The Hunger Games Review

The Hunger Games (THG) is one of the best books and movies I've ever seen. The books were well written and the movie portrayed the book to capture the drama and suspense of the story to a perfect degree. There are a lot of good things that I liked about THG, however, there were some complications that I have to mention.



So, when I first heard of THG, it was on www.goodreads.com. On a first impression, it was one of the least desirable books ever.I couldn't figure out why I would read a book about hunger. Then I found out that it was becoming a movie, so I decided to read the description, and it seemed more attractive. I saw that it was more than just hunger, and that there was going to be a action, drama, romance, and rebellion. So out of interest, I requested to my mother to purchase it for me. It came about 4 days later, and fro then, I couldn't stop reading. It was everything I thought it would be and more. I even appreciated the bit of sarcasm and comedy in Katniss' thoughts. But above all, it i not everyday that you find a good book about a heroine who takes a stand against a dystopian society.

The entire series is about a 16 year old girl, Katniss (a.k.a the girl on fire, which ironically has nothing to do with that Alicia Keys song), who volunteers in her sister's (Prim) place in the hunger games, where the capitol of what was North America (a lot of bad things happened between now and then, evidently) gathers 24 children, one boy and girl from each of the 12 districts (there was 13, but like I said, a lot happened) to fight to the death in a customized arena. The last person standing gets to live in a luxurious home for the rest of their life. The other 23... well, at least they don't have to worry about being selected anymore.

This series is somewhat comparable to Twilight due to the two guys that Katniss has to choose between : Peeta (the most oddly spelled name I have ever seen in a book) and Gale. In my opinion, they are exact opposites. Peeta is this nice guy who is sentimental and just wants the best for Katniss. Gale is more of a rebel, and wants to run away with Katniss, no matter what the consequences are. It is quite the conundrum for her, but in the end, she chose the right one (I do not want to spoil all of it). So now you have an action packed drama, with a dash of romance, therefore a sprinkle of indecision.

There are definitely some things about THG that made it less and less worth putting attention to. Like I said, the fact that it is about a game that involves hungry people makes me want to never want to throw away any piece of food I have EVER!!! It can be really depressing. My mother got through 30 pages of the book and immediately got mad at me for reading the series (eventually, she finished it and found a new perspective, but he was really upset with me).

I do not like the fact that it somewhat envisions that North America will end as we know it and take a depressing turn of events. When my grandfather read it (everyone in my family, except my grandmother, read the series), he started talking about how worried he is that the book would become somewhat of a reality. I mean, it's still a book, but he does have a bit of a point. The world isn't doing that great as it is, so whose to say that the probability of a pandemonium will not take effect?

Now, I noticed this when I was reading the book and watching the movie, but it was mostly pointed out when I read someone else's opinion on the internet. There appear to be some racism involved with THG. I first saw it with Rue, a tribute from District 11. I'll just get right to it: she's one of the black people (I hate to use that word to describe her, but it's the best thing I can think of that's the least offensive or obsolete) of the book/movie, and she had a spear thrown into her chest. Out of all the people to be speared, why her? Of all the weapons to die from (there were plentiful weapons), why a spear? Then after that, a riot happened in District 11, and almost everyone there was black (there I go again). To top it all off, the "peacekeepers" came marching through the district in an orderly fashion, hosing everyone down! If that's not suppose to be some sort of subliminal flashback of the 20th century, I don't know what is.

On top of all of this, the movie was still different from the book. The people behind the movie left out some important details to the series, such as: Katniss was suppose to be 50% deaf, Peeta was suppose to have a mechanical leg, I I recall correctly, the riot didn't happen until Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta was suppose to have a conversation about their relationship after the games, the mutts in the end of the games were suppose to be the dead tributes transformed into giant pit bull-like creatures (they kept the mutts, but left out the detail of who they really were), and off the top  of my head, that's all they left out.

I understand why they would leave that out, since there's so much they can fit out of that book into the average movie length, which still was longer than 2 hours. I have no problem with what Gary Ross - or anyone else behind the movie - have done since they were able to capture the most important details, so I give them credit for that.

To summarize what I said, the series is one of the best I have ever been interested in. The books always made me want to stay up late and finish it, or at least read as many chapters as possible. I barely ever got to a part of the book that made me slow down. I went to see the movie the night it was released, and I bought the DVD the day that was available to the public. It is a very inspirational piece of fiction, and I cannot wait to see what the film industries of America does with Catching Fire next year.