The Hunger Games, a trilogy by Suzanne Collins, takes place in an unspecified future, when the disparity between rich and poor is vast and profound. The U.S. is divided into 12 districts where life is brutally difficult and every day is a struggle to survive. The rest of society lives in the Capitol, an opulent place where life revolves around the annual Hunger Games. Each year a male and female from ages 12 to 18 are selected from each of the twelve districts to fight to the death in the games, which are televised. This is reality TV at its most chilling.
When the book opens, it’s the day of the reaping – the selection of the tributes – for the 74th year of the games, which were started so that no one would ever forget the uprising that changed the face of the country. In district 12, Katniss Evergreen, 16, and the other teenagers wait tensely in the crowd as the names are drawn. That very morning, Katniss’s sister, who just turned 12, dreamed that she was selected. And when she is, the Peacekeepers bring her forward to the stage. But Katniss screams that she will volunteer, that she will take her sister’s place.
From this point forward, The Hunger Games – the book – races forward at a breakneck speed that keeps you turning pages.
And now, The Hunger Games has hit the big screen. We saw it this afternoon and it’s one of the best adaptations of a book I’ve ever seen. Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Katniss, is superb. She captures all of the complexities of this weird futuristic society in which children killing children is the biggest social event of the year.
I last saw this woman in Winter’s Bones, which Nancy Pickard suggested we watch when she last visited. Nancy felt that movie had exquisite pacing and characterization and that we might learn something from it. Nancy was right. Rob, Megan and I later watched it and as Megan said then, “That actress is going places.”
Wow, was she right. This young woman carries the film. And given the success of The Hunger Games – you can bet Lawrence will be a familiar face from here on in.
Keep in mind that the trilogy is YA – young adult. In YA novels, writers can do things that simply aren’t accepted in adult novels. Children can be hybrids who fly (James Patterson); they can be magicians who play games on flying broomsticks (Harry Potter); or they can become reality TV stars who fight to the death (Hunger Games). They can be as violent as they want, but they can’t have sex. That’s the big no-no.
In one of The Hunger Games books, Katniss and Peeta, the young man chosen from district 12 on the same day she’s chosen – sleep in the same bed. Chastely. Without sex. And yet, in the first book, they survive (spoiler alert!) precisely because they act as though they have fallen in love.
The movie was cleverly marketed.People were being primed to go see the movie on the opening weekend. Megan saw it first in Orlando, at a sold out theater. In our town, the movie was showing every thirty minutes throughout the day, so in our 3:00 PM showing, the theater was maybe half full, we got great seats, and settled in.
In Variety, I read that the book had “only sold 200,000 copies” before the female producer approached Collins about a movie adaptation. That made me laugh out loud. Only 200,000 copies? Really? Most authors would be delighted to sell a few hundred thousand copies of their book. Of course, since the movie hype started, the sales have escalated into the millions. Even before that happened, Collins made the Fortune 500 list for one of the richest writers in the world.
Why? Well, part of it is luck. The books were obviously promoted from their inception. Also, Collins had had a bestselling series before this and worked in the movie industry as a writer for various TV shows. But more than any of that, the trilogy, especially The Hunger Games, are terrific reading. Collins created a complex female character willing to sacrifice herself for her sister and mother, and created a world that is an extreme vision of our own. She’s a fantastic storyteller. And all great books – and movies – start with the story and the characters.
Who loves these characters? Who do they love? What are the stakes? Emotions. Connections. The Hunger Games is sheer entertainment, but there’s much more going on beneath the surface.
Thank for the review looks like this is one i must watch.
Ann
I know I’ll see this movie as too many have raved about the book. One friend was really mad because she expected it to be a casual YA read and instead could not put it down until The End.
That’s how the book was for me, too. Did u get my email about my not being able to comment on your website??
The film was released in the UK on the 23rd but has had 7 seconds cut (blood and injury), otherwise it would have been a ’15’ rating. Let’s face it, anything could happen with so called reality television – there is already humiliation so why not violence? But hopefully not.
I wonder which 7 seconds? The violence was usually rendered in blurry sequences.
My sister just read the book, so I went to Amazon and downloaded it onto my iPad. I’m going to start reading it (I’m one of those who got hooked by the hype) after I finish the book I’ve got going right now. Then I’ll see the movie. I saw Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone and thought she was brilliant, so I expect I’ll be impressed with her performance here. Thank for the review! Everything I’ve read gives the movie a thumbs up. Now I believe it!
She carried Winter’s Bones, too. You’ll love the book, DJan.
Here’s a sync.
I saw Lenny Kravitz ( https://www.lennykravitz.com/ ) play a fantastic concert last night in my hometown of Brisbane (who I’m sure you’re sick of me talking about) and he sung
“Let Love Rule” while walking around amongst the crowd,and he gave a little speech about music and how it was all about ‘connections’ and connecting with one another.
He emphasized that making a connection was what his music was all about to him and on a deep level I knew and most of the crowd knew,I’m sure,what he meant.
There seemed to be a deep spiritual undercurrent circulating through this huge crowd of people that words could not describe.To be honest I was not that big of a Lenny Kravitz fan before this concert,to me he was a guy with a few hit records to hear,but after last night I found out what soul was about,because he gave it all out to the crowd last night (so did “The Cranberries” and “Wolfmother”,to be fair).
The sync is that Lenny also stars in “The Hunger Games”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/fullcredits#cast
the movie you wrote about above,and he was emphasizing emotions and connections in the speech about his song writing and performing,just like you were writing about writing good fiction in the above post.
It was a treat hearing and seeing Australian,Irish and American musicians making connections throughout the Parklands on what turned out to be a perfect night,after six nights of rain in a row.
You might say it’s a small world…or a big connected world,I guess.
Yes, we are all connected, and we are all on a journey. Speaking of, last night Journey played at the horse show here, before during and after the jumping competition. We could hear the band clearly from our front yard almost half a mile away. We didn’t go, tho. It wasn’t our journey.
He’s terrific in his part, fits the character in the book perfectly. I didn’t realize he’s a singer!
What? You’re kidding about that one,aren’t you?
Nope. Shameful, I know.
Maybe you didn’t recognize him without his dreds?
Surely you’ve heard this one;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLhpHjmxNw8
or this one;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvuL5jyCHOw
?
Have heard the first on. Wow. And he can act, too!