Discussion: The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

[shibamistress]

I read them and enjoyed the series overall. Good plotting and narrative drive, decent character development. On a sentence level it varied from ok to bordering on bad, (can the author learn how to write a complete sentence?) but I still found them entertaining overall, and better than some of the other crap out there in YA fiction or fiction in general (Twilight series, I'm looking at you).

In my mind, not even remotely comparable to Pullman's Dark Materials series, though, which was thoughtful and well written enough to make me not even think of them as YA fiction, but just as really good fantasy.

[odiakkoh]

Lol I never finished Pullman's trilogy. Got about halfway on #2 and lost interest. The Golden Compass is still one of my favorite books of all time though.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by odiakkoh

Lol I never finished Pullman's trilogy. Got about halfway on #2 and lost interest. The Golden Compass is still one of my favorite books of all time though.

I think the 2nd book of the trilogy is the best. But I was surprised to find that I wasn't that fond of the series. After reading all the raises about it, I prepared myself to be sucked in, but I was not.

[cearbhallain]

I was not enthralled by His Dark Materials either. It was interesting to watch the knicker twisting that occurred in parts of the christian community though.

[twowheels]

My daughter kept telling me to read the books, so I finally did back in March/April. They were OK, though my take was that they were far too predictable. I told my daughter that a few times, so finally she pressed me to make some predictions, so I gave her a rather detailed plot summary [for the third book] for what I expected it to happen, and sure enough it happened almost exactly as I described. :-)

You should have seen her face when she asked "So, who will she end up with?" and I gave her the answer. I knew I was right from her reaction, even though I'd told her to promise not to give me any spoilers.

Edit: Looks like the thread has veered off the original topic... I was talking about the original topic, the Hunger Games series.

[tc booth]

My middle school aged daughter read the series and encouraged me to. I was surprised to find that I couldn't put the first book down. At first, the violence invloving the children disturbed me, but I had to find out how the series ended and read the next two books consecutively.
[self-promotion removed - moderation]

[AnemicOak]

Apparently my 9, soon to be 10, year old nephews teacher recommended this for summer reading for him when my sister was looking for some more advanced books for him.

I was pretty shocked and told her I thought he definitely needed to be older with some of the violence portrayed.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Apparently my 9, soon to be 10, year old nephews teacher recommended this for summer reading for him when my sister was looking for some more advanced books for him.

I was pretty shocked and told her I thought he definitely needed to be older with some of the violence portrayed.

I think he should be twice the age to read the series. The last book is too dark for early teenagers, IMO.

[twowheels]

Dark, perhaps, but I used it to have a talk with my daughter about how in some ways our society is much the same.

Our [US] military, being volunteer only, is mostly filled with the children of the poor [the population of the districts], who were unable to afford education any other way or had few other opportunities [the double ration given to those who enter a second time into the reaping lottery, I forget what it was called], while the super rich [the capitol] use them as pawns in their games to enrich themselves, while the rest of us are supposed to cheer them on in some sort of perverse hero worship.

But I digress and I fear that I may be treading into an area disallowed in the forum charter. :-)

[cearbhallain]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Dark, perhaps, but I used it to have a talk with my daughter about how in some ways our society is much the same.

Our [US] military, being volunteer only, is mostly filled with the children of the poor [the population of the districts], who were unable to afford education any other way or had few other opportunities [the double ration given to those who enter a second time into the reaping lottery, I forget what it was called], while the super rich [the capitol] use them as pawns in their games to enrich themselves, while the rest of us are supposed to cheer them on in some sort of perverse hero worship.

But I digress and I fear that I may be treading into an area disallowed in the forum charter. :-)

It was called the "tesserae".

My 12 year old son is reading the series now and I'm fine with it because he's very bright and politically aware. I had bigger concerns last year when the school librarian suggested he read _Ender's Game_. Both books deal with children engaging in violence, both children have very limited agency. The difference for me is that Ender has no idea that he is being used as a tool to win a war. Katniss, on the other hand, is well aware of her situation and even though she knows she is being used by the revolutionaries (in a very craven and cynical fashion) she makes the conscious choice to participate.

Both books feature very political themes and I identify more with the deeply damaged Katniss who still manages to find the personal strength to fight back. Ender has to deal with his actions and feelings after the fact. Both are portrayed as heroes, but only one of them actually understands their circumstances and the consequences of their choices. That's the conversation I'd like to have with my son, the importance of understanding the world you're living in and the courage and ability to make very difficult and personally damaging choices for the benefit of the greater good. I guess I'm really stuck on agency and personal choice.

[DianNC]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Dark, perhaps, but I used it to have a talk with my daughter about how in some ways our society is much the same.

Our [US] military, being volunteer only, is mostly filled with the children of the poor [the population of the districts], who were unable to afford education any other way or had few other opportunities [the double ration given to those who enter a second time into the reaping lottery, I forget what it was called], while the super rich [the capitol] use them as pawns in their games to enrich themselves, while the rest of us are supposed to cheer them on in some sort of perverse hero worship.

Actually, I don't think the demographic of today's military is all that disproportionate to the general civilian population...at least not in any meaningful way.

As a percentage of the 18-24 year old population, from which most recruits are drawn, average household incomes were between $35,000-$79,999 and $85,000-$94,999. These socio-economic groups were over represented among recruits while families at the highest and lowest end of the socioeconomic scale were underrepresented.7 Interestingly, the percentage of recruits from high income households has increased since 9/11 while the percentage of recruits from low income households declined.8 In 2005, 22.8 percent of recruits came from the richest quintile while only 13.7 percent came from the poorest. Thus, the average enlistee is drawn from the middle class, not the urban poor.

http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/apjint...10/Lowther.pdf

[twowheels]

That's interesting data. That appears to be oriented toward the air force, which I've always viewed as more educated in general, but does pique my curiosity, I'll definitely look more.

[mewmartigan]

So I finally read the trilogy after getting it for $1 on my Kindle. Plus the movie is coming out soon. Anyway, I enjoyed everything up until the last 1/3 or so of the last book.

Spoiler:

I really thought it was a terrible idea to kill off Prim. First off, there is no way a group of medics (including a 13 year old!?) is at the front lines and gets to the injured children that fast.
My real beef though is that what started this whole adventure was Katniss's desire to keep Prim safe. I really think Katniss should have died protecting Prim from the explosions. Then either finish off the book from Prim's point of view or give a slightly longer epilogue explaining the afteraffects.
Having book 1 start by protecting Prim and having book 3 end by protecting Prim would have made everything come together IMHO. Instead Katniss survives and lives as a hollow shell of a person for the next umpteen years. Not cool.

[Redcard]

I burned through the series, but it honestly left me a bit unsatisfied. The hype was there, sure, but all I saw was a violent series of books that really had me trying to figure out the point. Can someone explain the point to these novels? At first I thought it was a critique on authoritarian regimes.. then it seemed to slide into a lambasting of the cost of revenge .. then it kind of turned into a beat down of survivor and other reality TV shows.. and then it turned into Twilight.

I understand this series is marketed at children, and generally things marketed to children have some take away. What's the take-away from this series?

[bill_mchale]

The cost of violence perhaps? The entire shape of Katnis's life is dictated by her participation in the Hunger Games and the events that follow, particularly her choices in the the last book.

--
Bill