Blog this item

The Hunger Games

By Suzanne Collins

(406)

| Hardcover | 9780439023481

Like The Hunger Games?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Book Description

Katniss has been providing for her family since her father died, but is she strong enough to win the Hunger Games, a deadly competition that can have only one winner?

Critics

The Hunger Games Trilogy (2008)

The Hunger Games Trilogy (2008) If you’ve entered a bookstore in the past three years, you’ll probably know about the Hunger Games; it is quite possibly the biggest young adult publishing phenom since Harry Potter. After finally reading the dystopian ... (read full critics)

likesbooks published on Sat, 7 Jan 2012

Book Review: The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins Part of: A Kid With a View Share

In the future, there is no United States. There is the country of Panem. Panem is divided into twelve districts, each one specializing in one skill, such as mining or electronics. The ruler district, the Capitol, is in command of the other twelve dis ... (read full critics)

blogcritics published on Sun, 30 Oct 2011

See all critics

39 Reviews

4 people find this helpful

Book 1 of Hunger Games leaves you hungry for more

I'm so full of praise for this book that I've to criticize it first, before I get lost in my adoration for it, as you'll see soon enough.
My criticism: The concept is not original. It's like a cross between 1984 and Battle Royale (大逃殺), especially of the latter. (But hey, whatever i ... (continue)

I'm so full of praise for this book that I've to criticize it first, before I get lost in my adoration for it, as you'll see soon enough.
My criticism: The concept is not original. It's like a cross between 1984 and Battle Royale (大逃殺), especially of the latter. (But hey, whatever is original? Especially if you like to read thrillers, you'll realize 90% of them are of the same mold)
With criticism out of the way, I'm going to pour forth all my insights after reading the book. Here we go!
The world in The Hunger Games is a dystopian world which is frighteningly similar to our world right now. The parallels are unmistakable: our preoccupation with entertainment, our lack of patience, our demand that something has to happen every minute or else we'll be bored to death. And for that to happen, things must remain controllable, rules must be flexible (to the authority) in order for contingencies to be applied. So the playing field is never even for the players. This is probably Suzanne Collins's satire on the popularity of reality TV.
With seventy-three Hunger Games already held, our heroine Katniss knows only too well that her victory not only depends on her survival skills but also on her understanding of the Gamemakers' mentality. This is what impacts me most: how children are forced to be manipulative and deceitful in order to outsmart the authority. In that scary world, technology has advanced to a new high while humanity has devolved to a new low. The ills of society have become even more intense and twisted, and we are frightened to realize that we're quite familiar with all these ills after all.
But humans are not just intelligent robots. No matter how tightly controlled they are, their rebellious souls are never entirely lost. This is what makes this book so readable: we are watching Katniss (and some others) quietly defying authority using whatever puny resources she has. Aren't we all doing the same thing in real life, one way or another?
The ending is very satisfying, not because it is complete, but because it so logically leads to Book 2, in which the games will be replaced by battles. I can't wait!

Is this helpful?

Holmes said on Jun 18, 2011 about the Others edition | 3 feedbacks

2 people find this helpful

Bene, prima di tutto mi sembra doveroso fare un tributo a "Battle Royale", Takami.. Il fastidioso ricordo di questo altro libro era sempre lì che mi braccava, quindi un po' glielo devo.
...
Ok, sbrigate tali formalità, devo dire in tutta onestà che sono un po' delusa. Mi aspettavo il Capolavoro impe ... (continue)

Bene, prima di tutto mi sembra doveroso fare un tributo a "Battle Royale", Takami.. Il fastidioso ricordo di questo altro libro era sempre lì che mi braccava, quindi un po' glielo devo.
...
Ok, sbrigate tali formalità, devo dire in tutta onestà che sono un po' delusa. Mi aspettavo il Capolavoro imperdibile, il libro che abrebbe cambiato la mia triste e umile esistenza in qualcosa di straordinariamente meraviglioso.
E invece no.
Il libro di Takami non mi è piaciuto per niente, sia chiaro, ma a me questa storia sa un po' di plagio. Ok, non è una classe e questo è meno crudele e splatter, ma siamo lì. E la cosa mi disturba parecchio, se proprio vogliamo dirla tutta.
E poi Katniss.. :(
Peccato, inizialmente aveva catturato la mia fiducia e la mia simpatia, ma è riuscita a perderle poco dopo. Quando si accanisce contro il povero Peeta si sarebbe meritata tanti di quegli schiaffi..
Mi dispiace, ma il mio cuore è con Peeta. E con la piccola dolce Rue, povera stella.

Is this helpful?

Serena! -A Mordor il male non dorme mai. said on Jan 12, 2012 about the Others edition | 2 feedbacks

2 people find this helpful

Fantastic Read

I picked this book up because, at the time, I was a bit (or alot) obsessed with Twilight and Stephanie Meyer. My version of HG had a recommendation from Stephanie Meyer on the front. I have to say WOW - this book is a great read. While it is teen/young adult fiction, I have lent it to a number of ad ... (continue)

I picked this book up because, at the time, I was a bit (or alot) obsessed with Twilight and Stephanie Meyer. My version of HG had a recommendation from Stephanie Meyer on the front. I have to say WOW - this book is a great read. While it is teen/young adult fiction, I have lent it to a number of adults who are now annoyed with me as they have to wait for the final instalment to come out!

Is this helpful?

JB said on Apr 13, 2010 | Add your feedback

Couldn't put it down!

I absolutely loved this novel. I couldn't stop thinking about it, dreaming about it and making up my own endings. I will defiantly read it again and read the next two novels in the series.
Check out my review on my blog http://readinhouston.blogspot.com/2012/02/hunger-games.…

Is this helpful?

Kamatherly said on Feb 14, 2012 | Add your feedback

I wasn't aware of this books and their fandom until they started making the movie. I'm a sucker for dystopian futures, so I wanted to read them since I found out what they were about.
This book was different that I thought it would be, and in a good way. I like that everything was televised; I like ... (continue)

I wasn't aware of this books and their fandom until they started making the movie. I'm a sucker for dystopian futures, so I wanted to read them since I found out what they were about.
This book was different that I thought it would be, and in a good way. I like that everything was televised; I like that Capitol is so silly and yet so scary at the same time; I like that most character were round enough.
Also, I couldn't stop reading, and I read the second half of the book last night, instead of sleeping XD.

Is this helpful?

Mag said on Feb 9, 2012 about the eBook edition | Add your feedback

obvious first-half is obvious

This book has some merits but let's start with its faults: It is not particulary well written, actually the style is pretty blunt; its characters aren't that well developed or original in any way whatsoever; the first half of the book is painfully obvious and quite stupid at some points.
Now for th ... (continue)

This book has some merits but let's start with its faults: It is not particulary well written, actually the style is pretty blunt; its characters aren't that well developed or original in any way whatsoever; the first half of the book is painfully obvious and quite stupid at some points.
Now for the good bits: I must say the basic idea of having a bunch of kids fighting to death just for our entertainment, as much as it is preprosterous, it is also disturbingly interesting and daring.
In fact, even if plot twists and developments were awfully obvious in the first half of the book (Oh noes I shot an arrow at the game makers during my training performance, what I am gonna do now poor girl? Will they punish my family? Will they cut my tongue? Oh no look, I got the highest score because they liked my temper! What a surprise! Never mind the fact that I've been whining to you about it for the past ten pages just to make you think that wasn't going to happen!), things really pick up when the hunger games start and we finally get surprised with some original ideas. Even if the ending was somewhat blotched, the whole game thing was pretty entertaining and makes this book a great page-turner!
I won't be reading the follow up books in the series though, especially as I'm told there won't be more hunger games.
One last thing: someone should really tell the author that 1/8000 and 47/8000 aren't that much of a difference when it comes to chances. It's just 0,01% versus 0.58%, they're both very slim, even though the main character keeps repeating that Prim is as safe as it gets while Gale has one foot in the hunger games already. She should have made that each tesserae required you to enter your name at least ten times over, not just once! That would have made a difference between those getting tesserae and those who didn't.

Is this helpful?

daniele said on Feb 7, 2012 about the Others edition | Add your feedback