_Hunger Games
_Hunger Games
The unexpected spark of popularity that's struck The Hunger Games isn't unexpected. With all the approach of the movie coming, a good number of people are flocking for their local bookstores to deliver copies of The Hunger Games flying from the shelves, whether for any desire to know what you may anticipate when they see the movie, in order to be caught up on the best seller reads. In either case, those who are picking up The Hunger Games before seeing the film may choose to prepare themselves for any plunge into a darker world than say, the magical grounds of Hogwarts or even the pensive, cloudy world of Forks, Washington. The Hunger Games is a surprisingly pessimistic read given its intended audience; though that's not to say readers defintely won't be taken for a thrill ride via a world teemed with violence that's required all around just to survive.
Hunger Games
We have been taken to a disastrous future scenario where North America has been eroded into what is now known as the nation of Panem; a country constructed of twelve poor districts as well as their flourishing Capitol. Every year, the districts are forced by the government to transmit in a pair of kids to compete in the Hunger Games, a contest that forces all of their young competitors to show on and kill the other person until only one victor remains standing. Katniss Everdeen, at sixteen years old, steps up to replace her twelve years old sister when she's selected to get familiar with the games.
From there, the narrative is wrought with twists and turns that wrench Katniss from her coal mining district where starvation is commonplace to a world of voyeuristic onlookers, who expect only entertainment as they watch her die alongside her fellow tributes. She's next to no one to consider, save for the drunken past victor of the games, Haymitch Abernathy. It also does not help that for sponsors, she's having to uphold the act of a tragic romance alongside a kindhearted boy by the name of Peeta Mellark. And it's an act that undoubtedly more and more compelling for her, as she's made to weigh human emotions against a need to survive, and layers from the heart against a controlled, cruel reality.
The Hunger Games is quite an unfeasible story, most would think. But some of the things that we solve in society today are unthinkable. It makes a blunt statement about the voyeuristic inclinations of human nature; we see it all the time, people be interested in violence, people want to see other people on reality shows be miserable, people want to see other people fail as a whole. Humans are wrought with nasty competitive streaks which can be, oftentimes, only fulfilled by dehumanizing others to the extent to feel complete.
Given this, and the fact that we once trusted violence for entertainment (as history will explain), somewhere in the back of my thoughts is the cynical believed that The Hunger Games could possibly happen at some point in the future. It's a depressing notion, but as ridiculous as most people think it is, as an extensive metaphor it fits right in with the perverse way of human thought. That's the surprisingly dark part concerning this book that drew me in and kept me reading. While a good number of people will be roped in through the weapon slinging violence, the sci-fi concepts, possibly even the romance, not many of us are willing to admit that metaphorically, the Capitol is us. Perhaps not literally, but in some ways, to a very real extent we have been capable of being just as sadistic as the onlookers within these pages.
I do believe that's what makes The Hunger Games stick out, even despite some of its logical flaws in addition to instances of vague worldbuilding that leave the world of Panem, at best, to the imagination of the readers. This kind of foggy writing works well enough for the intended demographic however, and its fast pace that means it is hard to put down renders these things mostly forgivable. The character of Katniss Everdeen, who may have already been forced into survival situations someone so young shouldn't have to face, has to develop a line between her emotional reserves as well as the cruel fact that she was sent into an arena to die. She's a likable heroine on her behalf situation and flaws.
Suzanne Collins brings us a dreary world that cries for death and blood in the first book of a promising trilogy. An action packed read built of suspense and substantial contemplation on what it is to see right and wrong in human instinct, one that I couldn't deposit until I hit the last page. Sure, it might not be perfect, but this is definitely a book you'll want to get before the movie arrives. The action and effects may enjoy well enough on a big screen, it won't quite put you in the center of the action since the actual book itself.
The unexpected spark of popularity that's struck The Hunger Games isn't unexpected. With all the approach of the movie coming, a good number of people are flocking for their local bookstores to deliver copies of The Hunger Games flying from the shelves, whether for any desire to know what you may anticipate when they see the movie, in order to be caught up on the best seller reads. In either case, those who are picking up The Hunger Games before seeing the film may choose to prepare themselves for any plunge into a darker world than say, the magical grounds of Hogwarts or even the pensive, cloudy world of Forks, Washington. The Hunger Games is a surprisingly pessimistic read given its intended audience; though that's not to say readers defintely won't be taken for a thrill ride via a world teemed with violence that's required all around just to survive.
Hunger Games
We have been taken to a disastrous future scenario where North America has been eroded into what is now known as the nation of Panem; a country constructed of twelve poor districts as well as their flourishing Capitol. Every year, the districts are forced by the government to transmit in a pair of kids to compete in the Hunger Games, a contest that forces all of their young competitors to show on and kill the other person until only one victor remains standing. Katniss Everdeen, at sixteen years old, steps up to replace her twelve years old sister when she's selected to get familiar with the games.
From there, the narrative is wrought with twists and turns that wrench Katniss from her coal mining district where starvation is commonplace to a world of voyeuristic onlookers, who expect only entertainment as they watch her die alongside her fellow tributes. She's next to no one to consider, save for the drunken past victor of the games, Haymitch Abernathy. It also does not help that for sponsors, she's having to uphold the act of a tragic romance alongside a kindhearted boy by the name of Peeta Mellark. And it's an act that undoubtedly more and more compelling for her, as she's made to weigh human emotions against a need to survive, and layers from the heart against a controlled, cruel reality.
The Hunger Games is quite an unfeasible story, most would think. But some of the things that we solve in society today are unthinkable. It makes a blunt statement about the voyeuristic inclinations of human nature; we see it all the time, people be interested in violence, people want to see other people on reality shows be miserable, people want to see other people fail as a whole. Humans are wrought with nasty competitive streaks which can be, oftentimes, only fulfilled by dehumanizing others to the extent to feel complete.
Given this, and the fact that we once trusted violence for entertainment (as history will explain), somewhere in the back of my thoughts is the cynical believed that The Hunger Games could possibly happen at some point in the future. It's a depressing notion, but as ridiculous as most people think it is, as an extensive metaphor it fits right in with the perverse way of human thought. That's the surprisingly dark part concerning this book that drew me in and kept me reading. While a good number of people will be roped in through the weapon slinging violence, the sci-fi concepts, possibly even the romance, not many of us are willing to admit that metaphorically, the Capitol is us. Perhaps not literally, but in some ways, to a very real extent we have been capable of being just as sadistic as the onlookers within these pages.
I do believe that's what makes The Hunger Games stick out, even despite some of its logical flaws in addition to instances of vague worldbuilding that leave the world of Panem, at best, to the imagination of the readers. This kind of foggy writing works well enough for the intended demographic however, and its fast pace that means it is hard to put down renders these things mostly forgivable. The character of Katniss Everdeen, who may have already been forced into survival situations someone so young shouldn't have to face, has to develop a line between her emotional reserves as well as the cruel fact that she was sent into an arena to die. She's a likable heroine on her behalf situation and flaws.
Suzanne Collins brings us a dreary world that cries for death and blood in the first book of a promising trilogy. An action packed read built of suspense and substantial contemplation on what it is to see right and wrong in human instinct, one that I couldn't deposit until I hit the last page. Sure, it might not be perfect, but this is definitely a book you'll want to get before the movie arrives. The action and effects may enjoy well enough on a big screen, it won't quite put you in the center of the action since the actual book itself.