Hunger by Susan Hill
The second instalment of the (recently
renamed) Kindle Club was hosted by the Bakers at their home in Mulbarton. There was a bit of a slow start to the
official Kindle Club proceedings as the group gossiped whilst admiring the
hosts’ new-ish kitchen (particularly the wine fridge) and lovely large
garden. Despite promising only “basic
nibbles” Rachel had baked up a storm in aforementioned kitchen and offered
quiche, crab cakes with home made chutney, home made hummus, haloumi and
olives. The Coxes arrived with home made
cinnamon cupcakes, whilst others who were too lazy busy to bake
themselves busied themselves removing cellophane and packaging from goodies
provided by Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
Rachel had chosen the book as she had read
work by the author before and thought it would be a good read. There were some mixed reviews by the
group. Some were disappointed with what
was a lack of building of the characters, but we did wonder if this was part of
the parcel of a short story as there simply isn’t time. Those who had read Susan Hill’s work before
were especially disappointed as strong characters with whom the reader can
develop an affinity is normally a strong feature in her books. Even allowing for this lack of building of
characters being an inherent element of a short story (as opposed to a novel)
we agreed that none of the characters were particularly likeable.
Some of the group cited continuity issues,
particularly regards a certain well known brand of ibuprofen, but others hadn’t
noticed this in their interpretation of the book. There was some general feeling that this novella
felt like the start of something more, and didn’t seem to have a firm end,
which some in the group felt more of a problem than others. Others felt there had been potential for the
plot to develop into something more “dark” or sinister, which never actually
materialised.
However, despite this, upon re-reading the
book again before the Club, most agreed they had enjoyed the style of writing
employed and had enjoyed the book. All
were keen to read more by this author in future.
We also had a lot of debate about the “genre”
(if you can call it that) of the short story with some in the group having read
more short stories than others. In
“proper” book form, most short stories tend to be available in a “full-length”
book with other short stories, and are often compilations of a number of
different authors, and we wondered if the e-book could really change this
market as short stories are available to be downloaded individually. All agreed they didn’t read many short
stories, with some musing that they may try read more.
Our next kindle club will be at the
Frazer’s house in Little Melton and our book, chosen by the Coxes, is
Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer.
