The Hunger Games (Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins
Audiobook: 11h 10m | Narrator: Carolyn McCormick
Scholastic (Oct 2008) | Science Fiction | Young Adult
Warning: potential spoilers
There has been so much buzz about this trilogy on the book blogosphere that I couldn’t resist picking it up. But like anything that gets lots of positive press, I was slightly nervous when I began listening to the audiobooks in case I didn’t love them as much as everyone else. I needn’t have worried!
The entire trilogy is narrated by Carolyn McCormick, who is a superb narrator. She really encapsulates Katniss’s essence, the pace and the highs, lows and horrors of the story. I was sucked in and wrung dry through each book, barely able to press the pause button on my iPod.
Set in the future, The Hunger Games is a fantastically compelling and dark dystopian novel. It tells the story of Katniss, a young woman who lives in district twelve of the poorest districts in the country, where many people suffer from hunger. Katniss helps feed her family by poaching daily in the local forest with her best friend Gale & selling any excess game on the black market.
This new world is brutal and cruel, ruled by the unscrupulous Capitol. Years ago the districts rebelled and the Capitol will never let it be forgotten. As a punishment, each year two children from each district, one boy and one girl aged between 12 and 18, are selected to enter ‘The Hunger Games’, a violent reality show where the children must fight to the death until one child remains.
Each year the town people pray it is not their child that is selected. Then the unthinkable happens, Katniss’s little twelve year old sister gets selected for the games. Katniss has spent her whole life protecting her little sister and does the only thing she can think of and volunteers to go in her place.
Believing she is sentencing herself to a death sentence, the book tells of Katniss’s journey leading up to and of the games itself. The tone shifts itself between unbearably painful, to shockingly violent and then to desperately sad. The narrative is written so well, you become fully submerged into Katniss’s story willing her to survive after every shocking incident. Like her, you begin thinking she cannot survive, to daring to believe with her poaching skills maybe, just maybe she might be a contender.
Katniss is one of those heroines you cannot help but admire. She is vulnerable yet tough, naive, but at the same time intelligent and a fast and strategic thinker. The book does contain a slightly unexpected, and at times awkward love story. But it adds a really great twist the games itself.
There is one scene worth a special mention, not want wanting to spoil it, I shall say look out for the scene with the singing and flowers. You will know it when you reach it. If you manage to remain dry eyed, you are a tougher person than I!
This novel is also as much about social commentary as it is a fantastic story. It highlights current issues with popularity of celebrity and our fascination with the shallow and unimportant. It is perhaps at its darkest when it focuses not on the contestants of the games, but the shallowness of the people who organise it. The shock of the frivolous behaviour we see from the TV presenters as they gush over the contestants like they are the luckiest new celebrity in town, combined with such a macabre subject is ironic writing at its best. You can’t help but see the inevitable comparisons it draws between ‘The Hunger Games’ and the plethora of reality TV shows that are on our screens everyday.
But also, there was something about this book that had a ring of George Orwell’s 1984 for me. The dystopian setting, the ghastly government messages and the control and subjugation of people, society broken into tasks and regions. The terrible fear of what would happen to you if you voiced a criticism against ‘The Capitol’.
VERDICT:
A really stunning novel that I cannot help but implore you to read. It’s excellent, and is one of those stories that sucks you in, churns you up and leaves you gasping for more. Don’t let the dark premise put you off, yes it’s gory and shocking at times and does involve children killing one another, but trust me when I say it’s written very well, and is not gratuitous at all.
RATING: 
SUZANNE COLLINS ONLINE
Website | Goodreads | Facebook
BOOKS IN SERIES ORDER
- The Hunger Games
- Catching Fire
- Mockingjay
UK COVER
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8 Comments
I was actually debating whether or not to get this one on audio book! So a well timed review
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Wow high praise indeed. Like you I've seen the buzz about these books but it's because it's been so hyped up that I have resisted – have given in a coule of times the last year and have been dissapointed…
Maybe I'll listen to the hype on this one.
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Oh yes! This is totally one of my favorite books ever! Katniss remains to be my favorite heroine also!!
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@Jules oh yes the narrator is very good, so definitely worth getting as an audiobook
@Carmen I know exactly what you mean on the hype of books, so I was nervous about picking this one up, but it really is excellent
@Bookish Brunette glad you agree
I don't know if she's one of my all time favourite heroines as some of her decisions in the later books did annoy me, but what I loved about these books is how cleverly they were written
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Although I've seen rave reviews about these books and now your reviews, I still find myself not excited enough to pick it up…not sure why. Glad you enjoyed the first one and the narrator was good, that makes all the difference I think with audiobooks
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@bookchickcity what put me off at first was the children killing each other. And I have to say I only downloaded the first one as I was struggling to find a book on audible I wanted to download so thought I would give it a go. I'm very glad I did.
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I heard this book is usually compared to Battle Royale and i could see the similarity but there is also a huge difference. I think that Mr. collins took a different approach in what type of story she was telling. I love the fact that it wasn't gory and that it was more a character-piece than a book just about killing each other. Loved book one, can't sayt the same about the sequel.
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I just loved all these books. I'm just glad I listened to them after all three had been written. I don't think I could have survived the ending of Catching Fire without have the ability to listen to Mockingjay right away.
These are fantastic stories. I loved them and even got my Dad to listen to them too. He's now a fan like me.
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