Hunger Games--Suzanne Collins
Okay. How to start this review. Perhaps a couple of facts.
Flew home Friday night. While Sam was at dance Saturday visited the library. Read Hunger Games Saturday. Sunday, visited the library again to pick up the sequel.
Yes--it was that good. I've long known that when you want to read some really fine fiction you should head over to the juvenile and YA shelves. Unlike adults, children and young adults have no patience with writing that is not engaging and fulfilling. They have no time for books that wind around and around and around and come out . . . nowhere.
So, I have to say that without reservation Hunger Games is one of the finest pieces of fiction, adult, YA, children's I've read in a while. Engagingly written from the point of view of Katniss--a young lady living in District twelve the novel tells the story of the Hunger Games--a brutal means of reinforcing the central power of Capital City in the nation of Panem. Every year two tributes--one male and one female--are selected from each of twelve districts to participate in a fight to the death. The winner achieves wealth and fame beyond measure. When Katniss's sister Prim is chosen, Katniss opts to take her place, as is allowed by the rules.
This book grabs you by the throat and keeps you reading, dragging you through a dystopian vision as dark as any you can imagine. Think reality television to the nth degree featuring graphic replays of the deaths of children, and you have a sense of the what the book doesn't actually show you, but implies. Suzanne Collins writes with great aplomb, great insight, and a great feeling for her characters. There is nary a misstep and indeed many places where the reader finds him or herself cringing with the pain of the characters.
It is a terrible, terrible reality that gets the main characters asking questions. And it gets the reader to think through the scenario and how it plays out in the world today.
Suzanne Collins is a worthy successor to the wonderful juvenile and YA books of Robert A. Heinlein--taking his later sensiblity and incorporating into his galaxy spanning earlier period.
Highly recommended--*****
Flew home Friday night. While Sam was at dance Saturday visited the library. Read Hunger Games Saturday. Sunday, visited the library again to pick up the sequel.
Yes--it was that good. I've long known that when you want to read some really fine fiction you should head over to the juvenile and YA shelves. Unlike adults, children and young adults have no patience with writing that is not engaging and fulfilling. They have no time for books that wind around and around and around and come out . . . nowhere.
So, I have to say that without reservation Hunger Games is one of the finest pieces of fiction, adult, YA, children's I've read in a while. Engagingly written from the point of view of Katniss--a young lady living in District twelve the novel tells the story of the Hunger Games--a brutal means of reinforcing the central power of Capital City in the nation of Panem. Every year two tributes--one male and one female--are selected from each of twelve districts to participate in a fight to the death. The winner achieves wealth and fame beyond measure. When Katniss's sister Prim is chosen, Katniss opts to take her place, as is allowed by the rules.
This book grabs you by the throat and keeps you reading, dragging you through a dystopian vision as dark as any you can imagine. Think reality television to the nth degree featuring graphic replays of the deaths of children, and you have a sense of the what the book doesn't actually show you, but implies. Suzanne Collins writes with great aplomb, great insight, and a great feeling for her characters. There is nary a misstep and indeed many places where the reader finds him or herself cringing with the pain of the characters.
It is a terrible, terrible reality that gets the main characters asking questions. And it gets the reader to think through the scenario and how it plays out in the world today.
Suzanne Collins is a worthy successor to the wonderful juvenile and YA books of Robert A. Heinlein--taking his later sensiblity and incorporating into his galaxy spanning earlier period.
Highly recommended--*****
I agree that some of the best current fiction out there is to be found in the YA section. Maybe they are not afraid to actually tell a good story unlike so much so-called literary fiction.
ReplyDeleteand I agree The Hunger Games is one of the good ones, in MY OPINION.
Dear Caite,
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it may have been your review that convinced me to take up the book. I know it was someone in blog-land and I owe them sincere thanks because it has been some time since I had such a roller-coaster ride with such serious undertones.
Thanks for stopping by and especially thank you for linking to your review. It's very nice to have this kind of dialogue of reviews.
shalom,
Steven
I am a fan of The Hunger Games Series. Reading the book makes me feel like I am in an action movie. I cannot wait for the release of the third book!
ReplyDeleteThe Hunger Games Fansite