As the title says, I was rereading The Hunger Games on a whim and was really struck by how nuanced it is. The dystopian commentary feels pretty interesting, the farcical nature of the Capitol is really well realized, and the idea of constant surveillance was explored impressively. The juxtaposition between the barbarism of the Games and the entertainment/drama the spectators get from it is a really complex dynamic for YA fiction, and I think Katniss appealing to sponsors while also trying to survive was really compelling.
Also, I really liked that the romance aspect of the book was intrinsically tied to the nature of the constant surveillance and necessity for presentation. While I don’t have a problem with teen romance, it’s often a somewhat shallow topic by nature, and the book did a fantastic job of really deepening the relationship between Peeta and Katniss. The way they ‘take turns’ strategizing about how best to use their love as a tool to win support while the other is in the dark, the way it juxtaposes with their true feelings, and the contrast between the intensity of the Games and the knowledge that they’re constantly being watched all are extremely well-executed and impressive concepts for a YA book.
Overall, I think this book does a fantastic job of melding traditional YA themes with complex dystopian concepts. The reread really made me appreciate the depth that the book offers, and I came away feeling like the book absolutely deserved to have the appreciation and impact that it received. Anyone else feel like the series is miles ahead of other YA dystopian novels in its exploration of deeper themes?
by DontWorrybeHappy0-0
39 Comments
Great review, thank you. Now I want to reread it.
The Hunger Games has always stood head and shoulders above any other dystopian teen drama that I’ve read. I also just recently reread it and I was surprised at how well it held up. I’ve tried rereading some of the others but I just can’t get into them again.
One thing I really liked about the hunger games is how it touches on tension between people in the districts who have more and less than each other, and how Katniss grapples with feeling jealous of those who don’t face things as awful as her and knowing that the capitol feeds that hatred on purpose. It’s truly deep and nuanced discussion of class struggles in a way that younger readers can digest. Really a sign of masterful writing.
I jokingly called it the YA communist manifesto the other day, haha
I re-read the Hunger Games this month as well. And yup, it’s a stand out in the genre.
It certainly had an impact on me when I read it 15 years ago, and is still rated as one of my top favorites. I loved the series so much I got a Mockingjay tattooed on my chest and a quote from the book. I really loved the way the story unfolded and how “different” Katniss was compared to other womanly antagonists of that era. Survival was the main difference, and I related a lot to the concept of survival at that time period in my life. Plus around that time I was coming off the high of finishing the Uglies series with surprise book #4. It was a good era for dystopian fiction.
Have you read the prequel? I’m reading it now, and it reminded me how great the original series is!
I keep telling my partner that Hunger Games, at this point, will be considered a classic series. It stands the test of time so far, and I think it transcends genre in a lot of ways. Yes, it’s YA, but its themes aren’t necessarily so. It’s definitely up there with the best overall just in terms of impact and how it holds up.
I am constantly encouraging friends and family to read this series. I love it. I first read it when I was in my mid twenties, so not as a teenager. I’ve re-read it several times since. It’s often described as YA but I really think this is a series that can be a good fit for any age of adult. There is so much deoth and darkness, and so much heart. Wonderful, gut wrenching books.
I honestly think there is a LOT of good YA dystopia people will dismiss as Hunger Games clones but in reality are great on their own and even have meta commentary on the genre. Iron Widow comes to mind as a recent one with several plot decisions feeling like they were made to directly contrast to THG and the heroine archetype it popularized (the reluctant revolutionary) which was a nice change of pace for the genre.
I love The Chemical Garden trilogy by Lauren DeStefano, it gets a bad rap from people who found the slower more character driven nature of it boring but I love the entire trilogy and honestly found it a rumination on grief and how it shapes your entire life, watching an entire culture rot in the face of imminent extinction. Across The Universe by Beth Revis is a great look at how a cool/horrifying microstate could develop on a generation ship and has lots of sci-fi stuff mixed in but is mainly dystopian, the exploration of the justifications and rhetoric tyrants will tell themselves and nature of coverups, how corrupt hierarchies always have another level of bullshit once you peel away the last one.
Matched by Allie Condie really makes me mad. Everyone remembers it as a love triangle book because that’s how the marketing depicts it but I swear there’s not even a love triangle. The entire theme is that poetry and literature are threats to fascism and learning to write poetry and read banned books is rebellion and how art can wake you up and open your eyes. Literally everyone who remembers it rips on it for something the marketing insists is there to market to teen girls, but isn’t really present in the book. Annoying because I think it’s poetic and endearing with themes of censorship and surveillance but people dunk on it for assumed reasons that just don’t add up.
The best one nobody knows about is Defiance by CJ Redwine. That trilogy is the most balls to the wall, action packed, dragon infested dystopian I have encountered. One city state represents brutal misogyny and another is used to explore the idea of punishment, guilt, crime, etc, and did I mention it’s dragon infested? The depiction of depression and grief with the character Rachel was also really good. And the action scenes hold up for me on every reread.
Ultimately ya dystopian as a genre deserves a little more credit than it gets tbh.
I still think about some of the harrowing scenes from that book to this day. Katniss starving and Peeta leaving her the bread, Rue’s fate, Katniss and Peeta huddled while listening to Cato’s brutal demise…Evocative writing and deep themes. Hunger Games is still one of the best.
I actually hadn’t read or watched the hunger games ever until last month. I devoured the audiobooks back to back! This series holds up very very well and is an absolute masterpiece. It’s the peak of what YA has to offer.
The prequel definitely wasn’t it though but I’m just going to pretend I never read it 😂
My mum used to be a librarian, specializing in kids’ and teens’ books, and would often use me as her “test subject” when something new came in. I remember reading Hunger Games when it was brand new – before it gained traction as a “threeway romance drama” and started being advertised to teen girls – and I really loved it. I should re-read it some time soon! I remember enough to know there are a lot of little details I’ve forgotten about, that I’d like to be reminded of.
I do have to say, though, that the author’s claim that they weren’t familiar with Battle Royale before writing Hunger Games sounds like bullshit to me.
When I read it awhile back, I felt the last book just felt rushed. The pacing felt just pedal to the metal.
Have you read Greogor the Overlander by Suzanne? I loved it.
I swear I was just eying my copies of the hunger games for a reread, and this review convinced me.
Thanks!
The mental leap I had to make: To understand that society today isn‘t far away from the Hunger Games, and how the book sets you up to realize it. I went from „well, stands to reason their lives are shitty, after society went bust“ to „now wait a minute, some people‘s lives are pure luxury and leisure“ to „that‘s how it already is“.
Luxury for a minority at the expense of everyone else. Law enforcement above the law. Your privacy, your safety, your right to a fair trial, all debatable. The ruling class completely out of touch with reality. Your odds of survival directly correlated with your social status and wealth. Those who have nothing pitted against each other, so they don‘t realize who the real enemy is.
We may stop short of throwing kids into a televised battle to the death, but we don‘t give too much of a damn about children dying either. It‘s the price we choose to pay, and we shrug and say „the chances of it being my kid are really low“. Remember that in the book, you can enter your name into the lottery multiple times to get more food vouchers? So the poorer you are, the more the odds are stacked against you. Sound familiar yet?
Panem is divided into districts, but the districts aren‘t equal. The districts closer to the Capitol make electronics and weapons, but further down the line it‘s food and then wood and coal. Replace district with class, and you‘re right where we are. The upper class don‘t live a carefree life either, but they‘re better off than the ones at the bottom. And it‘s in their best interest to make sure the order of things doesn‘t get upset, or so they‘re made to believe. Which is why in the book we see districts 1 and 2 siding with the Capitol.
The name Panem isn‘t a random choice either. „Panem et circenses“, bread and circus games, was the method the Romans used to keep the poor population content and subservient. We have sports and entertainment, it distracts from the real issues.
I just reread it as well. First book is such a masterpiece.
The Hunger Games is one of those series that should have stopped after one book.
She clearly had very cool ideas about this dystopian world and the games themselves, but didn’t know how to write a revolution.
I agree
The political exploration was really good too
I tell this to everyone I can. It feels weird to describe a global successful franchise as underrated but I feel like most people remember Hunger Games for the films which were a pretty shallow adaptation of the source material, and as a consequence it gets lumped in with things like Twilight or the numerous copycat dystopian YA series that came to follow.
One of the things I really enjoyed was having Katniss as an actually flawed protagonist who is constantly having to weigh the desire to do the right thing against her first instinct to just survive
I only liked the first book to be honest. I read the second one and was like: nope, predictable and ridiculous. It’s far better than most in the genre but I didn’t want to waste my time. Thankfully I can just reread the first one.
We read it in our middle school English class when it came out. Best school book I’ve ever read haha.
Actually made me want to read the rest of the series.
I reread this series every year or so. Forever love these books!
TW: Spoilers
The Hunger Games is excellent and I have always thought this. Not only is the romance between Katniss and Peeta very well-done, but the romance between Katniss and Gale is similarly well-done, as well as the contrasts between Gale and Peeta that echo what Katniss feels and needs at different points in her journey/the story.
>!Also, as heartbreaking as Prim’s death was, it was necessary for the story because one of its main points is that the innocent cannot be protected in war. Katniss sacrificed everything to save one innocent person, and caused the entire story to set in motion because of this action, and yet in the end her mission failed because good things cannot survive in a bad world.!< (I’d highly recommend [this](https://www.hypable.com/mockingjay-why-prim-needed-to-die/) analysis.) Here’s a quote from it:
>!”It’s clear from the beginning that Prim doesn’t belong in this world. If anything close to Absolute Truth makes an appearance in the series, it’s Prim. In fact, Prim embodies everything good, innocent, and pure. Peeta is a close second, but still not on the same level as Prim. After all, he is willing to kill other tributes if he must, while Prim can’t let a cat die.!<
>!”That’s why Katniss volunteering at the Reaping is even more significant. She’s volunteering to save her sister, yes, but symbolically, she’s volunteering to fight for and save everything that’s good.”!<
There are many other deeper themes that are explored—the uselessness of material goods in the face of things like life and death; the unfairness of wealth disparity; the impact of even small acts of bravery. It’s a complex, timeless package of human truths wrapped in a cloak of YA fiction.
People dismiss it because of the trend it started but there’s a reason it started the trend – it’s a genuinely great series. I was a little shocked upon reread as an adult Joe well both of Collins’s works The Hunger Games and Gregor the Overlander held up.
Gonna go against the grain here and say I found the series annoyingly predictable
I recently read the sequel that was put out, which a lot of people didn’t want I guess. It was excellent in my opinion don’t see a lot of discussion of it
I’m currently rereading the series and I am surprised at how well written it is.
I remember reading it many years ago and enjoyed it but wasn’t impressed technically. But now, I feel its a very well written series, even without the YA label.
It’s just a shame that its sequels don’t live up to it. The second book is a decent but shallow clone, and the third one is just a straight-up mess. The author was not ready as a writer to attempt the storylines of the third book.
i didnt understand why a society that has technology that is essentially magic needed to oppress coal miners.
I personally couldn’t stand Katniss while reading. Liked the other stuff in the books, but I struggled to empathize with her actions especially in the third book.
Can’t give specifics as it’s been years since I read it.
My major criticism about the book is that it is written in a first person perspective… I would have liked to know more about other districts/other tributes…
Plus it gave away the ending. There was never going to be a time where “and then I died”
Suzanna Collins is great. I loved her before Hunger Games for the Underlander Chronicles, which is still the best kids series imo. Dark and deeply compelling like Animorphs, crazy that they got away with it tbh. Also, fun fact she wrote for Clifford the Big Red Dog puppy years tv show! 😀
I fell away from Hunger Games when they started making movies about it, which honestly idk how I feel about them still. Not the quality of the movies but the fact that they exist, when the whole point of the books was that it was gross to watch children kill each other on TV. But I’m glad it introduced the books to more people and Collins got her paycheck.
The first book was the best. The 2nd two seemed to decline in quality quite a bit. I could tell with the 3rd that things just felt rushed and the author was just trying to meet deadlines to get a book out.
These books are soooo good. Literally. Every. Single. Time. I open one of them up I find something new–some new nuance or meaning or detail that I hadn’t registered before.
I loved those books. I was actually given a recommendation by one of the parents at the daycare that I worked at. She said I don’t know if you’ll like the fact of kids getting hurt. Which she wasn’t wrong about that. But I thoroughly enjoyed those books. I just actually got my daughter into reading them. She’s not quite old enough to understand all the nuance of everything. But she does get some of it. You’ve kind of made me want to reread them.
This book made my kid read. Its amazing
I loved those books. I read them years ago.
The Hunger Games is an exceptional book that requires no qualifiers (YA, dystopian romance, etc.). It’s just really really good and quite possibly great IMHO.