The Life of Hunger – Amélie Nothomb

The Life of Hunger is written as autobiography, but I would describe it as semi-autobiographical. It reads well as fiction. 

The novel covers a period of some twenty years, beginning in Amélie’s toddlerhood, but preceded by what it is best described as an essay on hunger; its definition and relevance.  In a complete absence of nutritional hunger, a superabundance of self-replicating, low maintenance food, the author suggests that there can be nothing.  Satiety kills ambition, drive, a sense of purpose.  The notion of hunger is then broadened; a compulsion to fill the void.