The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I had not heard of The Hunger Games series of books until the lead up of the first movie based on the books being released in 2012.  A colleague had been talking about how the books had gotten her mid-teen daughters back into reading that summer. 

 

I accidentally watched the first movie on Sky Movies one day, and thought, oh yeah, it's ok.  I started watching the movie just before the point when Katniss volunteers in the place of her sister... so I kind of didn't get the setting of the book and that affected my understanding of the main ideas in the movie.  Then a few weeks ago a friend suggested we go and watch the second movie Catching Fire.  It was epic!!  I really enjoyed the second move and it helped me understand the first movie more.

 

 

But, as good as the movie may be, there is nothing like reading the original text it is based on.  So I was in The Warehouse and saw The Hunger Games on special and purchased it. 

 

And here is the front cover and blurb on the back of the book: 

 

 

 

 

Previously I had resisted reading this series as when the first movie came out there was a lot of publicity about the violence that the teenagers in the books/movies have to engage in as part of the games.  I remember discussing this with my colleague I mentioned earlier whose daughters were engrossed in the books.  Even though the content of the book was rather questioned at the time for the violence factor, she thought the fact that it engaged her teenagers compensated for this detail.

I was also trying to avoid the hype and jumping on the bandwagon when a book becomes a movie.  Well, guess what?  I'm on the bandwagon now.

The book captured my attention and kept it till the bitter end.  Like I said above, reading the original text is usually way better than the movie itself.

There are things that you read in the book that can not always be accurately portrayed in the movie.  The book will describe to you what a character is thinking, seeing and doing in a more specific way; whereas the film will tend to 'show' you visually.

The great thing about the book of course is that it filled in all the bits that were missing for me from the viewing of the movie The Hunger Games.  It filled me in on the bits that came before I started watching, but also on how Pamen and the districts came into being as well as the personal circumstances of the characters and their families.

I could soon see why my young teenage friends were enjoying the books so much.  It was a riveting read that kept you on alert yourself, in case of a deadly ambush as you read.  The themes of oppression, poverty and starvation as well as survival of the fittest and smartest were also very relevant to keeping me hooked.

So the next time I'm in town, I guess I will be buying the follow on book... and the third.