I first heard of The Hunger Games a few years ago and it didn't catch my attention at all because the plot just sounded so horrible. Not because the actual plot was horrible, but because so many bad things happened.
The Hunger Games was written by Suzanne Collins.
For the people that don't know about the series:
The Hunger Games' plot focuses on Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 in Panem, what used to be the countries of North America. Every year, there is The Hunger Games, in which a boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are chosen to fight to the death as proof of the government’s power.
The story really pulled me in because Collins just throws you into this world that she has created. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic era, but she doesn’t go into detail about what exactly happened. After I finished the book, I had a lot of questions that were unanswered and I would have liked a little more explanations about some things, like what exactly caused North America to regress to this state. The citizens of the Districts have no rights whatsoever. The government is able to come in and arrest or kill anyone for whatever reason. Technology seems to have disappeared from the whole country, except for inside the Capitol, which the technology is very high tech and advanced.
Collins has good characters, but her character development is a little weak. Collins makes Katniss out to be a girl that is very tough and guarded, but she gives very little background as to why she is like that. Her father died when she was eleven, but the reader didn’t get taken through what the family went through. This is where a flashback would have helped a lot to pull the reader into the situation. After the father died, Katniss’s mother completely fell apart and was almost just like an empty shell. This felt very rushed to me because Collins didn’t put any background of the parents’ relationship until almost the end of the book.
While reading this book, I found myself getting angrier and more frustrated the further I got into the story. I was annoyed that people were just accepting this as their way of life without any fighting whatsoever. Democracy has completely disappeared from what used to be North America and any power that the people had is gone.
Something that really struck me about this story was how horrifying some details were. In Panem, something called Muttations or Mutts have been created, which are new species formed by the mixing of two creatures' DNA. One creature that is mentioned is called the Tracker Jacker, which is an extremely poisonous and territorial kind of hornet. Another one (that I found particularly disturbing) was some kind of wolf creature that was a mix between a wolf and a human. The government took the DNA of the children that were killed during The Hunger Games and mixed it with the DNA of a wolf.
This book really made me think about all of the people around the world that have absolutely no rights and are forced to live in constant fear of the government. The idea for this story came to Collins when she was flipping through channels and she saw an invasion of Iraq come after a reality show, where people were competing for something. However, it is possible that she was also making a prediction of what would happen if the government got too much power over the people.
I don't think I would read it again, but my curiosity may get the better of me and I may have to finish the series!
I don't think I would read it again, but my curiosity may get the better of me and I may have to finish the series!
A friend of mine has actually been talking about that book to me. The description she gave me made it seem somewhat interesting but I couldn't get over the idea that the government could force people to allow their children to fight to the death. I don't really see how the people would accept this as life because history has shown us that when people have nothing to lose but everything to gain they will revolt against their government.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! In the small history that she talked about, Collins said that there used to be 13 Districts. The 13th District rebelled and the government destroyed it. This might have struck fear through the other Districts, but there would still be people that weren't satisfied with what was happening.
ReplyDeleteThere really was no need for background on Katniss's parent's relationship, or why Katniss had the personality she did. The whole point of the book was to show a younger generation's role in a dystopian society. Although, the idea of "The Hunger Games" is a bit farfetched and would most likely never work. When reading novels such as this it is important to keep the larger idea in mind. It's not so much about the characters as it is their journey. I think Collin's point was to bring big world ideas to a younger demographic. This is most likely why the details were emphasized on the history and development of the Capitol and not Katniss and friends.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up some interesting aspects of the book. I don't think you should have put SPOILERS at the top though, since you don't give away the ending and that is mostly what people care about. Maybe a note that you will give away some plot points.I like that you gave background on how the book was written, though I found the photo of the author kind of unnecessary. I think you give some good criticism.
ReplyDeleteI've been getting more curious about this series since I saw previews for the movie. However, I'm not sure I'm at the point of caving yet. It took me until the third Twilight book's arrival to finally cave, so it may be a while before I read this one as well. I read the Twilight series out of curiosity and a bit of necessity (in order to be able to understand what on earth my niece was talking about). Perhaps, I'll see if this one is one she wants me to read so we can talk about it. Lol!
ReplyDeleteI found the picture of the author a little out of place, too. I was okay with its inclusion, the only thing I would have changed is the size and placement within your article.