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tieflingmom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief, War, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Classism, Death of parent, and Suicide
glacilynn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Suicide attempt, and War
byrdies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
lily1304's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
4.25
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!
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