Hungry for the World: A Memoir

by Kim Barnes

Book Overview

Fans of Educated by Tara Westover are sure to fall for this "beautifully written" narrative (The New York Times Book Review) of self-discovery and personal triumph from the author of the Pulitzer... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375502289
• ISBN13: 9780375502286
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Villard Books
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Painting with Words Instead of Oils

Kim Barnes has created a masterpiece of her experiences. Writing with candor in a style almost poetic I read her memoir with my breath held. She describes the horrors she lived though in the same fluid manner she describes the woods where she thrived. Without judgement she writes of her younger self with insight born of suffering and self discovery. She shares her life now in little asides about her children and the lush paradise she makes her home in today. She spoke to me deeply. I must confess I had brought the book as a novel and when I read the last page and discover this was a true story I fell to my knees in wonder and amazement at the rendition of herself. Having knowlege myself of abuse from both the church and sexual I can only say that I was proud that a women could write of both with such beauty. She has transcend herself. It is both a book of beauty and courage. I can only be reminded of a poem in blank verse. Thank you Kim Barnes. It is a book I will keep and give to my friends. It is wonderful.

Hungry for More

After reading Kim's first book, I'd search the biography section of my local bookstore at each visit, waiting for her next release. I am in awe of Kim's writing style, her beauty, her intelligence, her sculpting of words and memory, the gentleness with which she can now hold and stroke the most difficult and violent moments of her life. Part of the beauty of Kim's work is the way she captures so well the landscape of north Idaho. Where handguns make no sense in the hands of teens as we listen to the news of junior and senior high school student shootings, the guns of teenage hunters are revealed to have a place in the wilds of this part of the northwest. Where rivers dammed for their energy use and the plight of the salmon make news nationwide, her writing helps readers glimpse the construction of the dams and the memories and homes that were drowned in their building. The only helpful addition to her skillfully crafted word pictures in this book would be a map of the Clearwater Valley inserted as a bookplate to help the reader have a visual sense of the geography of the area. On a more personal level, reading Kim's book helps me to better understand this woman who was my undergraduate classmate at Lewis-Clark State College. It helps me to understand why the young woman who was equal in chronological age seemed so much more mature, more knowing, more insightful to the ways of the world in as applied to the literary classics we read and discussed together. I now have an inkling why I could not *know* Kim then, when the trials she had encountered were still so fresh. So I now marvel that her coming of age story -- part of it so horrific -- can now be shared so beautifully. The second 20+ years of her life have given her the perspective to write with kindness the story of the girl she has been, who continues to live within her side-by-side with the woman of grace she has become. I highly recommend this book to other mature readers who have come of age through unspeakable trials. I am grateful Kim has given voice to the unspeakable.

A riveting story told masterfully

Kim Barnes was my instructor at Ropewalk Writer's Retreat and I consider myself fortunate to have "studied" the craft of creative nonfiction with her. She is a master of communicating the idea of the secret self that develops in most women from her background [Religious Fundamentalism] I was not raised in the same denomination but I was familiar with the lifestyle enough to understand. It wouldn't have mattered because I think Kim Barnes tells the story of EVERYGIRL and the confusion that comes with sexual maturity. I had to smile at the references to sloe gin, Harvey Wallbangers, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and a car that had only one gear! More importantly, Kim tells a courageous story of finding self and safety. If you are a 40-something woman, you will smile at times and cry at others and you will close this book knowing more about yourself. A must read!

Harrowing, honest, hopeful sequel

Kim Barnes' *Hungry for the World* is a rivetingly bare and poetic examination of how Barnes translated the patriarchal, authoritative practice of her family's (especially her father's) Pentecostal faith into a hunger for worldly experience that resulted in a troubling, dark relationship with a disturbed, disturbing, and seductive boyfriend. Barnes carefully, vividly, and intelligently chronicles this relationship, exploring how she allowed herself to become entangled in this man's destructive world. As with her first book, this memoir explores family and faith and misguided love, but never does she lay blame, never does she attack. Kim Barnes works to figure out Kim Barnes. I love to read first person accounts of high altitude mountain climbers and in the midst of a narrative I'll think, "My goodness! How will this climber ever survive this ordeal?" But I know the writer survives because s/he wrote the account I'm reading! I felt the same way reading this memoir. I was so engrossed in the dangerous turn Kim Barnes' life took, that I couldn't believe she would survive it -- but, I said."She has to. She wrote this book!" The memoir is harrowing. It's hopeful, too. Kim Barnes left the dark side, even if the dark side never quite left her.

"Hungry for the World" leaves me hungry for more.

When Kim's first book "In the Wilderness" came out, I was mesmerized by the poetic language and the compelling story of her youth. "Hungry for the World" continues where Kim's first book left off, with an equal or greater power. I have a great respect for Kim, who can share the dark periods of her life with others and do so with such clairty and beauty that she can shatter that darkness with the light in her heart. I have seen Kim read in person, and her speaking voice and her voice on the page are one in the same: spellbinding and beautiful. This is a body of work that will be remembered and respected for a long, long time.