Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

90 reviews

raisinreads's review

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

Suzanne Collins very much does not utilize the "show, don't tell" technique, which is something that can really put me off when it comes to writing. Yet, despite this, the heart of her characters and her story are so strong that her writing style did little to keep me from loving the book. 

The Hunger Games does not pull punches when it comes to political and social allegory on the US. It is brutal, damning, and so tragically accurate.

 I love the emphasis on how community and kindness bring us strength, how systems of power aim to pit people against one another, how if you constantly keep people down they will not have the time or health to fight back. There is an assessment of privilege, of the commodification of tragedy, of hypersurveillance, of how all of these systems hurt and change children. Trauma runs deep throughout the entirety of the text.

And there is such love in the characters, in how they maintain their humanity, in how they take care of each other. It is love, connection, humanity that make us human and that is almost constantly emphasized.

The metaphors and allegories and characters within the text could be analyzed in multi-hundred page essay, but I will just end by saying I believe this is one of the most well-done dystopian novels in recent years and it continues to stick with me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Classism, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Violence, Addiction, Death, Gore, Alcohol, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

lucyford's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I read this after having seen the movies, and it’s like a whole different story. The plot is so well written and the characters are all so complex. While the level of reading is a bit low for my taste, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and can’t wait to start the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Gore, Violence, Murder, Genocide, Grief, and Body horror

Moderate: Police brutality, Addiction, Confinement, Vomit, Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Suicide

marena02's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Torture, Violence, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, and Murder

jmorateck's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Alcoholism and Addiction

bookishlesbian8's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Violence, Blood, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Genocide, Mental illness, and Cannibalism

izzysizemore's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Classism

Minor: War, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

geneav21's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The perfect dystopian to immerse in, well constructed,  complex characters, world building amazingly executed, nail biting book. 
will keep you hooked 100%. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Addiction, and Suicidal thoughts

Scy-fy

melsage1823's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow an incredible novel that I missed out on when I was younger that I am now glad I have read. Although it was very dark and bleak I heavily enjoyed it as it had such an important message.

The only negative I can think of for this book is that I didn't like some of the outdated ableist language and how a certain disability was cured. I wish she had consulted other Disabled people and War veterans. Same with her bipoc rep as I wish Katniss had been confirmed biracial indigenous rather than coded as it would add even more depth to the story.

 Other than that I absolutely adored the novel it was super interesting and thrilling read.

 My favourite part of the book was the dystopia theme. I feel like alot of the themes really hold up to today and that's scary. For example the fact about how people are willing to sacrifice kids to preserve tradition or how we want society to be sticks out. Especially through the pov of Katniss a biracial indigenous teenager who has suffered in District 12. Even after putting down the book the powerful themes and morals stick with you and that's brilliant.

Another thing I liked is the writing style. I often found single povs very exhausting to follow but I'm so glad Collins wrote Katniss in a way that her thoughts are engaging so much to the point that your not too fussed you won't get to read another characters pov. I also like how when Katniss gets to talk about her childhood it isn't to out of place. Katniss's sole pov doesn't make you biased of certain characters which is great. Honestly Collins single pov writing is the best pov writing I've read by a long shot.

Finally the stakes as a dystopia need to be High and this absolutely was. I feel like every moment in the area at anypoint our main characters might die especially Katniss who's point of view we're following. I really had a bad jitters in my stomach when reading the chapters in the arena.

Overall a brilliant, thrilling, classic that everyone should read with High Stakes and important themes that everyone should pay attention to. Super excited to read the next two books in the trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Addiction, and Death of parent

The violence is very graphic and if compared to the movies whilst the movies are a 12/PG 13, this book is more R-Rated/15.

nadialonso's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Addiction, Animal death, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, War, Blood, Cannibalism, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

swiftie_bookworm's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Murder, War, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Animal death