That night I ordered my own copy and when it arrived I devoured it in two days. Sadly, I had to part ways with that particular copy but I could not stop thinking about her words on my drive home. I recognized Roxane’s name so I picked it up immediately and read about a quarter of it in one sitting. (I had forgotten to pack everything from face wash to shoes.) I looked around and saw Hunger sitting on a table in our rented cottage. Her name stuck with me though and at my recent girl’s weekend everyone was relaxing and reading one afternoon except for me. I was curious but in the middle of reading a few other books and working on my blog so I didn’t read any of her work at that time. I had to know who this woman was that everyone was raving about. Not literally of course but people were going CRAZY for Roxane, maybe literally, I don’t know. ( Bad Feminist is enroute to my house courtesy of Amazon Prime as I type this.) In fact, I had never heard of Roxane until she came to Pittsburgh earlier this year and my Twitter feed BLEW UP. What can I take from their story to guide my own? Hunger is the first work by Roxane Gay that I have read but it will not be the last. I try to pull out lessons from the author I can apply to my own life. When I read books today, particularly essays and memoirs, I am still looking for meaning.
(We didn’t have Wikipedia back then.) My friend looked at me and shut down my overactive, analytical brain with one remark, “I think it’s just a story.” I don’t remember my actual analysis but I do know I was trying very hard to determine what the song was about. “Maybe when he references a letter he really means his heart,” I would say, or something close to that. I started to attribute deep meaning to every line. I remember listening to Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam over and over in High School.
I started to analyze everything I read, from the Bible to novels to poetry to songs. I pulled apart verses and parables, trying to glean every ounce of wisdom, reading symbolism into each word, and personalizing everything.
It was full of stories and lessons I could apply to my life.