Like Hunger probes the ways in which Joyce Carol Oates's characters strive for some kind of faith. When traditional religions become uncompelling, Oates's characters reach for beliefs that reflect distinctly American values, ranging from faith in celebrities, food, or science to continual efforts at finding an idea of home. Drawing on works throughout Oates's six-decade career, David S. Rutledge uncovers how hunger often functions as a metaphor for the need to believe, and how this constant and unappeasable desire frequently leaves her characters searching for a narrative to maintain their sense of self and purpose—a story by which to define themselves.

Like Hunger offers an important reassessment of a major American writer, arguing that Oates's work expresses an underlying faith in storytelling, one of the ultimate values embodied in her art.