I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy in a little under 48 hours and it was AMAZING. Despite being marketed as a Young Adult series-- there is still immense appeal for an older audience simply because it is an AMAZING piece of literature.
Let me first say that Hunger Games is a Young Adult book in the way that Harry Potter is a Young Adult book in that it is awesome and the classification should be considered irrelevant.
Hunger Games is the first book in Suzanne Collins' triology and it follows the life of Katniss Everdeen. Katniss lives in District 12 and has the unfortunate "honor" of being forced to participate in the Hunger Games. After government collapsed, the Capitol and 13 districts arose in its place. The Capitol proved to be pretty unjust and the districts tried to overthrow the Capitol and failed. Ever since then, the Hunger Games have existed to punish the districts for their uprising. The Hunger Games require 2 tributes from each District and then the tributes fight to the death in a televised fight to the death.
Holy CRAP, right?
In the media, however, people are saying that it is the next "Twilight" which rankles me a bit. The first reason being, the association makes me look pretty uncool for reading Hunger Games.
FACT #1: I am cool.
Really, there are not really any similarities whatsoever. Hunger Games is all about social responsibility whereas Twilight is just about one girl's (ridiculous) social life. Some people (Twilight fans) have claimed that it is hard/ impossible to compare the two stories because the they are so different. It is kind of true. Hunger Games is an exciting and heroic tale whereas Twilight is a romance full of angst and abs.
But wait! Hunger Games is a twofer. Hunger Games is a heroic tale WITH an epic romance... and abs. There is an intense love triangle in Hunger Games and unlike Twilight, it isn't based on which suitor is less likely to kill her.
FACT #2: The romance in "Hunger Games" is better than "Twilight."
Yeah, I said it.
I would also like to point out right now that EVERY children's story (even the messed up German ones) had basically the same premise: run away from monsters. Vampires and Werewolves are two of the most destructive and predatory monsters in the pantheon of monsters. You really aren't supposed to fall in love with them. It doesn't matter that they are sparkly. They want to kill you.
If Hunger Games followed Twilight's romantic formula for success, you would have dialogue like this:
Peeta: I want to kill you.
Katniss: Do me!
Peeta and Gale, the two who are fighting for Katniss' affection, prove their love by protecting her and helping to support her family. Oh, and NOT
stalking her.
And just before you confuse Games as a maudlin sapfest-- fear not! There is an incredible amount of action (and violence).
For a trilogy that features supernatural creatures of the night, in terms of action, Twilight is unbearably tame. Except for the occasional decapitation and mind torture, Twilight is pretty uneventful.
FACT #3: Action and adventure are far superior to the angst.
To be fair--how could Twilight be viewed as anything but mundane when compared to Hunger Games? The action of the first novel is driven by the idea that Hunger Games exist-- where children battle to the death for the amusement of the citizens. That is where the bar is set: children killing each other for sport. In order to drive the action it only gets more intense: human trafficking, assassinations, class inequality, just warfare-- you know, kid stuff.
Hunger Games is a really awesome, exciting, and empowering novel and has 100% more bow-fighting than Twilight. It can read as a social justice primer for kids (or really awesome adults) but at its heart, it's all about love. Not only romantic love-- but love on every end of the spectrum: love for family, friends, and even people you haven't met yet.
The message at the center of each book is "Follow your heart." The only difference being, Bella's heart leads her into the arms of a sparkly supernatural beast and Katniss's leads her to overthrow an unjust government.
Mock movie poster by AnaB at Deviant Art. Pretty awesome.
- Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles is one of my favorite galleries because a) they sell affordable and awesome prints and b) they have exhibits that pay tribute to comedians, famous books, video games, and one of my favorite movies of all time "Wet Hot American Summer." View the prints here and the paintings here. The fact that this exhibit exists says to me that you really can do anything you want. Anything.
