The Hunger Games
Ratings3,692
Average rating4.1
4.5 Stars
I didn't even mean to read this book. Not now, anyway. I picked it up because I was watching author tube videos about point of view, to try to figure out if I wanted to write my own book in first or third person. I learned that the Hunger Games is written in first person present tense — how unusual. I couldn't remember another book like that, and I was curious what it felt like, what the rhythm was. Would it be right for mine? So I began.
The writing isn't the kind I usually gush over. There aren't long paragraphs of description, or metaphors every other sentence. It's brief, rough, almost a little choppy. But it works, because everything I read was Katniss and her thoughts. Through her mind, through her eyes, in her past and in her present. Right there in every moment. There aren't gaps in time, either, because it wouldn't make sense for us not to know what she does every single day. But I also lost track of time; the flow of nights and days, especially while she was in the arena, felt almost as endless and discombobulating as they might have to her.
Needless to say, first person present tense was definitely the right way to go for this book. I am trying to imagine it in past tense, but it doesn't work — even though we know she must survive, we don't know know. If it were written in past tense, there would be a sense of safety to it that would take away from the immediate danger of the Hunger Games. If she spoke in past tense, part of our minds might already be out of the Hunger Games, knowing she must have won. And, it only makes sense to tell such a harrowing adventure in present tense. I cannot imagine her wanting to tell it in such detail over again.
From the moment Katniss volunteers until she returns back to the Seam, she loses parts of herself, forgets who she is, struggles to understand her identity. In her words, “Who I am and who I am not.” Everything she was put through tested her at the most fundamental level, but there were always layers of meaning. She could not think only of her survival, but also of her family back home, of the Gamemakers, of the Capitol, of the audience, of the entertainment factor.
(It only struck me nearing the end of the book that the Hunger Games is actually reality T.V. It seemed so far away and too evil to fit into a category we already have, but it does. That's exactly what it is. I am sure there are Gamemakers in real reality T.V., too, though hopefully far less sadistic.)
But as Katniss is struggling with her identity, we have gotten to know her intimately. We know what the Capitol doesn't. I feel like she trusts me, to be sharing her innermost thoughts and most private moments. Yet at the same time, I myself disappear into her consciousness. We blend together into one, one character who is completely in the present moment, and completely in danger. The cadence of first person present and Katniss's voice seeped into my brain.
For the two nights I read it before bed, my dreams were just a continuation or slightly distorted replay of what I had just experienced in the book. Almost like the replays that the Capitol forces them to watch. I have been on edge, a first-person present narrative running through my head. Last night, I was at the Cornucopia, gold and gleaming in the arid landscape. I was with Peta. Besides us, only Cato was left. I was retracing my steps to the feast, but this time there was a choice to be made about what I was going to pick up. A loaf of bread, some feet from the golden horn, lay there on the cracked ground. This loaf of bread was crucial. What did I have to do to save Peeta?
Spoilers ahead as I mull over the ending
Speaking of Peeta, I didn't realize how much of a romance this would be. Or... a feign of one. I felt as played as the audience, as saddened as Peeta, when Katniss admitted that a lot of her motivation for acting so romantically was for the Games, for their survival. But even then, she wanted to ensure his survival. That is real. The boy with the bread. I know she cares about him deeply. Peeta, Peeta. He is so sweet, remaining so seemingly genuine even in his darkest moments. I worry for him, now.
My kindle showed me I was about 80% of the way through the book. I expected many more pages of them coming home, of Katniss reuniting with her family, of her seeing Gale, of her and Peeta alone. Of their houses in the circle, of continued paranoia about the Capitol and their berry rebellion.
But, no. I clicked page next and what do you know, the book is over. The next 20% is a preview of Catching Fire.
I wasn't prepared for that, but it makes sense. Dragging out the homecoming wasn't necessary, and the end made for much more of an impact and left enough up in the air ending where it did.
Enjoyed rereading this book as an adult and it is just as good as I remember. The themes of government dictatorship, freedom, and liberty still ring true today, maybe even more so than they did in 2008. Highly recommend and I look forward to rereading the rest of the books in the series including the newly released prequel novel about the beginnings of President Snow.
I will plan to do a video review on my YouTube channel soon! - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq9v4MKGNcFNZaeVMtH3bjw
J'adore le relire, toujours aussi prenant. Découvrir une dystopie avec ses codes et traditions, grâce à une écriture claire et précise.
I didn't heard of this saga until a friend of mine invited me to the movie a couple of years ago. So after the movie I bought the book, and I love it. It's so well written and so easy to read. A different type of world and an amazing universe. It's one of my favourite sagas of all times.
I got this book because it is the number one most rated on Goodreads and I liked the movie enough. I had low expectations and was weary of the young adult tag, but I got pleasantly surprised to find it tolerable.
The movie is a carbon copy of the book as far as I can recall. Luckily it was a long time ago I watched it, so it wasn't too repetitive. And even though I knew every single outcome of every scene, the prose is enjoyable and the protagonist is bright. She and Peter are relatable.
There is no much room to dislike I think. No heavy handed romance, good use of first person narration to transmit the character's feelings. Katniss is a survival and a pragmatist.
Overall, nothing too exciting, I'm eager to read the next book as I did not got past 10 minutes of the movie. Hopefully all parts I didn't care about will get downplayed.
An all time favorite and an all time favorite character. Katniss is someone I relate to and the series is written so well. This reread (of the series ) was in honour of ballad of songbirds and snakes!
Brilliant! And I thought there couldn't possibly be any secrets about this. There were. Wow. Thank you, for all who read this and managed to keep silent :-) I appreciate it enormously!
But - I suppose this is just the first part of the story, and not first book. The story cuts in the middle.
Something I should have read a long time ago!
I am so behind on this series that it is rather sad. So, before you judge me, I did watch the movies. Yes, I am talking about the Hunger Games. I have to thank my kindle unlimited subscription. I needed something to read I couldn't sleep and figured I would give it a chance. After the long delay I actually did enjoy it. My thoughts are much more positive then I thought they would be. I liked the movies but I didn't run to see them like most the world. Sorry!!! Due to the popularity, I knew how it began. It seems that so many books are going to the theme of a nation divided into districts and this book does as well.
Underneath all the fighting for survival is a boy in love with a girl and a girl who is desperate to return home. Willing to do anything, she goes along with the idea of them being in love, hoping that in the end, it will mean both will end up back in their district.
The imagery invoked a lot of breathtaking pictures. The characters had enough background that I found myself loving, hating, being indifferent, or hoping that nothing bad befell them. The emotions were sharp and cut deep in many cases; the fact that the nation forced children to fight to live as punishment for a long-ago war, I found horrid. Yet, in some cases, I have to admit that I was glad when some were taken out.
There are a lot of twists and turns that occur. Some you see coming, some you are told are coming even if what will happen isn't known and still others that come from seemingly nowhere. How each character reacts helps define their personality and chance of survival. This is a book with very few places were things become dull. I though seeing the movies would make this less enjoyable for me but not at all. The imagery is beautiful and makes me want to continue to see how the words of the next book compare with the movie. Overall, four star read for me.
It's been a decade since I first read this, and I liked Katniss a lot more this time around. I really enjoyed the whole book a lot more than expected, so I bumped up my star rating. It's a solid YA dystopian. Suzanne Collins isn't the most skilled writer, but she gets the emotions across well despite the simplicity of her words.
And a note on the new audiobook narrator... she pronounces “against” in the strangest way: aGAYnst............. and of course it's written 60 times. It's terrible.
This is a challenging story because of the injustice this story is built on. The idea of teenagers fighting for the pleasure of others is appalling. While the are some graphic scenes, I appreciate that most were discrete.
I found the main characters easy to identify with. I remember the teenage years when I didn't quite know who I was or where I was going, not knowing who I would be. And feeling the wasn't much special about myself.
Finishing this a week before election day, I also identify with feeling I don't have any power or position to affect change in nation and the way it is ruled, and by whom.
I definitely want to see where the story goes next, but I'm not sure how often I will escape to a dystopian future in a teenager's perspective.
Great book with lots of twists and turns! I like the way Katniss thinks and her rationale is excellent at time of crisis! The character is totally awesome!
Highly addictive!
First book which reminded me of what I felt while reading the Harry Potter books.
i really enjoy it ! it was easy to read and we can't stop reading, so excited to read the second book !
Aye, no bad.
Originally finished on 28 May 2012.Reading to my 10-year-old daughter, starting Christmas holidays 2014
Bien étonné au final par ce premier tome qui est vraiment intéressant et bien rythmé. L'univers est intriguant et on aimerait vraiment en savoir plus mais ce premier tome n'apporte pas vraiment beaucoup d'indices, se centrant surtout sur les jeux. Impatient de découvrir la suite donc :)
Fast paced, exciting plot, strong heroine. I was honestly surprised at how fast of a read it was. There were often moments where I told myself just one more page - so that I'd know what happened. There were moments that brought me near tears. Always give credit when an author gets me to care about characters enough to make me emotional over what happens to them. So in that sense, this book was excellent.
So why not 5 stars? Well...because. Because Collins has a way of telegraphing when the big “moments” are going to happen. You can see when the action and/or emotion starts to increase story-wise in preparation for that event that is supposed to make you gasp.
Because most of the minor characters were so shallowly drawn that they might as well have been posters tacked to the walls of the Hob or trees in the arena. Would it have harmed the story to know Foxface's real name? We know more about Buttercup the Cat than we do about most everyone else.
And because of the world building. Really, I need to learn that when my brain starts nagging me to look up something, I need to tell it to hush. I try, but then my mind picks up on some small-ish detail that I already know to be not quite right and it's off to figure out why. So Panem is supposedly what was once North America? That's a pretty big place. Canada is the second largest country by area in the world. The US is 4th. Mexico is top 20. District 12 is in what was referred to as Appalachia, an area that stretches from southwestern New York to northern Alabama. And yet, there's only like 8,000 people there. Now I'm assuming from the coal mine descriptions and the seasons, Collins is referring to somewhere in Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Still a big area, and yet there's only 8,000 people. Really? That's less than the small town I work in. And all of that supplies enough coal for everyone, everywhere? mmkay. Sure. And I have a bridge in District 13 that I'd like to sell (probably either the Mackinac or the Ambassador. I figure both are the closest to Canada where graphite is mined and the large amount of water needed for anything nuclear, putting them in what is probably 13). Yes, the map of Panem that I was trying to visualize was driving me nuts.
But other than that, I liked it.
I tried to read this book but I couldn't get into it. As the book is taken from Katniss' perspective, I couldn't help but be reminded of when I read Twilight and how much I hated learning the story from Bella's perspective. Instead I made it through this book listening to the audio version. Hearing it spoken was a lot better than my own interpretation in my head.
The dystopian setting and some of the comparisons between factions illustrated an interesting premise. I think what soured the story a bit for me was the contrived love story between characters. Although Katniss could be seen as a strong female character, I had trouble believing that she couldn't tell the dudes were in love with her and her own torment about that when her skill is observation and listening for survival.
I did not expect to be giving this five stars in the beginning of the book, mostly because I did not like the narrator very much, though she grew on me (speeding up to 1.3x definitely helped). But it picked up significantly and I've actually just spent the last 1.5 hours cycling in a big circle round local cycling paths just to finish this :)
I'm not very good at picking out what I like about a book, though I liked the pace.
There is no subtlety in this book. There were no major surprises (not in itself a problem, and maybe because I'd been spoiled slightly by all the hype for the books and the films otherwise Rue may well have surprised me), the things that surprised Katniss could be seen well in advance - at one point I actually said out loud on a public cycle path “FFS, it's obviously a trap!”. It's one thing to see things coming but when it took so long for her to realise things, I couldn't help but think she's an idiot.
Also, Katniss' wilful ignorance of Peeta. It was getting tired.
I refused to read this book for the longest time because I felt like I was cheating on the similar type book titled “Battle Royale”. Well, I was striking out on audiobooks on overdrive to rent so I went for this series. I never expected to be so hooked. I absolutely adored this series. I watched the movie when it came out, but found that I enjoyed the book a bit more. The characters were relatable - even Katniss, who seems a sort of emotionally disconnected. This book exceeded my expectations and I finished the next two in the series shortly after. It's rare for me to absolutely adore a series, but this did it for me.
Re-read for the third time in Feb 2014: This re-read just made me love the series so much more???????
For most part of the book, I hated Katniss. But the action scenes were great and kept me ruthlessly reading to see what would happen next. I am madly in love with Peeta.