First of all, if you haven't read the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, you are missing out on a lot. YA Lit can be really irritating at times (Shiver, Linger, etc.), but Suzanne Collins is seriously doing it right, and I hope she continues to write. If you don't already know, the Hunger Games series centers around the nation of Panem and a sixteen-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen.
I know what you're thinking... "OMG Sixteen-year-old girl?! It's Twilight!" No. Just... no. The Twilight series has really given YA Lit a bad rep. The Twilight books aren't bad. They are a fun and addicting series. However, the hype of the movies/merchandise/Robert Pattinson is so, so, so annoying that people who haven't even read the Twilight series or people who don't even recreationally read at all are starting to talk smack about YA books. All the business with the Twi-Hards, Twi-Tards, Twilight Moms really takes away from the fact that the Twilight series got a lot of young people into reading, which is cool. Reading is cool.
Anyway, back to the Hunger Games. At this point, if you have not read the Hunger Games and you don't want any spoilers whatsoever... stop reading now because I'm about to geek about this a whole lot. I'm just gonna discuss the info that you'd get from reading the first three chapters, so if you're not afraid of that, then read on.
Panem is what was once known as North America. The Hunger Games books dabble in the "dystopian/futuristic" genre, and years of natural disasters (rising sea levels, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, droughts, etc.) led to a brutal war over resources, which gave rise to the nation of Panem. Panem is divided into "12" districts, and there are maps that some readers have made that show where the districts would be located in relation to present day North America.
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| Panem (Map by Maria Rizzoni) |
Pretty cool. Our main character, Katniss, lives in District 12, the coal mining district, which was once known as Appalachia. Katniss is our narrator, so we see the world through her eyes... and things are pretty bleak. District 12 is very poor, and Katniss notes that seeing people sick and starving in the middle of town is not uncommon. Katniss lives with her mother and 12-year-old sister Prim. Katniss' father died in a mining accident when she was 11, causing Katniss to become the sole "bread winner" for the family.
The book begins on the Reaping, the day in which two children, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18, are randomly chosen from each district to compete in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are held as a perpetual punishment to remind the districts who is in charge, which would be The Capitol. The Capitol is a dictatorship-type government that arose from the rubble of North America. District 13 rebelled against the Capitol, resulting in a full uprising. The Capitol then blew District 13 off the map. As a reminder of how much power the Capitol truly holds, they hold the Hunger Games. The 24 children that are chosen in the Reaping go on to fight til the death in the Capitol-made arena. Only one child is crowned victor, and the victor's district is rewarded with food and provisions. Just let that sink in. The government takes two children from your community and forces them into an arena where they will either kill others or be slaughtered by another child. "Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there's nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen."
From there, the reader is dropped into the kind of horror that is the Hunger Games. I won't give too much away, but I will say this-- I was very surprised at the amount of action and violence in these books. There were some parts where I just had to put the book down and regain composure. Also, it is a very fast paced series. I had to reread several parts of the book because I couldn't believe what had just happened.
I bought the three Hunger Games books together from Amazon but didn't start reading them until months later. In September or October I tried reading the first book, but I just couldn't get past the first few pages. School was getting busier and I didn't have time for a story that didn't grab me immediately. Looking back, if I had read just like.... one or two more pages, I would have been hooked. Finally, this past March I started reading them for reals. I finished the first one in eight days, the second one in nine days, and the third book in about five days. So it took almost a month for me to finish the series, but that's pretty good considering I'm going to school full time and working on campus part time.
They have started production on the first Hunger Games movie. Gary Ross is directing, and he's pretty awesome. He's only directed four films, I think, but one of those four is Pleasantville, and that movie is incredible. People were all up in arms over who is playing who, but personally, I think the cast is great... I may still be shocked over picking Lenny Kravitz to play Cinna... but I have faith. Some pictures from a few cast members on the set of the Reaping have been leaked, and it already looks great. Everyone looks how they are supposed to. Jennifer Lawrence was wearing the blue dress with her hair braided, Prim was wearing the ruffly blouse with the back untucked, and Effie had a pink wig. So far, so good.
One thing about the Hunger Games fandom that I'm starting to really dislike, however, is the question of "Team Gale or Team Peeta????!!" which is a definite residual effect from the Twilight series. The big difference is that the plot of the Hunger Games does not center around which boy our main character decides to love. Twilight's plot centered around Bella's decisions and the animosity between Jacob and Edward. The Hunger Games is about the strife the poor people of the districts go through, and how Katniss tries to take down the Capitol. Katniss' "decision" between Peeta and Gale (if you can even call it that) is a minor detail. For some reason, YA readers have become obsessed with this "Team _____"
phenomenon. I don't particularly care for it... I'm of the mind set that strong female leads do not need this kind of crutch to carry them through three or four books. That said, Bella is not a strong enough character to go without the Team Edward/Team Jacob dilemma(in my opinion).
So I've reached the age of 20 and I still thoroughly enjoy YA fiction. I don't exactly know when this love and enjoyment will end, but I'd just like to say that not all YA books are stupid and for younger crowds. If you shut out the YA genre, you are cheating yourself out of a lot of great literature.
From there, the reader is dropped into the kind of horror that is the Hunger Games. I won't give too much away, but I will say this-- I was very surprised at the amount of action and violence in these books. There were some parts where I just had to put the book down and regain composure. Also, it is a very fast paced series. I had to reread several parts of the book because I couldn't believe what had just happened.
I bought the three Hunger Games books together from Amazon but didn't start reading them until months later. In September or October I tried reading the first book, but I just couldn't get past the first few pages. School was getting busier and I didn't have time for a story that didn't grab me immediately. Looking back, if I had read just like.... one or two more pages, I would have been hooked. Finally, this past March I started reading them for reals. I finished the first one in eight days, the second one in nine days, and the third book in about five days. So it took almost a month for me to finish the series, but that's pretty good considering I'm going to school full time and working on campus part time.
They have started production on the first Hunger Games movie. Gary Ross is directing, and he's pretty awesome. He's only directed four films, I think, but one of those four is Pleasantville, and that movie is incredible. People were all up in arms over who is playing who, but personally, I think the cast is great... I may still be shocked over picking Lenny Kravitz to play Cinna... but I have faith. Some pictures from a few cast members on the set of the Reaping have been leaked, and it already looks great. Everyone looks how they are supposed to. Jennifer Lawrence was wearing the blue dress with her hair braided, Prim was wearing the ruffly blouse with the back untucked, and Effie had a pink wig. So far, so good.
phenomenon. I don't particularly care for it... I'm of the mind set that strong female leads do not need this kind of crutch to carry them through three or four books. That said, Bella is not a strong enough character to go without the Team Edward/Team Jacob dilemma(in my opinion).
So I've reached the age of 20 and I still thoroughly enjoy YA fiction. I don't exactly know when this love and enjoyment will end, but I'd just like to say that not all YA books are stupid and for younger crowds. If you shut out the YA genre, you are cheating yourself out of a lot of great literature.
