I just don't get it..why is everyone so enthralled with the Hunger Games? I've invited GHS, my non-fiction reviewer to dissect it, and who knows...maybe I'll be a convert.....maybe.
Here's what GHS had to say about THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY......His next stop probably will be the movie theater..It opens this weekend.
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The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
The Mockingjay
The HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY by Suzanne Collins has all the makings of a successful franchise—and rightly so! The story takes place in the future, somewhere on the continental U.S. in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event that created a new country ruled by ‘the capitol’ and 13 surrounding districts.
Each year, as a reminder of their subservience to the capital, each district is forced to send 2 ‘tributes’ to compete in a televised event where the tributes fight to the death. It’s all very similar to the hit reality show ‘Survivor’—except the contestants die until there is a victor.
The residents of the capital anticipate the games like we anticipate the ‘Super Bowl’ and they can wager on the contestants—while the districts are forced to watch their children suffer. Since the contestants in the Hunger Games are technically children (young teenagers), the story introduces a very controversial topic—children killing children.
However (I think) that because the story takes place in a fantasy future world, the deaths in the games give way to a larger story of love (yes, there is a love triangle) and basic human instincts or morality, freedom and truth.
Comment or Tweet...Am I the only one that's a dissenter?
CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS!
A BLOG READER FROM MASSACHUSETTS WRITES:
JSS: "You are just sooooo hibrow!!!!! Get down in the trenches with those of us who love books like Harry Potter and Dungeons and Dragons and Game of Thrones!!!
I have just finished the 2nd of the 3 books and can't wait to start the last.
The themes are just teenage melodramas with simple but moralistic thoughts about life and fairness. A book can be finished in a few hours by skipping over segments of these sidetracks and focusing on the story that captivates your interest.
Get down here with the rest of us and enjoy the thrills!!"
A BLOG READER FROM NORWAY WRITES:
"The big deal is that kids are killing kids. Is such literature to be recommended? Then dangerous and the prohibited can be irresistible. Fiction has always been a playpen and a laboratory where nerve-wracking experiences can come close without any risks. Generations of kids have loved stories about torture and death.
Hunger Games is more brutal than anything we have seen so far, and I can't see any other motive for writing and putting such stories on screen than profit. It might be well written, but I can't find a single good reason to recommend reading stuff like that, especially to young people."
POST A COMMENT...WHO'S GOT IT RIGHT?
I've not read the books and the film only comes out here today but my daughter (9yrs) says her friend (also 9) is reading the book (Hunger games) and loves it. Now whether she understands it all or not i can't comment on (i suspect not) but speaking for myself i was lured in by the trailers and will be going to see the film, i'm not really enthralled by the books having read the blurb on the back of them though.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think of the film. I just tried to post a comment on your blog but for some reason, could not do it..Anyway I wanted to tell you I agree with your discussion of turning pages down on a book...however I only use a kindle so don't have to deal with that. Kindle uses a faux turned down corner to book mark a page. Keep in touch..
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ReplyDeleteI saw the movie at the midnight showing on Thursday. No, I'm not that much of a fanatic, but I had to take my teenage daughter to meet her friends and couldn't face going out again at 3 to retrieve her. :) I did read the books and enjoyed them. While I thought the story had some problems, I did enjoy the underlying themes. I disagree with the writer who is appalled with kids reading stories of kids killing kids. Stories of man's atrocities, even atrocities against children, have always been a part of education. For my generation, it was stories of World War II. I know my own children have studied Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel, The Kite Runner, Rwanda, and Columbine. While I’ll agree that violence for the sake of violence is harmful, adolescents are capable of understanding more than we sometimes give them credit for. In The Hunger Games, while the rebels are fighting for a seemingly good cause, everything they do is not good or moral. Their tactics are often no better than the enemy’s. These are ideas that our children can digest and understand. Is war ever just? If so, when is it necessary and how far should one go to win? Our children may be faced with these questions one day, and shouldn’t we give them the education to make the best decisions they can? In answer to your question about the movie, I think I’m the only one on the planet that was disappointed. While I think as a movie, it was well done. As a retelling of the book, I think it missed the mark. Much of the depth of the book was missing. A lot of time was spent on the beginning of the story, and it caused some of what I would have considered important to be missed.
ReplyDeleteI don't see anybody complaining about "Lord of the Flies": the theme-"kids killing kids" and that is considered a classic. The harsh reality is that we live in a world filled with violence and unfortunately children are going to either experience or witness (in real-life)violence at some point in their lives. Although I don't feel this book (series) is appropriate for children on the younger side of the YA target audience (11 or 12) I think it's ridiculous to think our children can be sheltered from any violence. Kids do kill kids. Everyday. Maybe not in Norway. Do you get international news stations over there?
ReplyDeleteTo Jennyb: The blogger from Norway sent me an email 3/25/12 and here's her response to your comment:
ReplyDelete"My answer is: I have a better idea: Instead of my climbing down into the trenches with you, why don't you climb up the mountaintop with me and enjoy the fresh air?"
Sorry, I prefer to live in reality. The mountaintop sounds so nice, too bad it doesn't exist.
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I went to The Hunger Games movie last night and was pleasantly surprised. Fortunately, I read the trilogy in a span of four days so I didn't have the usual "That didn't happen in the book" thought throughout the movie, as the sequence of events is somewhat convuluted in my head. As far as the violence, okay, there are some people who don't think "kids killing kids" is an appropriate theme for a book or movie, and that's fine (we all have a right to our opinions no matter how miscalculated they are...)but I feel the team who made the movie presented the violence in a tasteful manner. When the kids fought, the scenes were blurry or the images "choppy" to allow the point to be made without being gratuitous. Quite often the scenes were not even shown at all, but were just suggested. Do I feel this movie (or the books for that matter) is appropriate for children or young teens? No, I do not. For older teens who are aware of the violence anyway, I see nothing wrong with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joyce for stopping by to see me. You've got a battle going on here. I'm not quite on the mountain top, but I don't like the trenches either. Not usually a YA fan, but seeing this book was being discussed on the O'Reilly factor, I figured I'd see what the hype was about. As I said or questioned in my review of the book, I'm still not quite sure what the message was. I didn't consider it a love story at all. I felt Katniss might have had the onset of feelings, but given the circumstances, that was to be expected. The ending was very realistic, it didn't seem there was going to be a happily ever after for K. E. and P.M.
ReplyDeleteMy fears of celebrating child gladiators were also calmed as it seemed there was a constant sentiment of futility to it all. Geez, I could go on and on... I'm still not a YA person(I think the twilight series for example are awful) but I thought the hunger games replicated what is going on in society today. Think of the TV and reality shows many of them with tweens and teens.
For those of you really passionate about this series (1)check out my take on the hunger games at http://booksclan.blogspot.com/ and (2) have you read "the girl with the dragon tattoo" trilogy?
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