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The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)

Suzanne Collins

Start date: July 1, 2011

Finish date: August 1, 2011

Discussion: Former Group Reads

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Former Group Reads

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By Rea , Ghost · 9 posts · 20 views

last updated Oct 26, 2013 12:24PM

* Beauty and the Bounty Hunter by Lori Austin (September 2013 Group Read)
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What Members Thought

Dec 05, 2010 Terri rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, apocalyptic-dystopian-fiction

After North America was almost destroyed, the nation of Paem emerges. There are 12 districts which they keep under a tight rein by staging The Hunger Games each year. Where two "tributes" from each district fight to the death in an arena. This has become great entertainment. This year, Kaitliss' sister is chosen as tribute so she steps in to take Prim's place.

I really enjoyed this book. Her fight for survival drew me in and I kept turning pages, reading this in one day.

I enjoy Ms. Collins Overl ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Mar 14, 2011 Jaime Stricklin rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2011

I have mixed emotions about this book. The plot was surprising and different which was good, but reading it was difficult. The Hunger Games are barbaric and cruel. I was hoping the story was going to be Katniss bringing an end to them somehow, but that was not the case. If I had known more about the story before I probably would not have read it, but now that I have, I am intrigued. I do hope that the Capitol will be challenged in future books. Surely this torturous behavior will not continue u ...more

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Jan 15, 2010 Jessica (BookRockGoddess) Bolton rated it it was amazing

This is an amazing book. Very different from anything that I have read in the last few years.

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Nov 21, 2010 Suzie rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2014

Grudgingly giving this one more star because I don't hate it quite as much as I did the first time round. Still a pretty bad book. Also Katniss is the worst, still.

***

First review, November 2010:

What is the point in this book?

Seriously. This book is completely pointless. It's garbage. I have no idea who on earth it's aimed at. Teenagers in the age range should surely be reading 1984 or Brave New World if they're wanting to start off with some dystopian literature? I'm not even fond of Brave New Grudgingly giving this one more star because I don't hate it quite as much as I did the first time round. Still a pretty bad book. Also Katniss is the worst, still.

***

First review, November 2010:

What is the point in this book?

Seriously. This book is completely pointless. It's garbage. I have no idea who on earth it's aimed at. Teenagers in the age range should surely be reading 1984 or Brave New World if they're wanting to start off with some dystopian literature? I'm not even fond of Brave New World, but surely it's a better start than this. Because this is just a MESS. For a start, the writing is dreadful. To be fair, YA literature is not always a bastion of good writing - 90% of it is crap, actually - but this... this stood out. It was hilariously bad. I mean, most of the time I write blogs/reviews/whatever in the middle of the night and I'm more than aware that my syntax/grammar/spelung often suffers for that. But this got PUBLISHED. Even though it could have been written on the back of a cereal packet. With a crayon. It has that weird feeling of being about things that are in no way suitable for children, but having been written with the general vocabulary, clumsiness, and awkwardness of someone with a writing level of a ten-year old.

Then there's the characters. Katniss (fun note: Katniss is a plant, also called Arrowhead. Katniss-the-character is good at archery. Excuse me while I KILL MYSELF) is just rubbish. She is. She's not a convincing human being at all. Pretty much her only attributes are that she: a. runs about, b. shoots things, c. if faced with a choice, will do the stupid thing. Everything about her is irritating. Nothing about her is remotely sympathetic, and mostly, I just hoped she would hurry up and get killed. I also find the way she treats Peeta (another flaming stupid name - try saying that without sounding like a three-year old trying to say Peter) annoying. While he's a horrible "Mary Sue" - for want of a better expression - he's at least trying to be nice to her. But Katniss isn't very good with people being nice to her, or nasty to her, or anything to her. I kind of imagine Katniss a bit like my dog. My dog doesn't like people much, despite the fact that everyone loves him. He doesn't even like my boyfriend, who loves dogs and despairs at this fact. He ignores people, runs away from them, and generally acts like the majority of people who don't live in my house are not in fact there - he only acknowledges us because we are the BRINGERS OF FOOD. This is because my dog is a grumpy bastard. The only things he does like are food, water, sleeping and pissing everywhere, much like Katniss (I may be exaggerating here, but you get the gist). Thing is, my dog's adorable and fuzzy and sometimes if you're lucky he'll sleep on your feet and heat them up (but not because he likes you). Katniss doesn't even have the courtesy to do that. She's just. There. Being shit and grumpy.

Anyway. Back to something vaguely resembling the topic at hand. The plot is a horrible cliche. It's painful. I read the first two yesterday, and am a few chapters into the third one, and I'm yet to discover if Collins has ever had an original thought. There's no character that isn't drawn with broad brushstrokes, no character that behaves remotely believably, just... nothing to like about this book. Also there's no sense of humour about the thing at all, and while often I CAN get over this, it's about the only thing that would have redeemed this from the heep. I don't really know why I'm still reading, except to confirm that what I think happens at the end does happen. I know that's what the internet is for, but I seem to be a glutton for punishment. Just... don't bother. It's not worth your time. There is nothing good here. Read anything else instead. ...more

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Dec 23, 2009 Eliza Cross rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own-read

I had to read the hunger games for a thing for school and when i heard the description i thought it would be pretty cool but i had no idea that it would be this good. The description of everything was so realistic that i had a great picture in my head of everything going on and what the buildings looked like. I've never heard of anything like what goes on in this book. Everything in this book is a new original idea. Most books have the same idea as others and can be pretty predictable but everyt I had to read the hunger games for a thing for school and when i heard the description i thought it would be pretty cool but i had no idea that it would be this good. The description of everything was so realistic that i had a great picture in my head of everything going on and what the buildings looked like. I've never heard of anything like what goes on in this book. Everything in this book is a new original idea. Most books have the same idea as others and can be pretty predictable but everything about this book was a surprise to me. Except for the winner. It was kind of obvious that Katniss was going to win but the book wouldn't have made sense if she didn't.

Suzanne Collins must have a beautiful and elaborate imagination. Everything fits together perfectly just like a puzzle and this book is definitely a puzzle. How she came up with all of the characters and their stories is beyond me.

At the beginning when Peeta was picked i didn't really think anything of him because at that point at the reaping she didn't really make him seem very important which was very very clever because he turns out being more important than you would think.

I thought tesserae and everything about the games and how they were planned and who was picked, the districts, the capitol, the gamemakers, training, the costumes, the designers, the president, the winners, the games, the peacekeepers, everything was so clever and well thought out.

Katniss at first bothered me a lot because she always says that she never wants to get married or have kids which was so weird for me. But once she explains herself i understand why and I completely agree with her. I think deep down she does want to get married and have children but the world she lives in isn't ideal for children. Every child has the chance of being picked in the reaping. Every child is put in danger the day they are born. She's been through more than she could ever wish on any other person. Even her worst enemy. She's been through the hunger games and knows how horrible and life-changing they can be. If I were in this story I would never want to put that on a child.

This book is amazing and theres no way to describe how good it is without actually reading it and i recommend this book to anyone young or old! ...more

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Nov 12, 2009 Al rated it liked it

i enjoyed reading this book obviously, considering its 374 pgs and i finished it in just over 10hrs. it was a nice story that just kept me going. kinda like harry potter, da vinci codes/angels n demons, and to some extent twilight. it was just one of those kind of books. it was interesting cause it deals with a dystopian future North American country and it does go into the problems people have with their system of government, however its a overshadowed by the game and Katniss survival of the ga ...more

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May 08, 2009 Rayanne rated it really liked it

This was kinda weird but it was a pretty good read. I need to read the second one now!

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Jul 11, 2010 Shannon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: listened-to

This reminded me alot of Stephen King's The Long Walk. It was very good. I think Katniss really cared about Peeta and was torn with having to pretend at the romance. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. ...more

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Aug 16, 2010 M J rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This is one of the most captivating books I've read in a long time. The story is engaging from the first chapter and I had a hard time putting down the book, reading it every spare moment I had. ...more

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