Suggesting that people read the Hunger GamesTrilogy
Apparently, I’m on a dystopian society kick. Bonus points for fucked up things happening to adolescents. I’m not entirely sure what this says about me. I’m going to go ahead and guess that it rhymes with “Mucked Cup.”
The Hunger Games is a classic story about an elite society repressing everyone else. The elites live in the Capital and everyone else lives in poor cities where they are expected to grow the elites’ vegetables, build their gadgets and (more than) occasionally starve to death. It becomes apparent that these are the remains of American society. Nuclear bombs are alluded to. Throw in a Battle Royale style fight to the death and you have the makings of some serious drama.
The best part of the Hunger Games is Suzanne’s Collins’ ability to create a believable world and then populate it with characters that you can easily care about. One of the most enjoyable aspects of reading is being transported somewhere else (even if it’s to a place where they make their children fight to the death), somewhere very different from your regular life. There are just enough touches of fantasy to counteract the horror that is being perpetrated on these poor kids.
And, believe you me, some of it is pretty horrific. But, it’s never over the top and it’s never gratuitous. It’s just enough to let you know that there is some Fucked Up Shit™ going on.
The entire time I was reading these books, I was constantly stopping and thinking to myself, “What would I do in this situation?” Volunteer for the Hunger Games to save my sister? That one’s a no-brainer. (Yes, sisters, I am rather fond of you). Take out anyone who is actively trying to kill me? That’s a little trickier, but I do have a working survival instinct- I suspect I know the answer to that one. But what about the other participants in the arena? The ones who have no more desire than I do to be actively participating? Collins sets things up in a way that our heroine never really has to face that particular question, but I sure as hell thought about it.
These books are a quick read that will draw you in, make you think and will probably make you appreciate your own life just a little bit more. I devoured them in a weekend and it was a weekend well spent. I would definitely recommend them.
Let’s just pretend that everyone on the internets hasn’t said that already.
I just recently read these, after Mockingjay came out and everyone was talking about it. I wasn’t too interested in it before because I’d read a summary of it and it sounded like The Long Walk by Stephen King, and I wasn’t a fan of that story. Decided to read it anyway and I’m so glad I did.
I’ve heard a lot of people criticize Mockingjay, but I really enjoyed it. I thought the ending was perfect, personally.
Actually, I have not yet but intend to read the trilogy. My problem is that I’m cheap and the library waitlist is approximately 1,000,000 people long. But I finally got on the list, so I am bound to receive the first book… sometime this year. =)
Amanda, I wish I could lend you my copy. Unfortunatel, I bought it as a e-book. 🙁 I love Kindle books for my iPad, but I hate not being able to share them.
Lisa, I was scared to read the recommendation of the internets after getting burned by Twilight. I’m glad I liked the books as much as I did. I agree, the ending was great.
A friend just suggested these to me last week! She said she absolutely could not put it down. Since some smart ladies are loving them, I’ll go check it out. I wonder if my library waitlist will also be a million people long…
I loved them. I agree there was some SFUS in them–brutality toward children=not my cup of tea. However, the believability and humanity of the characters just lured me in until I found myself anticipating book 3 and downloading it to the nook on its release date!
The best part of having an e-reader is instant access to books!
This is by far one of the best books…way better than Twilight!
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