The Hunger Games: Movie Tie-in Edition

I had heard so much about this book that I just had to get it. I bought this one and the second one in the trilogy, Catching Fire, at the same time and read them both is a little more than a day =) The Hunger Games gives us a look in a possible future of the society and world we live in today. We follow Katniss about a century after environmental catastrophes have changed the face of North America and the former United States is now Panem, a nation divided into 12 districts and a Capitol. Katniss lives in district 12 and has been taking care of her mother and little sister since her father died years ago. Living in poverty, Katniss relies on unconventional methods to feed her family with the the help of her best friend Gale. 74 years before the Districts rebelled against The Capitol and lost. As a lesson to its citizens The Capitol holds The Hunger Games every year. The Hunger Games are a reality show where 2 children of each district enter an arena and the last one left alive will be set for life. Yes, you read that right, the last one left alive! They have to kill each other! I have to say I was pleasantly surprise by how amazing this book is. Suzanne has created such a believable world and characters that is just so easy to get lost in their lives. It is shocking and disturbing to realize how credible is this tragic future created by her. How easy it is to believe that our utter disregard for the Earth can lead us to such a life and our society's love for reality TV and obsession with perfection can lead us to a society as such described in The Capitol, where people look like freaks by over using plastic surgery. I fell completely in love with Katniss. She is such a great heroine and you can't help but root for her every step of the way. Her love and devotion for her sister is heart breaking and seeing her putting herself on the line so that her little sister doesn't have to go the brutal Games is an inspiration. I was utterly disturbed by this future world. The idea that watching kids killing each other is entertainment disgusted me. This book brought me to tears so many times. It is impossible to read it and not commit yourself to it completely! There is also romance in this book and what every fan of this series is going to ask is which Team are on? Team Peeta or Team Gale? The Hunger Games is a must read for any YA lover out there. Its fun, emotional, entertaining, politically engaged, disturbing, action packed, it has got it all. I did not put down this book for a second! If you haven't read The Hunger Games, what are you waiting for? Originally Posted at Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life {larissaslife DOT com}

This trio of young adult novels by Suzanne Collins takes place in the future world of Panem, located in what was once North America. Panem is made up of 12 districts and the Capitol, all controlled by President Snow and various other members of the Capitol city. The citizens of the rest of the 12 districts exist only to provide for the Capitol; provide food, clothing, medicine, coal and very importantly, entertainment. Many years past, the citizens of the 13 original districts had risen up to rebel against a very unfair living arrangement. District 13 was obliterated and the Hunger Games were begun as a way to control the other districts. Each year, a boy and a girl from each district, between the ages of 12 and 17, is "reaped", their names chosen from a list of all of the children in that district. Once chosen, those two children join the 22 others from the remaining districts for a fight to the death in an arena, termed the Hunger Games. This spectacle is broadcast as required watching for all citizens of Panem, who in the 12 districts get to watch those they know and love get brutally murdered by other children. In District 12, Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old living in the poorest of the districts, supports her mother and beloved younger sister, Prim, with her illegal hunting and creative ways of providing for her family. On the day of the reaping this year, Prim is the one whose name is chosen. Katniss immediately volunteers to go for Prim instead. In her mind, she has agreed to die for her but cannot bear the thought of Prim dying in the Games. What unfolds from here is a spectacular tale of rising up against oppression, with Katniss becoming the symbol for the rebellion. She is joined in the Hunger Games by the first of two love interests, Peeta, who is a baker's son she's known for years. Throughout this story (it is truly one long story broken into three parts), the author does an amazing job of writing flawed characters. Put into this world, there are few who are selfless, or even marginally kind. Katniss herself is surly at best, having been forced to care for her family since her father died when she was 11. For any young adult reading this novel, it truly shows how a young girl feels inside at this age; not always able to see the true motives of those around her or believe the truly good things about herself. This story also a commentary on many social and political issues, interspersed with lessons about what should and should not be trusted in life. The politics of those on Katniss' own side of the war, for example, is a lesson on how those in power are those who disseminate the information, and how they spin it and whether how they act on in is in the best interest of the people. It is a lesson on how human beings treat each other and why, how arbitrary things are in life and how betrayal is a part of that. Although these books were written for YA, they are easily accessible for adults. I found myself riveted, in no small part because of how much the author made me root for Katniss. She is an extremely complicated character, but one I would want on my side in a rough situation. She can't help but protect those who are smaller or weaker than she is, and even those who aren't. She is cold and calculating, though, which makes her decisions and her words unlikable at times, but she is as real a character as I've ever read. I was struck by the more esoteric parts of Suzanne Collins' writing as well. For example, she references other literature, most notably numbering Katniss' army squadron (from the final book, Mockingjay) 451. The numbers have no meaning in the army, and this number is most easily remembered from Ray Bradbury's tale, Fahrenheit 451, another futuristic story about government control. This is only one reference, however. She uses character's names (eg. Cressida, Castor, Pollux) to further reference historical and literary ideas, as well as metaphorical ideas (naming the very evil President Snow, whose breath smells like blood and roses). In all, these novels are well-worth reading for those of all ages who like a gripping futuristic tale that isn't all that far-fetched.

One of those crazily persistent Amazon suggestions kept showing this book after I bought my Kindle 3 and I finally gave in. The next morning, bleary eyed from lack of sleep and with a full understanding that I wasn't going to get much done on my Christmas vacation, I bought the other 2 books in the trilogy. I can't say that I read them so much as I absorbed them into myself. So, even though there are over 1200 reviews here to read, I simply have to add my own. Our story revolves primarily around a teen girl named Katniss, but includes many secondary characters of great vividness and depth including two teen boys, Peeta and Gale. These youngsters are from District 12 in the country of Panem; a future version of a collapsed United States. Being the final District in 12 total, her district mines coal as it's primary duty and life is exceptionally hard and brutal there. Unlike more advanced districts that make luxury goods or electronics, there is not enough food to really thrive and Katniss has been providing for her diminished family through poaching the forbidden forrests for years. Panem, probably a shorter version of PanAmerica, experienced an uprising in the districts some generations back. As a result, District 13 was destroyed and made inhabitable and each of the remaining districts placed under terms of brutal submission. A reminder of this submission are the Hunger Games. These twisted annual games require that each district select 2 children, a boy and a girl, by lottery who are "tributes". In the games, they fight to the death in a specially erected environment. This short description doesn't even broach the surface of it, really. Like today's Survivor or Ancient Rome's Gladiatorial games, there is intense competition in the Capital to have a more elaborate environment or compete for the best costumes at the opening ceremonies. All of this trite competition completely overlooks the basic hard fact that these children are going to be forced over days and weeks to kill each other. The more gruesome and horrible, the better they love it. And the environments themselves are dangerous, with many dying slowly of thirst or hunger or eaten by animals. The Gamemakers throw targeted horrors at them to keep things interesting and moving along on top of all that. Katniss, as you might imagine, winds up in the games by volunteering for her younger and more gentle sister. It is she and Peeta, a boy who once saved her life and the life of her family with a single act of compassion, that now compete in the games in which only one of them can hope to survive. While the games are certainly a focus of the book, the story artfully blends the life of District 12, the whirlwind leading up to the games and the game itself into a comprehensive whole. The masterminding of a strategy with an old drunkard winner, Katniss and Peeta leads to the romantic struggle as well. You become at once a member of the audience and the invisible rider on Katniss' shoulder, urging her on and forward throughout the book. I genuinely enjoyed the story, which is taut and entirely original and can't imagine how this is geared towards teens other than the use of words below a certain grade level. In truth, the use of words works with this story in a way that using complicated words seen in "adult reading" books would not. Katniss would not resonate with the reader nearly as well. There are two further books in the trilogy and both of those are equally highly recommended. I only suggest that you buy them all at once or be sure your Kindle is ready to receive before you start this one. You won't want to stop at the last page.

This novel has been out for a couple of years now and I have finally made the decision to give it a read. It has been on the top of my "to buy" list for a while now and seeing how I was running out of "must have" novels to read I gave it a shot. To my surprise this novel was fantastic and blew away any doubts of a bad read in my mind. As always I will try to keep my review as unbiased as possible and try to avoid giving away any of the crucial spoilers that we all hate reading about in reviews. Hunger Games// Katniss and her family live in Panera, a futuristic America that is split into 13 districts, and we see the hardships she faces. Katniss spends most of her time hunting in the forbidden forest to provide food for her mother and sister after her father's tragic death in the coal mines. Each year the government has a forced "Hunger Games" where 24 tributes ( two from each district that are teens from ages 12-18 ) are selected to fight to the death, where only one can survive. When Katniss's younger sister is called to be a tribute, Katniss volunteers to take her place without hesitation to face off against fellow district 12 tribute, Peeta, who is the baker's son. The tributes are allowed to get help during their battles in the arena so they have to gain favor with the public. Katniss and Peeta's trainers come up with a plan to really attract the audience's attention and bring them into the lime light. For the first time ever in the hunger games two tributes will be a couple who will fight together until the very end. Katniss and Peeta's romance help them secure sponsors who are willing to pay the high expense of sending them help in times of dire need in the arena. Though this was a plot by their trainers, Peeta really does love Katniss and used it to tell her his true feelings. Katniss at first believes he is acting his part but gets a sense that Peeta really does love her. She uses the scheme to hide his obvious advances and to figure out her own feelings. It will take all of Peeta's and Katniss's wits, skills, and instincts to survive the arena and become the Victor! But who will end up winning? This book was very well written and cleverly told to keep the reader very much entertained. The entire time I read this novel I couldn't put it down. This is like the gladiator for teens and it really creates a world that is almost believable. You can say it is a mixture of The Game and 1984 mixed up into one grand novel. It contains a complex romance that gets even more difficult for Katniss to understand as the days pass by and has loads of great dialogue ranging from serious to humorous. This has a little bit of everything to keep anyone entertained. Don't worry science geeks they even have flying vehicles and bioengineered animals that have been altered for the purpose of war! The pacing of this story is excellent as you have your slower dramatic scenes mixed in with vicious acts of violence that just blend in so well you never have a dull moment. The author did a wonderful job creating her characters and making the reader hope and pray that they succeed. Every character has depth and personality, which make them stick in our minds even after we have finished reading the book. When you read a novel and can't remember half the characters when you are finished you know the book was not very good. Every single person in this story has a mystery behind them that is just waiting to be explored. Don't let this simple yet complex story line confuse you. This is definitively a read for anyone over the ages of 12 due to its complex romance, humor, and bloody gladiator style combat. It crosses the gender barriers as it is not a girl or a boy book but both. It is hard to give a great novel a numerical value as people have different types of stories they love to read. I myself do not find non-fiction or investigative novels to be that entertaining and would rate such a novel lower then someone who might love them. This multi-platform novel deserves at least a 4.5/5 regardless the type of novels you love to read and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to escape reality and emerge themselves in a world of mischief and courage. Hunger games will leave you craving for more as every word digs deeper and deeper into your mind and creates a world so realistic and intriguing you just can't help but to imagine what happens next. What happens to the Victor after the games? How do the families and friends of the fallen react? How does the public react? Thankfully the second novel Catching Fire has hit the shelves and you will not be disappointed as it is just as good and entertaining as the first!!!! Note: This is my first review so hopefully everyone who reads it enjoys it. I plan on doing more here as well as my personal website (non-profit with no adds...I don't make money I just love reading and writing and hope to write my own novel soon) that I am having made at [...] if anyone is interested. For now I just have a temp website I coded and tossed up until I have time to make a nice one :) Cheers!

"And may the odds be ever in your favor." Whether you are interested in finding out what this book means or you are just interested in finding a good new book to read, you're in the right place. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, hyped up beyond belief was, to my great surprise, one of the best books I have ever read. Finishing it in two days, I could not put it down. There are 723 people on the holding list at the library, just for three weeks of "the book of the decade!" Within a month of coming out The Hunger Games made millions of dollars. It surpassed both classics, Harry Potter and Twilight. When the movie came out a year later, fans screamed for it, newspapers wanted a glimpse at it, and before the midnight premiere, it was almost as loud and crowded as a sold out One Direction concert. EVERYONE had watched it within two weeks of the premiere. It was about the only topic of everyone's conversations at school for weeks. In this popular favorite, you'll find action with a bit of romance. The United States, now called Panem with twelve districts and a Capitol, hold an annual televised event called the Hunger Games. Two tributes from each district (one boy and one girl from the ages of 12-18) are chosen to compete in a fight to the death. Katniss, a sixteen year old girl, gets into the Hunger Games along with another boy from her district. Who will survive? What will happen? Will there be a love story involved? Find out the answers to all these questions by reading this wonderfully written novel. Looking for great characters? What about creativity or drama and suspense? All of these are shown in Collins' book, The Hunger Games. The characters are remarkable. Protecting her family from harm, Katniss Everdeen hunts for her family with her best friend, Gale, in the Seam (the forbidden part of District 12). The soft, loving girl helping her mother is Prim, whom Katniss loves dearly. Also living in District 12, there's Peeta, the baker's son, also known as "lover boy." And lastly, there are the people living in the Capitol. They, to Katniss, look very much fake and plastic. Collins has a great mind especially when it comes to her imagination and creativity. How many of you could have thought up the plot and setting that she did. I mean really! North America in the future - Panem with 13 districts (one getting destroyed by the Capitol) and holding the Hunger Games to keep the other districts from trying to over throw the government ever again. It's genius. Going along with her creativity comes all the drama and suspense in this book. Katniss, one minute strategizing her next move, could be scrambling rapidly trying to escape the fiercest wild fire ever, the next! Or, concentrating immensely Katniss could be figuring out how in the world she is going to get down from the tree and then the next second worrying about how to survive the tracker jacker attack. Oh, I almost forgot about the romantics of the novel. Will Katniss fall for best friend or "lover boy?" Will this lead them to their ultimate fate or help them survive this crazy journey of the Hunger Games and be the first survivors of the Hunger Games for District 12 in 20 years? Excited to find out more about everyone's fate? Well you should be. This awe-inspiring contraption is one of the only hyped up books I actually liked. Have you finished the first book and thirsty for more? No problem! The other books in the series are Catching Fire and Mocking Jay.

I kept hearing about The Hunger Games. On Twitter, in blog posts. People were referring to it with that "Oh my God you have to read this" language that gets one's attention. So I looked at the book's description on Amazon, and it didn't seem like my kind of thing: It's a futuristic YA novel set in a post-apocalyptic North America. The country of Panem has risen from the ashes of a continent devastated by (apparently) natural disasters. Panem is divided into twelve districts, each of which has its own specialty--agriculture or factory work or the production of luxury items. District twelve, in the Appalachian area, specializes in coal mining. It's among the poorest of the districts, if not the poorest, and its people struggle to keep themselves from starving. The book's protagonist, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, is from district 12. She's been feeding her family for years, since her father died in a mining accident, by poaching in the woods surrounding her community, an offense which could easily get her executed. But her time in the woods has also honed her survival skills, which will prove to be essential. Panem is a Big Brotherish society, the civil liberties of its citizens severely restricted. Among the demands made by the government is the annual participation by each district in The Hunger Games, a reality TV show to which each district must contribute two children as participants. They're selected in a lottery--the "reaping"--that isn't quite fair: the selection process favors the rich. The winners of the reaping are compelled to participate in the Games, a televised fight to the death in which there are no rules (though cannibalism is frowned on). The one participant who's left alive at the show's end is the winner, and goes back to his or her district a fawned-over champion. If you're looking for antecedents, think The Truman Show mixed with Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," 1984 and Survivor and the ancient Greek myth of the minotaur. The bleak futuristic society aspect of the book was a turn-off for me. I decided I wouldn't be reading it. Weeks passed, and again I started seeing references to The Hunger Games, comments prompted by excitement over the recent release of the second book in the series, Catching Fire. Again I went to Amazon. Again I thought I wouldn't like the book. But I downloaded a sample to my Kindle. That was about 24 hours ago. It was immediately apparent from the sample that The Hunger Games was well written. By the end of the sample it was apparent that I would have to read the whole thing. I downloaded the book and devoured it, sometimes having to force myself to read more slowly because I was reading too fast, the literary equivalent of swallowing food unchewed. All of which is to say that the book is for some reason immensely readable. Katniss is a very compelling character: she's smart and motivated by sororal love; she's a survivor. But her character alone can't fully explain the book's appeal. The book never slows down. The evil government that imposes the Games on its citizens is easy to root against. The writing is flawless, at least as far as I could tell while gulping down the story. In particular, the author does an excellent job of describing the complicated details of the Games and the society of Panem so that they're easily digested and don't come across as instructional or out of place. It's a great, great read. -- Debra Hamel

Some books are best savoured slowly, reading a chapter every day on the commute to and from work, pondering all the possible directions the story might take. The Hunger Games is not one of those books. It is a book that needs to be devoured, preferably in one sitting. I started reading it on a Friday night, read late into the evening, woke up and continued reading on Saturday. I was actually annoyed that I had a birthday dinner for me and my dad that night, because all I wanted to do was keep reading. I finished it that Sunday, postponing things like doing the washing and the grocery shopping and writing my Sunday night blog post just so I could reach that final page. Why is The Hunger Games so addictive? For me, it was the brutal-yet-fascinating plot. Quite frequently, I felt sick with anticipation and concern as I sped through the scenes, wondering how Katniss was going to escape alive. And as the story developed, I became attached to other characters competing in the Games - which just made it even worse. With only one competitor allowed to live, people I cared about were going to die no matter what - it doesn't get any more gripping than that. The writing style - first person, present tense - added to the immediacy of the story as you see every horrific event unfold in real time through Katniss's eyes. You also get to hear her thoughts, which are often very different to the persona she portrays to the watchful cameras of the Capitol. I know a lot of people don't like present tense, but I love it and felt it suited this story perfectly. Katniss is one hell of a main character. She epitomises the word `heroine', with her courage, perseverance and resourcefulness. But while I marvelled at her strengths, I was simultaneously shaking my head at her emotional ineptitude. This only served to make her more realistic - we all have flaws, and growing up as a provider and protector in such a brutal world would no doubt take a toll on your emotional capacity. The Big Brother/reality TV element of this book was another compelling factor. For me, the `Games' were like Survivor crossed with Gladiator - to the death, on live TV. The prospect both sickened and fascinated me, and made me stop and question the direction our world is taking. Already, many of us live a voyeuristic life and sometimes I hear comments about reality TV contestants that make me wonder if the person has forgotten they're talking about a real human being. I don't know where the trend towards reality TV will take us, but I truly hope (and thankfully doubt) it isn't anything close to what's presented in The Hunger Games. Apart from Katniss, the two characters I connected with the most were Peeta (the male competitor from Katniss's district) and Rue (the youngest contender in the Games). As a baker's son, Peeta comes from a more privileged background than Katniss. As a result, he doesn't have the same survival skills as she does, but his best asset is his pure heart. At twelve years old, Rue is easily the most vulnerable competitor but she has a hidden resourcefulness that was fascinating to discover. For fear of spoilers, I'm not going to say any more about either Peeta or Rue except that I truly enjoyed getting to know them. The only criticisms I have of this book are quite minor. One of the supporting characters, Effie Trinket, came across as two-dimensional throughout the entire book, which is never a good thing. And... I would've liked more from the ending. I know, I know - it's a trilogy. but still, I'd hoped we might've received just a little bit more closure at the end of the first book. The main problem with this lack of resolution is I'm now itching to see what happens in books two and three when I already have a pile of books eagerly awaiting my attention (not to mention my own manuscript!). I have no doubt that I won't be able to resist the pull of this series for long. I just hope that when I do pick up book two, it's the first day of a long weekend so I can do nothing but read.

Flows well, makes sense, fun and exciting read. Different than the movie in all good ways, but read the book first in this case, especially to better appreciate the author's intent of the relationship between Katnis and Peeta. Definitely some violence, just so you know.