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The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)

Suzanne Collins

Start date: March 1, 2012

Finish date: April 30, 2012

Discussion: Monthly Book Read Talk

Why we're reading this: Well the Hunger Games movie is coming out on March 23rd and it's going to amazing, but before we all watc…more
[close] Well the Hunger Games movie is coming out on March 23rd and it's going to amazing, but before we all watch it we should read the book first. A beautiful novel by Suzanne Collins, and if you get hooked finish up the trilogy on your own :)

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What Members Thought

Jan 08, 2012 Paula Phillips rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. As I was saying above, that when the series was first released in 2008, I tried to read it and was unsuccessful, something in it just didn't click with me but this time around and I don't know if it's because I'm in a different frame of mind or the fact that I'm in a state of reading more and more dystopian novels but I loved it and this time round fell more in love with Peeta as when I first read it , I was a close shave between Peeta and Gale.
The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian world, that ...more

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Jun 29, 2010 Roseanne rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I re-read this as an audiobook on Audible.com (Tatiana Maslany *Orphan Black* as Narrator): First impression, better than the original in that there's more personality in the voice-overs, not just relying on the prose's own power. While Suzanne Collins's prose IS powerful on it's own (Being heavily backgrounded in screenwriting for children's television shows has it's perks, of course), it would seem that the original narrator of the series added little to the story's enticement. I think that I I re-read this as an audiobook on Audible.com (Tatiana Maslany *Orphan Black* as Narrator): First impression, better than the original in that there's more personality in the voice-overs, not just relying on the prose's own power. While Suzanne Collins's prose IS powerful on it's own (Being heavily backgrounded in screenwriting for children's television shows has it's perks, of course), it would seem that the original narrator of the series added little to the story's enticement. I think that I put down the 3rd installment due to the dullness of the Narrator.

While the breathy-sighs of Tatiana's rendering gets a bit annoying when not really appropriately placed at times, She Definitely Has Katniss Everdeen's voice down pat. I guess it doesn't hurt that she's a fan of the series too.

I've not seen or heard of Orphan Black or Tatiana prior to re-reading (or rather re-hearing) the special edition of The Hunger Games. But I am going to check it out soon.

I love this story. I've binged on learning writing craft and storytelling. Constantly honing my self-editing on my own writing. And investing more and more into my honing my writing skills. This series is a great example of great story ESPECIALLY with such terrible dystopian themes and storyline.

Imagine that! Loving a story about kids set to kill eachother as a punishment/celebration of a countries livelyhood. It's fundamentally nuts. But it is what it is.

"Its success altered ... [YA]. If Harry Potter revealed a ... market hungry for children’s literature and Twilight extended [it] to [YA], The Hunger Games cemented the buying power ...
"Challenging power-hungry governments can be deadly ... ugly, ... life is ugly. Heroes are not always heroic. The good guys do not always win, and when they do, they are haunted. Collins’s acknowledgment of the lasting impact of war on Katniss’s psyche is heartbreaking and powerful... Her courage is sewn into her ... bones. When the violence of the world knocks at her door, she must fight ... [She] will forever burn ... [a] hero, also ... a ... reminder ... [that]: Teenage girls are powerful[,] ... courageous[,] ... capable of great rage[,] ... [and] should never ... be underestimated."
(Tahir, Sabaa. "Katniss Everdeen is my hero," New York Times. Online: 2018/10/18.)

Original review:

I like. I like. Very very very very well put together. I am immensely grateful that it was indeed YA fic and not Adult fic, the gore factor would probably do me in. But alas, It was stomach-able.... I heard that the movie is coming along nicely (via magazines and twitter, not sure on the credibility of the twitter-ers but yeah). I wanted to read this book before the movie release, which usually isn't my style. I just needed to envision my own "THG" before I saw it on screen.
I was very intrigued by this story... How dystopian it is, how sci fi it is, how twistedly romantically non-romantic it is....
I already picked up the second book. ...more

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Nov 11, 2009 Sheila rated it it was amazing

Shelves: current_issues, scifi-fantasy, coming-of-age, suspense

I read Catching Fire first, the second in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy. But I was hooked. So now I’ve read the Hunger Games too and I can’t wait for the final volume.

Hunger Games is a young adult series set in a post-apocalyptic world where food and populations have shrunk, and government is centralized in a city that controls its outlying towns with poverty and fear. An earlier rebellion is mentioned but never quite described, and the authorities memorialize their victory with yearly t ...more

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Jul 15, 2009 Ali Cross rated it it was amazing

This book has now made it to my very favorite books of the year list. And there's only one other book on that list so far, so that's a high honor.

The Hunger Games is another in that catchy and daring first person/present tense voice. But it wasn't only the voice that made it impossible to put down.

The story of a distopian society that's so far from what we hope for our future that it's surely our deepest fear. The Hunger Games is inventive, the characters realistic, the tension palpable and non ...more

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Aug 29, 2010 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult-fiction

Like so many others I saw similarities between "Battle Royale” and “The Running Man” two very good movies in there own right. Yet, this book for its familiarities also was so different. Here we have a girl being hunted by members from her own district as well as others. She is strong, sensitive and very smart. She understands the game and also what she needs to do to succeed. She is very capable of also playing to the audience and what they crave to see. Most of all I loved that Katniss and Peet ...more

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Jan 29, 2010 Carly Svamvour rated it it was amazing

GO TEAM GO!

At this writing, the Olympics are on - I just watched the men's figure skating . . . as predicted, the Russian guy was the best, the French guy in second.

Our guy - Vaughan - in 5th.

And I kept thinking about The Hunger Games.

...more

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Oct 19, 2010 ★Azhley★ rated it it was amazing

AWESOME

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Jan 15, 2011 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Oh my gosh, this book really is amazing. I've been wanting to read it for a while but I was afraid it wouldn't meet my expectations. Boy, was I wrong! I think I like Katniss even more than I liked Tally from Uglies. I'm excited tio read the other two books. :) ...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Natasha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I didn't think I would like this book because of the setting.. But I become so attached to the characters.. I could not put it down because I didn't want to leave them be.. I wanted to see what happened next. I am excited to start the next one to see what happens.. ...more

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Oct 05, 2009 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-library

I could not put this book down! I loved it and loved watching them fall in love. I feel bad for Katniss and her confusion! I hope she figures it all out when she goes home.

I enjoyed this book even more the second time around!

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