The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) in The Alternative Worlds

Aug 23, 2011 mark monday rated it really liked it

Shelves: super-private-journal, after-the-fall, teenworld

i just woke up from a disturbing little nightmare that strangely involved The Hunger Games. in the dream, i pull Hunger Games off of the shelf and out slips a paper thin cell phone. it is my sister's phone. she has recently come up from los angeles to visit and i know she's returned home while i was at work; clearly she's forgotten her phone. i'm amused, knowing how forgetful she can be, realizing that i'll now have a phone that i can use (my cell phone just died in real life - and in my dream t i just woke up from a disturbing little nightmare that strangely involved The Hunger Games. in the dream, i pull Hunger Games off of the shelf and out slips a paper thin cell phone. it is my sister's phone. she has recently come up from los angeles to visit and i know she's returned home while i was at work; clearly she's forgotten her phone. i'm amused, knowing how forgetful she can be, realizing that i'll now have a phone that i can use (my cell phone just died in real life - and in my dream too), and immediately call her husband on her cell to tell him that Sheila forgot her phone. before i can say anything, he says in a small voice, "Where's Sheila? I've been calling her and you for hours. The boys are scared". in the background, i hear the tv talking about murders. and then about plane crashes. and then about disappearances. i try to say something to him but my voice isn't working; i start to yell but nothing comes out. i know something has happened to her and i know that i have somehow failed her. my mind bends at the awful possibilities and i wake up, sweating.

so i took down Hunger Games and suddenly flashed back to that short, dreadful scene of Katniss hearing her sister's name called during the reaping. i knew it was coming; hell, it says so right on the back cover. nevertheless, it is a scene that is in some ways a moment out of time for me. short, basic, horrifying, primal...the idea of Prim being chosen, being slain, is not even a possibility on Katniss' mind. her mind doesn't accept the idea of her sister in danger, and so without thinking, she volunteers to take her place. i remember reading that scene, and that little shiver it gave me. Katniss acts in the way that all people who love those in their care would act: immediately and unthinkingly putting themselves in harm's way to protect their loved ones. it is an automatic, human reaction. it doesn't take an expert on the human condition to understand that. but it does take an excellent writer to convey such a basic human response so simply and yet so meaningfully. Katniss' action defines her completely, as it defines all people who would seek to protect others. throughout the novel, she does not veer from this course.

i was in alaska recently, camping. there was a person with us during this trip who was extremely worried abouts bears and bear attacks; and so conversation took place to reassure her, to keep things light. we talked about bears off and on throughout the day and then around the campfire. i've never been the sort to be paranoid about bears, but man when i went to sleep, that's all i could think about. and then twigs started cracking, followed by the sound of an animal snuffling and rustling about, right next to me; it happened throughout the night; i stayed awake until dawn. the next day i noticed some dry animal shit and discovered that i had placed my tent only a couple inches away from some little creature's burrow, one that clearly had much work to accomplish during the evening hours. not so frightening to think about now, sorta cute actually. but gosh, it is something else to be locked in fear for so many hours straight. my mind went through various stages, finally settling on a (now hilarious) acceptance that i would be attacked. i clutched my knife and waited, exhausted but somehow at peace that i could run, i could fight, i could live, i could die, but strangely content knowing that what will happen, will happen...as ridiculous as this particular situation turned out to be, i have had that same feeling during other situations where i felt Okay, well this is it, i suppose i'm going to die. this is a basic human response. you can only quiver in fear for so long until you weary, you become resolved to accept things.

on the plane ride back, i noticed a kid reading The Hunger Games and remembered my own enjoyment, and knew how gripping and intense the experience could possibly be for him. he certainly clutched the book as if his life depended on it, as if the rest of the world didn't exist. and then i also remembered those scenes in the arena, that acceptance that Katniss had: she may die, she may not die, but what will happen, will happen. i remember reading her thoughts about her future in the arena, her probable death, and realizing her thoughts felt right. The Hunger Games manages to get across a very complex yet also very basic human response, in a way that is direct, crystal clear, and thoroughly realistic in its detailing of a person's actual mental and emotional reactions.

so why do i ramble on about things in my life that have barely anything to do with Hunger Games, that only tangentially reminded me of this novel? well, i suppose to make a point about the book. if you are the kind of person who became lost in The Hunger Games, you know that it stays with you, it affects you in an emotional way...it comes back. but i'm also rambling to make a point about all quality Young Adult Fiction. this genre is well-loved, but it also takes its critical knocks as well. folks talk about the simplistic writing, the boiled-down tropes, the lack of complexity, the earnestness, and the basic, almost black & white palate of emotions and principles on display. but to me, these are the virtues of the genre. if done well, these are the reasons why these books connect with their readers in a way that feels right, that feels honest. no matter whether the setting is a wizard's school or an alternate england or a post-apocalyptic north america.

i think of YA Fiction as our own modern version of fables and mythic adventures, stories that have as their purpose the telling of straightforward morality tales, tales of right and wrong and fighting back and loving others and being an individual and finding community. the best ones are transparent in their goals and do not clutter their prose with stylization, complicated narratives, writerly game-playing, ambiguous theme-building, and the like. the best ones tell a tale that resonates with readers at a deep and elemental level - and so the reader responds in kind. i suppose this is why many people can become obsessed with this genre's bestsellers - they speak to the reader in the most direct way imaginable. they may come with a context that is relevant to today's world (as does Hunger Games), but the best ones are also timeless (as is Hunger Games). the best of this genre warmly illustrates the strength of the human spirit yet can also be surprisingly unsentimental; often swiftly-paced and action-packed yet carefully, lovingly detailed when examining the things that matter to its protagonists; often despairing and full of a palpable sense of resentment and anger, yet open to the inevitable change and growth that can happen and that make us more connected to the world around us and to whom we truly are, at the heart of us.

The Hunger Games' place within all of this is obvious: it is a modern classic of the genre. and as with all classics, it is relevant and suitable for all ages. it is the kind of novel that grows in the memory. ...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Nicky rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction, dystopia, post-apocalyptic

I've been meaning to reread this so I could go and read Catching Fire and Mockingjay for ages, and then when I'd seen the film I did buy the Kindle edition (having given my original copy away to my sister, fie on me). I've seen the film a bunch of times since -- my sister and I both have massive crushes on Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, which I'm going to use as my excuse.

Anyway, the film is very good in places -- I thought the riot section was particularly well done, even though it wasn't reflec I've been meaning to reread this so I could go and read Catching Fire and Mockingjay for ages, and then when I'd seen the film I did buy the Kindle edition (having given my original copy away to my sister, fie on me). I've seen the film a bunch of times since -- my sister and I both have massive crushes on Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, which I'm going to use as my excuse.

Anyway, the film is very good in places -- I thought the riot section was particularly well done, even though it wasn't reflected in the book, because it reflected concerns the audiences have after the student riots in London, the Occupy Wall Street movement, all the other riots and rebellions around the world over the last couple of years... But I do love the touches unique to the book, too, like the District 11 gift to Katniss of bread. As someone pointed out at the time, it's disappointing that that didn't get into the film, because we don't actually see much hunger in The Hunger Games, as a film. The book does this much better -- Katniss is constantly thinking about food, and she actually has to deal with the consequences of near-starvation: she gets thinner, she gets ill when she eats too much too fast... We see her dying of thirst, too. So all in all the book makes you a lot more aware of the physical challenges facing her.

An author recently tweeted about The Hunger Games -- I think it was Nnedi Okorafor -- saying that it was nothing special, essentially, because Katniss wins by being a pretty girl and falling in love. But isn't that what those protecting her want the Capitol to think? We are the Capitol, in a way, and more so when we fail to recognise that Katniss is packaged up as a commodity for us, and resisting that almost gets her and Peeta killed. She survives initially because she can climb, hunt, think, and then she has to start playing games with the sponsors to get money to survive. Surely that isn't the traditional pretty-girl-gets-a-boyfriend-happy-ever-after story? And she's never in more danger -- or more dangerous -- than the moment when she and Peeta almost defy the Capitol with their double suicide.

Katniss doesn't survive because of her looks, or because of Peeta, but because she learns to manipulate. She uses the tools of the Capitol against them -- wits, Cinna's expert styling help, even the way the Gamemakers choose to portray her.

I really don't see, myself, how that story can be dismissed as simply another ditzy YA heroine getting the boy and the reward. There are undoubtedly flaws with The Hunger Games, both book and movie, but I don't think Katniss fails to be empowering because "her only resource is her looks"*.

*N.B. That's the closest to a direct quote of the original comment I can find, since I'm either looking in the wrong place for the original tweet, or it's been deleted. That quote comes from a conversation I was having with someone else about the tweet... ...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Kevin Xu rated it liked it

I thought this book was not very original. Its like the most basic type of story where someone has to be sacrificed in order to make the god or other mystical creatures like dragons happy every so oftern. Most of all I thought the book was really bad version of Ender's Game. The characters are flat and have no emotion. Basically its Ender's Game without all the substance or anything that makes Ender's Game one of the most read/teached/related book of all time. Its no Ender's Game. ...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Simon rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

When I started reading this, I wondered is it really a "Young Adult" novel? Or do people simply call it that because the protagonist is a teenager? But as the story unfolded, it became clear to me that it was truly aimed at young adults because the protagonist was repeatedly spared the necessity of making the really tough decisions and sacrifices that one might have in her situation. Events and circumstances always unfolded in such a way that she never had to kill any of the "nice" kids, only th ...more

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May 03, 2011 Daniel Roy rated it liked it

Shelves: dystopia, sf, young-adult

Despite its simplistic and somewhat unbelieveable premise, I found "The Hunger Games" pretty hard to put down. It took me a while to realize this was a young adult novel, as Katniss's world is initially grim and realistic, and I found her well-drawn. But as the novel progresses and turns into a teenage rehash of "Battle Royale", she becomes a more stereotypical teenage heroine, unable to see when a man is in love with her and riddled with self-doubt.

I really could have done without the entire ro ...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Gail rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, sci-fi, dystopian

This was a fun little book - which seems a bit odd as the subject matter is about children being forced into an arena where they must fight each other to the death! But somehow, despite the dark, disturbing subject matter, the book is written in an upbeat way, and almost seems more like a story of a girl navigating the customs, cliques and bullies of a new high school! It's nothing like the experience of reading Lord of the Flies, where the horror of the situation is conveyed very eloquently.

I ...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Chueca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

I loved this book. It is accessible for many ages and walks of life. The Hunger Games tells a story of survival in a world where some are privileged with advantages and others are not; much like our world. On top of this story line is the idea of televised personal strife and competition... the prize being your life. Activists, organizers, thrill seekers and sci-fi lovers one and all will surely love this book.

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May 18, 2011 Courtney rated it really liked it

I liked the series as a whole, but find the main character a little hard to connect with at times. I like the idea of a strong female lead, and the supporting characters are great. Really hoping the film version does it credit.

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Apr 12, 2011 Denise rated it it was amazing

Difficult subject. Well written with more insight into the 'kill or be killed' mindset that overtakes the tributes than what I remember of lord of the flies. ...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Tatjana rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction-ya, fiction-speculative, fiction-dystopian

I enjoyed this book more than I had anticipated.
It's a complex story that deals with somewhat complex issues and doesn't end the way you think it will. Furthermore, the protagonist is a uncompromisingly strong girl that is well balanced and interesting. I'm looking forward to the second book... which I'm planning on doing on CD. ...more

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