I was going through some old books Emmy siblings and I owned, and I came across hunger games. I’m older now, so YA fiction mostly strikes me as a bit boring or cringy overall, but I remember liking it way back when I first read it so decided to give it another read. Im surprised that it’s such a well written book. Hunger Games is one of the most popular YA books, and it’s influenced so many others to have protagonists just like catniss, except just way worse. Catnis isn’t a special chosen snowflake, but an actual person with her own flaws, and struggles. She’s shown to be, empathetic and kind, but not unbelievably, and her relationships are actually interesting. Her not being madly in love with Pita but faking it makes their interactions feel so much more meaningful when they’re genuine and not played up for the camera. The society of Hunger Games is also interesting. The society is dystopian, and we’re able to see that even during the games with the need to play up emotions for sponsors, and them actively discouraging playing safe. The people fighting and dying in the arena are reality tv stars; they’re supposed to be interesting and memorable characters, not real people. A flaw with the story is catniss’ perspective kinda gets in the way of the story sometimes, and I felt the story would have been better in 3rd person. Overall, the hunger games is a good book, and I can see why it’s so influential to the YA genre. Way better than most wannabes I’ve read ( Divergent)
by HelioKing
2 Comments
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Its influence is usually diminished by its core premise having been lifted from an earlier novel, Battle Royal, which came out years earlier and also featured a dystopian future and an authoritarian government that forces young people to fight to the death in controlled locations for political suppression.
The Hunger Games story also kind of falls apart past the first book, and it becomes apparent that the author doesn’t understand very much about war.
I enjoyed the first book, and I think it deserves some recognition for grabbing the public zeitgeist for a moment. It was certainly more accessible to the YA crowd than Battle Royal.