Book 243: The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) – Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games Trilogy was one of the first books I reviewed when I started The Oddness of Moving Things and it was the first book recommended through my suggest a book page. I of course re-read this series with all of the hype surrounding the release of Catching Fire and I’m very glad I did. I blew through the trilogy in just over 72 hours (so similar to lat time).

What is most interesting looking back at my original review from 2010 is how much my reviews/responses have changed. It seems like in 2010 I was more interested in providing a recap of the books rather than a response to the books. I don’t think there is anything wrong with it and honestly I’m sure it was exactly what I needed (something to organize my thoughts and keep me going while looking for a job), but it’s funny naturally things have changed to a regurgitation/thought explosion of my thoughts on a book, or series, or more often than not some random comment on Goodreads or Amazon that ticked me off.

What’s funny about this three years later, is that I still haven’t read any of the other books people compare this book to constantly. I’m sure there are better books out there, aren’t there always when a book reaches this level of popularity? I mean half of this books popularity is people hating on it and refusing to read it (same thing with ANY super successful series like Harry Potter). I’m sure at some point I’ll read Battle Royale and have some sort of conversation about the two books, but until I do I’m sticking with this book. Throw in the controversy about casting from the first movie (Rue – even though they cast it correctly) and the division of the third book into two films, you’ve clearly got another hyper-successful young adult franchise.

I think what I found most interesting about this re-read was how much Collins squeezes into this first book. Although knowing how much is slowly revealed over the last two novels in the series her restraint clearly shows in this first novel. In contrast to how much information she includes/doesn’t include, there is also the fact that this book could have been a stand-alone novel. It has a distinct beginning, middle and end and although there are minor references to things outside the finite pages of this book, it could easily have stood on its own without the final two books.

What I appreciated about this re-read was that I felt the emotions as if it were the first time all over again. From the shock and horror of Prim’s name being drawn to the holding my breath at the final moments of the Hunger Games, Collins held my attention the entire time. I’ll talk more in the final review about the few drawbacks of the trilogy, but for now I’ll leave this response at this point.

Recommendation: How can I not recommend this book? It’s a quick read and is action packed so much so that I stayed up until 5AM last weekend finishing the book because I wanted to finish it even though I’d read it previously!

Opening Line: “When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.”

Closing Line: “I take his hand, holding on tightly, preparing for the cameras, and dreading the moment when I will finally have to let go.” (Whited out.)