In my experience as a healer we all have hungry ghosts and as Rollo May wrote years ago, in his book called Love and Will, the Demonic energies that we project onto others, as well as our angelic energies, become demonic because we disconnect from these energies. In the end, I stopped looking up all the new words, which could not be found in the Kindle’s own dictionary and began to skim read. Which is no way to be reading. all addictions—whether to drugs or to non-drug behaviors—share the same brain circuits and brain chemicals. On the biochemical level the purpose of all addictions is to create an altered physiological state in the brain. This can be achieved in many ways, drug taking being the most direct. So an addiction is never purely “psychological”; all addictions have a biological dimension.”

Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein, review: This electric Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein, review: This electric

Will this novel win prizes? Undoubtedly. In fact it is the first book I have read this year that I hope to see on the Booker Longlist. Shyam Selvadurai’s novels are sad. They’re difficult to read. However, they are beautiful and heart-wrenching stories that portray realistic situations and people’s reactions to these events. The older brother christened their union with a name: Corbeau, for the large vulture, a carrion feeder, a bird that stays alive by seeking the dead. Ultimately, this was a depressing and heavy read and I was disappointed that there weren’t many references to ghosts at all. I don’t think I really liked any of the characters? Apart from Rookmin.

BookBrowse Review

In Buddhist myth, the dead may be reborn as "hungry ghosts"—spirits with stomach so large they can never be full—if they have desired too much during their lives. It is the duty of the living relatives to free those doomed to this fate by doing kind deeds and creating good karma. In Shyam Selvadurai’s sweeping new novel, his first in more than a decade, he creates an unforgettable ghost, a powerful Sri Lankan matriarch whose wily ways, insatiable longing for land, houses, money and control, and tragic blindness to the human needs of those around her parallels the volatile political situation of her war-torn country. O brahmana, by that sin I became a ghost with mouth as small as the hole of a needle and body as huge as a mountain.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

First, we follow Hans Saroop, his wife Shweta, and their son Krishna. At first glance, Hans and Shweta seem like a happy couple, Shweta a dutiful wife and Hans a hardworking, faithful husband. Their son Krishna on the other hand is full of mischief and tends to get into trouble. Not every story has a happy ending, ... but the discoveries of science, the teachings of the heart, and the revelations of the soul all assure us that no human being is ever beyond redemption. The possibility of renewal exists so long as life exists. How to support that possibility in others and in ourselves is the ultimate question.” Being cut off from our own natural self-compassion is one of the greatest impairments we can suffer. Along with our ability to feel our own pain go our best hopes for healing, dignity and love. What seems nonadapative and self-harming in the present was, at some point in our lives, an adaptation to help us endure what we then had to go through. If people are addicted to self-soothing behaviours, it's only because in their formative years they did not receive the soothing they needed. Such understanding helps delete toxic self-judgment on the past and supports responsibility for the now. Hence the need for compassionate self-inquiry.”

Reader Reviews

At the centre of this story, is the immigrant experience. Shivan Rassiah and his family, Tamil by name, flee Sri Lanka for fear of what could happen to them because of the immense civil unrest in that country at that time. They arrive in Canada, where Shivan's family must adapt, practically overnight, and start anew in a strange land. The author has created a group of characters that are morally ambiguous and complex. They doggedly nurture their aspirations while discovering that dreams can morph into nightmares and appetites can transform to despair.Their depth is enhanced by a cadence that has echoes of a griot’s oral recitation. The atmosphere reeks of impending tragedy and slowly unfolds a history of poverty, racial and religious discrimination and class stratification.The secondary characters are well drawn and function at times akin to a Greek chorus, commenting on events and occasionally shaping the trajectory of future developments.The gap between desires and fulfillment becomes more palpable as events unfold. Hosein's characters warrant investment, as their hopes and fears strike a chord. Yet a looming cloud of violence and narcissism pervades the island, prompting the reader's urge to scream a warning to the imperiled characters or to hold their breath, hoping against the odds that somehow the goodness of humanity will prevail. Sadly, it rarely does. Hungry Ghosts is an intriguing read that forces us to confront the harsh realities of life and its varying juxtapositions of violence and beauty, love and hate, faith and despair... continued The plot pivots on Dalton Changoor’s disappearance, which prompts Marlee to pay Hans extra to keep watch overnight – money Hans wants to buy his family a plot of land for a house in Bell. Shweta realises, too late, she never “exactly agreed” to Hans taking the post. There isn’t a dud moment or misplaced word. Hosein – a biology teacher who writes poems and stories by night – has a poet’s gift for similes (“the dawnlight appeared as a single painted fingernail hoisting itself over the mountain range, glowing hot and focused as a soldering iron”). But his writing is at its electric best when the weather is as stormy as his characters’ emotions. From the Latin word vulnerare, “to wound,” vulnerability is our susceptibility to be wounded. This fragility is part of our nature and cannot be escaped. The best the brain can do is to shut down conscious awareness of it when pain becomes so vast or unbearable that it threatens to overwhelm our capacity to function. The automatic repression of painful emotion is a helpless child’s prime defense mechanism and can enable the child to endure trauma that would otherwise be catastrophic.”

of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with

The war mentality represents an unfortunate confluence of ignorance, fear, prejudice, and profit. ... The ignorance exists in its own right and is further perpetuated by government propaganda. The fear is that of ordinary people scared by misinformation but also that of leaders who may know better but are intimidated by the political costs of speaking out on such a heavily moralized and charged issue. The prejudice is evident in the contradiction that some harmful substances (alcohol, tobacco) are legal while others, less harmful in some ways, are contraband. This has less to do with the innate danger of the drugs than with which populations are publicly identified with using the drugs. The white and wealthier the population, the more acceptable is the substance. And profit. If you have fear, prejudice, and ignorance, there will be profit.” The only thing I wish was that he had a dictionary for the words native to Trinidad. For instance, (I know Jamaican patois very well) a Duppy and a Jumbie are the same, just different cultures. However! Being from NYC, that's a word I'm highly familiar with. But there was a lot that I had to look up because they were more proper in tone. Just a guess! As I said, I listened to my ex speak Jamaican Patois for 35 years. Often criticised for being bleak, this book draws in a harsh reality for hundreds of thousands of Tamil migrants to ‘western’ nations during the Sri Lankan civil war. Selvadurai creates characters with such lived-in experiences, allowing you to perfectly visualise each and every interaction that takes place throughout the novel. Atmospheric, immersive, un-put-down-able, truly impressive storytelling from a Caribbean voice you will want to hear from again…and again….Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.