“Louder Than Hunger” by John Schu: “In achingly honest free verse, the author takes readers inside the life of a boy with an eating disorder and a loud voice in his head” (front flap)

—Who is this narrator?

“I’m hoping by writing my name (Jake) over and over, I’ll figure out who I am” (1, pp. 5-6).

Comment: How could he know everyone calls him “Jake,” but not be sure who he is? Perhaps the narrator is really a nameless alternate personality.

He says, “I look at a photo of Emily Dickinson taped to my desk. I know her poem by heart. “I’m nobody! Who are you…Are you—Nobody—too? (1, p. 8).

—Mirror 

“In the mirror is an ugly, grotesque blob staring back at me, telling me I’m a waste of space, pathetic, worthless. Is that really me? I usually avoid mirrors” (1, p. 50).

Comment:“MPD patients often report seeing themselves as different people when they look into a mirror…In some instances, these alterations of perception of self are so disturbing that the individuals may phobically avoid mirrors (2, p. 62).

—Title, Louder Than Hunger

Comment: The title of this book refers to the loud, coherent voice that the protagonist hears in his head. This title, in and of itself, suggests that this is a multiple personality story: “Almost always, the voices (in MPD) are described as being “heard” within the patient’s head or experienced as ‘loud thoughts.’ They are usually heard clearly and distinctly. These features can help to distinguish them from the auditory hallucinations found in schizophrenic patients, which are more often (but certainly not always) experienced as emanating from outside the person and are often heard indistinctly. The hallucinatory voices of MPD patients often carry on lengthy discussions that seem coherent and logical to the patient” (2, p. 62).

Like novelists conversing with their characters.

1. John Schu. Louder Than Hunger. Somerville Massachusetts, Candlewick Press, 2024.

2. Frank W. Putnam, MD. Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, The Guilford Press, 1989.