Book Of Famine


Poetry - General
55 Pages
Reviewed on 05/19/2023
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Author Biography

Zachary Valtschanoff (1992) is an author of poetry, prose poetry and short story collections.

His first book "Revelations" (2020) and its sequels: “Revelations – Part II” (2021) and “Revelations – Part III” (2021), represent a trilogy of miniatures.

His next books, “Book of Feast (2022) and “Book of Famine” (2022) form a duology of contradictory light and dark themes.

His latest book, “Echoes of Reason and Madness” (2023) explores the short poetry form.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Robin Goodfellow for Readers' Favorite

Book of Famine by Zachary Valtschanoff is a poetry book detailing an individual’s struggles confronting the cruelty around and within him. The work is divided into three parts. War outlines the cowardice the narrator must face as he fights against a “rat”, himself, and others who desire his downfall. Plague details the harsh burden the narrator’s life has left on him, as hopelessness eventually consumes him. Death illustrates the narrator succumbing to addiction, though there is a seed of resilience against his weakness.

It’s quite interesting that Zachary Valtschanoff decided to name the chapters of his book after three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. At first, I was confused as to why he wouldn’t include “conquest” in the midst. Then I realized that, with war and plague, conquest has already won. From then on the narrator struggles with his mental and emotional well-being, hence the rats that have come sniffing for his blood. I specifically enjoyed Plague, which details the codependency the narrator suffered, so much so that to cope with it he would ultimately resort to addiction. As bleak as Death begins, it becomes transformative, to the extent that you can only hope there’s a better ending for the narrator and that all his suffering has not been meaningless. Book of Famine is a dark, ominous work that depicts an individual’s fight with his shadows, and how, despite all the horrors that came with it, he still found hope in the end. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy realistic portrayals of mental illness.