Official Review: Into the Eyes of Hungry by Leila Kulpas

[Brendan Donaghy]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Into the Eyes of Hungry" by Leila Kulpas.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Into the Eyes of Hungry is a memoir by a retired psychiatrist, Leila Kulpas. Described by the author as a work of creative non-fiction, the book details her upbringing two hundred miles north of Sydney in rural Australia in the 1940s and 1950s. The title is a reference to an old horse called Hungry, rather than to any lack of food.

The book describes the author’s childhood from the age of about three until the time she leaves home at seventeen. The story divides into four parts. The first one deals with the author’s earliest memories from when the family lived in tents for a period and made a living trading rabbit skins. At this point, Leila is the youngest of three children, along with her brother Claude and sister Amelia. They are then joined by a fourth child, Laurence. The second and longest section of the book, from when the author was five, describes the family’s move back to the mountain to live in an isolated farm five thousand feet above sea level. The third part is from when the author was twelve or thirteen and taking the first steps towards adulthood. The fourth section is an Afterword that informs the reader about what happened to Leila, along with the other members of her family, in later life. The book doesn’t always run in a strict chronological line, as the author sometimes allows her memory to move backward or forwards through her childhood. There are about fifty photographs included in the book which help put faces to the people described in the text.

This is a fine book, but it can be a hard read in places. The author describes the difficult relationship she had with her parents. Her father fought a constant battle with alcohol, while her mother had her own demons which caused her to fly into uncontrollable rages. The consequences of this were that Leila and, to a lesser extent her siblings, endured traumatic days growing up. Early in the book, she recounts an incident when, as a toddler, she strays into an enclosure where the horses are feeding. She recalls looking at her father’s old horse Hungry and feeling safe in his ‘huge brown eyes full of warmth and caring.’ It is a measure of the tension that she lived with constantly that her strongest memory of safety is this one. Leila’s story is not all gloom and despondency, however. There is a lot of love in the book too. Aunts, uncles, and friends of the family provided the children with much-needed stability at times. Moreover, it is clear from the book that Leila’s mother and father were loving parents who sacrificed much for their children, despite their flaws.

The author writes beautifully. Her depiction of life growing up in such an inhospitable landscape makes fascinating reading. She brings alive for the reader the reality of living so close to nature with all its concomitant joy and drudgery. Her dialogue rings true while the characters she talks about are rounded and relatable. She tells her story with searing honesty, which possibly makes this book an uncomfortable read for those family members still alive.

If I disliked anything about the book, it was that I found the footnotes a bit irritating at times. Mostly, these are to do with scraps of dialect or names of tools that often could have been guessed at from the context. On other occasions, one will read the footnote provided, but then find that the subject is explained in a conversation within the text. This is a minor gripe, however, which did not spoil my enjoyment of the story.

I am giving this book four stars out of four. It has been professionally edited as I found only a handful of minor errors. There are a few curse words scattered around, and while there is no sexual content, rape and other adult themes are discussed. Religion doesn’t feature too much in the book as both the author’s parents were atheists. For these reasons, I would recommend the book to older teenagers and adults who enjoy memoirs and social histories.

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Into the Eyes of Hungry
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[Miller56]

Thanks for the review. I am glad you explained the title because my mind definitely went to a story about living in a world where the author was living in poverty and struggling to eat on a daily basis. This book sounds very interesting. I will have to add it to my list of books to read.

[MsH2k]

Thank you for the clarification in the first paragraph of your review. I also thought the little girl pictured did not have enough food to eat. Wonderful review!

[Cecilia_L]

The author writes beautifully. Her depiction of life growing up in such an inhospitable landscape makes fascinating reading. She brings alive for the reader the reality of living so close to nature with all its concomitant joy and drudgery. Her dialogue rings true while the characters she talks about are rounded and relatable. She tells her story with searing honesty, which possibly makes this book an uncomfortable read for those family members still alive.

This sounds like an engaging read, but I can also understand why parts of it may be difficult to read. Thanks for the recommendation.

[kdstrack]

What an intriguing review! It would be captivating to learn how her childhood influenced her choice of career. The title and the incident that triggered it are fascinating! Her parents and her childhood environment have deeply piqued my interest. Living at such a high altitude is a hard life, indeed. Thanks for this amazing recommendation!

[LauraLeeWasHere]

Dear Brendan,

It is good to read one of your reviews for the first time and it's obvious you take your job very seriously. I could tell you read the book with an analytical mind and were determined to make sure we had all the information needed to make a decision whether or not to dig into this story and topic for ourselves. From the tone you write with, you apparently view your readers as people with a brain.

Thank you for your take on hunger because it is a weighty issue and it's good to have some help to wade through it from Kulpas and you. Well-done.

Sincerely, LLR

[Kanda_theGreat]

I'm impressed by your writing skills. Reading your review not only provided first hand information about the book, but also gave me a one on one interaction with some of the thematic concerns that have emerged in the text.
Thank you for the wonderful review.

[Brendan Donaghy]

Thank you for the clarification in the first paragraph of your review. I also thought the little girl pictured did not have enough food to eat. Wonderful review!

Thanks for the review. I am glad you explained the title because my mind definitely went to a story about living in a world where the author was living in poverty and struggling to eat on a daily basis. This book sounds very interesting. I will have to add it to my list of books to read.

I agree that the title is perhaps a bit misleading - many thanks to both of you for commenting on this!

[Brendan Donaghy]

The author writes beautifully. Her depiction of life growing up in such an inhospitable landscape makes fascinating reading. She brings alive for the reader the reality of living so close to nature with all its concomitant joy and drudgery. Her dialogue rings true while the characters she talks about are rounded and relatable. She tells her story with searing honesty, which possibly makes this book an uncomfortable read for those family members still alive.

This sounds like an engaging read, but I can also understand why parts of it may be difficult to read. Thanks for the recommendation.

Definitely worth a look at if you get the time. Thanks for commenting!

[Brendan Donaghy]

What an intriguing review! It would be captivating to learn how her childhood influenced her choice of career. The title and the incident that triggered it are fascinating! Her parents and her childhood environment have deeply piqued my interest. Living at such a high altitude is a hard life, indeed. Thanks for this amazing recommendation!

Good point. I think I'm right in saying that childhood trauma was a big focus of her work, so it's probably fair to say that her own experiences had some influence on that. Thanks for commenting!

[Brendan Donaghy]

Dear Brendan,

It is good to read one of your reviews for the first time and it's obvious you take your job very seriously. I could tell you read the book with an analytical mind and were determined to make sure we had all the information needed to make a decision whether or not to dig into this story and topic for ourselves. From the tone you write with, you apparently view your readers as people with a brain.

Thank you for your take on hunger because it is a weighty issue and it's good to have some help to wade through it from Kulpas and you. Well-done.

Sincerely, LLR

Thank you for taking time to comment!

[Brendan Donaghy]

I'm impressed by your writing skills. Reading your review not only provided first hand information about the book, but also gave me a one on one interaction with some of the thematic concerns that have emerged in the text.
Thank you for the wonderful review.

Thank you for your comments - much appreciated!

[MustaHarleen]

That's an interesting name for a horse. The title is catchy and I love the authors deviation from the obvious. I assumed the book was about famine when I first read the title. This sounds like an amazing book and you gave us a wonderful review of it. Thanks and congratulations.

[Brendan Donaghy]

That's an interesting name for a horse. The title is catchy and I love the authors deviation from the obvious. I assumed the book was about famine when I first read the title. This sounds like an amazing book and you gave us a wonderful review of it. Thanks and congratulations.

Thank you for commenting!

[Ellylion]

I find memoirs to be a very interesting genre and will gladly give this book a try. A work of creative non-fiction sounds very intriguing Thank you for a great review!