The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins | Teen Ink

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

May 26, 2011
By Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is an international best-selling book, following the adventures of Katniss, Peeta, Gale and others throughout Panem. Over ten million copies have been sold. Countless amounts of children and adults have enjoyed this book. But me? Not so much.

I first heard about The Hunger Games from all the raving reviews that I got from friends, teachers, librarians…etc

Listening to them rave about the book really got me interested. It also gave me a lot of high expectations.

Following their advice, I finally picked it up and to my surprise, didn’t meet my expectations!

The Hunger Games is set in Panem in a place that was once North America. Pandem is a brutal empire run by a tyrant. Panem is separated into 12 districts, which each provide a service for the Capitol, a glamorous city where the richest and the most powerful live. The leaders not only give nothing, they play the cruelest game of all, the Hunger Games.

Each year, the government, in a drawing, picks a boy and a girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen from each district to play the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a tournament to the death. Literally! The goal is to kill everyone and whoever is the last person to survive is crowned the winner! And it’s all on TV! And everyone in Panem has to watch them! Can’t bear to look…that’s just too bad!

In the midst of this all, there’s Katniss, a sixteen year old girl who lives in District Twelve, the coal district, the poorest and dirtiest district of them all.

Katniss, like many people in Pandem, has a sad life. Her father died in a mine explosion (It’s Pandem so no pension). After her father’s death, her mother became chronically depressed and couldn’t take care of Katniss and Prim, her little sister. So in order to survive, Katniss was forced to take up illegal poaching and then selling it on the Black market.

Life is hard but it’s about to get a lot worse!

The time comes for the drawing for the Hunger Games. To everyone’s shock, Prim is chosen. Katniss decides to take Prim’s place.

Let the Hunger Games begin!


Doesn’t this plot sound fascinating?

That’s what I thought while I was reading it. I didn’t hate the whole book and certainly not the beginning. The beginning of The Hunger Games gets the reader hooked because it really hits the ground running. It has a good storyline but the problem is; this book loses steam after the beginning. It’s like a runner who slows down when he should speed up.

I hated how the author chronicled the Hunger Games; it was too hard to get into. The plot was an interesting plot but the author wrote it in such a way that made even the most heart-pounding events seem dull and uninteresting.
I also hated the idea of the Hunger Games, just because it was too creepy for me. It made them sound like Reality TV (I actually enjoy my Reality TV so then it made me feel guilty that I do)

The Hunger Games, themselves, weren’t what I thought it would be.
They were full of action, suspense and thrills just like a great fantasy novel but unlike a great fantasy novel like The Harry Potter series, it didn’t address the moral issues that were being brought up. It not only fails at addressing the moral issues, it failed at emotion. The plot seemed detached from all the emotion that this book should have contained. I mean, a novel where there is much brutality should not have a deadpan disposition! It should contain so much feeling that I should be moved, moved to the point where I should be crying (or at least shed a tear). Over all, I just hate the mood of the story. It’s cold and emotionless when it should be compelling and moving.

The book probably has that tone of tonelessness because of where the perspective comes from, the main character, Katniss. The author thought it was brilliant to make the character hard to relate to and detached from other people. I’ve got news for you, Suzanne Collins, it’s not! The character should be lovable and easy to relate to, especially if she is a heroine. I should love Katniss (or at least admire her) but because I cannot relate to her, it’s virtually impossible to even like her.

I also hate the focus of the story. For me, the story was too focused on the Katniss, Peeta and Gale love triangle (Peeta and Katniss are the official couple but I think it should be Gale and Katniss because Katniss has known Gale way longer and what happened to the Guy code?) Anyway, I hate the idea of the love triangle, I hate how Katniss can’t decide who to like, and it’s not cute or sweet in any way. I also thought it was inconsiderate to focus on a romance where there are much bigger problems to focus on.

In conclusion, this book was a total let-down. The author should have put in more emotion, discussed moral issues, and made the perspective more interesting.
This book needs a serious makeover: Book edition. Quite frankly, I have no idea why so many people are so into this book. This book isn’t as good as people said it would be. Don’t trust the hype!


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This article has 32 comments.


on Aug. 9 2011 at 11:57 am
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Um? Do I know you? And even if that is my name, why are you posting it?

on Aug. 8 2011 at 11:47 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Actually I kinda agree with Aderes18.  Yes I've read all three books so I do know what they're about.  The first book was my favorite.  The second was ok.  Then the third was just bad.  So no I don't hate the books, I think they're an interesting read, but no I don't think they're the greatest books ever.  Sorry if I offended anyone who thinks that this is their favorite series.

Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Aug. 7 2011 at 2:24 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

See, that's YOUR opinion and this article is my opinion. :)

Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Jul. 3 2011 at 1:41 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

That's great. 

on Jun. 20 2011 at 8:03 pm
Tink1350 BRONZE, Medford, New York
4 articles 0 photos 104 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Worries are like weights and weights keep you down, so let go of your worries and fly,"

The Hunger Games series are the absolute best books i have ever read. I loved everything about them. <3

loverrloverr said...
on Jun. 14 2011 at 5:44 pm
i loved THE HUNGER GAMES WITH A PASSIONN!! i dont know what your talking about @Aderes18 bc this book is amazing!!

Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Jun. 12 2011 at 9:20 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

I have not read Mockingjay, but I have read Catching Fire. I plan on reading Mockingjay. I agree what you said about the theme. I never said that the series is just about The Hunger Games. I disagree with that. But I feel that the author spent too much time focusing on the action than on the moral issues, that I agree with and that's what I said in my review. 

Every fricking page in Catching Fire had something to do with the love triangle. I almost didn't finish the book because I was getting sick hearing about it. 

I really wanted to like this book. I thought that The Hunger Games would be one of the best books that I would ever read but it just wasn't. 

Maybe I'll read it again. Maybe. 


Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Jun. 12 2011 at 9:06 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

You should still read The Hunger Games. Maybe you might think differently than me. :) 

Lord of the Rings is books are boring, but the movies are AWESOME, GREAT!

I just read Memoirs of a Geisha. It's very intriguing and beautiful. But just as heart-breaking as The Kite Runner. I didn't cry but there were times when I thought I should have. 


on Jun. 12 2011 at 3:55 pm
LeslieAnn BRONZE, Midvale, Utah
1 article 0 photos 47 comments

Favorite Quote:
\\\\\\\"Dream as if you\\\\\\\'ll live forever, Live as if you\\\\\\\'ll die today\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass, its about learning to dance in the rain.\\\\\\\"

My question to you is, have you read the entire series? Unless you've read all three books the plot and the detached emotions aren't going to make any sense at all. The theme of the entire series is war. About how the brutality and mindlessness of it destroys everything, without any compassion for the people being subjected to it. The series isn't just about the games and it certainly isn't about the love tiangle between Katniss, Gale, and Peeta. Those things are just tools that Collins uses to bring into perspective the utter destructivness of war, and a tyranic government. A lot can be taken away from the book if you read it with the mindset that you'd like to take something away from it. Its an increadible learning device. My suggestion to you is to read the book again as well as the other two books in the series. Keep in mind what I've told you and see if you come away feeling something different.

on Jun. 12 2011 at 2:41 am
Writomania PLATINUM, New Delhi, Other
22 articles 0 photos 119 comments

Favorite Quote:
"What really does not kill you, will only make you stronger"- Kanye West
"If there was no electricity, we would've had to watch the television by candle light"- Joe Jonas
Nobody will ever win the Battle of the Sexes. There's just too much fraternizing with the enemy. ~Henry Kissinger

oh wow.. the other day i was seiously considering buying the hunger games... but decided on the lord of the rings..

any other good books that you have in mind?


Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Jun. 7 2011 at 6:29 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

You should still read it. Maybe you might think differently than me. :) 

I've read so many action/ thriller books that I tend to have very high standards about them. Plus, I had very high expectations of this book as I said in the review. :) 


on Jun. 7 2011 at 12:29 pm
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

I'm glad I read this review, everyone I know is excited about this book still, but I'm not sure whether or not if I should read it because I really don't trust pop culture at all. (Twilight, anyone?)

Thanks for writing this, I think I've finally decided not to read 'The Hunger Games'. Maybe :)