the part of the judges. The English Patient is a torchbearer of how nimble and ironically self-regarding historical fiction will become in the 21st century - I'm thinking of Hilary Mantel and David Mitchell. This on the other hand, is old school historical fiction. No irony, no mischief, no architectural sleights of hand. Unsworth goes for
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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
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