HungerHunger
Score Classic
What it's about
A young writer, unnamed, wanders the streets of Kristiania, now Oslo, starving. Too proud to ask for help and unable to sell his articles, he pawns his waistcoat, chews wood shavings, invents strange stories to strangers and swings between despair and wild elation. Hunger warps his mind, and he tells us everything he thinks.
Why it's worth reading
It's on the Bokklubben list of the 100 greatest books and is often called the first modern psychological novel. Hamsun, who won the Nobel Prize, influenced Kafka and many others.
You'll love it if you liked
The Stranger
Crime and Punishment
To Kill a MockingbirdGood to know
It's short and has almost no plot. Hamsun later became a Nazi supporter, which complicates his legacy.
By the numbers
- Readers51 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics55 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller22 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #137 of the 309 literary novels we rank
- #355 of the 762 classics we rank
- #1214 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
Thought-provoking
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Quick answers
Is Hunger worth reading?
Yes. It's on the Bokklubben list of the 100 greatest books and is often called the first modern psychological novel. It ranks #1,214 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 70.7 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Hunger about?
A young writer, unnamed, wanders the streets of Kristiania, now Oslo, starving. Too proud to ask for help and unable to sell his articles, he pawns his waistcoat, chews wood shavings, invents strange stories to strangers and swings between despair and wild elation. Hunger warps his mind, and he tells us everything he thinks.
How long does it take to read Hunger?
About 4 hours (150 pages), or about 8 days at 30 minutes a day.
What should I read after Hunger?
If you liked it, try The Stranger by Albert Camus, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky or To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.