The Hunger Games (discussion welcome and wanted)

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

The Hunger Games was much more enjoyable then I expected, though not flawless. If you've read it, read my short review (warning, contains SPOILERS) below and then share your thoughts, if you're so inclined.

As I said above, I enjoyed it. I found the prose nice and simple (I always know it's the case when I don't have to look one word up in the dictionary), the story gripping and well paced, and the main character likable for her uniqueness as a character--she was flawed as a person, and I liked that.

My main complaint is about the main character, Katniss, though. When it came to her intelligence, she seemed inconsistent. At times she was incredibly astute at figuring things out, and on others incredibly dense (her continuous confusion as to his motives and feelings, for example). This is often the case with YA novels, it seems, as the author seems to dumb down the main character in order to preserve the obvious "plot twist." It has its benefits for younger readers, who may not catch on to what is coming, but it can be tiresome for the more experienced, or older reader.

Another of my main problems was when the werewolves-mutation-monste-things showed up in the end. It was a definite "Why?" moment. The only reason it didn't totally ruin the story for me was because it did have a symbolic message--the previous contestants had truly been transformed into the bloodthirsty animals the games had made them become--but I could've have definitely done without it. It felt like the author felt compelled to force them in there in a pure attempt to pander to her audience. I guess she couldn't think of a way to fit vampires in, so she settled for werewolves.

In the end, I still liked it. The werewolves played a very temporary role and then were gone, so that was good. It did seem pretty brutal for a YA novel, but then I'll never understand while brutal violence is okay for "young adults" while the merest allusion to sex or the use of any curse word immediately crosses the line . . . but I digress. Even with it's flaws, the pros still made it a fun read, and I definitely found it to be a cut above the usual YA fare.

6.5/10

[OrphanPip]

I'm pretty ambivalent about it as well, I read this book in one sitting (I think it took like 2-3 hours) and not much stuck with me. It's formulaic but it works decently as a bit of light entertainment.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

As far as YA novels go, and especially ones that become popular, I found it to be better than most. It's definitely not as good as the Amazon reviews would have you think . . . though I should probably just stop thinking Amazon reviews hold any water at all.

[Volya]

(Are we only discussing the first one in the series here?)

But anyway, I didn't really view the mutts at the end as 'werewolves'. I thought they were basically just wolves. I guess it was meant to show the horror of the Capital, and how they make everything twisted and corrupt.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

(Are we only discussing the first one in the series here?)

Yeah.

[AlysonofBathe]

I read this at the request of a friend, and as far as YA lit. is concerned, I thought it was pretty good, not particularly great, but better than I had expected.

As to Katniss, I agree she's pretty inconsistent. But, in my opinion, she's redeemed for at least being a strong female character. After Bella Swan, she's a superhero.

Cheers,
Alyson

[faithosaurus]

The Hunger Games is my biggest obsession at the moment. I enjoy that she is flawed, and that the whole book isn't surrounded by romance, even though it's in there. And since I pretty am a young adult at 18. I usually don't read young adult books, but this one caught my eye (or more so, my roommate forced me to read it).

I absolutely love Peeta, even if at times he seems a little too perfect. I'd really like to see the book in his POV.

I finished the first two books in one sitting, even though I pulled an all-nighter, and the third one the day after. Now I must go start a thread for the other two because I'm dying to review them

[Veho]

I thought it was good also. Katniss has flaws, she can be slightly dense sometimes and self-absorbed, but I think her weaknesses and her strengths, of which she has many, combine to make a strong female character. I never thought of the wolves at the end being werewolves really - I didn't like that scene either really though. I thought it seemed forced from the author and was disappointed in it being the final fight in the arena.

Anyway, the book did seem to drag in some places but I enjoyed it enough to read the second which I liked better. I'm not interested in the series enough to read the third though, for some reason, so I cheated and looked up what happened to satisfy my curiosity.

Will anyone be going to watch the film?

[Quintus Ennius]

There's too many similarities between Battle Royale and The Hunger Games. I just don't know why The Hunger Games is so much more popular, it's not nearly as well written and the content is nearly the same as the Hunger Games. My English teacher even said The Hunger Games is a stupider Battle Royale and by the way Battle Royale was published nine years earlier.

[OrphanPip]

There's too many similarities between Battle Royale and The Hunger Games. I just don't know why The Hunger Games is so much more popular, it's not nearly as well written and the content is nearly the same as the Hunger Games. My English teacher even said The Hunger Games is a stupider Battle Royale and by the way Battle Royale was published nine years earlier.

Besides the fact that they involve children killing each other the two works are thematically different in their treatment of the same subject (i.e. in BR there isn't audience participation, and there's less focus on their lives prior to the event, and there's less interest in what the game means in terms of society). BR also is very different in its form of characterization, relying on rather silly extremes (Kouza being a sociopath who apparently has never felt emotion) and the sensationalism of the violence in a campy B-movie way, which is an entirely different aesthetic from Collins' approach. The romance subplots of the two works are also very different. BR is fun in its own way, but it overflows with the shallow philosophizing, type casting, and melodrama of conventional Japanese pop culture.

The Hunger Games has some thematic cross-over in the consideration of the boundaries of what one will do to save one-self, but Katniss is a very different character from Shuya, so the same theme ends up being treated very different. Collins is using the scenario more to explore things like the commodification of violence and specifically it is a critique of the Iraq War.

I can't really judge very much the quality of BR's prose, but the copy I have has a rather jaunting abrupt style to it that is a little rough.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

As to Katniss, I agree she's pretty inconsistent. But, in my opinion, she's redeemed for at least being a strong female character. After Bella Swan, she's a superhero.

Agreed.

[Quintus Ennius]

How is having a character who is a sociopath extreme? They aren't that rare and it doesn't seem that silly. Katniss is just another poor girl who goes against the government, as if that's original.

[OrphanPip]

How is having a character who is a sociopath extreme? They aren't that rare and it doesn't seem that silly. Katniss is just another poor girl who goes against the government, as if that's original.

Oh Kouza is a caricature out of the general frame of reference for Japanese pop media. He is described as a genius with perfect looks, superhuman fighting skills, and a complete inability to feel emotion (Anyone familiar with the character types of manga/anime and lite novels from Japan will recognize him immediately). I don't think Katniss is original, I don't even like Hunger Games, but there is no reason to present BR as if it were any better. BR is straightforward pulpy action, it sticks strongly to its genre conventions in terms of characterization and plot points. Hunger Games is equally generic, but it draws on different cultural references and generic conventions (like reality TV, image consciousness, class inequality).

[billl]

The translation I read of Battle Royale (I don't know if there was ever another translation, or any further editing) wasn't that great, but good enough. The story moved along well, the prose was good in that way.

[Quintus Ennius]

Don't forget aptitude for almost anything and wealth. Any major character in any anime have those traits. How come The Hunger Games is popular, though? Is it because it's American?