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A review by raisinreads
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
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.
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.
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