Uncovering the Unexpected Benefits of Hunger: A Fascinating True Story

Amazon Customer: This story is a beautiful reminder of the strength of character, bonds of family and perspective of a time of War that’s not as widely read. Adam’s story is inspiring and the writing fills my heart and me searching for more after the last page has been read. You will love every page and it’s Amazing this book is now approved for reading in BC schools. A beautiful story that continues to be shared.

United States on Dec 28, 2023

Cornell St Jean: The Upside of Hunger is a wonderfully told and incredible story. I feel honoured to have been able to read about Adam’s life (the main character) and was left feeling somewhat ashamed about the, comparatively, privileged upbringing I was so fortunate to have. How privileged many of us have been. This is a great book, a real page-turner that I have been encouraging everyone I know to read.

Canada on Jan 20, 2023

pamarella: This is a great book. It good be entitled “The Life and Times of Adam Baumann” or the “Great Adventures of Adam Baumann.” What an amazing guy! He endured so much with a father who loved him but was abusive in his punishments and very strict in his upbringing. Adam had charm and was highly intelligent and things seemed to always work out for him. He was so likeable and able to sell his ideas. He suffered as a young man, a teenager, in the German army. He was bold and courageous. Just an amazing guy! He was very successful in his life. I very much enjoyed reading about his life. The author did a wonderful job sharing his life story. Well done!!
pamarella
PRCS

United States on May 16, 2022

lh76: This was a story of hope and adventure. It was a story down the memory lane of a lad named Adam. This boy was a strong willed passionate person who grew into an adventurous man who never could sit still. It was a great story of growth and passion.

Canada on Jan 31, 2022

SilverchildSilverchild: The Upside of Hunger is a biography of a living person in the form of a novel. Adam Baumann is a modern Odysseus/Ulysseus, he is restless and craves for adventure.
Growing up in a small Hungarian village in the first half of the 20th century Adam Baumann feels like he's suffocating. Is it the difficult relationship with his father, a man of strong convictions, or something else, deeper?
First time he escapes home, even though he settles in a good place, he is found and brought back. He has many interests and excels at school so that he wins a scholarship for a university in the big city, but war cancels his dreams of another life. So, he joins World War II for the mere adventure and he survives! But after the war comes peace, and for a man like Adam, who thrives at everything he does, post-war Germany, where his family finally settles, is not much more than the small Hungarian village he grew up in. So, he embarks on another adventure, that will bring him to another continent and I don't think he's settled still.
Roxi Harms wrote this book after having over 400 interviews with Adam Baumann, now living in Canada, and some serious research. All profits are directed to The...

Germany on Jan 28, 2021

Kindle Customer: This was a really good book. At times it seems like a Hungarian version of Tom Sawyer, then a WWII version of All Quiet on the Western Front, then even a German-Canadian version of a Horatio Alger story. In short, it has a little bit everything about the life and travails of a very interesting person.
The title seemed a little quirky until I got into the book. Adam Baumann, the main character was born a small village in Hungary, where he, his parents, and most of their neighbors spoke German as their first language. Young Adam was always getting into mischief, usually for not working hard enough, then his father -- literally -- beat a a strong sense of work ethic into him with his leather belt. Then Adam ran away, actually more than once. On the road, he often went hungry, but rather than bemoan his fate, he did something about it. This is the theme of his book. From his pre-teen years to late middle age he was a go-getter and a problem solver in the very best ways. Another thing, he wouldn't accept no for an answer. When big sister was stuck in the Russian Zone of Occupation after WWII, he decided he would sneak over to get her and return her to the family in the American...

United States on Nov 08, 2020

Ay Ak: Really had a great time with this book which was written as a fiction although it's a true tale. The story of Adam is quite interesting right from the first chapter till the last one!

United Kingdom on Apr 08, 2020

Rebecca Adair: Historical fiction is probably my favorite genre, and the WWII era has always interested me. I even took a one-on-one class with a history professor in grad school to study Nazi Germany. The professor had me start with "The first casualty," which is a book that tells you that the first casualty of war is truth.
With this book, the author gathers so much truth that it's painful! It's hard to imagine the conditions Adam lived in, and the risks he took just to survive. It's incredibly impressive what he was willing to do to thrive in his adopted Canada. So many times he could have given up, but his persistence is a tribute to all who do more than just survive the horrors of war and its aftermath.
Rarely do we see a book of this era written from the perspective of a German from Hungary. What an educational opportunity for all of us--even those of us familiar with the time period--to learn how much we just don't know! When I look at today's world, particularly the kind of society I am privileged enough to enjoy, I am struck by how much has changed, and how much still needs to. The communication ability of today is light years away from what was going on in Adam's youth, yet so...

United States on Apr 04, 2020

Kindle Customer Helen Jessup: This is a fantastic book full of laughter, joy and the ugly truth of war. Adam is an amazing man who is very lucky with prospecting, work and ingenuity. He is a marvelous character always looking forward to his next venture.

Australia on Jun 28, 2019

M. A. Gratton: This books tells the story of Adam, his family and people, Germanic settlers living in western Hungary at a time when the world was changing very rapidly from small village agrarian society to industrialized nations, and political forces were entering from all angles. This leads us through the last Great War to Adam finding his way in another country and settling down to make his mark in life for his family, community and country.

I admit I had a hard time entering into reading this perhaps knowing more about the book and it’s protagonist that others might have. I am glad I took the time to challenge my perceptions of right and wrong, good and evil, to dig deeper and understand a history and narrative of a people and a region of the world that I might not have otherwise come to know and understand. I am a better person for it.

This book is well written stemming from hundreds of hours of interviews between the author and the protagonist. More historical than fiction, many will come to appreciate its stark realities of the time described, as well as appreciate the pace of the book through Adam’s life. It is easy to read in both spurts and starts as it is to just...

United States on Oct 21, 2018