I tend to have an aversion to a lot of the “fad” books. You know the ones… they seemingly take the world by storm. It’s not that I’ve never read a bestseller—I’ve read many—but I’m talking about the books with which it seems the world is obsessed.
I tried and did not care for Harry Potter.
I do not understand the Twilight phenomenon. At all.
50 Shades of Gray is SO NOT going to happen.
And The Hunger Games—with the weird names, and the futuristic, sci-fi setting? It’s not my thing. Or, at least… I didn’t think it was.
But then I watched the movie. And I have to say: I didn’t hate it.
My dad is a serious movie viewer, he sees EVERYTHING. He doesn’t discriminate; he will seriously watch anything. So he happened to have The Hunger Games arrive via his Blockbuster account and I watched it with him and Michael because 1) I was curious, and 2) I didn’t have anything better to do, so why not?
I was definitely entertained for the entirety of the 2 hours and 20 minutes of the movie. I’ll give them that. Were there parts that I absolutely rolled my eyes at? Yes. Were there parts where I had to seriously fight to suspend reality and reason in order to chew what I was being fed? Yes.
But it’s a movie.
I’m actually damn near tempted to give the books a shot now. Although I’m not sure how my view of them will be affected by having seen the movie before reading them?
I’m having a hard time remembering anyone saying anything BAD about The Hunger Games trilogy; I feel like I have only heard from people who loved them and couldn’t put them down.
So what’s the consensus here? What are your thoughts on The Hunger Games? If you love them and devoured them, which of the three is your favorite? I read brief synopses/previews of the second and third books just to get a feel for how the story continues for two more books/movies, but it seemed like the plot was definitely strongest in the first. I don’t do a lot of reading these days (sadly)… but I’m willing to give the first one a chance and go from there!
27 Responses to Resisting The Hunger Games
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I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
Hunger Games. Loved it! Couldn’t put it down from the day I started it! Thankfully I have a kindle fire so once I finished one I moved right onto the next. I’ve only seen clips of the movie because I am a person who if I LOVE a book, I do not want to see the movie so that MY views & visions of the story aren’t ruined…I hope that makes sense. The details in the books are fantastic & at times literally made my jaw drop. Friends of mine who read the book & saw the movie still said the book was better because of everything they had to leave out & the so many details that were cut as well. I definitely recommend it! I went in as a “I’ll try the first one & go from there…” then I couldn’t stop :) Good luck!
PS- I need tips on how you got Nora to survive her 8hr car ride! We have our trip home in 2weeks with Kira & I’m so nervous! ;)
Tara, there will be a post this week that will touch on the roadtrip survival tactics. But I did post something similar last November, after getting back from our first long roadtrip with Nora. Here’s the link: http://www.heatherdriveblog.com/2011/11/we-survived.html
I bet Kira will do fine! The key is to just throw all parenting “rules” out the window and do WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO to survive. :) Good luck!
I loved the series – more than the first movie. I loved the first and second book; the third book, not so much. It was different than anything I usually read – I guess that’s part of what I liked. Give them a shot!
I absolutely loved the Hunger games series! Much better than Twilight if you ask me. I was so into them. They were very suspenseful and interesting. I think it would be worth it to read them. The books, of course, are better than the movies. Hopefully you’ll enjoy them!
If you didn’t hate the movie you will really enjoy the book. It was SO much better. A really fantastic read and the first book was definitely the best of the three. And since I read the Twilight books, I can say these are leaps and bounds better.
Oh, and I enjoyed 50 Shades BUT The Crossfire Series (Bared to You and Reflected in You by Sylvia Day is SO much better).
Read each book in about a day…couldn’t put them down. Definitely like the first the best. Just saw the movie finally this past weekend and the book is even better. Give innnnn! ;)
I got sucked into reading them by one of my Twilight Loving friends. I flat out refused to read Twilight, but I told her I would try the first Hunger Games book. I was very skeptical, but I really liked them. They aren’t masterpieces of literature, but they are entertaining. The third is the weakest in the series, but by that point I just wanted to know what happened so I kept reading. If you didn’t hate the movie, I say give the books a try. The movie was good, but the book was better :)
Hearing from fellow Twilight-haters that The Hunger Games are worth it is definitely helping. :)
I loved the hunger games books. They are fun and easy reads.
I really liked the series (and wrote about it in my blog as well)-most people say the 3rd book was the worst of the 3….I think for me it was just hard to keep all of the characters straight at that point. And I wanted to know what happened in the end so I had to finish it! The first and second books were really good though-it was hard to put them down! And they are way better than the movie!
I loved Hunger Games, and especially the first book. However…I am totally obsessed with the Harry Potter books and I also read the Twilight books (which are not great, but for some reason I had to keep reading).
I thought Hunger Games was so great because it was basically like real life, just one step farther when it comes to the reality shows we have going on right now. And I found it fascinating to be so horrified by what they were doing in Hunger Games when it was really just a small (but obviously significant) step away from the current state of things.
Did you ever read Stephen King’s The Long Walk? He wrote it years ago and it is kind of an amazing preview of reality television. It’s a similar horrific premise involving kids and everyone dying except one person in a reality gameshow thing. I love that story and also hate it because it’s so terrible.
Hi Lucci, I haven’t read a lot of Stephen King, so I actually have never heard of that one. I’ll check it out, but sounds… disturbing. Fitting for King, right? :) Thanks for offering your perspective!
I read the books before I saw the movie. I liked the first and last ones best. They are (obviously) a lot better than the movie. But surprisingly, the movie did stay very true to the book. There’s just more depth in the book. I think you should give them a shot, They’re a quick/fun read.
Do it! As typical, the book is so much better than the movie (though the movie was pretty good). Plus it’s an easy read since it’s for the young adult/teen audience. Good book and quick read = win, win!
I resisted for a long time, but then loved them – and read each one super fast. The 3rd wasn’t as good but I’m still glad I finished it!
I love them and also haven’t encountered a single person who doesn’t. I read them all twice and listened to a totally nerdy podcast called the Katniss Chronicles when I was done reading and couldn’t get enough. The books are easy to read, and definitely more dark and desperate than the movie. I don’t think it’s too much sci-fi (which is not really my thing either). Twilight is awful, you can’t compare them (I’m not saying I didn’t read the Twilight books and see the movies, I’m saying I accept that they are terrible!). Don’t resist!
I weep that you grouped Harry Potter and 50 Shades of Gray together. WEEP, I tell you!
LOL, Kristen. Sorry. But I think the mania is rather similar… no? :)
First book is good, second and third are not so impressive until the end of the 3rd.
I loved the Hunger Games! The first is by far the best but I thought it was a strong series throughout! I couldn’t put them down once I started!
I’m much like you in that I don’t get sucked into the hype of a lot of books. I tried to read Harry Potter and couldn’t, I did get talked into Twilight and HATED it, and I’m not into sci-fi at all. But I loved The Hunger Games series. Like most people above, the first and second are the best, but the third wasn’t terrible. I too, couldn’t put them down. I passed them on to tons of people and not one person didn’t love them.
The books are SOOOO much better!!!!!!!!!! I thought the movie was just dumb. I resist fads too. I just recently read the Hunger Games books. Very good! (I did give in and read Twilight. I’d like that time back, thank you very much.) Have no desire to read 50 shades. LOVED Harry Potter though. :)
See, not a single person so far who is telling me to skip it! This is the general consensus, I think I’m going to give it a try… as soon as I have some extra time to read again. :) Thanks all!
Read the books!!! They go into so much more detail than the movie–I was skeptical too but I promise you won’t regret it! You could read them all in a weekend :)
I’m with you in that I will not read something that is all the rage, simply out of spite. So it was really annoying to me when I read The Hunger Games and tried my best to get friends and family to read it and none of them would….until it became a “thing”. I seem to choose books that no one knows about and then all of a sudden it’s a movie and every soul on earth reads it and before I know it they are telling ME I should read it…HELLO people!!! lol drives me mad.
I would say I agree with Kristen…yes the mania is the same but you really can’t group these books together. lol. Twilight is vampire/ware-wolf (not sure the genre) fiction, Harry Potter is something completely different and Hunger Games is Dystopia. All VERY different genres, ideas and story lines. The only similarity is the hype they all get when teenage girls get their hands on them…even if a 28 year old (ah hem) has already read it and tried to get her friends to read it as well.
It looks like you might try them out. It’s worth it if you liked the movie. I’d say if you hated the movie to skip the book but it seems like you’ll like them. Especially since the book can obviously go so much more in depth, it really solidifies the characters, relationships and government issues.
(I won’t read 50 Shads of Gray either…spite I tell ya!)
Hunger Games is a surprisingly heavy book for young adult. I actually think about it a lot from time to time because the themes are so relevant to daily life. Plus it has some seriously violent stuff in it — stuff that happens every day in the world. I would highly recommend them. The movies play up more of the stuff that appeals to movie audiences, especially teenagers. The whole “team Peeta/team Gale” thing is so not a part of the books at all. Katniss is actually not a heroine at all, just a dumb teenager that got wrapped up in a revolution. It’s just a really fast, interesting, and completely devastating trilogy. I don’t know how they’ll pull off the movies without diverging from the book.
When you were deciding to read a new book and was asking for suggesting, I said Hunger Games :) I am a little late on commenting but it is a definite must read! As for 50 Shades…. It is an AWFUL, NASTY book and I am glad you are not reading it. Like your dad with movies, I read books. I actually read that book and was utterly disgusted. So go for Hunger Games when you have time to read!