The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) (original) (raw)
897 reviews14.8k followers
Suzanne Collins has balls ovaries of steel to make us willingly cheer for a teenage girl to kill other children. In a YA book.
Two reasons why this book rocks: (a) It is not Twilight, and (b) I really hate reality shows.
Seriously, how long would it take for reality shows to evolve from "Survivor" to "Hunger Games"?
Yes, this book is full of imperfections. It often requires a strenuous suspension of disbelief. It can cause a painful amount of eye-rolling and shaking fist at the book pages. Its style is choppy and the first-person present tense gets annoying. The story is simple, and the message is heavy-handed. But is does set a better example for young impressionable pre-teens than gushing stories about sparkly co-dependency. And here is an obligatory taken out of contest Twilight-bashing quote:
“But just the fact that he was sparkling leads me to doubt everything that happened.”
So why did I add it to my to-read list for my future (hypothetical) daughter? Because Katniss is cool and a badass. She is fierce, independent, resourceful, intelligent, and skilled. She is loyal to her friends and family. She is a survivor. She will never allow a guy to carry her around as though she is a delicate flower. She skewers that apple in the pig's mouth with an arrow in front of the Gamemakers in the most awesome way imaginable. For all that, I love this imperfect, surly, prickly, sullen and perpetually pissed-off, quick to jump to judgment, and sometimes clueless girl.
And I love this book because - despite The Hunger Games being YA literature that seems to hinge on the romantic puppy love - the happiness of Katniss does not revolve solely around a cute male lead. Yes, there is a (hated) love triangle here *eyeroll* but there are other issues that occupy Katniss' mind - such as the survival of her friends, family, and herself rather than just pining over a cute boy. (*)
* Unlike other so-called "books", where a boyfriend of a few months dumping you is a valid reason for catatonia and almost-suicide.(**)
** And yet we still get readers who divide themselves into the incredibly annoying "Team Peeta" and "Team Gale". (***)
*** Because clearly nothing else ever matters besides sappy love - in a book about children murdering each other. *eyeroll*
Now, here is what bugged me about the romance that DID make it into the book. There is actually a LOST OPPORTUNITY here to have a YA book where people CAN be just friends, where devotion and loyalty stem from friendship and respect and not from attraction.
Katniss and Peeta could have had plenty of other reasons to care for each other that don't include puppy love - they are from the same district, same school, he gave her that bread, she trades with his dad, etc. But alas, that did not happen. I understand that Collins had to cater to the way that YA publishers and Hollywood tend to view us, the female audience. At least Katniss escapes the perils of insta-love. But poor Peeta - all of his actions are colored by him being "Lover Boy", and I think it detracts from his personality and reduces him from a kind compassionate person to a fool in love who'd do anything for Katniss only because of his physical attraction to her. Yeah...
...Rue...Oh, Rue...
Now, back to the GOOD. Rue, my favorite character. Little, fragile, almost-too-perfect Rue who was clearly doomed from the start. Who despite her appearance was neither weak nor helpless. Whose brought the human side to Katniss (who, until that point, was almost bordering on robotic). There was real grief and anger and sadness in that scene, and from that point on I began to care.
Suzanne Collins strictly follows the "show, don't tell" rule. (Actually, she does it to such an extent that the book reads almost like a screenplay.) The plot moves along at a fast pace, only slowing down a bit in the drawn out Capitol makeover and cave makeout sessions. Collins does not shy away from gruesome scenes, making many parts of the book hit home.
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I enjoyed it despite the imperfections. Katniss easily beats the majority of the popular YA heroines. And because of all her coolness, this gets 3.75 stars.
"Exactly how am I supposed to work in a thank-you in there? Somehow it just won't seem sincere if I'm trying to slit his throat."
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EDITED TO ADD:
So I saw the movie today. All I have to say - Suzanne Collins may have given life to Katniss, but Jennifer Lawrence definitely gave her heart. Lawrence's Katniss has such emotional depth, and she brings such truthfulness to her character. Excellent adaptation with a great balance of tugging on the heartstrings and darkness.
I CRIED TWICE (yes, apparently I am less of a cynic than I thought).
First time - when Katniss volunteers for Prim and people salute her. I JUST CHOKED UP. It felt so real. I have a brother who is much younger than me, and all I could think at that moment was how I would do the exact same thing for him WITHOUT ANY HESITATION. It wouldn't even be a choice. Just like it wasn't for Katniss. *Sob*
The second time I teared up - Rue. Oh Rue... And the salute from District 11 - so powerful and so touching. I...I...I just can't...
PLEASE EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO AND GRAB A BOX OF TISSUES. OR TWO. OR TEN. *SOB*
awesome-kickass-heroines for-my-future-hypothetical-daughter i-also-saw-the-film
807 reviews2,904 followers
Dystopian Perfection.
In a post-apocalyptic future, life has turned extremely hard. Fighting poverty and hunger every day, sixteen years old hunter Katniss does absolutely everything in her power to have enough for her defenseless little sister, and a barely lucid mother. Life is hard, yet not impossible, until the one fateful day arrives. Once every year, the ever vigilant all powerful Capitol of Panem celebrates for their entertainment the “Hunger Games”, a yearly tournament where a handful representatives of each district are forced to fight in a massive arena, to the death. In a sad turn of events, young Katniss will have to fight not only for herself, but for the future of her starving family.
I think this series needs as much introduction as Lord of the Rings; but what the hey, old habits die hard. Maybe not everyone has read it, maybe not everyone has watched it, but doubt anyone has never heard of it at some point. One of the greatest dystopian fiction of all time, or at least one of the best-selling ones. A literature masterpiece? Hardly. One of the most entertaining ever? Quite possibly! Astounding world building and character development. Not a profound reading at all, but a plot perfectly balanced, fast paced and action packed; if you can withstand YA that is, and the triangle thingy. Along with Percy Jackson and Divergent, one of the pillar series that sparked my literary addiction. Highly Recommendable.
*** Hunger Games (2012) is a superb adaptation, maybe as good as the book, if not better. Highly popcorn and re-watch worthy. I don’t normally reread, or feel the desire to; but lost count of how many times I’ve watched the movie on TV. It just never gets old, and is perfect, for what it is; really bringing the characters alive in a way a book never can, and few adaptations ever succeed. Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson just marvelous in their roles, with an unforgettably heartbreaking performance by Amandla Stenberg as Rue too. Still, even a decade later I can never forget that Madge Undersee was left out of the adaptation; and the Tessera system hardly explained or mentioned; along with a few other minor things cut out. Not one of the greatest films but one of the greatest adaptations ever, hands down. One of those few cases where I think I ultimately prefer the movie rather than the book. Extremely Recommendable.
Team Peeta btw.
Also. Fatniss I’m scared! <3
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PERSONAL NOTE :
[2008] [374p] [Dystopia] [YA] [4.5] [Highly Recommendable]
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★★★★★ 1. The Hunger Games [4.5]
★★★★★ 2. Catching Fire
★★★★☆ 3. Mockingjay [3.5]
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Perfección Distópica.
En un futuro post apocalíptico, la vida se ha vuelto extremadamente dura. Luchando contra la pobreza y el hambre cada día, la cazadora Katniss de dieciséis años hace todo lo humanamente posible en su poder para tener lo suficiente para su indefensa pequeña hermana, y una apenas lúcida madre. La vida es difícil, pero no imposible, hasta que un día llega el fatídico día. Una vez cada año, el siempre vigilante y todo poderoso Capitolio de Panem celebra para su entretenimiento los “Juegos del Hambre”, un evento anual en una masiva arena donde un puñado de representantes de cada distrito son forzados a lugar, hasta la muerte. En un triste giro de eventos, la joven Katniss deberԕ luchar no sólo por sí misma, sino por el futuro de su hambrienta familia.
Creo que esta serie necesita tanta introducción como El Señor de los Anillos; pero qué demonios, los viejos hábitos nunca descansan. Tal vez no todos lo hayan leído, tal vez no todos lo hayan visto, pero dudo que nadie no haya escuchado hablarlo en algún momento. Una de las más grandes ficciones distópicas de toda la historia, o al menos de las que mejor vendieron ¿Una obra maestra literaria? Difícilmente ¿Una de las más entretenidas jamás? Muy probablemente. Increíble construcción de mundo y desarrollo de personajes. No una lectura muy profunda en absoluto, pero con una trama perfectamente balanceada, rápida en el ritmo y cargada de acción; si podés soportar lo Joven Adulto claro, y el coso ese del triángulo. Junto con Percy Jackson y Divergente, una de las series pilares que encendieron mi adicción literaria. Altamente Recomendable.
*** Los Juegos del Hambre (2012) es una sobresaliente adaptación, tal vez tan buena como el libro, sino mejor. Altamente digna de palomitas y volver a ver una y otra vez. Normalmente nunca releo, ni siento el deseo; pero perdí la cuenta de cuántas veces he visto la película por TV. Nunca se gasta, y es perfecta, para lo que es; realmente trayendo a la vida a los personajes de una forma que un libro nunca puede, y pocas adaptaciones llegan a lograr. Jennifer Lawrence y Josh Hutcherson absolutamente maravillosos en sus roles, con una inolvidablemente desgarradora actuación de Amandla Stenberg como Rue también. Igual, incluso una década después no puedo olvidar que cortaron a Madge Undersee fuera la trama; y el sistema de las Teselas apenas explicado o mencionado; entre otras pequeñas cosas que quedaron fuera. No una de las mejores películas pero sí una de las mejores adaptaciones jamás, sin duda. Uno de esos casos donde creo que en última instancia prefiero la película sobre el libro. Extremadamente Recomendable.
Equipo Peeta por cierto.
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NOTA PERSONAL :
[2008] [374p] [Distopía] [Joven Adulto] [4.5] [Altamente Recomendable]
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360 reviews871 followers
LMAAAOOOO! Thats Peeta folks! xD
Hahahahaha, Totally! xD
HAHAHAHAHA! Laughed my ass off on this! XD
OMFG. HUNGER GAMES. CINEMA. O.O IT.WAS.FREAKING.AMAZING. ♥
Am I...am I still alive...? o.O *pinches myself* -ouch! Yes, I can stay alive for the next movie.
And I was crying before the movie even started. Damn cinema, showing 'The Titanic 3D' movie trailer. >.<
OMG, there were sooo many moments where I was crying. And God, I love my Pakistani people, they were so much fun to watch with :') <3
Go and watch The Hunger Games movie NOW!
When is the next movie coming? :'D <3
I just died. OH YES I DID becaaaussseee...
‘Hunger Games’ Clip: Peeta Mellark’s Interview With Caesar!!!
OMG PEETA LOOKS SO HOT! OMG OMG OMG! <3 And how he says, well, shes here with me! :'D
http://mockingjay.net/2012/03/12/hung...
The Hunger Games ET Behind The Scenes [Extended Version]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...
*Yes people, in this video you can watch Peeta escaping for his life, throwing breads and hugging Katniss* EEEE! ^_^
Five Days and 21 hours till the Red carpet premiere...
OMFG OMFG OMFG! O_O
Anyway guys, KATNISS AND CINNA FULL 4 MIN SCENE!
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/the-hun...
Another SONG released. Its so creppy and weird. LOVE IT! xD
Arcade Fire - Abraham's Daughter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N9qiD...
OMG! ONE OF THE HUNGER GAMES SCENES! xD
(When Katniss shoots arrow in the apple while preparing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L761Sr...
After watching this, I am like, "FUCK YEA! ^_^"
27 days.... OMFG! ^_^ SO DAMN EXCITED! :D
Anyway, new picture people!! :D
Peeta painting. Now isn’t that just adorable. XD <3
Josh Hutcherson (Awesome one)interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoow-j...
OMG OMG! THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK! <3
Deep Shadows by T.T.L:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJWT2b...
I am getting chills. This instrumental is Perfect.
New picture! =D
*Official cover*
OMG! FIRST SOUNDTRACK RELEASED! ^_^ <3
Safe and Sound by no other than TAYLOR SWIFT FT THE CIVIL WAR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEDTt...
Ok. I thought it would be like you know, metal, but this rocks! =D <3
THE OFFICIAL TRAILER! OMG OMG OMG! ITS PERFECT! ITS FAB! *girl squeal!* THIS IS SO FREAKING AMAZING! xD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-5ANq...
For me its like, I read this series. I loved them. Then I saw the first book becoming a movie. And now watching the trailer, I feel so good. Like a dream come true. =)
And I already watched the trailer like, 15-20 times. XD
Yeah. I nearly died while looking at this pictures. X__X
Whats the use of reviewing this book when its awesome and everybody knows it! I.just.can't.wait.till.freaking.March.23.2012. =D
****** May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor ! *******
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1,589 reviews163k followers
Latest BookTube Video is up - a totally serious take on writing Young Adult Lit!
The Written Review :
“Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.”
Every year, Panem (post-apacolyptic North America) hosts a Hunger Games involving one female and one male representative from each of its twelve districts to fight to the death.
All of the Districts of Panem must watch the Games as a form of yearly "entertainment" when in actuality, it's a power play put on by the Capitol (the wealthiest of the districts).
For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.
The Capitol uses the Games as a way to demonstrate the sheer helplessness of the other Districts and to keep the population cowed and in fear.
When Katniss's sister (twelve-year-old Prim) is chosen as this year's competitor, Katniss volunteers to take her place. Peeta, a boy from the "richer" side of District 12 is chosen as the male representative.
I'm more than just a piece in their Games.
Soon, she and Peeta are whisked away to the Capitol - a place of incredible wealth and heartbreaking cruelity. And while Katniss has sworn to come back to her sister, she really has to wonder, what will be left of her if she returns.
“Here's some advice. Stay alive.”
Honestly, this was the best apocalyptic YA teen novel I've read this year.
To be fair, this was one of the very first YA series I read, so every time I re-read it, I am just overwhelmed with nostalgia.
But, when I take off my rose-tinted glasses, I still think it's a pretty solid series.
The characters are really well-done.
I love how Katniss's motivation is both pure and ruthlessness - and her personality isn't tainted with over-the-top self-sacrificing eyerollingly awful simpering mess that I see in quite a few of the newer YA series.
Katniss's love for her sister humanized her otherwise stiff character. Her pride and will to survive energized the novel and kept me absolutely hooked.
I appreciate that the smidge of romance does not overpower the novel. Finally, a YA novel that plot doesn't solely hang on a love triangle - I love that it's more of a survivalist story.
Overall, really pleased with this novel - cannot wait to reread the rest!
Audiobook Comments
Read by Carolyn McCormick and she gave life to Katniss! Loved the audio.
And here's another booktube video!:
If you've ever wondered which literary world would be the best to live in, wonder no longer, cause there's a BookTube Video to answer that!
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
831 reviews41.4k followers
I was forced into watching Mockingjay: Part II this weekend. To clarify, I watched the second part of the last Hunger Games movie without having read any of the books, without having watched any of the movies.
Needless to say, I was confused as fuck.
So many questions and thoughts ran through my mind as I watched the movie. Why is Peeta so thin? Did that huge-ass bruise really disappear from her neck the next day? Is Katniss supposed to look like she's about to burst into tears at any given moment, or is that just Jennifer Lawrence? Woody Harrelson is in this movie? Hey, it's Margaery from Game of Thrones! Who's President Snow? What's a Mockingjay? Lesser Hemsworth is pretty hot.
Well, you get the point. I know how the book ended and I still have no idea who anyone is, and neither do I know their names, with the exception of Peeta, Gale, President Snow, that Coin woman, and Katniss. Of course, knowing how the book ended means I probably should read the first book, so here I am, the last person on earth to read The Hunger Games.
And it was good. It was really good. My sister was right (she usually is).
What else can I say that hasn't already been said? I loved it. The world building was interesting (although it helps that I've seen what it looks like on the big screen), and Katniss is awesome. One of the things my sister didn't like about the first movie is that the on-screen Katniss was different from her portrayal in the first book. I haven't watched that movie, but I kind of see how the screen portrayal of Katniss might have bothered her. Book-Katniss is strong, kick-ass without being a Mary Sue. She has a fierce love for her sister, and she is manipulative and cunning. She uses the prospect of romance to protect herself, she has no qualms about using people, and I love that about her.
Time to watch Movie #1!
413 reviews225 followers
My "Epic Book Recipe" Checklist for The Hunger Games:
1. A sharp and intelligent heroine with just the right amount of emotion who gives in to absolutely nothing and no one? 
2. A sweet and sensitive hero who loves and supports the heroine _un_conditionally?
3. An original setting with a unique and thrilling plot?
4. A couple of earth-shattering shocks every now and then to keep the readers' mind reeling?
5. Extraordinary side characters from interesting backgrounds who possess the much-needed Voice of Reason and/or Humor in every crisis?
6. Desperate circumstances that force me to bite my nails in anxiety?
7. An ending that provides the perfect premise for the sequel but also concludes the present book?
Like I said, EPIC.
For more reviews, visit my blog.
2008 authors-i-stalk buddy-slash-group-read
143 reviews109k followers
rereading this for the first time in 10 years and it feels more relevant than ever. truly a timeless classic.
272 reviews80.3k followers
she really was the blueprint
1,122 reviews492 followers
A lot of things are troubling me about The Hunger Games. A lot of things which I more and more perceive and which are not solely connected with this book but with the metaphor behind the words. People attach themselves to fictional freedom without seeing what really something is and which unfortunately is here to stay because you can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep. You can’t make a shift on a deeper level, if the only thing that attracts you to this book is – a vision of fight, retaliation and the outcome of freedom. Freedom of flesh.
In comparison to the freedom of and from your mind which is nowhere to be found.
And this is why I detest this book, although detest is such a strong from the ego word. Because the whole purpose of this story is to show how people shouldn’t sacrifice their children for the better of their communities and with the positive outcomes realise that we are so much stronger and yada yada.
THE WHOLE PURPOSE of this book should be that there shouldn’t even be in the first place a need to sacrifice members of our society for some other people to be amused. And where after the battle of ''united'' people we heal and repair the damages for the better tomorrow. The society cancer of western civilisation thinking.
Heal the damage, never heal the cause of it.
But then we wouldn’t be talking here about the same book. We would be discussing how humanity can help each other with being better, with taking responsibility and with being open to each other.
And yet imagine this paradox we live in: better, as if the majority of population can even understand that we are in constant blood thirst to achieve peace. With war comes peace. While along the way we are trying to be better and safer. Yet most people deliberately choose to live on the utmost lowest level of their existence. In fear, frightened of itself.
And people read books which are so extreme in their bullshit. And people connect with Katniss because she is the heroine. She has managed to outsmart the system. Instead of thinking that she was not even supposed be there in the first place. Because we live in society that does this to their children.
''No, we don’t!''
''We do...''
''But children can learn how to fight.''
''You teach them to fight for individual puppeteers. And instead of working on yourself, how to achieve your inner peace, you associate yourself again with the group because it feels better to be in the tortured crowd, instead of being alone and awakened.''
''What are you talking about? It is just emo gibberish. Leave Katniss alone. And in the end, it is just a book. Why don’t you want people to read and educate themselves, does everything have to be deep and meaningful, can’t you just relax?''
Yes, everything has to be deep and meaningful since we are drowning in shit of meaningless and shallow. The system as it is, the plot of this book is just another evidence to show us how we are controlled. That we are left barren from our true selves which we only find in empathy, love towards each other and genuinely understanding that we are one and everything is one. But on this provincial&marginal&primitive&emotional level, so many took this book for granted.
And the only reason I am writing this review here, the only reason I am giving it so much attention is to tell what is on my mind since it is so widely popular and since I have read it. And one of the main reasons why I can’t really keep things light and popsy is because so many things are already deep down in gutter light and popsy and mainstream. As if having money is any critieria for life, as if not having your own free will and education and information means nothing. And the other side of the rich coin is poverty with people who believe in symbols, who are sidetracked with religions, censured TV, economy and utter lack of information circulation.
And a lot of people here are trying to disregard this review and want to reassure me that I am so terribly wrong. BUT, you have yet not seen what I am talking about and it is perfectly OK.
So I followed as well screaming Goodreads recommendations and I bought a book that is stupid, violent and written so plainly but of course written for vast masses so they can be touched by fake social awareness. Because it is fake, but most of all it’s tragic.
And this is not a critique toward Collins, in my nature of a thinker and seeing her a person who shared her thoughts and which millions of people loved and connected with, I am still a firm believer that the general public just didn’t understand what she was talking about. And this is my silver lining. Because it has been like this throughout centuries and with the biggest thinkers of our civilisation. What they meant and wanted to show, is definitely not what most of the public projected.
Because the mainstream public is a group of sheep, not seeing anything properly, but following and like a Tarzan, screaming, don’t you dare stealing my Jane from me. As a metaphor, don’t you dare telling me these uplifting emotions are not true, when all in me about this book tells me that is correct and how people should live their lives.
And if the mainstream likes it, uh, then definitely that is not what it’s true.
It is just a constant reminder how so many things are left unrecognised while these superficial stories which evoke cheap emotions are always so hugely praised. It could have been just a little story but never underestimate the obese octopus that is called In God And Country We Trust - code red mentality. Mentality of humans which are too ignorant, beautifully naive and untouched basically with what is means to be socially aware.
And although this is a teen book, it is more deeply hurting and sickening because if you want to influence somebody, of course you will influence the children – and yet there is nothing that children can learn from it. They can learn some things, we all need little courageous Katniss, but on a deeper subtler level is it just an intravenous injection of more Nothing and more Numbing and more Disconnected.
At least they read is one of the arguments. And argument as fruitfull as at least they eat GMO food. One food for the blind intellect, other for the digestion which both results in basic survival without any interference of you in all of it. Because it takes courage and guts and a pinch of anarchy to stop, turn around and start questioning what is handed.
For me, the thought about giving this to a child is sickening especially because we live in this world where all the life criterias are upside down. Because a child will not learn how things are vile and disturbing because Katniss told them through her delusional and hyperventilating focus, but a child will learn about life’s cruelty, and it will be touched by it sooner or later, by questioning everything that is served in front of it.
Because if it is served somebody is earning money and you are just getting fatter and sicker.
And the children will learn how to question if you teach them how to find not if you broadcast them the answers. Not if you teach them through aggressive examples and if you keep the nation in cold sweat especially if you are lucky enough to live in the countries where oppression is not the issue but consumerism, body image and mediocrity have you on the leash.
I am astonished with a fact that around 75.000 Goodreads members read this book and that around 50.000 of them rated it 5 stars. What is it that fascinates them so much.
It’s disturbing because people obviously associate and find themselves in this book. And it's about a girl Katniss Everdeen, living in the far away future, who was chosen to participate in a cruel Big Brother game, in which 24 contestants (children age 12-18) kill each other, because live TV has become demanding, and the public loves reality blood and violence. That's it. A little bit of undeveloped and unbelievable romance between her and two boys, a little bit of her abandoned family problems, a little bit of The 5th element movie political structure, mutants and pop stylists. It’s so screwed up.
In the beginning, first 50 pages were well written. There was suspense, Katniss was sweet and witty, but overall this book is a shitty meltdown. Adding the ridiculous cliffhanger ending. Some people here are using words like dystopian literature, and then write essays about how this book is the core of it.
The core is pointlessly graphic and sadistic, without any concrete message except of the negative: this book is just proving that the world today is fucked up if this book is so successful. I don’t see the point of reading about the fictional kids who are doing this to each other.
In a metaphorical way it is promoting political establishments of certain countries and that is getting tiring. Not all people are eager to swallow the shit of general brainwashing. Katniss being the heroine (ironical quote marks). Being loyal and darling and a role model. Just wake up. Life is happening and some pretty dark things are happening while you are thinking that Katniss is the representative of the club called liberation.
For me, in a bookish way it stands for one bad one night stand, kiss and forget. But as always, readers tend to bring fiction to their real life and just as many think that kittens and superheroes are comfort zones, a lot of readers perceive this plot as their own little shrine.
But that is me not being in tune with the mainstream population which is too distracted with billboards.
Because it is easier, because why protest, why not simply take what you are given - eat your GMO Monsanto's company hamburgers, eat your cancer giving Nestle products and think that The Hunger Games are the best franchise ever, like ever. If you don't have any arguments about real life activism and if you think that there is deepness in this plot which I have yet not seen so you need to enlightened me, just include North Korea or Hitler or ISIS(L) or those poor people who are closed in Zara hangers who work nonstop ''somewhere'' in the world because obviously you are aware of the crisis although you don’t think you could show on the map but you have heard somewhere on Murdoch media.
This shit sells. It's genuinely bad but excellently targeted. You know, it evokes pride and loyalty and massacring children, freedom and scandal and Hollywood. It goes very well with all the Kardashian filth. As long as it sells, sells, sells. And marketing agencies know that people are united when they are jealous, when they want and they with those hamburgers want freedom. Nobody is going to kill their Katniss in a goddam book! Really? Take a look around you.
And then the punch line for this book comes from the so called activism from the shopping mall. People who devour literature of this kind and think that everything is all right while in the same time, fuck, you are getting oozingly fat.
Bottom line.
This book is very shallow and MTV culture oriented, like a classical example of easy consummated pop-literature; I'm very surprised that it didn't come with some trash magazine subscription. If it doesn't have savage brutality, prize money and prefix ''media coverage'' then it won't be appealing and educational because surely this is how children of 21st century survive this techno media world; through examples of true moral issues and realistic outcomes. Have another gulp of Coca-Cola along the way while you listen to dubstep shit.
It saddens me when a violent hillbillish book is so popular. What is there to truly identify yourself with. Except if your chicken soup for soul are basic emotions which come with buy 1 get 1 free.
1,252 reviews102k followers
Hello, I am back again with another breakdown review while I relearn how to write reviews. But basically the TL;DR of this review is that The Hunger Games truly holds up so well in 2020, and this reread was such a treat. I felt such nostalgia, happiness, and hope between these pages, and I already can’t wait to revisit this story again. Also, again, this review will have spoilers, so use caution if you don’t want me to tell you what happens in each chapter of this book!
“How could I leave Prim, who is the only person in the world I'm certain I love?”
➽ Chapter One:
This first chapter really starts off with a heartbreaking bang. We quickly learn so many characters, but we even more quickly learn what type of character Katniss Everdeen is. The basic premise of this tale is that there are twelve districts and once a year each district will select two young candidates to fight to the death in a game, which will also be broadcasted for the world to see. Every year, a teenagers name gets added once to this random selection pool, but each year they get older another time their name gets added. Also, you can add your name more times to get food and supplies for your family, and this is very much the norm for most children. Katniss’s sister, Prim, only has her name in the drawing once because it is her first time, where Katniss has her name added over twenty times. Yet, you see where this is going…
➽ Chapter Two:
Once Prim’s name is pulled, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place in the games. Meanwhile, the boy contestant is Peeta Mellark, who Katniss remembers giving her bread when her family was starving after the death of their father. Together, they are thrown into a competition that no one believes they will be able to come back alive. Especially since only one victor is allowed, therefore one of them will most certainly have to die.
➽ Chapter Three:
Katniss is given her iconic mockingjay pin that will literally change the world as she knows it.
➽ Chapter Four:
Haymitch punches Peeta to make him look rougher, lol. The journey Haymitch is about to take alongside these two kids as their mentor, whew.
➽ Chapter Five:
Cinna (my favorite character), makes Katniss a fire dress in which the world has never seen, and will be the first time the world finds it extremely hard to forget her or her name. Also, unknown to Katniss, a start of a public romance is brewing with Peeta to help their image. We also get to meet President Snow and start to get a vibe of all the evil things he has been stirring up for some time now.
➽ Chapter Six:
Katniss and Peeta make it to the training center and they start to learn about the other candidates from the other districts. We also get to learn about the different privileges of the other districts, and how some of these candidates view this as an honor to volunteer their life for (without needing to save a little sister). We also get to see Rue, and it’s really hard to not feel like you want to reach into the pages and protect her yourself.
➽ Chapter Seven:
Katniss makes quite the impression with an arrow and an apple, that many important people of the Capitol find very hard to ignore.
➽ Chapter Eight:
This is the start of the Peeta versus Gale debate, and the brewing of a very opinionated love-triangle. For me, personally, I always think it’s obvious in Katniss’s inner monologue that she only likes Peeta, but I digress.
➽ Chapter Nine:
We get to meet Caesar Flickerman and see Katniss and Peeta’s vastly different interviews with him. Peeta is coached to very much play the star-crossed lovers card, and he even tells Caesar that he loves Katniss more than anything.
➽ Chapter Ten:
This is the start of Part 2, where they games are finally going to begin. And Cinna says my favorite line in the entire series to Katniss. So simple, so beautiful, so heartbreaking.
“I'm not allowed to bet, but if I could, I'd bet on you.”
➽ Chapter Eleven:
The twenty-four tributes are entering the game, and in the middle is a cornucopia filled with weapons and supplies… if you are brave enough to make a run for them. Peeta distracts her at the very start of the game, so Katniss doesn’t go for the bow. And we quickly see that people are starting to form groups to take out some of the weaker players.
➽ Chapter Twelve:
Katniss is proving that she will do whatever it takes to survive.
➽ Chapter Thirteen:
Katniss is still up in a tree, surviving, when she sees Rue and they form a silent plan together.
➽ Chapter Fourteen:
She does get the medicine she needs from someone out there watching her in the world, who is rooting for her and her life. After with the help of some killer, engineered wasps… she is able to get down from this tree and gets a bow.
➽ Chapter Fifteen:
Katniss teams up with Rue, while they come up with a big plan to make it a little harder for the districts teaming up with all the supplies.
➽ Chapter Sixteen:
Yeah, Katniss blows up the whole cornucopia.
➽ Chapter Seventeen:
Yet, while Katniss and Rue are trying to meet up again with their mockingjay signals, Rue gets killed by a spear. Katniss sings to her, and realizes that nothing will be the same in her life again, no matter how long she has left.
➽ Chapter Eighteen:
Katniss is trying to deal with the hurt and pain and loss as best as she can, but she also is very hard of hearing in one of her ears now. And she also knows that Peeta has been wounded and is missing.
➽ Chapter Nineteen:
But beyond all else, Katniss is a tracker and a hunter, and she quickly looks for Peeta at a water source and finds him. They also share a kiss when they find shelter, and she vows that she is not going to let him die.
➽ Chapter Twenty:
This chapter has some beautiful foreshadowing of giving Peeta some berries.
➽ Chapter Twenty-One:
Basically, at this point, each contestant needs a certain supply very badly, so they place the things they need back in the middle of the map, and Katniss goes to retrieve theirs. She does get very injured in the process but makes it back to heal him. Thresh helped Katniss because of what she did for Rue.
➽ Chapter Twenty-Two:
Peeta takes care of Katniss and they get more care-packages because they are now the Capitol’s OTP and everyone is rooting for them and their romance.
➽ Chapter Twenty-Three:
Thresh dies, and it breaks my heart every time because I highkey always root for him too. District 11 just deserved better. Cato is still alive, still the biggest threat, and still hella annoying. And then we have some more berry foreshadowing when a girl dies eating some.
➽ Chapter Twenty-Four:
Now that there are only three people left (Katniss, Peeta, and Cato) the game makers want them to finally put an end to the 74th Hunger Games once and for all. Kato runs at them, while wolves start running after them.
➽ Chapter Twenty-Five:
And we quickly find out that the wolves are none other than the people who died in the games. Well, I think at least. They for sure have the tributes eyes, and it just makes it extra freaky. But basically, after some fighting and some monologues, Kato is dying to the wolves slowly, but Katniss puts him out of his misery. They were promised earlier that if Katniss and Peeta were the final two of the game that they could both win and live, but now the game makers are trying to change that game right before them. And since they are saying there can only be one victor, Katniss takes a risk with those beloved berries and her an Peeta threaten suicide before all the people watching from the comfort of their own homes.
➽ Chapter Twenty-Six:
But because they need a winner, they decide two is better than none, so they both are able to live. Katniss wakes up in a hospital where her body is healing and she is able to hear out of her one ear again. She gets to see Cinna, and believe that maybe their lives will be normal again. But Katniss quickly realizes that the Capitol is terribly upset that she played with them, and they are not going to ignore her actions in the game.
➽ Chapter Twenty-Seven:
Katniss gets to see Peeta again, and they are forced to watch all the deaths that happened in the game during their winner’s interview. They both have taken so much damage physically and mentally, and they know that Snow is not through hurting them, or the people they love, by a longshot.
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Trigger and Content Warnings for loss of a parent, animal death(s), abandonment, depression, PTSD depiction, blood depiction, alcoholism, gore, violence, and murder.
Buddy read with Lea & Johely! ❤
buddy-reads dystopian quarantine-reads
1,232 reviews4,820 followers
I read this when it was first published, ordering it before I knew it was YA, and years before any films (which I've not seen). If I were a teenager or recommending this to a teen, I might give it 3*; as an adult, I give it 2*.
PLOT
It's a potentially exciting but gruesome story, but most of the characters were rather flat, and much of the plot was predictable, partly because it's not hugely original. See Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, which I reviewed HERE, and the Japanese Battle Royale. Furthermore, there were too many flaws in the plot. I fail to understand its very high ratings.
Post-apocalyptic America (Panem) is divided into a wealthy and technologically advanced Capitol and twelve subsidiary districts of oppressed people who exist in dire poverty, with inadequate food, housing, and health care and hardly any technology. To reinforce the power of the Capitol by instilling fear in the population, once a year, two children from each region are selected by lots to fight to the death in a reality show. If that were not bad enough, the whole thing is utterly corrupt in multiple ways, plus the public bet on the outcome, and sponsors can sway the results. Did I mention these are children? (Some are as young as 12, though the narrator is 16.) A compulsory full-body wax on a teen seems rather pervy and who would want to bet on, let alone sponsor a child-killing tournament, even if it's by helping one of the contestants? As the book keeps reminding readers, one person's survival is only possible by the death of all the others.
CRUELTY TO CHILDREN
I realise that horrendous things are done to children around the world every day (extreme poverty, child soldiers, sexual assault, genital mutilation etc), but in none of those cases is the sole intention that all but one child dies, and nor is it organised by the government for a sick combination of sport, entertainment, punishment and profit.
Humans often lack compassion, but I was never convinced by Collins' world - especially the fact this outrage has continued for three generations (it's the 74th games), apparently without the Capitol even needing to invoke gods or supernatural powers to justify their cruelty! Could a barbaric annual tournament really be such a powerful incentive not to rise up in all that time? (I don't think so.)
BIG ISSUES
Nevertheless, it tackles some big themes that are particularly pertinent to teens: the nature of friendship; divided loyalties; the difference between love and friendship; who to trust; whether the ends justify the means; the need to repay favours; the danger of power, wealth and celebrity; the corrupting influence of reality TV; the need for independence, and whether you can trust a parent who abandons you.
It all feels rather laboured to me, but it might not if I were a teen, which only reinforces my puzzlement at the number of adults who have enjoyed it. I must be missing something.
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
Nearly half the book is backstory and preparation for the games; the remainder is a tale of hunter and hunted. I predicted the main plot twist less than a quarter of the way in (and the fact that Katniss is telling the story limits the possible outcomes), but the suspense was broken when it was made explicit way before the end. There are some other twists between then and the final page, but by then I was rather annoyed with the whole thing.
IMPLAUSIBILITY AND INCONSISTENCIES
If I'd enjoyed the book more, I would have found it easier to suspend my disbelief, but as it was, I was constantly irked by questions and inconsistencies.
* The contestants (and their parents and grandparents) have been forced to watch the games every year of their lives. I suppose they had become inured to it, but on the other hand, that meant they knew the horror of it. I just didn't believe there was as little fear in them as there appeared to be - given that they are children.
* Participants don't want other participants to know where they are, yet sponsor gifts occasionally drop out of the sky, via silver parachute; not a risk, apparently.
* It's all filmed by numerous invisible floating cameras (I can buy that), but that somehow includes filming inside a cave that is virtually sealed (I can't).
* How (and why) would any of these participants be able to measure time to within half hour intervals?
* How big is Panem? It can only be a tiny part of the USA because each district specialises in only one thing (coal mining, agriculture etc) and has just one town square that can accommodate everyone (8,000 people in District 12) and yet it's a day's train journey from District 12 to the Capitol. It doesn't seem like a very plausible settlement pattern in a post-disaster world, even given the totalitarian regime (concentrating people in a few centres makes it easier to observe and perhaps control them, but it also creates more opportunities for opposition movements to develop).
COMPARED WITH LORD OF THE FLIES
There are some similarities with "Lord of the Flies" (my review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...), but although "The Hunger Games" is likely to have more appeal to modern teens, I think there are (at least) two crucial differences:
* In LotF one person's survival is not necessarily at the cost of everyone else's. (It is even possible that they could all survive.)
* LotF has much more depth and symbolism: it tackles original sin; the mystical "Beast"; leadership, tribal allegiance and group dynamics (including bullying and attitudes to difference and minor disability) and the importance of ritual and belief.
The second point is what makes LotF a better book, in my opinion.
Of course, there are other, more obvious, parallels with extreme "reality" shows such as "Survivor" and "I'm a Celebrity, get me out of here", but the fundamental differences are not just that contestants in those shows do not fear for their lives, but that they are adults who have chosen to enter.
I TRIED TO ENJOY IT!
Any fans who read this will now hate me. I wanted to enjoy this book, and I read it all the way through, making notes as usual, but to no avail. Sorry.
dystopian-apocalyptic overrated scifi-future-speculative-fict
126 reviews2,363 followers
★ 3.75 stars
“Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.”
is it crazy to say that this is my first time experiencing this universe? i personally feel like it is. i’m terribly late to the party. it seems like everyone has read the books and/or watched the movies and i’m the only person on the face of earth who didn’t have this phase. i was just a kid a decade ago and i don’t remember much, but i do recall seeing the way people were obsessed with The Hunger Games when the movies came out. everyone was going crazy about it — but me? well, frankly, i was not interested in it and i’ve never felt the urge to watch the movies or read the books. it was just not my thing back then, and now i regret that because i bet it was so fun to be a fan at that time. sighs. what a bummer.
but hey, after a decade (more than that, actually) i’m finally here! you know what they say... better late than never. now enough with the small talk; let’s get into it, shall we?
so... it’s difficult to say something about this book that hasn’t already been said. everyone knows what it is about (even me, who haven’t read the books or watched the movies) but i must say that the premise of the games where 23 teenagers aged 12-18 are forced to fight to the death and only one of them can survive is intriguing and obviously insane (irrelevant, but i’m a hundred percent sure that i would be the first one to die if i were there, there’s no chance i could survive). and the fact that it’s a televised event? what the hell... the whole thing is absolutely vile when you stop to think about it. but even though it’s brutal, and also sort of predictable in a few aspects, it’s undeniable that it’s entertaining to read.
i’m not fond of dystopian novels. in fact, this was my first one, so i didn’t know what to expect and i was a bit hesitant that i wouldn’t like it. thankfully, turns out i ended up liking it and finding it interesting. although i have to admit that i was kind of confused with some stuff (i’m not kidding when i say that not even 20 pages in i was already lost) but i was honestly expecting that since it was my introduction to a new genre.
it took me awhile to get into the story given the fact that it was slow at the beginning, but i got hooked once the pace picked up and i started growing attached to the main characters.
“Katniss, the girl who was on fire!”
i believe we can all agree that Katniss Everdeen is a badass. i mean, how could we not? she’s a determined, brave, smart, fierce and independent girl who doesn’t take shit from anybody. such an icon. i must say that i adore reading books with female main characters like her.
another admirable thing about her is that she’s willing to do whatever it takes to protect and make sacrifices for the people she loves — especially her younger sister, Prim. given her father’s death and her mother’s depression Katniss had to take on the role of protector for her sister and, on top of that, she had to be the provider for their family. not the responsabilities someone from her age should be having of course, which is undeniably sad, but i admire how strong and selfless she is above all. if it wasn’t for her selflessness, she wouldn’t even be part of the 74th Hunger Games; Prim was the one who was chosen during the reaping, but Katniss decided to sacrifice herself and take her place because she couldn’t bear the thought of her little sister facing the cruelty of these games.
Katniss is not perfect, she’s a flawed character who can be annoying at times, but given the circumstances, we can totally understand why she acted the way she did and i don’t think we should be too harsh on her. and besides, she’s a teenager who’s just trying to survive.
“I do not want to lose the boy with the bread.”
now, about Peeta Mellark... see, i’ve always seen people saying he’s perfect and that he’s the ultimate boyfriend, but i was like “_this guy can’t be all that, i bet they are exaggerating a bit._” but oh silly me, how i was wrong! you guys weren’t exaggerating, he deserves all the hype he gets. what’s not to love about him? he’s so kind, sweet, thoughtful, funny and easily loveable. i have a thing for MMCs who are cinnamon rolls so it’s not much of a surprise that i fell for him. the truth is that Peeta made this book more entertaining. i wish we got more of his personality, though. i didn’t feel like he was a well-explored character in certain aspects. either way, i liked him and i’m glad that meeting him was not a disappointing experience.
the romance was nice, Katniss & Peeta have a great chemistry and many of their moments together made my heart melt. but, generally speaking, i don’t think the romance was exactly what i wanted. sure, it was good, but not awesome, you know? and i can’t say i am super obsessed with their relationship; not as much as i wanted to, at least. don’t get me wrong, i did love their dynamic and if you check out my updates you’ll see me fangirling over them, the thing is that i just felt like something was missing overall and i was also expecting much more. probably because of all the hype surrounding them. though i think that in some way i can understand the reasons behind that — romance isn’t really the most important thing here, is it? and besides, this is the first book, and i have two more books to read so i believe (and hope) that Suzanne will develop their relationship more and surely my feelings will be a little different by then. all that being said, EverLark are cute and that’s something i’ll never deny.
and since we are on this topic, i need to ask an important question: where is the love triangle? i’m very confused, guys. the chemistry between Katniss & Gale was nowhere to be found here and, at least so far, i don’t understand at all why people like and choose Gale. he’s kind of bland, sorry. but well... let’s see what happens next, maybe it’s too early to make assumptions. whatever happens, though, i won’t switch teams. and i’m sure about that. what can i say? the boy with the bread won me over.
anyways, moving on... i’m giving this book 3.75 stars because, sadly, i had some issues with it. as you might have noticed, i mentioned a few complaints throughout this review and there are other things that prevented me from giving it a high rating.
↳ 1. first of all, this didn’t meet all of my expectations. it was a great book and i did like it, but i had over the top expectations and, unfortunately, some of them weren’t met. i was expecting to finish this book and be like “_wow, greatest book i’ve ever read. it deserves more than 5 stars!_” but that’s not quite what happened.
↳ 2. although this book was enjoyable for the most part, there were lots of parts that were monotonous to me and there were also some things that i would change if i had the chance.
↳ 3. i started losing a bit of interest in the last couple chapters. i can’t pinpoint why, though. i was just not having much fun anymore and that was one of the main reasons why i couldn’t rate this story higher.
↳ 4. the ending was not precisely what i wanted. i was expecting something satisfying and perhaps more intense, but that’s not what i got. i was disappointed.
but keeping all my complaints aside, i still managed to enjoy The Hunger Games and i am glad i finally gave it a chance. it offers a relevant, interesting and well-written story with remarkable characters that are easily captivating, so of course i think everyone should read it at least once. if you haven’t read it yet, what are you waiting for? go for it.
i will continue the series and i’m extremely excited to do so! i literally can’t wait to see what the next book will bring — hopefully something better that will exceed my expectations. now, please excuse me while i go watch the first film. 🏃🏼♀️
︵‿︵‿︵‿ ꒰💌꒱ ‿︵‿︵‿︵
ᰔ quotes:
“You don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope.”
“For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.”
“I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun.”
“Destroying things is much easier than making them.”
“Stupid people are dangerous.”
“I remember everything about you. You’re the one who wasn’t paying attention.”
“Remember, we’re madly in love, so it’s all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.”
─────────────────────
➷ pre-read:
i know i’m super late to the party, but i’ve finally decided to start this series and i can’t even express how excited i am! let’s see if it’ll live up to my expectations. 👀
Author 2 books2,376 followers
For a long time now, I’ve wanted to rewrite my review of The Hunger Games so that I could tell you why I don’t just love this series, but why I also think it’s important. It is beautiful for the unflinching way it shows you, as a reader, your own willingness to disregard people who are different from you - how you are the Capitol audience. But, it is important as a story about girls. I had not initially thought about articulating that point because it seemed so obvious to me, and I am bad at recognizing my own assumptions. Lately, though, I have seen so many people, both men and women, acting as though this remarkable book is a piece of fluff that I realized maybe what I love most about The Hunger Games is not as obvious as it seems. To me, this series is important because it is a landmark departure from the traditional story about girls.
Too often, stories objectify women. But the word “objectify,” I’ve realized, has almost no meaning for someone who has either not experienced objectification or who hasn’t really recognized it in her own life, so I’m going to be more descriptive here. When I say stories objectify girls, I mean they talk about girls as though they are fleshlights that sometimes have handy dandy extra gadgets such as an all-purpose cleaning mechanism and food dispensing function.
Sidebar: if you are inclined to now google the word "fleshlight," I encourage you to consult the urban dictionary definition here before doing that, as the google results will probably be NSFW and also NSF those of you whose parents might check your browsing history. Do parents know how to do that? Sorry for the sidebar, I am just intending to make an explicit point, and now I am feeling uncomfortable about what that explicit point might mean to the target audience of this book. Girls, you are probably badass like Katniss, and you are definitely not a fleshlight.
Back to my rant about typical objectification in storytelling: often the
girls fleshlights have fancy outer designs because it makes the fleshlights happy to be fancy. Sometimes they have skeeeeeery castration functions, and other times they work as helpful databases for music or video games or whatever UR into. A lot of times, I will hear people refer to this type of objectification as treating women like they are just a vagina, or a pair of boobs, but I think there is something to the stories that is less human and more sexbot machine than that complaint covers.
So, in all of those links, I have tried to include books written by men and by women because I think that women think of ourselves this way almost as often as men think of us this way. The link from The Ugly Truth, for example, shows both a man and a woman treating women like fleshlights. I have also included both books I love and books I hate because, ultimately, I do think girls adopt this story about themselves, and I also think we can pretty easily identify with a male protagonist and disregard female characters who look nothing like humans. For example, The Sun Also Rises is one of my favorite books in the whole world, even though it does not contain any women who resonate with my experience of humans. And I don't think it's necessarily bad that I can enjoy stories where women are only fleshlights, as long as I can still be whoever I want to be without a positive role model. I think it's good to enjoy stories and take what we can get from them, and so I don't regret that I love The Sun Also Rises.
In seeing some male reactions to The Hunger Games, I am reminded that most men do not identify with female protagonists the way women have been trained to identify with male protagonists. This seems like a huge disadvantage for men to be in, to me, and if you are a man reading this review, I would ask you to check out your bookshelves. How many female authors are on your shelves? How many of the books those authors wrote have no central male character? If you have a minute after that, check the shelves of a woman you are friends with and see how many of her books were written by men or have no central female character. Odds are the results will be pretty different.
The Hunger Games is such a groundbreaking and deliberate example of a woman’s perspective on war and family and even men that it floors me. I think it partly floors me because, other than Buffy, I can’t think of another example of a female character who really fights for herself in such an obvious and hopeful way. Katniss is strong and broken, and powerful in her brokenness. Collins’s image of a woman’s perspective is not, admittedly, as effortless as Moira Young’s in Blood Red Road, but its deliberateness has its own value.
It is not an accident that the story shows Katniss’s emotional growth and that Peeta, as a more emotionally whole person, facilitates her emotional growth. It is not an accident that the story does not discuss the effect Katniss has on the erectness of Peeta’s and Gale’s penises. The first is not an accident because in reality, men do not have to be the emotional cowards that the stories I’ve linked to above make them out to be. Masculinity does not have to mean emotional cowardice. The second is not an accident because the story is not from Peeta and Gale’s perspectives. Despite widespread rumors to the contrary, it is my experience that women pretty seldom think about their effect on men’s penises. Hopefully, we never think of our primary purpose in life, in the way so many stories think of it, as making penises erect. Hopefully, we never think of ourselves as gadgets that are super fun for other people.
There are so many reasons I love The Hunger Games series, and all of this is one I wouldn’t have initially even thought to say. I saw this Eleanor Roosevelt quote earlier this month, and it said, “It is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness.” I think The Hunger Games is a candle in the overall dark narrative of girls’ perspective on life. Yes, it is also a poignant critique of reality TV and Western callousness about the catastrophes caused by industrialization in the developing world, but that, too, resonates with me in many ways because of its remarkably feminine voice. It absolutely makes sense to me that this book is not for everyone because of its violence, but I still think that it is objectively important because it shows a perspective that seems authentically feminine to me – that talks like a girl, not like a sexy, fancy gadget. I’m not saying that in my opinion girls don’t or shouldn’t ever think about being sexy or erect penises, I’m just saying that it is my experience that we think and care about many, many more things than penises, clean houses, and food, and very, very few stories are willing to tell you about that. The Hunger Games is one that does, and it does so in way that is beautiful and important.
chosen-girls classic-young-adult girls-rule
2,098 reviews314k followers
It seems weird that I never reviewed The Hunger Games . I don't know why I didn't when it was a series that completely took over my life for a short while. But recently I've been thinking about posting something in this review space and after just watching the second film (which I think was amazing and better than the first), now seems like as good a time as any to talk about why I love Katniss and nearly everything about this series.
I gave this book four stars back in 2011 and I'm going to leave that rating as it is because it's an indicator of my thoughts at the time (though they slightly differ now) - thoughts which were influenced by having just finished the fantastic, horrifying, brutal and unforgettable Battle Royale manga series. I don't think it was the best time for myself and Katniss to find one another when I had so much beautiful insanity to compare the book to, but it still managed to have such an effect on me that I instantly told every friend and family member to read it. Coming back to this now after having spent the last couple of years being bombarded with dystopian YA, I appreciate what Collins has achieved a whole lot more.
I appreciate the strength of Katniss as a heroine who commands our attention and holds our love whilst still being what some would consider unlikable; I appreciate the balance of beauty and horror that Collins delivers on every page, treating us constantly to both the darkest despair and rays of hope; and I also - amazingly - appreciate the love triangle. Love triangles seem to have chased me and hunted me down with every YA read I picked up over the last two or three years - my dislike for romance instantly becoming doubled by the introduction of yet another boy with beautiful eyes. But Katniss, Peeta and Gale worked for me. They convinced me, held my interest and made me cry. The love triangle worked because it's outcome wasn't obvious, because we all wondered and hoped and worried. Because, either way, I was always going to be half happy and half sad.
Katniss still remains for me everything that a female protagonist should be. Or a female hero, at least. She fights for the ones she loves, she's brave and doesn't need to be saved. But neither is she a one-dimensional smiling poster-version of a heroine. She falls, she fails, people get hurt because of her and she has to live with that. We love her and yet she's antisocial, awkward and moody. She loves other people with all her heart but she's not much of a team player. In short: she's a complex portrait of a young woman that doesn't fall into any neatly defined boxes or categories. Now, perhaps, authors have since tried to recreate her. But she's still one of the first and best.
I know another review of this book isn't needed. I know you've all probably read it anyway. Or never will. But this isn't really for anyone else; it's a reminder to myself of why this book deserves its hype and why I need to remember to come back to it again and again between the new (and hopefully amazing) YA books I'll be reading in the future.
2011 dystopia-utopia young-adult
784 reviews6,657 followers
Already Want to Read This Again……
Wow! That was amazing!
Yes, yes. I’ve already seen the movie, but the book is so much better.
In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is scraping by, just trying to make her daily living, hunting by her bow in the forest to feed her family. Every year, The Capitol requires every district to offer up one boy and one girl as tributes. The tributes fight each other to the death until only one person survives. This fight is called The Hunger Games.
The day of the Reaping finally comes. This is the day where the one boy and one girl are selected. Unfortunately, Prim, Katniss’s younger sister is selected. In an incredible act of bravery, Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place. Will Katniss make it through The Hunger Games?
First of all, the narrator on this was perfect. She even did the accent for the Capitol people, and she sang the song.
Second, The Hunger Games is a perfect dystopian novel. It has different dresses and customs, but it isn’t overkill or confusing.
There are also many parallels to today’s society. For example, why do the citizens allow The Hunger Games? Because they don’t believe that their children will be selected. How many people believe that they will never be unemployed, never get divorced, never become seriously ill or injured? People like betting on themselves. But we, as a society, aren’t we better off if we made sure that there were strong safety nets in place for those who happen on hard times?
In The Hunger Games, all is also not equal. The tributes can have sponsors who rain down much needed supplies on the tributes. We like to think that everyone has an equal opportunity. But is that really the case when the rich can purchase private ACT/SAT tutors for their children? What about those who start their first job and have strong allies and mentors from day one?
But I also loved this book, because it had many small acts of kindness.
“Kind people have a way of working their way inside me and rooting there.” – The Hunger Games
With cruelty becoming commonplace, kindness stands out. When District 11 came together, I racked my brain trying to remember the last time that we, as a society, came together for a cause, and I came up short. I think the world is hungry for a rallying cry, a cause that we can all fight together for. What would the world be like if the cruelty was replaced by kindness? Full disclosure: may have cried just a little bit reading this.
Looking forward to the next book in the series….
- The Girl On Fire
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
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247 reviews392 followers
"I don't know how to say it exactly. Only...I want to die as myself. I don't want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I'm not. I keep wishing I could think of a way to...to show the Capitol that they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games."
“You have a... remarkable memory." "I remember everything about you. You're the one who wasn't paying attention.”
So, I really really liked this book!! Of course, I loved Peeta!How can I not? He is perfect!
But Katniss? Why?? She is so strong and bad-ass but she always misunderstands Peeta! It's so obvious that he loves her but she is in denial! She is so stupid!! And when she realizes his feelings, she just hurt him! Congrats!
4 stars because of Katniss' stupidity!
Let's start from the beginning!
What is Hunger Games?
Every year, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 were selected from each of the twelve districts as tributes, who train for a week and then are sent into an arena to fight to the death.Only one tribute can win the games. This competition is showed to television to be seen by all citizens.
So, Katniss' little sister, Prim, is selected for the games, but Katniss took her place to save her.
"I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!"
The boy who was chosen to participate was Peeta Mellark, a boy who Katniss knew because she saved her from starvation and give her some bread as a result his mother beat him!
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- I loved Peeta! He protected her but I will admit she protected him as well! She risked her life to get the medicine needed to heal his leg. But how can she not see that he is madly in love with her? I loved it when he told her about her singing for the music class, that's when Peeta realized he was in love with her when he saw that the birds were listening like they did for her father.
“No, it happened. And right when your song ended, I knew - just like your mother - I was a goner," Peeta says.”
2)I think she has feelings for him deep down! Very deep.
“I don't want to lose the boy with the bread.”
Sometimes when she kissed Peeta she felt guilty because of Gale! Why????He is her best friend! At the beginning, she said that she never saw him that way and now what? She is confusing me.
Please, not love triangle again!!I liked Gale but no!
3)Curiously, I liked Haymitch! He won the Hunger Games of his time. He is also Katniss' and Peeta's mentor. It seems at first that he doesn't like Katniss very much but at the Hunger Games he helped her more than he helped Peeta.
“Here's some advice. Stay alive.”
4)I also liked Cinna, their stylist. He always supported her in his way.
5)Rue! She was the 12-year-old female tribute from District 11. I really liked that Katniss allied with Rue. They were amazing together. But Rue died.
I understand only one can win( our case two) but I felt so sad when she died. Not only her though. A lot innocent kids die because of the Capitol. It's not fair.
6)In the half of the games, it was announced that two tributes from the same district can win. So katniss and Peeta can be allies. But when all the other tributes died it was announced that the rule they said early has been canceled. I was so angry! They did it on purpose. Assholes!!!
7)When they announced it, Katniss aimed her bow at Peeta when she sees he has picked up a weapon, but he throw it into the lake. She is so stupid. He didn't want to fight her and she thought that he could kill her.
8)I was scared when Peeta and Katniss threaten to commit double suicide so there will be no winner! But it was a trick. Thankfully, that trick worked and both PEETA AND KATNISS WERE WINNERS!
9)And the ending! Peeta discovers that Katniss was mostly acting during the games about the feelings. He was so heartbroken! My baby!
“You here to finish me off, Sweetheart?”
P.S. I haven't seen the movie yet!
2,145 reviews142 followers
I LOVE THIS BOOK! I've said to a few people that if I wasn't married, I'd have to marry this book. :) I read the 400 page ARC in a less-than-24-hour time period (so quickly that it was never even on my "currently reading" shelf), which I've only done before with HP books, and I've just officially put the first book on my 2008 favorites shelf. I feel pretty safe in saying that if this isn't still my favorite book of the year when next January rolls around, that I'll eat a hat. As soon as I finished reading it, I turned around and read it a 2nd time, which I've never done before in my life. I loved all of Collins' GREGOR books, and think she's a wonderful writer, but she's ratcheted it up to another level with this one. Even though it's the first in a trilogy, this one definitely stands alone, and I'm not sure how she can keep it up for another 2 books, but I suppose it's possible (think: THE GIVER, although I loved GATHERING BLUE, and liked THE MESSENGER--HUNGER GAMES is much more brutal than THE GIVER, though). It's got some very meaty issues to chew on, not the least of which is reality TV taken to extremes. There's a chaste and unresolved romance (think: TWILIGHT, but I don't think I will make it past the first in that series--HUNGER GAMES has much more action, more of a plot, lots of well-developed secondary characters, as well as extremely likeable main characters. I will miss Katniss until I can read about her again.). What more could you possibly ask for out of a book? It doesn't actually come out until October 2008, but if you can get your hands on an ARC, definitely do! I think that the violence in this will be easier for kids to take, since they probably won't see it quite as clearly as an adult will. None of it is particularly graphic, but it is definitely brutal. This is on the edge of too dark for me, which is my favorite kind of book. There aren't many writers who can push it right to the edge for me without going over (Zusak comes to mind immediately), but Collins is definitely one of them. Another book that I loved, and think of to compare this to is HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, but that fell apart slightly at the end for me. HUNGER GAMES didn't lack anything at all for me. OK, I'll stop gushing. I may have to re-write this review when I get some perspective. (2012: Obviously, I never did rewrite it, and this is my most-"liked" review :)
My 10 1/2 yr old son asked to read this with me, so I read it for the 3rd time with him in Oct 2008. Still my definite favorite book of the year, but all the typos in the finished book were pretty disappointing. Still, it's my choice for just about any award out there, come January, including the JHUNT.
Update May 2009: I am dying because the CATCHING FIRE ARC has just been released, and people are saying it's at least as good at HG. I've had 2 teenaged boys at my library read this on my recommendation, and both of them came back asking me for more books like it (really there isn't anything). One of them has pre-ordered CATCHING FIRE on Amazon (updated to say that I worked in a fairly disadvantaged neighborhood in DC at the time, so that was not a usual occurrence).
May-June 2011: I'm reading this for the 4th time, with my younger son, who's finishing up 5th grade. Still as good as ever!! Can't wait for the movie!!
Update 2012: Between them, HG and CATCHING FIRE were the pinnacle of my 20-yr career as a YA librarian! I've seen the movie twice so far, and definitely liked it better the 2nd time, when it didn't have to try to be my favorite book. :)
Update 2020: It's been 9 years since I last read this, but I've never listened to the audiobook, so I decided that having it read to me would be a good activity during the covid-19 pandemic. STILL as good as ever, and the odds will forever be in its favor.
00s_re-readswith_j 10s_re-readswith_l 2008favorites
1,362 reviews11.2k followers
In around 100 A.D., Roman poet Juvenal wrote that ‘_everything now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses._’ How true and terrifying these words are to remain relevant through the ages and how succinctly they get to the heart of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Published in 2008, this novel introduced the world to its harrowing heroine, Katniss Everdeen, whom Collin’s has describes as ‘_a futuristic Theseus_’ volunteering herself to be sent in sacrifice for the entertainment of others in order to protect her sister and taking not only it’s fiction world of Panem by storm but the real world as well. The novel launched into a trilogy and subsequent prequels with the newest slated to arrive next year, has been translated into 56 languages and by the time the first film adaptation arrived in 2012 it had already sold nearly 18 million copies. Yet somehow I have never managed to read the books until now despite rather enjoying the films though after some prodding by my daughter I have finally entered Collins arena and I have to admit…this was incredible. This book practically launched a decade of dystopian novels as popular fiction and helped bring the YA genre to prominence, though I wouldn’t even say this is a teen novel but a novel simply anyone could enjoy across the spectrum of ages. Perfectly plotted for maximum tension and intrigue and quite brilliantly written, this is practically impossible to put down as it brings hit after hit of action, terror and sharp social criticism. A novel of an obdurate authoritarian government and wealthy class upholding power through propaganda, division, lack of resources and public displays of violence, The Hunger Games shows the ripples of unrest begun through the actions of a bold heroine with ‘_just the perfect touch of rebellion,_’ to break through the public control of Juvenal’s ‘_bread and circuses._’ May the odds be ever in her favor.
‘_Here's some advice. Stay alive._’
At this point the story to The Hunger Games is practically common knowledge and culturally embedded the way one need not give a description of what, say, Star Wars or Harry Potter is about. Collins perfectly amalgamates narratives explored in stories such as Theseus and the Minotaur or The Most Dangerous Game with early 2000s channel surfing and rise of reality television into a violent, dystopian world. I’ve always said marketing is simply the marketable term for propaganda and The Hunger Games takes this to an extreme level. Their futuristic gladiator-esque battles pitting children from each District of Panem in a brutal contest of survival becomes a sort of reality-television yearly event that keeps the districts in line reminding them of the cost of rebellion while also keeping them at odds with one another, broadcasted as entertainment in such a way as to make one think of Noam Chomsky’s warning that ‘_he who controls the media controls the minds of the public._’ The Game’s have a sinister marketing mechanism to them, the ‘_circus_’ half of Juvenal’s prophetic words.
‘_Why am I hopping around like some trained dog trying to please people I hate?_’
Plucked from their impoverished conditions and brought to the Capitol and put on display for people to pick favorites and become sponsors for (not unlike politicians begging for donations and trying to get corporations to fund them since in the US a person is capped at around $3k in donations but corporations can give endless money), not for the sake of humanizing them but, more insidiously, to give the impression of humanizing them while actually making them into a character. The sort of character you can become attached to without having to feel any authentic sadness over their death, the type of character you can enjoy from afar without having to confront the reality of their mortality and personhood. ‘_It’s all a big show,_’ Katniss has to grapple with, ‘_its all about how you’re perceived._’ Which hits hard in the age of algorithms and brands pretending to be people on social media, but in the Games it means if the children aren’t murdering each other sensationally enough they’ll send a fireball at Katniss so the slogan “the girl who was on fire” gets a little more traction to sell sponsorships. Little did they realize that very slogan could take on a double meaning of resistance…
‘_Hope is the only thing stronger than fear._’
Perhaps this is from having seen the whole arc before reading the book but this read was a fascinating exercise in well-plotted foreshadowing with Katniss as a fairly unreliable narrator that has yet to become aware that her character building has been subverted as one of rebellion. Madge, the mayor’s daughter, giving her the Mockingjay pin is just the start of her transformation into a symbol and the slow-burn of scripted romance and showmanship is all aimed at showing ‘_I'm more than just a piece in their Games._’ As my daughter pointed out, Panem is a total surveillance State and the randomness of the Games lottery—something that feels vaguely akin to Shirley Jackson's The Lottery (read in link)—is likely more marketing than actuality the way reality TV vet’s their contestants and the Capitol is far too horny for control to not hand-pick contestants for maximum profitablility under the fake guise of chance. The District 12 handlers have also had time to devise a quiet plan and use the flow of entertainment as a way to enact it as long as it is keeping ratings high and the public glued to there television. This, like all marketing (I have a degree in this almost entirely for the purpose of shit talking it), is best done by appealing to emotions (fear and religion, the latter of which is absent in Panem, being the two with strongest resonance) and employing psychological manipulation to make viewers/customers/etc feel they are making their own choices instead of being corralled, and by creating the character of Katniss they are playing into the marketing needs of the Capitol and the entertainment factors of The Games while also planting their own seeds of subversion in the highly fertile soils of public option. Here is where Juvenal’s ‘bread’ comes in.
‘_District 12. Where you can starve to death in safety._’
Collins pays special attention to food throughout the novel with bread having a very symbolic purpose. [_Big Dad Joke Voice_] more like the HANGRY Games, am I right!? **elbows you in the ribs until you are assured therapy is in your future** Katniss’ own name and her father’s quip that ‘_As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve,_’ is key here too, as she becomes the symbol that gives hope in districts that are quite literally being starved while we see the juxtaposition of the Capitol’s wealth mainly portrayed through their absurd and frivolous fashion and lavish meals. Compared to the Districts, ‘_they have no cause to rebel,_’ when being fed and entertained is part and parcel of their access to wealth while being constantly reminded that those outside the Capitol are famished and those who betray them become an Avox with their tongues cut out serving out in the public eye so all can see and internalize the punishment. The public shows of violence are part of the way the Capitol keeps the masses down, coupled with their refusal to let the Districts communicate, dividing them and only allowing them to interact as rivals during The Games. As Juvenal said, control oomes from the circus—not unlike the way Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World was a world that, under the systematic drugging and entertaining by the State, controlled itself in order to avoid pain—but also bread and keeping a population starving in order to feed them as a reward is a fast way to ensure they line up and keep their heads down in order to receive the “good graces” of the State and look out for themselves to avoid punishment only further dividing them. Make life a “every person for themselves” situation and punish anyone in proximity to any crime and people will not unite. It is a union busting tactic and a reminder that family is on the line if you step out of line. When Katniss shoots an arrow at the onlookers out of frustration she is less scared for herself than what they might do to her family as punishment.
‘_Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there's nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you._’
This isn’t just in dystopia either and there are a lot of real world examples in the US of this sort of thing. Look at the 1913 Italian Hall Disaster in Michigan’s Upper Penninsula, my own state, where management shouted “fire” in a hall being used for an employee christmas party to trigger a panicked stampede to punish workers for collective action—59 of the 73 people killed were children, the youngest being 2 years old—to send a message that uniting against the powers that be meant death of your family. Or, even more insidious, simple glossing over violence by distracting with gestures that seem positive but cede no power. Llook at how the creation of Labor Day was a way to put a good government marketing spin on lip service to the working class without any actual action in response to police opening fire and murdering strikers during the Pullman railroad strike in 1894. Such tactics is exactly what the Capitol does, commit violence and then spin it to hold power.
This becomes rather pertinent during the Games when we see how the strong form collective action in order to mop up the weak. It’s like corporations, rallying together and funding politicians to ensure tax reform and policy that benefits them and only betraying each other “in the spirit of competition” once they are the last ones standing. Yet here we see a subversion. Peeta joins with The Careers in order to protect Katniss (trust issues are on high throughout this book) and there are some amazing moments when District 11 realizes they are far more aligned with 12 than the Careers. Its like the sayings on class solidarity people like to posture but rarely enact about how the middle class is far more aligned with the homeless and poor than billionaires but, as the Capitol propagates, all attention is turned towards serving the rich in hopes of being able to survive. I need to give a quick shoutout to District 11 though because they are wholly underrated in the series. Thresh is a real one and my favorite character and Rue is such a little sweetheart who deserved better and Katniss’ realization of this is quite a spark on the fires of rebellion. And how does District 11 thank her? Bread.
‘_What must it be like, I wonder, to live in a world where food appears at the press of a button? How would I spend the hours I now commit to combing the woods for sustenance if it were so easy to come by?_’
Let’s talk about bread. Bread comes bearing a long history of symbolism. Breaking bread has a connotation of togetherness and unity. We have Jesus in the Bible making five loaves feed the masses, or breaking bread with his apostles as a symbol of unity. And this unity is present here too. Peeta, the sweet little Peeta who is FAR more interesting than the meek version of him in the films, brings Katniss bread when she, like Theseus, volunteers ‘_as tribute_’ to fight in the Games. It is an early symbol of unity replicated by the gift from District 11 after she places flowers on the body of Rue to humanize her death and show that even the deaths of the poor carry emotional weight. It is also a direct fuck you to the showy fashions of the Capitol to adorn the body of the poor with bright colors–bright flowers that will wither and die like the Districts are under their control.
Unity becomes key here, and Katniss and Peeta’s collective action to eat the berries becomes the action that allows them to live. It will also become the action that President Snow fears is a spark of rebellion in Catching Fire but I’ve not finished it yet so more on that later. They lived by giving a marketable narrative the Capitol couldn’t spin fast enough. It is interesting to note, however, that the act of rebellion once again involves food and eating. Katniss earlier shoots an arrow through an apple, the apple in the mouth of a pig that fairly represents the way the children being sacrificed for the entertainment of the State, to ensure the Capitol pays attention to her. Even Haymitch’s alcoholism (beer being a product of yeast that nudges the symbol of bread yet again) is a show of indulgence in a world where indulgence is denied to the Districts, can be viewed as a small private rebellion. It also keeps the horrors of his past quieted, not that this condones alcoholism as a coping mechanism but you can see where Collins is going with that. Especially with lines like ‘_They're already taking my future! They can't have the things that mattered to me in the past!_’ and how we can hold on to our own small personal resistance.
‘_I want to do something, right here, right now, to shame them, to make them accountable, to show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do there is a part of every tribute they can't own._’
The Hunger Games was an utterly fantastic book and engaging read far beyond what I had imagined it would be. It is fiery, it is relevant, it is smart, it is a whole lot of fun without sacrificing depth and insight. I liked it a lot better than the movies too, which tend to focus more of the action whereas the book kind of reminded me of the Gary Paulsen books I read as a kid where it focuses more on the survival aspects. It is a smart little book on the perils and powers of propaganda, the bread and circuses that keep people in line, but also a story about pushing back using their own tactics against them. A fascinating and fantastic book that lives up to the hype.
5/5
'And may the odds be ever in your favor.'
2,595 reviews45.4k followers
personal anecdote - the first time i heard of this book was when i was 17. i was at work (i was a hostess at a restaurant in a mall) and my manager came up to me, gave me $20 and asked me to run to B&N to buy her a copy before they closed. she wanted me to do it because she said it 'would look better if a teenager bought it.'
i havent really thought about that day since but, since my time on goodreads, i cant believe how much shaming i see for adults who read books that are targeted for YA or children. what a shame it is that adults feel embarrassed to buy a book simply because its promoted as a story for teenagers!
as i reread this, 10 years later, i am even more convinced that people should read whatever they want to read and not feel bad for enjoying what they enjoy!
also, gale totally deserves better. i thought it then and i still think it now. my boy is the true hero of this story.
and that has been your PSA for the day!
↠ 5 stars
Author 48 books403 followers
Fantastically Written? Ooooh yeah! Compelling? Yup! Super Quick Read? Most definitely! Original? Um...well *shuffles feet, since I seem to be a rare non-five star-er* not original at all really....
Man, I wish someone on my friends list here has also read Battle Royale and this book! The Hunger Games WAS pretty fantastic, hence the four stars (though I would have given 3 1/2 if the choice was available.) I ate it up, shouting into other rooms and offices that I was going to be shoving the book into their hands as soon as I was done, but as it went on desha vu was a little too common for me. I know there are major story types out there, ones that are repeated over and over again. Shakespeare retold 200 different ways. The bible reinterpreted to 2,000,000 varieties of tales....but when it comes to YA dystopia, which is by far my favorite genre of any book, originality is one of my main ways I judge a book. FEED felt utterly original. The world of UGLIES felt new. LITTLE BROTHER was just plain amazing. If it's going to be about "the future" we don't know about, make it original. In my mind dystopia novels survive on "idea" more than "excecution" and while the execution of this was beautiful, the idea was hardly new.
While I have a really good feeling Collins never read, or maybe even heard of, Battle Royale, The Hunger Games was 90% the plot of Battle Royal, minus the guns, the extra blood, the ability to get to know all the other players. In Battle Royal (short explanation of BR plot: 40 students put on island forced to kill each other and winner is set for life and put on TV etc...), the main focus is a love story between two students trapped in the game, two students bonding together with no real urge to kill others...one of whom had a crush on the other forever and it is only revealed during the game. There are so many other similarities, from the ways the gamemakers manipulate, to the ways the media encourages, to one character having a fever and the other taking care of them with soup. There are even "career" battle royal players. In BR you see the emotions before and after someone is killed, their last thoughts, the feeling of the person who killed. It's actually really beautiful the way it is done, and so believable that put in an arena teens WOULD turn into savages. In The Hunger Games, yes the main characters were fantastic, and many of the lesser as well, but Foxface is only Foxface, and the Careers are never more than random 1-dimensional bad guys.
The Hunger Games was very Battle Royale, very The Long Walk (Richard Bachman book), and very much current reality shows. I am not saying it wasn't a GREAT read, I'm just saying it shouldn't shake the publishing earth the way I am pretty sure it is going to. I anticipate this is the next Twilight series people are going to gush over. In a few years we'll all be hosting Hunger Games final book parties. I'll be amongst the attendees I'm sure.
Also in terms of female main characters, Katiniss may surpass Bella in me wanting to shake sense into a character. Talk about a smart girl being utterly clueless!
Yes, it was great, but eh, maybe I'm just bitter because I think BR is the better book of the two and while Hunger Games will get tons of praise and likely a rather deserved award or two, BR will continue to be banned in many libraries. Amazing what subtracting guns can do to a story. Suddenly it doesn't feel as violent, but rather is more reminiscent of stories we heard growing up. The number of swords and arrow deaths in traditional fairytales is nothing to freak out about, but if bullets are flying, it will give "too many ideas" to teens and therefore must be dubbed an adult book.
I'm pretty sure if I hadn't read BR just a few months back this exeedingly long review would have been just as long only instead of a rant it would have just been one long squeeeeeal of delight over how much I loved the book.
Original Comment: Peer pressure, peer pressure, peer pressure. Geez guys! Alright, alright I'll read it!
books-that-made-me-cry ya-fiction
461 reviews1,253 followers
The book that got me into reading.
Author 38 books15.3k followers
Want to read
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InfinityRichard Swinburne, Is There a God?Sylvia Day, Bared to YouDominique de Saint-Mars, Max se fait insulter à la récréDominique de Saint-Mars, Max veut etre délégué de la classeDominique de Saint-Mars, Nina a été adoptéeHeather Busch and Burton Silver, Why Cats PaintTomi Ungerer, The Three RobbersPierre-Simon Laplace, Exposition du système du mondePaul Davies, God and the New PhysicsBill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly EverythingNorman Lindsay, The Magic PuddingPhilipp Koehn, Statistical Machine TranslationSean Carroll, From Eternity to HereE. Nesbit, The Story of the AmuletPaul Davies, The Mind of GodEdward Eager, Half MagicBrian Clegg, Before the Big BangMary Leunig, A Piece of CakeGuy de Maupassant, Pierre et JeanThomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific RevolutionsLucretius, On the Nature of ThingsOlga Grushin, The Dream Life of SukhanovE.W. Barnes, Scientific Theory and ReligionWilliam Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of TyreRudy Rucker, MathenautsPhilip Pullman, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel ChristMikael Niemi, Populärmusik från VittulaAlbert Einstein, The Meaning of RelativityPatrick Lapeyre, La vie est brève et le désir sans finIain M. Banks, MatterLee Smolin, Time RebornGuus Kuijer, Het boek van alle dingenAbraham Pais, Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert EinsteinRobert Jastrow, God and the AstronomersComtesse de Segur, OursonGeorge Gamow, Thirty Years that Shook PhysicsTerry Pratchett, The Last ContinentHelge Kragh, An Introduction to the Historiography of ScienceHeinrich Hoffmann, Der StruwwelpeterItalo Calvino, Si par une nuit d'hiver un voyageurTove Jansson, Komet im MumintalWilliam James, The Varieties of Religious ExperienceRichard Feynman, The Character of Physical LawSir Thomas Heath, Aristarchus of SamosOtto Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in AntiquityCarlo Rovelli, The First Scientist: Anaximander and his LegacyArthur Berry, A Short History of AstronomyDavid Foenkinos, La délicatesseDavid Wallace, The Emergent MultiversePeter Byrne, The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett IIIKevin Werbach, For the WinGalileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World SystemsAlexander Unzicker and Sheilla Jones, Bankrupting ScienceIan Bogost, How to Do Things with VideogamesPierre Pevel, Les Lames du CardinalCordelia Fine, Delusions of GenderVictor Stenger, God: The Failed HypothesisDavid Berlinski, The Devil's DelusionAgniya Barto, ИгрушкиSomenath Mithra, Science and MankindThomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon, A General Theory of LoveJim Baggott, Farewell to RealityDominique de Saint-Mars, Max n'aime pas lireFrançois Lelord, Hector et les secrets de l'amourRichard Burton, The Arabian NightsRichard Panek, The 4% UniverseGeorge Smoot, Wrinkles in TimeVictor Stenger, The Fallacy of Fine-TuningMartin Rowson, F*uckHjalmar Söderberg, Doktor GlasRichard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on EarthG.R. Reader, Off-TopicDominique de Saint-Mars, Lili veur faire une boumOgden Nash, Custard and CompanyLouis Gautier-Vignal,John Updike, Roger's VersionHermann Weyl, Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural ScienceJean-Marie Bruson, Musée CarnaveletAndri Pol, Inside CERNMark J. Solomon, On Computer Simulated UniversesDominique de Saint-Mars, Lili veut être une starImmanuel Kant, Critique of Pure ReasonJules Verne, Paris au XXe siècleÅsa Larsson, Svart StigDominique de Saint-Mars, Max et Lili en ont marre de se dépêcherJulia Herschensohn and Martha Young-Scholten, The Cambridge Handbook of Second Language AcquisitionCapt. W.E. Johns, Biggles in AustraliaAntoine de Saint-Exupéry, Der Kleine PrinzRichard C. Tolman, Relativity, Thermodynamics and CosmologyP.J.E. Peebles, Physical CosmologyAlice Munro, Dear LifeJim Baggott, HiggsHeather Amery, First Thousand Words in GermanDavid Deutsch, The Fabric of RealityMax Tegmark, Our Mathematical UniverseShan Sa, La joueuse de goMark J. Solomon, The Evolution of Simulated UniversesHermann Weyl, SymmetryTed Nield, Incoming!Anita Loos, Gentlemen Prefer BlondesStuart A. Kauffman, At Home in the UniverseGilbert Adair, The Act of Roger MurgatroydNigel Calder, Violent UniverseIris Fry, The Emergence of Life on EarthFred Hoyle, Home is Where the Wind BlowsJane Gregory, Fred Hoyle's UniverseMatty Millard, In That Other DimensionKatherine Freese, The Cosmic CocktailRoland Omnès, Philosophie de la science contemporainePierre Cormon, Le traîtrePhilip K. Dick, Clans of the Alphane MoonJacques Monod, Le hasard et la necessitéPlato, CharmidesPhilip K. Dick, The Ganymede TakeoverGeorge Andrey, L'histoire de la Suisse pour les nuls (tome 1)Plato, LysisPlato, LachesPlato, ProtagorasMaxine Eskenazi, Crowdsourcing for Speech ProcessingDominique de Saint-Mars, Lili trouve sa maîtresse méchanteDominique de Saint-Mars, Lili se dispute avec son frèrePlato, EuthydemusKarl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 1Grégoire Delacourt, La première chose qu'on regardeDavid S. Atkinson, The Garden of Good and Evil PancakesKarl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 2Michael Frayn, The Human TouchThomas Nagel, Mind and CosmosRose Lagencrantz, Tjejtjusaren och de tre HelenornaFrancesco Marciuliano, I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by CatsKarl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 3Frans G. Bengtsson Röde OrmKarl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 4P.J.E. Peebles, Principles of Physical CosmologyBrian Clegg, GravityKarl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 5Daniel Dennett, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural PhenomenonHarold J. Morowitz, The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became ComplexCurtis White, The Science DelusionLeonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky, Classical Mechanics: The Theoretical MinimumJohn Sladek, The New ApocryphaJesse Kraai, Lisa: A Chess NovelRandall Munroe, What If?Alice Munro, RunawayRichard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of NatureMassimo Pigliucci, Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation ProblemKarl Ove Knausgård, Min kamp 6Leonard Susskind and Art Friedman, Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical MinimumJohn C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis FloodDavid Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingDavid Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of MoralsTrevor Johnston and Adam Schembri, Australian Sign LanguageJens Bjørneboe, Bestialitetens historieMichel Brice, L'exécutriceRobert Oerter, The Theory of Almost EverythingStella Rimington, The Geneva TrapScott K. Liddell, Grammar, Gesture and Meaning in American Sign LanguageZachary Treisman, A Young Person's Guide to the Hopf FibrationAuguste Dick, Emmy Noether, 1883-1935Mary Beard, Confronting the ClassicsMadeleine Bourdouxhe, La femme de GillesMichel Houellebecq, SoumissionAlan Lightman, Einstein's DreamsRoberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin, The Singular Universe and the Reality of TimeCharb and Zineb, La vie de MahometPhilippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome IPhilippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome IIPhilippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome VIIPhilippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome VIIIPhilippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome IXPhilippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome XVIHjalmar Söderberg, Den Alvarsamma LekenMarion Fayolle, Les coquinsAntoine de Saint-Exupéry, El PrincipitoMarjane Satrapi, Persépolis IntegralDwight E. Neuenschwander Emmy Noether's Wonderful TheoremGeorges Simenon, Les fiançailles de M. HirePierre Larousse, FemmeRebecca Goldstein, Plato at the GoogleplexDonal O'Shea, The Poincaré ConjectureNaomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Merchants of DoubtÉric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du CoranAgnar Mykle, Lasso rundt fru LunaPeter Woit, Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations: An IntroductionAgnar Mykle, Sangen om den røde rubinAlan Lightman, The Accidental UniversePlato, The Dialogues
Ramamurti Shankar, Principles of Quantum Mechanics
Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking
Charles Babcock, Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution
Hermann Weyl, Theory of Groups and Quantum Mechanics
George Andrey, L'histoire de la Suisse pour les nuls (tome 2)
But I imagine I'll get to it in due course. I just don't see what the rush is.
1,118 reviews19k followers
spoilers but do y’all remember that scene in book two where all of the victors are being interviewed and keep saying shit that cuts right to the capitol’s bone, all really purposefully overdramatic, and then right after Katniss gets up and that shit with the Dress happens (which she instantly knows is a life sacrifice one of her only friends is making for her) Peeta gets up on that stage and makes a normal speech and then ends it with “I’d be fine, if it weren’t for the baby” like when is literature ever going to reach those peaks of bad bitch energy ever again
I think this series is so fascinating in that it basically spurred an entire genre of sort-of-okay YA dystopians and then a lot of really bad YA dystopians, and it gets put a lot into that category. but... this book doesn’t have any of those same problems that so plagued YA dystopian fiction.
The love triangle being pointless is quite literally the point; Gale and Peeta are meant to represent the opposite sides of war (something a certain plot point in book three really drives home). Katniss is frankly never romantically interested in either for almost all of books one and two; she grows to care about Peeta in the general sense, not just the romantic sense. The eventual romance works for Katniss because it is safe for her.
(What I’m saying is this was tenderness.)
I more think this series is interesting in how it talks about the nature of power and the nature of uprising. The uprising, as a whole, is an upswelling of the people, a realization that there is strength in numbers. Yet some of the most revolutionary actions of this series are individual — it takes Katniss’ desire to save her sister to start a war, Katniss’ love for little Rue to create horror, Cinna’s willingness to sacrifice his life to create a symbol. Even during war, the individual lives of characters like Joanna and Haymitch and Finnick matter. They matter to the narrative, and thus they matter to us too.
Katniss Everdeen is still a deeply revolutionary heroine not only in that she’s written to be fairly gender non-conforming but also in that she is outwardly cold to all but her very few favorite people, and the narrative does not see fit to punish her for it, but to empathize with her and allow her to grow naturally in small ways. Her journey is not in becoming a Nice Person but in self-actualization. That is not a journey female characters are ever ever ever allowed to take and is arguably still something new.
I almost want to case study this. It’s a similar dynamic to Lord of the Rings being blamed for the general problems of late-1900s fantasy... but worse, because criticism of the YA dystopian genre so often fell into somewhat misogynistic areas, and I don’t think there’s any point in denying that The Hunger Games, due to having an image as Something Young Women Enjoyed™️, received far more criticism than its equivalents in other genres.
It's crazy that the first big ya dystopia is the best ya dystopia and one of the best series of all time, but this one is truly a classic and remains so incredible. Thank you to Katniss Everdeen for being one of the most interesting characters ever written and to this book for having such a dynamic story.
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🔍TOP THREE REASONS TO READ THG
1. It's relevant to our world. The parallels to our own society are so amazingly drawn, and the worldbuilding so good, that I'm not surprised this book was the one that broke through.
2. Dramatic tension. Tell me you weren't on the edge of your seat every moment of this book. You're lying. Katniss' struggle to survive on her own is compelling and twisty. Every moment is filled with fear and tension.
3. The characters are amazing. Katniss Everdeen is one of the best developed, most intriguing protagonists ever written. She's badass and she's selfish and she takes no shit. In the end, I think that's what made this series so fantastic and popular.
5-star elle-recs-list favorite-characters
Author 11 books3,120 followers
Clearly Gregor was merely the prelude. Suzanne Collins, you’ve been holding out on us, missy. As an author we were accustomed to your fun adventures involving a boy, his sister, and a world beneath our world. I think it's fair to say that we weren’t really expecting something like The Hunger Games. At least I wasn’t. But reading it gave me a horribly familiar feeling. There is a certain strain of book that can hypnotize you into believing that you are in another time and place roughly 2.3 seconds after you put that book down. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer could convince me that there were simply not enough canned goods in my home. And The Hunger Games? Well as I walked down the street I was under the disctinc impression that there were hidden cameras everywhere, charting my progress home. Collins has written a book that is exciting, poignant, thoughtful, and breathtaking by turns. It ascends to the highest forms of the science fiction genre and will create all new fans for the writer. One of the best books of the 2008 year.
Life in District 12 isn’t easy for Katniss and her family. Ever since her father died the girl has spent her time saving her mother and little sister Prim from starvation by hunting on forbidden land. But worst of all is reaping day. Once a year the government chooses two children from each of the twelve districts to compete against one another in a live and televised reality show. Twenty-four kids and teens enter, and only one survives. When Prim's name is called, Katniss exchanges herself without hesitation to compete alongside the baker’s boy Peeta. To survive in this game you need to win the heart of your audience, and so District 12’s trainers come up with a plan. Why not make it as if Peeta and Katniss were in love with one another? But in a game where only one person can live, Katniss will have to use all her brains, wits, and instincts to determine who to trust and how to outwit the game's creators.
I described the plot of this book to my husband, particularly the part where Katniss and Peeta fake being in love to gain the audience’s approval and the very first thing he said was, “Oh! That’s the plot of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?" Then I mentioned that it took place in the future and that government leaders set up teenagers to fight one another to the death and he said, "_Battle Royale_”. So sure, there are parts of this plot that have been done before. You could say it's The Game meets Spartacus with some Survivor thrown in for spice. But that’s not what makes a book good or bad, is it? Some of the greatest works of literature out there, regardless of the readerships' age, comes about when an author takes overdone or familiar themes and then makes them entirely new through the brilliance of their own writing. Harry Potter wouldn’t have been any great shakes if it weren’t for Rowling’s storytelling. Similarly, Collins takes ideas that have certainly seen the light of day before and concocts an amazingly addictive text. About the time you get to the fifth chapter that ends with a sentence that forces you to read on, you’re scratching your head wondering how the heck she DOES that.
Your story often rests on the shoulders of the protagonist. Is this a believable character? Do you root for him or her? Because basically it is a very hard thing to create a “good” person on the page that your reader is going to fall in love with. Because we readers know that we are flawed, we are often inclined to side with the similarly flawed people we meet between a book’s covers. Katniss, on the other hand, is so good in so many ways. She sacrifices herself for her sister. She tries to save people in the game. But there’s almost a jock mentality to her too. Katniss can figure out the puzzles and problems in the game, but when it comes to emotional complexity she’s sometimes up a tree. Most remarkable to me was the fact that Katniss could walk around, oblivious to romance, and not bug me. Seriously, nothing gets under my skin faster than heroines who can’t see that their fellow fellas are jonesing for them. You just want to bonk the ladies upside the head with a brick or something. The different here is maybe the fact that since Katniss knows that Peeta has to play a part, she uses that excuse (however unconsciously) to justify his seeming affection for her. Thems smart writing.
Oh! And did I mention the dialogue at all? The humor? Yep, there’s humor. We’re talking about a story where adolescents hunger for blood, and Katniss is getting in lines about her trainers like, “And then, because it’s Effie and she’s apparently required by law to say something awful...” Good stuff. The words pop off the page. And then there’s the fact that we’re dealing with a dystopian novel where the author has somehow managed to create a believable future. No faux slang here, or casual references to extinct dolphins. There are some animals that were scientifically altered, but you can’t have a future without a couple cool details like that, right?
In general, this book throws a big fat wrench into the boy book/girl book view of child/teen literature. People love to characterize books by gender. It stars a boy? Boy book. A girl? Girl book. Now take a long lengthy look at the first book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. It stars a girl... and a boy too. There’s a lot of hunting, fighting, and survival... and a lot of romance, kisses, and cool outfits. There’s strategy, the world’s most fabulous fashion designer, weapons and a girl who knows how to fight. This is not a book that quietly slots into our preconceived stereotypes. And you know what happens to books that span genders? They sell very well indeed. That is, if you can get both boys and girls to read them.
The age range? Well, for most of this story I would have said ten and up. I mean, yeah the basic premise is that a lot of teenagers go around killing one another, and sure there’s some romance to deal with, but none of it really seems inappropriate... until a final death scene appears in the book. I won’t give any details, but suffice it to say it is gruesome. There are definite horror elements to it as well, so with that in mind I am upping my recommendation to 12 and up. I’m sure that there are 10-year-olds out there who’ve seen much worse stuff on cable, just as there are 12-year-olds who’ll freak out ten pages in. Still, I’m more comfortable recommending it for the older kids rather than the younger. You'll see why.
It occurs to me that there has never been a quintessential futuristic gladiator book for kids. That is undoubtedly the roughest term you can give this book. Now I’m not a person who cries easily when she reads something, particularly something for kids. Yet as I was taking a train to Long Island I found myself tearing up over significant parts of this story. It’s good. And it’s so ridiculous that a work of science fiction like this could even be so good. You think of futuristic arena tales and your mind instantly sinks to the lowest common denominator. What Collins has done here is set up a series that will sink its teeth into readers. The future of this book will go one of two ways. Either it will remain an unappreciated cult classic for years to come or it will be fully appreciated right from the start and lauded. My money lies with the latter. A contender in its own right.
Ages 12 and up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
111 reviews
April 30, 2023
this book in a nutshell: katniss shoots arrows n peeta shoots his shot
22 reviews45 followers
My ‘The Hunger Games’ week
23rd march- movie is released
24th march- I read this review and end up watching excellent trailers, Later I downloaded the excerpt and kind of liked the first chapter
25th march- I am a proud owner of the book. Yay!
26th to 27th march- I started reading the book
This is how I thought it would go:
Once I would start reading it, I would just be sucked into it and finish the book remaining awake until early hours of morning, with my bloodshot red eyes.
This is how it went:
I started it and was immediately sucked into the book but then around midway I started losing interest. I fell asleep and had horrible dream (credit to graphic violence). Next morning I finished it owning to its fast pace.
This book is special:
This is my first dystopian novel. I was very much excited about it since it was my introduction to a new genre. I would like to thank this book for such amazing description of dystopian world. The book:
This is a kind of book which probably everyone has read including their dogs, cats and birds too!
So there is no need to hide the spoilers but as warning-
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
This book started brilliantly and within few pages sucked me into it. The world building part is brilliant. Introduction to districts, new society, people’s life, the rules, the reaping, and yes ‘The hunger Games’. It is fast paced with simplistic writing. These are all good things. The best part kids are starting to read the books.
But that’s where the good things end.
Suzanne Collins created the opportunity (golden ones) and one by one she destroyed it. But still most of the people are enthralled by the book as it eventually came out. But I’m not.
So I’m going to tell very explicitly what I didn’t like... Using the first person perspective and thus losing the chance to give depth to any character
This story has been told through the eyes of Katniss Everdeen, she just doesn't give a damn about anyone else except her family so naturally the other characters are too shallow and one dimensional.
Many people just love Peeta and Katniss but I don’t like either of them. All I knew about Peeta was that he liked Katniss from age of five, saved her twice and is now in love with Katniss, rest is mystery.
About Katniss, she does a lot of thing (infact she does everything in the book) but never has a second thought about them, never reflect over what she has done, eventually no attachment with the character.
People tend to like Rue, Peeta, Cinna because these are few characters that spent time with Katniss, but (again)no character has depth.
One more outcome that I feel from other reviews is that Katniss is definitely heroine of the story but why make other 10 kids villain. While Cato and Clove make their kill they become monster but when Katniss makes her kill, it has to be justified as revenge for killing Rue and pity killing of Cato.
This book is all about KATNISS, KATNISS and KATNISS... Very predictable plot
The plot is so much predictable that I was surprised after every 10 or 20 pages (I’m not out of my mind) because the story would turn out exactly how I would guess. First I thought that maybe my mind is highly synchronised with Collins’s mind but later on reading other reviews it turned out the plot was predictable. Missed opportunities
This could have been much more interesting novel. Where did it all go wrong? As I’m writing, everything wrong in story to me looks like is outcome of first person perspective.
--I would have felt much more connected to the games had it contained a bit of background information of every important tributes. Despite the killings being graphical, I didn’t felt sad for their deaths.
--When Katniss makes her first kill, she moves over to do other things (because Rue is dying). But later when she realises that it was her first kill, still she doesn’t reflect over it even for a minute. Killing other human has effect on the killer, until and unless killer is sociopath, moreover here the killers are kids. Instead of giving insight to their mind the story flatly moves ahead with killing and ending the games. It doesn’t make me think
I read books because I enjoy it and because they push my mind to a new level of thinking which benefit me. This book made me think only about, why I didn’t like this book when whole world is enjoying this. No further thoughts beyond that.
Maciek’s thought on this book:
“The Hunger Games reads like a bag of chips, meaning you can devour it in several short bites but it will leave you unnourished and aside from gas, it won’t have much effect.”
FOR ALL THIS 2 STARS(**)
In many reviews people come out with most lame excuse (defense) I have ever heard- IT’s A YOUNG-ADULT NOVEL
As for other books in the series, I will definitely read them but I’m not in hurry or excited with this prospect. I will read it someday, probably before second installment of the movie.
To put a perfect end to ‘The Hunger Games’ week
28th march- I watched the movie
Movie turned out pretty good, much better than I had anticipated. As I watched the movie it seemed that novel was written with movie in mind. Few minor changes, like in the end President Snow shown thinking representing its start of story unlike novel which ends. Some scenes are breath taking, too much violence. Acting by Jennifer Lawrence is good (she turned out better than Katniss in the book). I liked the movie, rated it 7/10.
This review is inspired by Maciek’s review and Brian’s review.
P.S. The kind of reviews and comments I have seen makes me think this book is being followed like religion and my review will sound like blasphemy to them. But I can’t help it, I tried to be honest.