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Literary Fiction
Historical Fiction
Short Stories
Essays
Poetry & Novels in Verse
Thrillers
Romance
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Biography/Memoir
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Literary Fiction
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
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Biography/Memoir
History, Current Affairs and Religion
| Critics: |
A haunting coming-of-age tale following the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Ronny Nyugen, as she grapples with the weight of generational trauma while navigating the violent power of teenage girlhood, for fans of Jennifer's Body and Little Fires Everywhere.
It's the summer before high school, and Ronny Nguyen finds herself too young for work, too old for cartoons. Her days are spent in a small backyard, dozing off to trashy magazines on a plastic lawn chair. In stark contrast stands her brother Tommy, the pride and joy of their immigrant parents: a popular honor student destined to be the first in the family to attend college. The thought of Tommy leaving for college fills Ronny with dread, as she contemplates the quiet house she will be left alone in with her parents, Me and Ba.
Their parents rarely speak of their past in Vietnam, except through the lens of food. The family's meals are a tapestry of cultural memory: thick spring rolls with slim and salty nem nuong, and steaming bowls of pho tai with thin, delicate slices of blood-red beef. In the aftermath of the war, Me and Ba taught Ronny and Tommy that meat was a dangerous luxury, a symbol of survival that should never be taken for granted.
But when tragedy strikes, Ronny's world is upended. Her sense of self and her understanding of her family are shattered. A few nights later, at her first high school party, a boy crosses the line, and Ronny is overtaken by a force larger than herself. This newfound power comes with an insatiable hunger for raw meat, a craving that is both a saving grace and a potential destroyer.
What Hunger is a visceral, emotional journey through the bursts and pitfalls of female rage. Ronny's Vietnamese lineage and her mother's emotional memory play a crucial role in this tender ode to generational trauma and mother-daughter bonding.
"Dang keenly captures her narrator's alienation and anger, and the intergenerational tale concludes with a powerful revelation about the parents' unspoken trauma from the Vietnam War. This one hits hard."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Intense, visceral, and not to be missed."
—Booklist (starred review)
"Brutal and poignant; Dang writes beautifully about the complexity of adolescence and generational trauma."
—Kirkus Reviews
"A hypnotic blend between a touching coming of age story and visceral exploration of adolescent rage, What Hunger made me laugh, flinch, and cry. I couldn't put it down." —E.K. Sathue, author of youthjuice
Catherine Dang is the author of the novels Nice Girls and What Hunger. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, she currently resides in Brooklyn.
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