The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Feb 15, 2011 Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2011books

Everything that my friends told me about this book being a nonstop thrill ride was right on. Gripping, incessant, first-person narration makes this impossible to put down, and Suzanne Collins packs more action into this slim volume than I've enjoyed in the last ten books I've read, combined.

Yet, I have to ask about the marketing of this as a Young Adult book. It's a Young Adult book for the Young Adult that really loved Cormac McCarthy's The Road. And that's honestly only a partial joke; overall Everything that my friends told me about this book being a nonstop thrill ride was right on. Gripping, incessant, first-person narration makes this impossible to put down, and Suzanne Collins packs more action into this slim volume than I've enjoyed in the last ten books I've read, combined.

Yet, I have to ask about the marketing of this as a Young Adult book. It's a Young Adult book for the Young Adult that really loved Cormac McCarthy's The Road. And that's honestly only a partial joke; overall, this book is just about .35 shades lighter than The Road, and certainly features more violence. The MWBA (Martin Wilson Book Association) rates this book a hard R. Appeal it if you like, but the violence and bleakness are way beyond anything I'd allow a young adult under my purview to read. I suppose this all hinges on the question of what, exactly, constitutes a Young Adult. And I guess I'm removed enough from my early high school career to truly recall my maturity level and ability to digest fiction. But wow. This is a pretty brutal, nasty, post-apocalyptic YA novel.

I sort of wish we could just call it a plain old novel, but then we'd have to criticize some of the simplicities that Collins gets away with by shielding herself under the nebulous YA umbrella. It's an interesting dance of marketing, expectations, writing, and popularity.

The cynical part of me wants to say it's nothing but a poor-man's Cormac McCarthy, written shamelessly and openly begging to be adapted into a movie (franchise) by a writer who can't hang in the big-kid playground of Science Fiction and so hides out as an 800-lb gorilla in the sandbox of Young Adult Fiction.

The more reasonable side of me thinks that while it could be a little more nuanced for the adult side of the young adult spectrum (and could stand to enumerate every single feeling of the sixteen-year-old protagonist/narrator a little less) it's still a thrilling and enjoyable sci-fi tale with plenty of contemporary resonance -- in the manner of all the best science fiction. An ass-kicking female protagonist, a richly imagined (if depressing) future world, and nearly perfect plotting add up to a great read for anyone of any age. And by "any age" I mean anybody old enough and mature enough not to get terrifying nightmares from all the brutal violence (like I did). ...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Nicole rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, fantasy-sci-fi, young-adult

Several mom friends told me they'd read the book when their kids were reading it so I used some of my Audible credits to download it. It's like Stephen King's The Long Walk meets Koushun Takami's Battle Royale. As an adult I was often frustrated by being steps ahead of the protagonist, waiting for her to catch up, which keeps me from saying that I loved the book but it was still quite good and compelling enough that I intend to dive into the sequels. ...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Elizabeth rated it liked it

This book is very, very fast-paced. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. I'm done, however, with the series after reading this book. The premise of the book really bothers me personally. I AM glad that other YA readers are reading this, though, and are excited about it... it's way better written than the Twilight books! ...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Adriel rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

This book has left me exhausted due in part to having stayed up two nights in a row reading until wee hours and then getting up with my toddler at 6:30. In greater part however, this book is such an emotional roller coaster, leaving me with great affection for the character, but feeling a little abused about the awful circumstances she was put through. Not to mention the moral conflict of reading a book critical of the games that it portrays in detail. Although this all sounds critical, i did lo ...more

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