Hungry Ghost

by Keith Kachtick

Book Overview

A New York Times Notable Book

Fresh and alluring. . . . Hungry Ghost offers a new twist on the kind of covert dharma fiction we're familiar with in the works of Kate Wheeler and Jim Harrison." -- New York Times Book Review

Carter Cox is a talented but dissipated freelance photojournalist living in New York City's East Village with his sad dog and bad habits. Though he travels to exotic places taking...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060523913
• ISBN13: 9780060523916
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

A LITERATE, Character-driven Page-turner!

I stayed up way past bedtime to finish this story! It left me with a wonderful satisfied feeling I wish I got from more novels. I feel I know the characters really well--their good points and quirks, the tiny details of their minds and hearts and environments, their blind spots and flaws--although one of the things I most appreciate is the way Kachtick never judges these flaws, but remains consistently compassionate toward his very human characters.So far this review makes Hungry Ghost sound like a character-driven novel, and it is that, but it is also an exciting can't-put-it-down page-turner with twists and turns that surprised me again and again. Not too many novels I have come across are so strong on both plot and character. It's moving, it's inventive, and it's funny--I was often laughing at the scrapes these characters found themselves in, their take on things, and the author's clever structural decisions as well.All of this comes to us through a beautiful, fresh, accomplished prose that is a pleasure in itself. This is a wise, charming, entertaining and generous novel, highly recommended for fans of smart adventure, for lovers of good writing, and for spiritual seekers of all stripes.

Sad to have finished it.

This is a remarkable book that makes a lasting impression and leaves us to consider our own shortcomings, but with faith. Beautifully written and almost impossible to put down, I recommend this book to anyone searching for something better.

Hungry Ghosts

Jacqueline Kolosov....Review of Hungry Ghost by Keith Kachtick New York: New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003What immediately drew me to Hungry Ghost is Keith Kachtick's use of second person narration. In my experience, it is a very difficult point of view to sustain. Yet Kachtick makes it work brilliantly. As Carter Cox struggles (often bungles) toward his Buddha Nature or higher Self, the second person narrative makes the reader a fundamental part of that struggle by placing the reader in Carter's position. When Carter muses on the reasons for coming to the Woodstock retreat, the second person implicates the reader as well: "If for no other reason, you're here because you're tired of not knowing how to connect with people, tired of believing that intimacy, by definition, is a killjoy." Carter becomes a kind of mass culture Everyman. To further enliven and enrich the narrative, Kachtick plays the intimacy of the second person against an omniscient narrator who really is all-knowing. This is a risky strategy. Yet again, he carries it off because it feels very much like that higher Self speaking: that Buddha Nature which, we learn, is inside all of us. Omniscience allows the narrative to explore past, present, and future, a strategy that makes sense in a novel devoted to exploring the consequences of karma. As you've probably guessed, Hungry Ghost is not a morally timid novel. Carter Cox's challenge is to abandon his sensual, compartmentalizing ways and surrender to the higher Self. As his mentor Christopher puts it: `Burn the self until it's no longer there. Incinerate the self, Carter. Then there'll be nothing to separate you from the Great Perfection.' (I'd like to find a teacher like that!) Carter's out-of-control spending sprees, his substance abuse, and his penchant for quick sex, are the obstacles that Kachtick-often hilariously-throws in his path. But on another level, his protagonist's situation is deadly serious. Carter's life is at stake. Because the narrative places the reader in Carter's position, so are our lives: present and future. Although we are not given the same access to Carter's love interest Mia Malone (nor are we led to believe that she is prone to the same self-destructive tendencies), we do become intimately involved in her quest for that higher Self. As she tells Carter: `I'm a very hungry young woman, and I find inspiration a powerful delicacy.' Both she and Carter are truth seekers. Although other contemporary writers are writing morally ambitious fiction, Kachtick's novel offers a particularly vibrant, inspiring example. In all honesty, I haven't read anything quite like it. Hungry Ghost is not just morally ambitious; it's didactic also. (The two tend to go hand in hand). In fact, on many levels, the novel provides a user friendly, highly entertaining introduction to Buddhism and the practice of meditation, simultaneously showing that Buddhism can coexist with other religious traditions. The fact that Kacht

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A Great Read

This is a fantastic book -- compelling characters, unexpected twists, and great adventure. If you like adventure stories, you are in for a treat. In the end, however, this is a book about transformation and one man coming to terms with how to live in a way true to his heart. I really enjoyed such a finely written book with such a good message. This book is for anyone interested in adventure, Buddhism, transformation, or simply a good story.