The concept behind this one is definitely unusual, but intriguing. That said, I wasn’t a big fan of the execution. The narrative jumped around a lot, making it hard to follow who was speaking or whether events were happening in the past or present. I found myself getting lost more than once. The ending also fell a bit flat for me.. probably because the plot didn’t feel fully developed. Still, it was a quick read!

Thanks to NetGalley, Brazen/Octopus Publishing and Choi Jin-young for this ARC!

I’ve wanted to read this one since hearing about it at the Brazen Proof Party at Cheltenham Literature Festival. Brazen once again hold their reputation for me for publishing some of the most interesting books coming onto the market right now. Hunger is so unreserved in its exploration of grief, love and navigating life whilst grappling with a heaviness you don’t know how to shift. The balance of shock factor and actual integrity was so perfectly done in this book, I have read books (like Wetlands by Charlotte Roche) that lose all sense of personality by leaning too heavily into taboo rather than using it as a plot device. Brutality and beauty in very equal measure, I was right to be excited to read this one.

"만약 네가 먼저 죽는다면
나는 너를 먹을 거야.
그래야 너 없이도 죽지 않고 살 수 있어.

If you die before me, I will eat you.
That's the only way I can live without you."

Hunger is Soje's translation of 구의 증명 by 최진영 (Choi Jin-Young), the second book in English I'm aware of from the pair after To the Warm Horizon.

The novel is told by two first person voices, 담 Dam, a young woman in her twenties, whose passages are marked with a white circle ○, and 구 Gu, a young man of the same age, denoted by a black circle ●.

The novel opens with Dam's voice:

"What should I do once this story is told? What could I possibly do? Where should I go? I could go to the police and confess. I could visit a priest and confess. I ate a person. A human being. Is that a sin? They'll do with me as they see fit. I could say whatever they tell me to say, go wherever they tell me to go.
To tell this story, and to live on:
that is all I want."

Gu has died (his sections narrated from some form of afterlife), Dam finding his body in the street after he called her for help, but rather than call the authorities she calls a taxi, pretending he has passed out drunk, takes him home, and, as the quote above suggests, starts to eat his body, this based on a suggestion he made - see the opening quote to my review - on what he would do if she died, so that he would always have her with him. Gu seems to have something of a fascination with cannibalism, telling Dam the story of Sawney Bean, Gu and Dam most fascinated by the 3rd generation of children, born of incesteous relationships, and who would have grown up thinking what the family did was normal.

But this rather disturbing approach to bereavement, while the novel's most stand-out feature, is not really at it's heart, which is more a tale of an intense relationship.

Dam and Gu were classmate for two years from the age of 8, although don't remember each other from their first year together, and Gu bullied Dam in their second, before they became very close friends age 10. They then grew up together, evolving from friends to lovers, although going their separate ways at times, Gu to the army and Dam to studies, sometimes not seeing each other for over a year, but immediately picking up as if they'd met yesterday, and eventually moving around the country to escape the loan sharks pursuing Gu for his parent's debts.

One of many formative incidents was when Gu worked in a factory, Dam often meeting him at the start/end of the day, and the two of them befriended a young boy, Noma, son of one of the other workers, only for him to die before their eyes in a traffic accident just after the three of them have bought some leftover 붕어빵 (bungeoppang) from a vendor:

"Our walks had a quiet warmth to them. Noma between us made me feel safe and soothed my nerves, as if an angel were watching over us. Or as if we were looking out for each other, wrapped in the arms of the night. They plucked the thorns out of my heart. They made me a better person. We licked ice cream in the summer and munched bungeoppang in the winter, losing ourselves in the beauty of the spring flowers and autumn leaves. At the end of the night, I'd wait for Noma to lock his door and kiss Dam goodbye. Then it was a shower and four to five hours of sleep before doing it all again, but there was a warm ball of rice in my heart that exhaustion and the future could never spoil."

In many respects a conventional coming-of-age tale, but the unconventional form and the intensity elevate it. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

A short coming of age book.
A story between 2 lovers Gu and Dam. Gu dies and Dam must hide his body.
They reminisce about their lives as poor children, to loving teenagers and trying to survive as adults where they learn about grief, hardship, breakups and tragedy all at the same time.
The story jumps between both Gu and Dam, so there can be some confusion with who's talking through the book.
There is some grossness at the start of the book, but throughout it becomes so poetic... Love is so harsh.
If you like The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Heaven by Mieko Kawakami and Boulder by Eva Baltasar, then I think you will like this book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Octopus Publishing for letting me read this book!

Such an interesting book. I am really glad I read it. The depictions of her grief and their love are something really special. It’s an odd one though. Spend a lot of time after trying to work out if I actually ‘liked’ it or not. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Um... "Hunger" by Choi Jih-young is a difficult book to review because I'm not sure I know what was going on. Although the book was very short (about 2 hours reading time), the plot was complicated and not only jumped about in timeline but also in perspective. I thought there was actually 3 people narrating rather than the 2 named... It has been likened to "Butter" but that was far more comprehensive. Perhaps more in line with Sakuya Murata but unfortunately not as good. However, I'm not South Korean (big hit there) so maybe I'm just not the right audience?

Gu and Dam are destined to be together, but when Gu dies Dam doesn't know how to continue. That's why she decides to eat him. Together forever.
This romantic horror novella was a bestseller in Korea and surprised me more than once. Chapter by chapter the reader figures out why Dam reacts in this way and what happened to Gu. This is short but it packs a punch. Recommend for readers who aren't squirmish and interested in the underbelly of Korea.

I thought while reading this book it would be more of a suspense novel about the consequences of eating someone based on the blurb. It however was not about that and more to do with the relationship between the two main characters. Whilst parts of the book was enjoyable, I did find it hard to engage with but managed to still finish it. I love Asian translated fiction in general but it just wasn’t in the same league as Butter or The Vegetarian. Saying this though, this was based on my own person preference and might be to your liking. I would say give it a try anyway as it’s not a very lengthy read anyway, coming at 200 pages.

I've been reading my way through various Korean writers this past year, so I was enthusiastic to obtain an ARC for Hunger.
Unfortunately, however, I found this a difficult book to enjoy. The main issue for me was that I somehow got totally confused as to who was narrating. Up until the end, I was convinced I was reading from the viewpoints of three main characters rather than two. In one instant, the character seemed to be male; then, in a flash, the character was presented as "she". My brain didn't register who was narrating, and sometimes I wondered if it was down to translation errors with pronouns.
The other main issue was a lack of a satisfactorily cohesive plot. The book jumped across fragments of events through the lives of the main characters, from childhood to death, and I didn't feel I understood much about the characters or what really happened to them by the end. The fact that one character sets about eating another strangely was the most underwhelming element of the book, perhaps precisely because the characters and plot weren't developed deeply enough for me to truly care about their fate.
I probably would have abandoned this book if it wasn't so short. As it was, I perservered until the end. This may have been a big-seller in Korea, but I just can't see it being a big hit in the UK market.
As an extra note, the book also doesn't feel distinctly Korean in its identity. The author could just have easily been Korean, Japanese, or Western. The book doesn't do anything to help you gain a deeper appreciation for specifically Korean culture, if that is what you are after.

An amazing novella that explores the idea of death and how hard it can be to let go. Really unique premise that balance horror and emotion well.

This is a haunting book that explores the darker side of love, devotion and grief . The story follows Dam as she grapples with the violent death of her lover Gu. Disturbing yet deeply human, Hunger is a powerful meditation on the limits of love and the hunger it leaves behind.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

*thanks to netgalley, the publishers and author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

i absolutely loved this book and consumed it in one sitting.

themes include obsessive love, oppressive debts, and grief/loss.

the romance aspect actually kept reminding me of a modern korean wuthering heights (in a very good way).

the cannibalism aspect is actually not as central as i expected, which i actually enjoyed. i imagined there would be more horror-like scenes of dam eating gu, but apart from the early chapters (my stomach turned at eating hair and nails) this wasn't the case, and much more space was dedicated to exploring the interesting ideas that dam and gu have about life. a good balance.

overall this novella was dark but poignant and certainly gripping, the writing is excellent and the pacing/unfolding of the plot is great. dam and gu are fascinating characters and i enjoyed being in their heads.

due to the non-linear chronology, there aren't really any "twists" or things that you don't see coming, but this worked well for a short book.

i can easily see why this was so popular in korea and i'm looking forward to its release in the UK so that i can recommend it!!

5 stars

Hunger by Choi Jin-Young

Hunger reads as though you’re caught in a fever dream of grief. The memories and the love shared between Gu and Dam are intertwined with loss. We flip between the narratives of two equally besotted / obsessed people. Though their lives sometimes took different paths, their souls belonged to one another, and their time apart manifested in mental and physical pain to the point where they declared that if the other were to die, they would eat the others body. We meet Dam as she cradles her soulmates body in her arms, slowly and lovingly devouring him in order to preserve his body forever inside her own. Horrifying, yet heartbreaking, the love story between Dam and Gu had me hooked. So so wonderfully weird.

My rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to Octopus Books AND NetGalley for the ARC, I loved it.
Due to be published 26th June 2025.

Thank you to Choi-Jin Young, Octopus Publishing | Brazen, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Hunger is a work of speculative literary fiction focusing on love, grief, and a sliver of cannibalism (as a treat). It is strongly character driven and is in first-person narrative with dual POV (this wasn’t clear for the first 15%). I can see some people loving this, but it didn’t work for me. Disappointing as I love cannibalism as a literary device.

A twisted look into love and obsession.

Unfortunately this book feels like a Sayaka Murata knockoff and just didn't hit me as hard as it could have done.

I've been sat staring at the blank space to write a review for a while and watching the cursor space appear and disappear and I'm thinking how on earth am I supposed to review and rate this book...

Although a short read, my brain feels like it's been blended.

This book belongs with other books that have messed me up: The Vegetarian, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and Story of the Eye.. Books which although short make you question everything and make you feel frankly disturbed.

This book primarily focuses on grief and obsession and what it truly means to love someone. Some of the description is definitely goosebump inducing but it helps you really understand the psyche of Dam and Gu.

I'm never going to forget about this book, that's for sure.

Thank you so much for Octopus Publishing and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

3.75 - 4 stars (had to think about my rating again and up it tbh)

I loved the way grief was written!!

The love or obsession in this was all consuming in both life and death.

As well as the emotions are deep and raw. The writing is fantastic. you get pulled into Gu and Dam's story and witness them be pulled together from being kids to the present. The way Dam speaks about Gu is heartbreaking and just shows how much she felt for him.

But for me, I wanted the weirdness to go to another level. From the premise I was expecting more of it and got my expectations for a really weird, "consume the one you love" type of story with the brutal truth of love and obsession going to a level that is disturbing, which it does, but I was hoping that the whole story was going to be like that.

Nevertheless, the writing I loved and I'm happy to find another author to keep my out for in the future!

This book was so dark but such an interesting look into obsession, grief, death. I loved the flashbacks to show the couple’s relationship from childhood to present day. The central concept made me squirm, it’s gruesome and gross but I really enjoyed it.

This is a strange, dark, and unsettling book. From sharing a life together to death of the loved one. A woman fills herself with grief and loss. I am sure you have heard that people in love can kill themselves or kill someone for the one they love. But have you seen people eating their loved one to keep them alive? This is a Korean cult classic book.

Thanks to the Publisher, and Author