Part brutal criticism of Korean societal standards and part doomed love story, Hunger is unflinching in its realism and will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page. It is the story of Dam and Gu, two childhood friends and lovers who don’t fit in with anyone other than each other. Gu’s parents are in debt, Dam’s Auntie is struggling, and after growing up experiencing firsthand the damage that money (and lack thereof) can cause, all they want is to reject the societal script. But in a world where wealth and status are all that matters, can two misfits ever truly be free?

As adults, Dam finds Gu’s body on the street, murdered by the loan sharks they’ve been trying to outrun. She carries his body inside and meticulously cleans him before starting her feast, a ritual borne out of love and desperation. As she eats, the two characters recount their relationship, from bullied children to adults living on the fringes of society, including the years they spent apart waiting and yearning for each other. After reconciling once Dam’s aunt has died and Gu’s parents have disappeared, they spend a few blissful, nomadic years together, taking menial jobs and travelling the country. The loan sharks are closing in fast; they want Gu’s organs in lieu of payment. To me, this begged the question: is Dam eating Gu’s flesh in order to consume him wholly, out of love, or because she doesn’t want the loan sharks to return to claim their prize?

Hunger’s prose is almost clinical in its simplicity. It doesn’t need to sensationalise - the raw, emotional portrayal of poverty and alienation is powerful enough. Yes, Gu and Dam are hungry in the traditional sense, but they are also hungry for love, for meaning, for a sense of belonging in a society that seemingly has no place for them.

I read this in one sitting, and I was left wanting more. Choi Jin-young’s masterpiece got under my skin, and it will stay with me for a long time.

Hunger is a haunting and deeply poetic story that lingers long after reading. The narrative opens with a devastating moment — a woman discovering her partner murdered on the street — and from there, it moves into an intimate exploration of grief, love and survival.

The imagery is stark yet tender, as the woman carries her lover’s body home and performs rituals that blur the line between life and death. The story shifts between realms, capturing both the physical and spiritual worlds in a way that feels both fragile and fierce.

I found the brevity of this book enhances its emotional impact, weaving a delicate but powerful tapestry of loss and resilience. The author’s language is careful and precise, making every moment resonate.

Hunger is a beautiful and moving read, one that I will keep close for its quiet strength and raw honesty.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

A woman finds her boyfriend dead on the street and takes him home, She washes and holds him but then begins to eat him; ensuring that he will live within her forever. Reflecting on their past full of tragedy we see their relationship in reverse and learn of the hard lives with no reward and their tragic but loving relationship.

This was a strange and horror based novel which I felt like I couldn't look away from. It was gripping and thrilling and unlike anything I had read before.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Hunger is a raw, unflinching, and deeply resonant novella that lingers long after the final page. Choi Jin-young’s spare yet evocative prose, beautifully translated by Soje, offers a piercing look into the emotional and physical toll of poverty, grief, and generational silence. This is not a book that asks for your attention; it demands it.

Told from the perspective of a young woman struggling to survive in the wake of her parents' deaths, the narrative unfolds with a quiet intensity. Every page pulses with a deep ache, not just for food, but for stability, dignity, and the simple assurance that life won’t always feel like a battle. The storytelling is economical and unsentimental, but still heartbreakingly intimate. Choi captures how hunger manifests not only in the stomach, but in the psyche, in relationships, and in memory.

What struck me most was how Hunger resists sensationalism. There's no melodrama here, just brutal honesty and a haunting portrayal of a life on the margins. It’s a powerful meditation on class, invisibility, and resilience, told with the kind of quiet force that leaves you breathless. This is a necessary read, especially for those interested in contemporary Korean literature that centers the lives and voices so often overlooked.

This was an intensely dark story about all-consuming love, devotion, and human suffering. It was an intensely melancholic exploration of life on the fringes of society, as two people are drawn to each other like soulmates but encounter bullying and family problems in their youth, then flee from modern slavery and human trafficking at the hands of violent loan sharks as adults. And that's not even mentioning the cannibalism. It was only bearable to read by virtue of being short and not too focussed on the characters' reactions to their suffering - the book is emotional, but the focus of these emotions is more on their romantic obsession with each other but always with a degree of underlying sadness. I would call this novel a romantic horror read, a little reminiscent of the Swedish novel Let the right one in but without the paranormal aspect.

Hunger is a novel about a woman who eats her dead lover after he is murdered, and we hear their tragic story. Dam sees Gu murdered and takes his corpse home, where she realises she has to eat him to keep him with her. Then, the pair recount their love story, filled with tragedy and a desperate run from the debts of Gu's parents.

The cannibalism is a surprisingly small amount of the story, which is more of a sad love story about two people who couldn't always be together. The narrative moves between Gu and Dam's perspectives, which works well as a way of telling this love story, and it is a short, lyrical novel that focuses on these characters rather than the things happening to them. I was expecting something weirder, but Hunger is quiet and tragic.

Hmm not for me. Bizarre and disjointed recollection of a love story turned weird. Romantic cannibalism.

I was intrigued by the premise of “Hunger”—a woman eats her boyfriend after finding him killed by loan sharks. I was expecting a horror novel, not the moving love story that this fast-paced novel contains.

Dam and Gu are childhood sweethearts who have found their relationship torn apart over and over again during the course of their young lives—and yet, I didn’t feel frustration with the plot, only sadness for the two star-crossed lovers. Their story is developed very well.

I don’t typically enjoy books where romantic relationships drive the main plot, but I couldn’t put this story down. There was something really tragic about how the characters deprived themselves of love because they were waiting for “the right time” — when life gives no guarantees. This novel also touches on the theme of poverty and the struggle to live a fulfilling life when you are trying to survive in a system that fails to recognize your worth and leaves you “living to work”.

Ultimately, this was a sad story but I enjoyed it immensely. The premise is bizarre, but the desperation of the two lovers as their situation becomes more and more dire makes it clear that they have decided they will hold on to each other in any way they can.

“You will die only when I die. I won't follow you into death; I will have you follow me.”

(I’d like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for accepting my request to read this arc in exchange for an honest review ♡)

Firstly, can I just say how excited I was to be notified that I’d been granted access to read this arc? I didn’t think at all think I’d be accepted, so I was over the moon when I was, and I was even happier when I finished this story and found that I wasn’t at all unsatisfied.

The majority of this book felt like a fever dream, flicking between the two main characters, Dam and Gu, and many years of their lives and experiences, some moments shared together, some not. It’s inbetween these segments of story and past, that you’re invited to witness the devastation of Dam as bit by bit she steadily devours parts of her Gu’s body in the hopes that with each mouthful he will find a place inside her where he’ll never be able to abandon and leave her behind

This story isn’t a happy one, in fact it’s quite the opposite, as you’re faced with miss-communication, missed opportunities, debt, death, failure, and loneliness, however despite these issues ravaging Gu and Dam’s lives, they never give up having hope in other another, even when they’re separated by trauma and fear. Their love for one another is so strong that I’m not quite sure if love is the correct way to describe it, it’s something more between obsession, desperation, desire, and hope (if anyone knows whether there’s a word for that please let me know). Their connection and feelings for one another were strong, but unfortunately it really did seem like the world was trying to keep them apart throughout, and ultimately they’re both kept apart by two different phases of existence: life and death. Reading about Gu as he’s torn between reminiscing about his life and the torment that his, essentially soulmate, is going through as she eats away at his body, is gutting. Learning about how he wishes for her to stop and to instead move on and live a long, fulfilling life while he watches and waits for her to hopefully join him, is even more gutting.

Despite Hungry being largely a “tragic love story” throughout, we are also met with philosophical questioning and real-world commentary. There’s conversation on debt and loan-sharks, capitalism, human value, dehumanisation, and how people struggle to keep themselves afloat when in poverty, including the injustice you feel when you reflect on how you’re just one single, tiny speck in the never-ending cycle.

Ultimately, this novel was everything I was hoping it to be and more. While I did leave this story wishing for it to be just a bit longer, the breadth of emotions I experienced were enough for me to feel satisfied and happy. In conclusion: this is a weird book meant for weird people and I love it for that.

you ever read a book and feel like you’re stuck in a fever dream where nothing makes sense but everything is vaguely poetic so you keep going?? yeah. that was me with “hunger”.

i picked this up ‘cause the premise was wild—woman finds her dead man, carries his corpse home, and proceeds to… eat him??? romantic cannibalism but make it metaphorical?? sounded like my kind of weird. but then i actually read it and. yeah. confusion ate ME up instead.

⸻

the good (aka the only reason it’s not a 0 star):
• the prose lowkey slapped. some lines were stunning.
• short read. that’s it. that’s the compliment.

⸻

the bad (deep breath):
• whose pov was it??? like genuinely. gu? dam? the aunt? a ghost? i had NO CLUE. the shifts were random and messy. one second we’re in one head, the next i’m like “wait, didn’t he die???”
• the formatting??? atrocious. might’ve been an arc issue but it made my head hurt. full-on chaos.
• plot? character arcs? a timeline??? couldn’t find ‘em. the book just flits through random moments and expects you to stitch them together like a patchwork quilt in the dark.
• the cannibalism moment that should’ve been the mic drop? weirdly boring. like girl if you’re gonna eat your lover, make it iconic, not confusing.

⸻

final thoughts:
the concept had potential. but the execution? confusing, disjointed, and not deep enough to justify how lost i felt. it’s giving ✨literary confusion for confusion’s sake✨.

would i recommend it? only if you enjoy staring at pretty sentences while having no idea what’s going on.
otherwise? save yourself. read the summary and move on.

1.5 stars. for the aesthetic and audacity.

This book was like one long stream of consciousness flowing from the past to the present. I didn’t always know who I was or when it was, but that’s probably what I liked most.

I expected the cannibalism to be more prominent, for me this was more of a tragic love story than horror. I still enjoyed this dark and unique tale for what it was.

Thank you NetGalley and Octopus Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a visceral, poetic descent into grief, rebellion, and undying love.
Absolutely a 5 star read for me!
The imagery is both beautiful and horrifying—blending romance and horror in a way that lingers long after reading. The concept of time pausing in the face of tragedy, followed by a surreal yet deeply emotional ritual of reclamation, is executed with haunting precision. It’s a fierce indictment of a broken system and a tender, if unsettling, act of devotion. Unforgettable and masterfully written.

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.