Sunday 19 August 2007

Hunting and Gathering. Anna Gavalda


I found this a cleverly winding story, at once touching and painful.
Telling of the “pleasure of hunger” and the shutting down of the senses- losing the means to engage with life. Of self deprivation and reopening, reawakening of the self Of accepting and discovering the present and moving forward
The storyline whilst not predictable, was not impossible to envisage. However it did manage to come across more subtly than the old tale of under-dogs banding together to overcome their separate inadequacies.
Although I waited more than 80% of the book for any kind of consummation and until the very end for even a scent of a happy ending, I read on and on with my heart dragging by my sleeve ever further into the story, begging to know if it would end well.
I had to force myself to read it ‘properly’, savouring the flavours and rereading morsels to immerse myself in what was after all an enjoyable experience.