Sacred Hunger

This is my first re-read in my Booker challenge, so I have to admit to already knowing I love this book.  I think this might have been my fourth time through, but having the focus of needing to write a blog post helped me enjoy the writing in a new and deeper way.

This is a novel about the triangle trade in the mid 1700s, and is it about the struggle between greed, profit, humanity, enslavement, liberation and civilization - some pretty heavy themes that I traditionally associate with American literature (though Unsworth is British).  So much about this book is exquisite:  the depth of the characters, the fluxuating narration style, the the vivid metaphor and rich language, and the incredibly moving story.  The juxtaposition of Erasmus and Paris was a perfect tool in playing out the contradictions and moral pitfalls of the various aspects of the slave trade.  And even though there are probably a hundred named characters in the novel, each character, no matter how minor, came across as a complete and real person, with a purpose in the narrative.

One of the aspects of the writing that really struck me this time around was the prevalence of metaphors related to slavery, and the various ways in which people and even objects can be shackled, caged, and enslaved - including and especially the drive for profits, the Sacred Hunger of the title: 

It is always through arbitrary combinations that experience enslaves the memory.  New shackles were being forged here, in the light-filled loft, amid smells of oil canvas and raw hemp and tar, the creeping fringes of the sail-cloth, his feelings for Sarah Wolpert and for his father.

I first read this for part of an interdisciplinary college course called "Slavery and Labor in Film and Literature" - and it was by far the best part of that class.  It is still one of my favorite of all of the Bookers I have read - and I couldn't recommend it more highly.

The English Patient

I suspect that reading The English Patient and watching the movie are very similar in that you either like the slow pace, character sketches, and reflective mood -  or you hate it.  In some ways, I am disappointed that I saw the movie first - it colored my visual images of the characters and the villa, and gave away the ending.  But of all movies to see first, this one captures the mood, pace, and style of the writing beautifully - it was wonderful in both formats.

When I was reading it on the bus, someone asked me "Oh, The English Patient - its a love story isn't it?"  And I hesitated - "not really..." Perhaps because the focus of the movie was the romance.  This novel is so much more than a story about the English Patient and the nurse Hannah, or the Patient and his mistress Katherine, or Hannah and Kip.  It is a mystery story, and a story about war, and its aftermath, and the global consequences that can sometimes be felt even in a confined place and time.  It is also a story about the various ways a person can lose his or her identity, and what can be dome to reclaim it.

By far, the most fascinating character in my opinion was Kip, the Sikh sapper from India.  His complex relationship with his familial and cultural background, and his troubled experience in the Western world at a time of the blurring of national lines were very compelling to me.  Each of the characters was, in their own way, nationless and without family - and Kip's story highlighted these elements in all of the other characters.  And I really enjoyed the literary tension created by each explosion - literal or metaphorical, which were tied to Kip as well.  Overall it was a fantastic novel - highly recommended.