Scan barcode
marziesreads's review against another edition
4.0
Probably really like 3.5 stars, but giving it 4 for the importance of the topic as a whole.
katethekitcat's review
2.0
Extremely disappointed with this book. I’ve rarely encountered a non-fiction work where the information was so poorly organized. In an effort to discuss three famines - the Irish potato famine, the famine in Bengal in WW2, and the famine in Ethiopia in the 1980’s - the author managed to thoroughly confuse me about all three. Instead of presenting each famine one by one, in a chronological order, the author tries to jump around between them - but sometimes discussing the aftermath before the causes; sometimes mentioning the “villain” only to pivot immediately to the natural causes that sparked the famine. This appeared to be an effort to elucidate overarching patterns and themes, but those are hard to come by without a base layer confidence in what's going on. This manner of narrative can work if done properly, but here it manages to take under-discussed tragedies that should evoke outrage and instead leave the reader listlessly confused. Didn’t bother to finish. Two stars because it IS important to acknowledge the human element in famine (for example, Britain was actively exporting food from Ireland during the famine).
marziesreads's review
4.0
Probably really like 3.5 stars, but giving it 4 for the importance of the topic as a whole.
More...