Customer Reviews

Hunger Moon

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I'm thinking of Norma Klein's books and The Summer of the Swans.
I'm 39 (and a half!) but I was completely engrossed in ruthie's first person perspective on her family ... and reading this as a mother myself, it was a fine reminder of how a child experiences a parent's anger. (and I really appreciated that Ruthie's mother wasn't some sort of wicked witch - her circumstances fuelled her behavior and on some level, you feel for her.
This would be a great title for mother-daughter book clubs.

There is an immediacy to this slim gem of a book that tugs at you, that instantly transports the reader back to childhood and forward to children yet unborn. Ruthie's mother's kitchen is full of the high peaks of egg whites and the lows of yolks beaten. This is a story truly spoken from a child's mind and each disarming vignette pulses like a heartbeat. I want to read this book over and over again, and remember....

I went to bed last night and woke up this morning thinking and caring about Ruthie Tepper -- her open heart, her longing and confusion, her shoulders shaking from trying to hold in her giggles. Sarah Lamstein has created an unforgettable character. Every moment of her story seems true.

Hunger Moon is an unforgettable book. Told in first-person vignettes, protagonist Ruthie does not embellish these scenes from her life; she merely lays them out with unflinching honesty and dares the reader not to blink. The emotions readers feel are unmanipulated and achingly real. Sarah Lamstein's spare prose haunts as you realize this is not a quiet book at all. Hunger Moon tells the truth about pain, and ultimately edges uneasily toward toward hope and healing. Exquisite.

Sarah Lamstein had me wrapped around her storytelling finger. Her ability to create powerful characterizations with an economy of words and her choice of sensory detail and unique particulars gave this gem of a book poignancy and punch. Lamstein's writing anchored me in Ruthie's heart, mind and world. I wanted the story to go on and yet knew where it ended was exactly right. A gem of a book that puts you right back into your 11-year-old shoes.