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Otis Chandler's Reviews > The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
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Otis Chandler's review
bookshelves: post-apocalyptic, adventure, sci-fi, young-adult, fiction
Jan 13, 2010
bookshelves: post-apocalyptic, adventure, sci-fi, young-adult, fiction
I cracked and finally picked this up. Very enjoyable quick read - couldn't put it down - it was like crack.
I'm a bit bothered by the lack of backstory of how Panem and the Hunger Games come about. It is just kind of explained away in a few paragraphs and we are left to accept this very strange world where teenagers are pitted into an arena each year to kill each other? I was expecting it because I've seen Battle Royale, but I would have appreciated knowing more of the backstory of how the world could have come into such a odd state.
I suppose what makes a book like this interesting is thinking about the strategy of it all. The players are going to be statistically encouraged to band together because they will last longer that way, but by definition of course any partnership will be broken, and the drama of how that unfolds is always interesting and full of friendships broken and betrayal. Each character approached the game in their own way. Some banded together in larger coalitions, some were loners initially and banded together later. And some were just loners, like Foxface. A lot depended on your survival skill: could you find food and water on your own? Self-dependence is highly valued - and of course our hero was strong there.
All in all, a fun read, but I feel kind of dirty for having read it.
I'm a bit bothered by the lack of backstory of how Panem and the Hunger Games come about. It is just kind of explained away in a few paragraphs and we are left to accept this very strange world where teenagers are pitted into an arena each year to kill each other? I was expecting it because I've seen Battle Royale, but I would have appreciated knowing more of the backstory of how the world could have come into such a odd state.
I suppose what makes a book like this interesting is thinking about the strategy of it all. The players are going to be statistically encouraged to band together because they will last longer that way, but by definition of course any partnership will be broken, and the drama of how that unfolds is always interesting and full of friendships broken and betrayal. Each character approached the game in their own way. Some banded together in larger coalitions, some were loners initially and banded together later. And some were just loners, like Foxface. A lot depended on your survival skill: could you find food and water on your own? Self-dependence is highly valued - and of course our hero was strong there.
All in all, a fun read, but I feel kind of dirty for having read it.
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Reading Progress
January 13, 2010
– Shelved
March 23, 2012
–
Started Reading
March 25, 2012
– Shelved as:
post-apocalyptic
March 25, 2012
– Shelved as:
adventure
March 25, 2012
– Shelved as:
sci-fi
March 25, 2012
–
Finished Reading
April 11, 2012
– Shelved as:
young-adult
August 5, 2013
– Shelved as:
fiction
Comments Showing 1-26 of 26 (26 new)
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Pam
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rated it 4 stars
Mar 26, 2012 12:06AM
Most dystopic fiction doesn't give a real reason for what caused the world to erupt in chaos and be reformed. Mainly for the reason that so many generations have lived that it all becomes myth.
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I was just talking about this book. I was conflicted. Should I read it? Or will I be ridiculed by my more well read friends? Your review just help me make my decision. READ IT! =P Thanks.
I'm a bit bothered by the lack of backstory of how Panem and the Hunger Games come about.It's told from Katniss's point of view, and she doesn't know the entire history. More is revealed in books 2 and 3, but I was fine with not knowing. As Pam said, most dystopian fiction does not reveal how those societies got to where they are. I'm used to that.
And, yes, this book is like crack. It's the best of the 3 books but I appreciated them all.
i'm curious about the back story and the exact size of panam, but didn't bother me - i don't need to have an understanding of the war of the roses to know kng george was really angry at george washington. but then again, maybe i'd be richer for knowing.
Good points - the world is not always explained. Thinking about it more, it's just that its such a strange setup that I didn't really fully buy that The Hunger Games would ever come about even in a dystopian society - it needed more explanation in my opinion.
Otis, Take a look at 2 of my favorite reviews (that I've seen) for this book:Abigail's:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and Ceridwen's:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
They might not at all change the way you feel, but I think you might find them interesting.
Interesting reviews - thanks for sharing Lisa! I still think that while poverty is definitely an issue, games for sport which involve killing people is a very different thing even from sweatshops.But I suppose that the ancient Roman Gladiator games were perhaps not so different from this. Clearly the lives of the slaves were not worth much, and they justified killing many of them for sport.
Thinking about this more, there is a modern equivalent: the NFL. While we have rules about not letting players get hurt, the average lifetime of an NFL player is something like 50 years - these guys get brutalized, and it's all for sport. I suppose they have the choice to enter though. Or do they? If this is their best chance to provide a good life for their family, they might not have much of a choice.
Otis, I'm glad you liked the reviews. For whatever reason, the events in these books made perfect sense to me. I could see these situations coming about rather easily, more than those in many other speculative fiction books.
I think some NFL players do feel their football skills are all they have. I won't even touch on boxers' injuries; they're completely barbaric.
But I can think of areas around the globe, in the present and the not so distant past, where people are slaves, in labor camps, in concentration camps, etc. Squashing down the districts by those in power by having this annual event doesn't seem any weirder to me than some real events.
Of course, there is no malice with football or boxing injures (maybe some but only among the sadists) Totalitarian states' leaders and those in power often have a lot of malice, and there was definitely malice toward the districts from the capitol.
I think you are right - it must have been created as a way to control the districts with fear.
Otis wrote: "I think you are right - it must have been created as a way to control the districts with fear."Yes, I think the book made that clear. Or maybe that was communicated more clearly in Catching Fire and/or Mockingjay.
look at american football in the late nineteenth/ early twentieth century v. close to being banned because of so many deaths. even teddy rooeveldt talked about banning it because of the brutality.look at monaco and indy 500 and daytona starting line-ups in the 40s/50s/60s/70s every year there were drivers not making to the next years race because of death. people enjoy hardcore real life/death sports today.
that some of the child participants aren't there by choice not a hard stretch to believe based on world history of the past three centuries
I think they do a slightly better job of explaining the games as a way to control the districts in the movie. They give them a victor because hope controls better than fear. From all I've learned of history, I can see a government do something so vengeful to keep its citizens in line. I think there's supposed to be a correlation to the Roman Empire, a warning that that is where we are headed. Not that it's quite the same, but people love to watch girls hearts get broken on The Bachelor and people suffer on Survivor and fight on any number of other reality shows. And we are certainly obsessed with appearance the way the Capitol is without care where our resources come from. The comparisons are there, not to this extreme, but you have to make it powerful to make an impression that will leave people thinking.
Read the last two in the series, and I don't think you will feel so dirty. :)
It's never really explained what the catastrophe was that devastated North America. It's hinted to be environmental in nature, but the weather seems normal in the books, and the local ecology seems at least rich enough to support subsistence hunting.
This is one of the most interesting books that kept me on the edge and frantically hoping for for Katniss's triumph!
What I loved about this book is that there is a such a strong heroine in Katniss--I encouraged my 9-year old daughter to read it.
i cant read this movie but mabey
i seen the movie but i need to read the book
