Sacred Hunger

By: Barry Unsworth

Narrated by: David Rintoul

Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Man Booker Prize Winner, 1992

Sacred Hunger is a stunning and engrossing exploration of power, domination, and greed. Filled with the "sacred hunger" to expand its empire and its profits, England entered fully into the slave trade and spread the trade throughout its colonies.

In this Booker Prize-winning work, Barry Unsworth follows the failing fortunes of William Kemp, a merchant pinning his last chance to a slave ship; his son, who needs a fortune because he is in love with an upper-class woman; and his nephew, who sails on the ship as its doctor because he has lost all he has loved. The voyage meets its demise when disease spreads among the slaves and the captain's drastic response provokes a mutiny. Joining together, the sailors and the slaves set up a secret, utopian society in the wilderness of Florida, only to await the vengeance of the single-minded young Kemp.

©1992 Barry Unsworth (P)2012 AudioGO Ltd.

Magnificent, lyrical and profound!

This magnificent novel seems initially about the arrogance in which the slave trade was built. It is that, and much more. Each of many characters is deeply developed, though the slaves remain nameless abstractions. Each scene finely wrought. Descriptions are exquisite. The story of preparing the slave ship, buying slaves and sailing the Middle Passage to America becomes — through brilliant plot construction — scaffolding for a more complex and profound meditation on human nature and motivation, in contexts of captivity, class-bound capitalism and free community. Philosophical and psychological perspectives are threaded throughout, propelled forward by the characters and twists of plot. Among the finest books I’ve ever read. The narrator is superb. I listened at 75% speed.

Super listen - great Booker winner!

This was a gem of a book. In it lies incredible historical writing that illustrates a darker period of British commerce. The story captures your heart with a collection of incredible characters spread over a decade with intrigue, sadness, and humor. The triangular trade of the 18th century is amplified by the author to reflect the greed of many on the backs of West African slaves, and the incessant hunger for profit deemed the “Sacred Hunger”.

The story revolves on the voyage of the “Liverpool Merchant”, its crew and the disease ridden onboard slaves. The main characters include the ship doctor Matthew Paris, a likable polymath of sorts, and the profit driven Captain Thurso, an evil opposite of Paris. Into this mire the author introduces the cousin Erasmus Kemp, a forlorn and vengeful character driven to undo a wrong. The description of the sufferings of the slaves are harrowing as is their murders. Yet the creation of the utopian community in Florida’s backwaters, all but brief, hints at a glimpse of humanity in an otherwise very dark age.

The narration of this book is simply fantastic. A very worthy Booker winner in 1992, sharing the price with the “The English Patient”.

Takes so long to get to the point

I may not be the best person to give a review for this book, but since it took me over six months to finish I wanted to prove to the book that I retained something from the six hundred pages it took to get there. The historical fiction part is great: a few hundred slaves on a ship gets "lost" and the slave traders are on the hunt to get their property back. There's even a quest for vengeance, family honor, and a love lost along the way but the endless descriptions of the waves, the ship itself, and the accents (specifically the Asian and Island accents) were just too much. Great narrator when his voice was normal, but I was also reading the book at the same time I was listening to the audible and let's just say that reading it was only slightly less offensive. I'm glad I finished the book after such a long, arduous six months but I doubt I'll ever pick it up again. Just my two cents...and my six months.

Great story and wonderfully narrated

This story is written like a classic from Dicken’s or other great writers. The narration is excellent and creates the atmosphere of listening to a play on stage. My reservation in my overall rating is because of the ending which I think is stereotyping black culture in a manner that is demeaning, while it would’ve been much better had Paris’s son been elevated through his intelligence inherited both from his mother and father.

Required reading

How do you put a face on the most important (non-war) social phenomenon of last 700 years in the Western World; the African slave trade. This book is something I finished over a year ago and the images and profound thoughts stick with me. I recommend this over and over again. In audible form it is exquisite. Shout out to David Plotz of the Slate Political Gabfest who recommends this as one the best books he ever read.
The most important part of this work is the depth of the interactions of the characters. My thoughts go to Pride and Prejudice.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this book is the title. It is so perfect. Bravo.

Needs a better editor.

Fine story, though the author loves his own words rather to much. Easily could have been much shorter.

Wise, Perceptive, Heart-breaking

What made the experience of listening to Sacred Hunger the most enjoyable?

I can't remember the last time a novel impressed me so much. Any modern individual looking at the history of the Atlantic slave trade has to marvel that such a horror took place. What, we ask ourselves today, possessed European slavers to abduct, torment, and then finally sell perfect strangers who had done them no wrong? You can read the histories, some dry and some vivid. But if you want to hear how the slavers justified themselves in their own voices, this is the book for you. Thru fiction, Unsworth relates what the impoverished UK underclass saw in slavery, what the profiteers saw, what a man of the Enlightenment might have seen. In telling this tale of the Atlantic slave trade, Unsworth ignores all temptations to cheap and empty moralizing. Humans aren't born with much of a moral sense, Unsworth seems to be saying, but change does happen and in that we can take some comfort.

What about David Rintoul’s performance did you like?

Fortunately, the author's powers of prose and story-telling are matched by the talents of the narrator, David Rintoul. Not only does he nail the many regional accents of Britain (and Ireland), he nails them even when he has those characters speaking pidgin! And Rintoul is an utter master of tone and inflection to distinguish characters who would otherwise sound too much alike.

A great adventure of hope and moral

This is a well written, compelling, and entertaining historic novel. It has some memorable characters and an important underlying moral. The Audible performance is excellent by David Rintuol. I have heard him narrate other books and he has performed them in the same professional and dramatic way that makes the work come to life, contributing to an enhanced appreciation of the work. Nothing about this novel or this performance disappointed me.

floundering a bit

The two characters that kept me going was Billy Blair and Michael Sullivan. the story would peak my interest then flounder. the ending was unsatisfactory.

Beautifully written and Masterfully narrated.

This is, quite simply,a modern masterpiece. It is everything that great literature should be - eloquent, profound, entertaining, and accessible. The topic of slavery is terribly difficult to read about, but so important to acknowledge and be well informed upon. Unsworth's amazing novel approaches the subject from a unique perspective that is both emotionally affecting and intellectually stimulating without sacrificing good old story telling.
David Rintoul's performance is nothing short of brilliant. His many accents, his understanding of the text, and his perfect pacing all added greatly to the overall experience. This one is definitely worth a credit.