Book Review: "Hungerstone" by Kat Dunn

"I have made so many mistakes. I grieve so deeply for myself."

- "Hungerstone" by Kat Dunn

When it comes to books concerning female rage, there is something incredible about devouring them whole. Recently, I read the book Sugar by Mia Ballard and I have noticed something that I need to make clear in this review as well - just because the first half of a book is well-written and incredible, doesn't mean the whole thing will be. Hungerstone is another case of this happening. The first perhaps 60% of the book is insanely good to read and yet, the denouement and the ending is so deeply disappointing that it very nearly ruins the whole reading experience. A book maybe only as captivating as its beginning, but it is only as memorable as its ending.

The book is a take on the novel Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, a vampiric text which has been rewritten with more sapphic themes. Hungerstone is a book about the character Lenore who, ten years into her marriage, is starting to see the cracks. Her world is collapsing, her husband is not the man she married and yet, here she is, trapped in the middle of it. Here, the author establishes familiar characters and stories, but also toys with more of a modern audience's requirement for constant stimulation. Less are the drawn out descriptions and yet, the gothic landscape remains intact. I will say that though it is well written, I would not say that I am overly wanting of a book that deletes the long drawn-out descriptions and philosophical side-notes to cater to an audience that runs on dopamine hits. It's not terrible, but it simply isn't for me. I cannot discount the talent for the writing on the same point of a classic novel though.

Most of the plot runs on instinct rather than actually interesting plot points relative to the earlier work. In our modern day we could call this 'vibes' and it is quite irritating because with the earlier work, there is so much that could have been done. It feels more like the themes that are being dealt with are explored with the intention of making them social-media-age friendly. Though I appreciate the fact that these themes are explored at all, the novel's second half definitely lacks the depth required to retell them from the original novel.

Let me just say this: I understand the presumptions of a 19th-century styled novel in that, I know that it's trying to imitate the time it was written in. There were too many breaks in the language where we are unfortunately brought back to the present in small snips and so, I didn't think though it was trying to imitate the 19th century, that it succeeded completely. The more the book went on, the worse this got and by the end - it was slightly more frustrating that I would like to admit. It really did keep bringing me out of the moment and so, by the end, it wasn't convincingly historical in my opinion.

Apart from this, let's have something that was done well. The atmosphere, where I could get lost in it, was pretty good. No, it wasn't perfect but then again, I am comparing it to its source material. This is the main concern though: as the source material is so intensely and insanely gothic, since it is such a famed controversial gothic novel, this newer version is going to get compared to it. But if it were to be seen on its own - it does a better job at atmosphere than other novels of our modern day. Therefore, I'm putting it somewhere in the middle. It has the horrors of being compared to Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla and yet, it is better than many of the lack-of-atmosphere novels written in the last 5 years.

I would say that you would probably want to read the source material before you read this book because there's not too much back-story of the titular character - the author seems to assume the reader knows about her already. Apart from trying not to give away too much of the story for those who have not read the source material either, I will say this: there is a lot about the writing of the character of Lenore to love. The author definitely does a good job of her - unfortunately though this is done against the character of Carmilla, who doesn't have so much on her.

All in all, this book is an interesting read for those who are fans of gothic horror of the 19th century, but there is something missing - as if some flavour is gone from one of your favourite dishes.