{"product_id":"the-hunger-book-a-memoir-from-communist-poland-9780814258781","title":"The Hunger Book: A Memoir from Communist Poland","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A searing memoir about growing up behind the Iron Curtain, motherhood, \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eaddiction, and finding sustenance in the natural world.\" --\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe Hunger Book, \u003c\/i\u003e Agata Izabela Brewer evokes her Polish childhood under Communism, where the warmth of her grandparents' love and the scent of mushrooms drying in a tiny apartment are as potent as the deprivations and traumas of life with a terrifyingly unstable, alcoholic single mother. Brewer indelibly renders stories of foraging for food, homemade potato vodka (one of the Eastern Bloc's more viable currencies), blood sausage, sparrows plucked and fried with linseed oil, and the respite of a country garden plot, all amid Stalinist-era apartment buildings, food shortages, martial law, and nuclear disaster in nearby Ukraine. \u003cp\u003e Brewer reflects on all of this from her immigrant's vantage point, as she wryly tries to convince her children to enjoy the mushrooms she gathers from a roadside and grieves when they choose to go by Americanized versions of their Polish names. Hunting mushrooms, like her childhood, carried both reward and mortal peril. \u003ci\u003eThe Hunger Book, \u003c\/i\u003e which includes recipes, is an unforgettable meditation on motherhood and addiction, resilience and love. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Mad Creek Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/29\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780814258781\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/15\/2023\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Agata Izabela Brewer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43067645100213,"sku":"9780814258781","price":21.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_0eff1267-5c5e-4734-a11f-2be6097a0a06.jpg?v=1690862112","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-hunger-book-a-memoir-from-communist-poland-9780814258781","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}