The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxed Set

After completing this reading of the trilogy, all together, I'd like to pull up something profound. They are, of course, thrilling stories, full of clever traps and slick evasions. They are also deeply moving stories, about the desperate people on the outside of rich society. As well, it is the story of one girl, deeply wrapped up in her own small community, who is forced to taken a broader view of her society and what it means. It's a story about how to stage a rebellion. Even more, it's a story about the high cost of war, and how none of the survivors ever stop paying. It's a reminder to not just question authority, but to question everything.

Reading it has left me sad, in a good way.

The hunger games trilogy is a great story, whose 3 books form a satisfying three act play. The 1st book Hunger Games satirizes the merger of reality show culture with an oppressive totalitarian, consumer obsessed society. It is both a love story and adventure story. The setting of the books is a post-apocalyptic America. The one weakness of this approach is its purely North American focus. I was left wondering what happened to the rest of the world. One paragraph could have spoken volumes. Even if you have seen the movie of the 1st book ,Hunger Games, reading the book is worthwhile by giving the reader the motivations of each character. Book 2 Catching Fire is an exciting sequel that takes place 9 months after the events of book 1. It show more deals with the unintended consequences caused by main characters surviving the original games. You gain more of an insight into the consumer culture and how fragile and repressive the totalitarian government is. Book 3 Mockingjay explores how symbols and apparent heroes are in the end used and manipulated by various factions and how the lines between good and evil can become blurred in course of seeking a goal. This final book gives a the reader a satisfying but unexpected conclusion to this trilogy. show less

THE HUNGER GAMES

After a month long reading slump I needed something quick and engrossing, and decided that a zillion readers hopefully weren’t wrong. Having managed to avoid the film and most of the talk of this series, I was able to go into this more or less spoiler free.

I can totally see the appeal. There is something a little rudimentary about the post-apocalyptic dystopia Collins creates, but she is smart keeping the story at ground level. Katniss is a great heroine, tough, flawed and believable, and the dilemmas she face are acute and believable.

Most of this book reads like a thriller, with Katniss trying to survive the games. Collins does a great job of crating tension and ambience, where the whole thing could easily have been show more strained and over-inflated. This, and the effective (if perhaps not unexpected) twists make me more than willing to overlook logical gaps such a camera presence, pinpointed parachutes and a dozen other little things.

I’m eager to see where this is going, and have a hunch I’ll like the series even more post game.

CATCHING FIRE

The first book more or less dealt with repression, examplified by the games themselves. This, the second part of the trilogy, looks instead at the mechanics of rebellion. Starting off right after the first book, Katniss is faced with the consequences of the choices she made in the hunger games – and forced to realise just how little a spark can be and stlll be dangerous. Collins places her heroine in a complex dilemma where all choices seem bad, and broadens the perspective, letting us know more about this post-apocalyptic world. It’s all good.

The weakest part of the book for me is paradoxally the one that made the first book. Katniss’ return to the arena is where the book loses a little bit of momentum for me. Despite Collins attempts at creating a fresh setting with tons of nasty traps, it feels like a bit of a re-hash.

Even so, this is a series with both brains and a heart, and I look forward to seeing what happens after the rather abrupt ending of this part.

MOCKINGJAY

The uprising is turning into a war and Katniss is it’s involontary symbol. Despite reeling under her losses and trauma she is again put in front of cameras to push people in a direction – only this time by what is supposed to be the good guys. Gale in his new role as a tactician is growing more and more ruthless in his ideas on how to defeat the regime. Peeta is a trapped puppet for president Snow, and Katniss slips further and further into a thirst for blind revenge.

Even despite the first parts’ violence I was surprised by the brutality of this concluding part. It deals with propaganda and the de-humanisation of war, where ideals are whittled down and the difference between good and evil is becoming more and more hard to distinguish. Collins makes brave and uncompromising choices, and I’m impressed by her willingness to explore her themes to the end. There are no false happy chords here, the price paid for freedom is harsh and very real. And her description of media’s role in deciding what side of the story will be ”the truth” is well captured in it’s absurdity. The revolution WILL be televised – and the edit will make all the difference. As will make-up.

Many seem to think this book is the weakest of the three and I guess I can see why. It’s more broken and disjointed, the polt less tight. For me though, the way it carries themes further and broadens the perspective, and the way it often hits me in the guts, makes it my favorite part of a series which deserves it’s praise. show less

After completing this reading of the trilogy, all together, I'd like to pull up something profound. They are, of course, thrilling stories, full of clever traps and slick evasions. They are also deeply moving stories, about the desperate people on the outside of rich society. As well, it is the story of one girl, deeply wrapped up in her own small community, who is forced to taken a broader view of her society and what it means. It's a story about how to stage a rebellion. Even more, it's a story about the high cost of war, and how none of the survivors ever stop paying. It's a reminder to not just question authority, but to question everything.

Reading it has left me sad, in a good way.

As many know, I don't readily give out 5-star reviews. In this case I'm compelled to do so. Why, when this isn't a literary series of books, but rather genre fiction? Because Suzanne Collins clearly demonstrates mastery of her craft, and by virtue of that talent she deserves high accolades.

If I had to use one word to summarize The Hunger Games trilogy it would be riveting. It isn't often a writer creates plot and characters so real, so compelling, I am haunted by them throughout both waking and dreaming hours.

Although the premise is simple: evil overlord/government reigns through tyranny, oppression and manipulation, it's this latter, Collins weaves so deftly through her story and thereby creates screaming tension and sense of show more outrage.

The language throughout is simple, conversational, written in first person present tense, not an easy feat, but certainly one done so deftly as a reader this literary device slides by almost unnoticed. And yet it is the use of first person, present tense which enhances the immediacy of the story. Like the children who are forced to participate in the killing-field of the Hunger Games, the reader is held suspended in the now, aware of the horror of the past, and the promise of only more horror to come. And although Collins periodically weaves in a moment of hope, they are so fleeting as to be like sunlight through storm clouds, and because of that poignant.

Simple moments become moments of import, both terrible and glorious. She has a way of setting up her reader, and then not only pulling out the rug, but the floor, collapsing the walls, leaving you wounded in rubble.

If you haven't already found yourself caught up in the hype around The Hunger Games I can assure you the trilogy is well worth the time and emotion you will expend.

I have every confidence this series will be studied in classrooms alongside other SF greats like The Lord of the Flies, 1984, and Brave New World. show less

I loved Hunger Games, the first book in this trilogy, and thought the heroine, Katniss Everdeen and the imagination amazing and gave that book five stars. I read it in the wake of reading the The Twilight Saga, and after the doormat that was Bella Swann, it was great to have a real heroine who with bravery, smarts fought to survive. That first book really struck me as imaginative and the pacing was great--I really raced through the book, my attention never flagging and a lot of the scenes really had impact. I did really like the sequel, Catching Fire, even if I didn’t think it compared well with the first story, I still thought it a great ride and gave it four stars. If I had a major complaint with Catching Fire, it was that Katniss show more takes a back seat--her choices and actions didn’t drive the plot. At first I thought Mockingjay was back on track. I certainly was kept turning the pages to the end. Collins knows how to keep a reader hooked. It was entertaining and involving and it’s because of my recognition of that I’m giving it three stars--but I still left it feeling as if something in the book and series is wanting.

I think after three books, some of the holes in Collin’s world-building is more apparent to me. For one, there’s not much distance between dystopias and utopias. There isn’t a totalitarian or authoritarian society in history that wasn’t built on and sustained on ideals--even if twisted ones: building a classless society, creating a master race, a civilizing mission of empire, God’s will, Liberté, égalité, fraternité. And yes, you do find that underlining all the classic dystopia novels, Brave New World, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid’s Tale. Damned if I can find a trace of that in the Hunger Games Trilogy--her fictional country seems based on Ancient Rome (with some suggestions we're supposed to see our own contemporary society). We’re told outright “Panem” means bread--one half of “bread and circuses” that supposedly pacified the mob. All is “propo” or propaganda--there doesn’t seem much of substance undergirding her societies or ideals behind her rebellion, so for me the fight comes across as empty--which may be Collin’s purpose given some events in the book, and I did appreciate the shades of gray. (Well, if they were gray--really we just have black on black.) But so often how these societies and their leaders act made no sense to me, and a rationale and some context might have helped.

Then there’s the personal side of things that still leaves me feeling unsatisfied. One of the major subplots is the love triangle between Katniss and Gale and Peeta. A friend of mine hates love triangles--she feels they’re an artificial way of creating conflict. They don’t have to be. One of the classic love triangles is that of Scarlet and Ashley and Rhett in Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. Many have pointed out that Ashley represents the Old South and Rhett the New--and this is one of the key themes of the book. Collins does in the end have Katniss claim that Gale and Peeta do represent different things to her, but that I thought appeared rather out of the blue--it’s not integrated into plot and themes in ways that we can feel her pull between them. For most of the series, and the book, it’s almost as if the choice could be made by the toss of a coin. Ultimately how that dilemma was resolved felt forced. Romance, or at least love stories, don’t have to be empty. Part of what I love about Jane Austen’s novels is that they’re not just about who winds up with who, but about how by learning about others we learn about ourselves, and in trying to sift between fool’s and real gold, we grow up.

And maybe that’s what I miss most in what as a Young Adult series should be a coming of age book. I don’t see Katniss really growing and stretching much, or except for a few instances in this book really much more than react to events. Part of growing up is learning the difference between illusion and reality, and the premise of Hunger Games should be perfect for that. Maybe the reason why I don't feel this works is that Katniss never has any illusions. She never trusted in anyone, never was idealistic about either society, so there's no room for life-changing revelations here. In fact, in this book I thought she was largely whiny and at her most unlikeable. She's young, and she has gone through a lot--but I spent a lot of the book wishing I could slap her. A friend of mine strongly disagrees--she liked how this book didn’t give short shrift to the trauma of war that was inflicted upon Katniss. And Mockingjay was an entertaining book--I guess I just hoped for more. I feel like I just stuffed myself in this huge feast, and thirty minutes later I'm hungry again. Given all that, I do still recommend the trilogy as a whole. show less