Thursday, February 16, 2012

The Hunger Games


I bought The Hunger Games last year from The Book Depository and just never got around to reading it.  But with the movie coming out next month and my blog reading challenges, I knew it was time to read the book!  And...I read the whole thing in a 24-hour time period!

I'm sure I am the last person on earth to read this book, but I will still do my usual plot summary anyway.  North America as we know it is gone, replaced by Panem.  Panem consists of 12 districts and the main character, Katniss Everdeen, is from District 12, the slum of all the districts.  The Capitol of Panem hosts The Hunger Games each year, a fight to the death between a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts.  The fighters are called tributes, and are drawn at random.  When Katniss' sister Prim's name is drawn, Katniss volunteers to go in her place.  The rest of the book is the training for and then fighting of The Hunger Games.  If you haven't read it, you'll have to read it to see who wins!

This book raised many questions for me about the YA genre.  What makes a book classified as YA?  This book about fighting to the death doesn't seem so appropriate for young readers.  I know I always read books above my age level, and don't think this book would have been appropriate when I was 9 or 10.  So, what do all of you think about that???

Progress toward:

2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge - 13/50
100+ Books In a Year - 13/100

8 comments:

Emily said...

You're not the last person to read it! The Hunger Games has been on my list forever and I *still* haven't managed it yet. It sounds interesting though...and everyone keeps talking about it...eventually I'll *have* to read it! :)

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

I only read the trilogy right before Christmas and it totally blew me away. While the story was about YAs, I don't think anyone under 12 really should be reading it. The violence horrified me at the same time it fascinated me. With all three books I found myself clenching the pages and tears frequently flowing from my eyes. While I have every intention of seeing the movie, several times probably, I am curious to see how the violence will be handled on the big screen and it stay true to the book with a PG-13 rating rather than an R rating.

Tammy said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE This series of books - I even had my husband read it. I can't wait for the movie.

Young Adult books are actually a strange classification they can range from that "tween" span of years and then also like 16+ years of age. They're all kind of 'lumped' in to the same category.

Most of the books will generally give an age level, like I think this one is geared for 12 and up.

Kindlemom said...

There is definitely a fine line these days about what seems to be classified as YA and what doesn't. This book is pretty violent and I wouldn't want my young daughter to read it but I think a tween could handle it okay as long as a parent was there to talk to them about it as they read.

Do you plan on reading the rest in the series? I wish I could say the violence in it gets better but it doesn't so be prepared for that if you do read them.

B said...

I was late to The Hunger Games as well! I'm glad I got into them though. I loved them all and can't wait for the movies!

Leslee said...

I too read the trilogy just before Christmas! LOVED them, but yes they are not suited for I would say under 12 readers.

Looking forward to the movie next month!

Cat Davis - Food Family and Finds said...

You're not the last person because I haven't read it either. I remember when people were talking about it but I just never found time to buy it. Then I started seeing movie previews and honestly, it creeps me out a bit.