The Upside of Hunger by Roxi Harms

The Upside of Hunger is an overstuffed piece of history. It was vivid and colourful, and I read it quickly. I was powerless to resist. The story begins with an introduction to Adam Baumann, a 12-year-old fugitive, in Eastern Hungary in 1941. Adam was born in Hungary but has German ancestry.

The son of a destitute tenant farmer, he does not wish to become one himself. He is fleeing because of this. Adam is a driven individual with ambitions. But he also cherishes his family. He so feels relieved when he is found and returned home. He was missing his family more than the farm.

Adam has become a citizen of Canada, where the story finishes in the present. He is wed to Jean, a charming woman born in Canada. The fact that they have children who are all doing well shows that Adam values his family. Adam has established himself as a successful businessman and is now retired and rich.

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High excitement abounds on the trek from the squalor of Hungary to the riches of Canada. I won’t get into details. To offer the reader a taste of the pleasures inside, however: Adam plays on the wrong team on the Eastern front from 1944 to 1945. Adam is severely injured, and there are terrible losses. Adam’s survival in the aftermath, when the French and Russians begin to exact revenge, is nothing short of miraculous. The subsequent action in subsequent adventures is of a like calibre.

I’ll also add that the book is simple to read. This is caused in part by the captivating content, but partly by the style. The writer uses straightforward language. One could argue that it is textbook material that would be criticised as being mundane in a work with less exciting themes.

However, thanks to Adam’s imposing presence and action that is followed by action, the uncomplicated language makes it simple to create tension and picture. In conclusion, I heartily suggest The Upside of Hunger to everyone who enjoys adventure and the pre- and post-war history of East Europe.

About The Book

The Upside of Hunger is the powerful story of Adam Baumann’s coming of age in the midst of WW2 and his journey toward manhood, from the rarely told perspective of a Hungarian-born German.

EASTERN HUNGARY, 1941 – desperate to escape his father’s iron fist, 12-year-old Adam fled. But when his father traced him to the mountain village where he was living under the guise of an orphan, Adam knew he’d have to go farther next time. The military recruitment station in Vienna seemed like the perfect solution, and the age of their recruits no longer mattered to the Germans.

As autumn turned to winter and Adam lay terrified and starving in a frozen foxhole on the Eastern Front, he knew he’d made a horrible and deadly mistake. In front of him, enemy fire rained down from the approaching Russian army. Behind him, his German commander’s orders were clear – hold steady.

Then, a Russian bullet found its mark, catapulting Adam into a series of terrifying captures and narrow escapes from enemy forces as Europe reeled from the final destruction of WW2.

Never standing still, Adam struggled through war-torn landscapes to find his family and began to build a life from the ashes, until the results of a medical examination at an American Embassy in Germany changed the course of his future again.

Fans of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale, and Unbroken will enjoy this riveting true story of courage in the face of unbeatable odds.