Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

45 reviews

raeerdna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

this book keeps you hooked from start to finish. 
can't help to compare it a little bit with the world we live in today, where the discrepancy between poor and rich is so ruthlessly real and then compare the different districts with various countries or even continents altogether... 
I love that it makes you think and compare with our day to day life even tho it happens in a postapocalyptic world.
also has the perfect amount of everything: love, drama, suspense and so on. 
it's a shame I didn't read it sooner becaus it was also quite easily to identify with the main characters as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Cannibalism, Child death, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

dqhvr's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Police brutality, Death of parent, Drug use, Confinement, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship

genny's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

I had never read or watched The Hunger Games before. For some reason, I did watch Catching Fire (though I can't remember anything about it anymore) and over the years I got the gist of what happened in the first book/movie. So I went into this without the nostalgia, already aware of the plot twists...and I loved it! I couldn't put it down! I listened to the special edition audio narrated by Tatiana Maslany, and my goodness, she nailed it. I watched the movie right after finishing the book and the transition felt seamless because the voices nearly matched. I just found it so fun to listen to despite the dark content. 💀

Katniss is a refreshing protagonist in that she had no grand ambitions, only survival and keeping those closest to her safe. She was very clearly still a kid thrust into adult responsibilities, someone with a lot of heart who's been forced to build a wall around herself. Even with her skills, she was always believable as a teenager bumbling her way through a dystopian world. I really appreciated that. Did I cry when

Rue died and Katniss sang to her

, even though I knew it was coming? Of course I did. 

Also, I'm 14 years late, but I am Katniss/Peeta trash now.  Their banter was so sweet! Ultimate "grumpy girl x sunshine boy" pairing right there. Nobody touch me. I kept making notes in my reading journal that were just variations of "Who cares about Gale? Katniss, stop thinking about Gale!" 🤣 Seriously though, it's great that Katniss struggles with her romantic feelings and acknowledges that she needs to sort them out, without any of it sounding shallow. I've already gotten started on the second book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Blood, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, and Medical content

Minor: Cannibalism, Death of parent, and War

maeveh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-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

Brilliant novel, great way to start a trilogy, Katniss is a brilliant protagonist and altogether an amazing book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Death of parent, Racism, and Alcoholism

Minor: Gore, Animal death, and War

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, War, and Xenophobia

random19379's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Abandonment, Murder, Medical content, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Alcoholism, War, Violence, Torture, and Gore

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-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

 This book taught me never to judge a book by its cover (literally). I first read The Hunger Games for the mother-daughter book club I was in when I was in middle school (2011 or 2012). This was before the series became popular, and I came home one day to find this book on my bedside table. My initial reaction was that it didn't look very interesting, but since it was for book club, I had to read it. As soon as I picked it up, I was hooked. I flew through it, then badgered all my book club friends about it until they read it too. To this day, it is one of my favorite books, and I was so excited when my youngest sister fell in love with the series too (at about the same age that I first read them!). I love how simple but impactful the writing is, and the characters some of my favorites in all literature. I've read and reread the trilogy, and this is probably one of the books I know best in the world. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, and Suicidal thoughts

lily1304's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

 I was impressed how well the first book held up on rereading, now that I'm older. This review is going to be full of spoilers so I'm just going to spoiler-tag the whole thing:

Even though the Hunger Games is a huge corporate franchise under Scholastic and Lionsgate, it still retains some subversive political themes. Rebellion against authoritarianism and income inequality are obvious. But labor rights are also a major theme, for example, in Katniss' descriptions of District 12 and Rue's descriptions of District 11. Katniss' father is one of many miners who die in coal mine explosions; both coal miners in District 12 and farm workers in District 11 are forbidden from keeping the products of their labor; both farm workers and Appalacian miners were major players in labor history in the US.

There's plenty more here, too, that could become whole essays - the criminalization of poverty, art and performance as political protest, a state-planned economy dependent on violent suppresssion of dissident speech, climate change causing war, the power of a heterosexual love story to sway bystanders into sympathy for a cause, entertainment media as "bread and circuses" distraction, etc, etc. It has the potential to politicize young readers if they aren't too distracted by the love triangle and the game itself.

I found the relationship between Katniss and Peeta to be more believable than I remembered, at least in this first book of the trilogy. Pretending to be in love while enduring trauma together might make me catch feelings for some dude too.

I appreciate Katniss' movites change over the course of the novel from "literally do anything to survive, trust no one" to teaming up with Peeta to win with at least some kind of dignity and integrity. Overall I think she's a more interesting protagonist than many other YA novels.

It's been so long since I've read the sequels, but now I'm curious if they hold up as well as the first one... my suspicion is that they don't. I remember being just as disappointed by Mockingjay as I was Gregor and the Code of Claw waaaay back in the day. Maybe I should re-read those too!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol

Contains detailed descriptions of hunger/starvation and dehydration

martereadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Torture, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Slavery

Minor: Death of parent and War

sarah_ann_roth's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death