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[–]seeshellirun 285 points286 points ago

After 45 pages, I posted that "I just wasn't feeling it" but that I was going to finish it and see what happened.

Apparently, what everyone else read was "YOUR CHILDREN ARE UGLY AND IF I SEE THEM IN FRONT OF ME I WILL KICK THEM IN THEIR TINY SHINS".

[–]Gareth321 214 points215 points ago

I actually just finished reading it to see what all the fuss was about. It was no literary masterpiece, but I enjoyed it.

[–]aspeenat 119 points120 points ago

It is not a badly written or exceedingly well written book but it is a decently written book. When you take into account the intended audience was 6th and 7th graders then it upgrades to a good book. The 2nd and 3rd books writing does not improve persay but taken as a whole it becomes a very good series.

[–]Teman111 91 points92 points ago

As a children's dystopic novel, it was great, but the writing style really bugged me. There is only so much first person present tense that I can read without wanting to burn the book. I want to read about characters, not become one.

[–]Allhopeforhumanity 107 points108 points ago

To shoot your bow 'turn to page 12' to use your snare 'turn to page 45'

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]H8rade 25 points26 points ago

I remember this too. I read many of them, and they didn't do the impossible ending hardly ever. I think this was an early one in the series, having to do with aliens. The end read something like: "You don't know how you got here, or even where this is, but it's fucking awesome."

[–]uvarov 14 points15 points ago

Inside UFO 54-40 - it's mentioned for that reason at the end of this article.

[–]Nieros 2 points3 points ago

I'm actually stunned that you knew exactly what he was talking about in the vaguest fashion possible. Good Golly.

[–]godver3 1 point2 points ago

That was a fantastic article. My god.

[–]H8rade 1 point2 points ago

That's the one! Thanks.

[–]redditdedditrevolver 1 point2 points ago

holy shit, nostaglia boner. "into somo you will go, to sleep a billion years or so."

[–]MbMn91 13 points14 points ago

I always read the Goosebumps choose your own adventure, and the worst part for me was the start. There was always the option to NOT do the incredibly stupid thing that acts as a catalyst for the whole story, but when you flipped to the corresponding page, R.L Stine basically calls you a faggot and tells you to go back.

[–]zgh5002 1 point2 points ago

I remember the theme park one. I hated that book.

[–]raddisease 1 point2 points ago

I read the "Choose Your Own Drug Fueled Misadventures" whenever Cracked posts then. They are rather enjoyable...

[–]LikeFireAndIce 7 points8 points ago

I had decrepit Choose Your Own Adventure books with missing pages. The fun just never stopped.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points ago

The only CYOA book I ever read had missing pages. Boy, that got frustrating fast.

[–]lordhadri 1 point2 points ago

Man I remember that one. Fuck that book.

[–]njm1314 14 points15 points ago

Exactly. Thank you, no one else I have talked to really seems to understand how hard it is to get into first person sometimes. There are very few authors who can manage that and frankly I just wasn't feeling it from Collins.

[–]seeshellirun 16 points17 points ago

It's the writing style that annoyed me the most. First-person is so difficult write decently, let alone well.

I think that contributed to my annoyance of the main character. While the story itself was pretty interesting, I really loathed the fact that I had to slog through almost half the book seeing it through her (beautiful but plain, intelligent, sharp and brave) eyes.

[–]Retanaru 1 point2 points ago

seeing it through her (beautiful but plain, intelligent, sharp and brave) eyes.

I threw the book after shouting, "THOSE ARE NOT PLAIN EYES!".

[–]Kelphatron9000 4 points5 points ago

I don't even mind first person so much, but the present tense is what bugged me too. I loved the series. You're right though, my brain kept making verbs past tense and would have to reread sentences because my brain was reading the wrong thing.

[–]JBRawls 1 point2 points ago

Thank You! The prose made me feel like I was stuck in a relationship with a girl who talked so much that she repeated herself once every three minutes.

[–]drhilarious 1 point2 points ago

Projecting yourself onto the main character works really well for books like these. I mean, it's not much different from Twilight.

[–]goober1223[!] 32 points33 points ago

lol. I know nothing about The Hunger Games, but your spelling of "persay" (per se) in a comment about the books' general lack of exceeding quality was a humorous juxtaposition.

[–]bfogarty27 7 points8 points ago

yeah, the second book and the first 3/4 of the third make the series great. the ending will be depending on the person but i'm hoping they make some adjustments in the movie...

[–]DoIHaveToCare 12 points13 points ago

<insert joke about mass effect here>

[–]DrunkenAss 13 points14 points ago*

Per se. Why the hell am I suddenly seeing this so often? Go watch that South Park episode so I don't have to make fun of you myself.

[–]bdmflyer 9 points10 points ago

Per se...

[–]seeshellirun 5 points6 points ago

I agree. I'm 29, and not the target audience, but I have several friends who OMG, LUV LUV LUV the series and I wanted to give it a shot.

[–]vebent 1 point2 points ago

This is meant for 6th and 7th graders? Apparently I'm in the wrong audience.

[–]seeshellirun 25 points26 points ago

I didn't hate it. And once it got into the actual "game" it was a lot more engaging and I was able to enjoy it more.

I find the main character contrived and unbelievable, though, and that makes it hard for me to "like" the series.

[–]Durzo_Blint 28 points29 points ago

I like the series partially because it will cause everyone to hopefully shut the hell up about Twilight.

[–]seeshellirun 26 points27 points ago

That is the highest praise I can give it. "Well... it wasn't Twilight."

[–]IMoperator 7 points8 points ago

The only people that still talk about Twilight are the people that constantly post "herp derp better love story than twilight!1!!" posts. I haven't heard anyone actually mention twilight in months...

[–]FatZombieMama 1 point2 points ago

Wish I were you.. I'm related to several twihards.

[–]BeingAWizard 15 points16 points ago

It seemed to me like the author was trying REALLY hard to push the "love triangle" scenario. I felt like the whole time she was just saying "OMG I like Peeta but I also like Gale and they both like me weeooweeoowee," for the ENTIRE three books. Other than that, I enjoyed the series.

[–]seeshellirun 30 points31 points ago

I couldn't get past the fact that she named "The Boy with the Bread" Peeta. I mean.... really?

[–]SpleeBeans 26 points27 points ago

Oh! Like pita bread!

Connections!

[–]stevo_knevo 1 point2 points ago*

They're all like that, though. Or many of them. President Snow is Corliolanus snow, or Roman General Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, Plutarch Heavensbee is a Greek Historian, Plutarch. Cinna could have been either of 2 friends of Julius Caeser, Hell, Caeser Flickerman is obvious. Many of the names were just loose (and not great) allusions, but if you bear in mind that the target is probably 9 to 19 year olds, they're at worst on-par for that mind set.

[–]unifawn 20 points21 points ago

I feel stupid now, I thought it was a corruption of "Peter". @____@ That makes much more sense.

[–]IncrediblyHungry 3 points4 points ago

No way, give Collins the benefit of the doubt here. Definitely a corruption of Peter. It's the future.

I was, however, making this joke with my friend about the underdeveloped and unrealistic sci-fi setting. I was like, "okay, it's a few hundred years in the future, and there are new types of birds. What do we call them? Mockingjays. Yeah, just like, a mockingbird and a blue jay. Kinda like a cockapoo." Like, you have this whole futuristic world that you need to establish, and that's what you roll with, Collins? A bird called Mockingjay? Imagine if The Matrix led with some shit like, "oh, watch out for those Liondogs, they're from the future and shit."

[–]locopyro13 53 points54 points ago

Weird, I got the opposite impression. "Peeta likes me and Gale likes me, but I just want to be left alone to make sure my family survives tomorrow."

[–]Danger_Fox 11 points12 points ago

That's the exact same impression I got. I know people who were all about that "love triangle" when I definitely wasn't seeing it that way.

[–]postslikeagirl 20 points21 points ago

IIRC, Collins has actually stated that her editors implored her to drum up the love triangle after seeing the success of the Twilight series. I thought Gale's character seemed shoehorned in entirely.

[–]seeshellirun 9 points10 points ago

See, and I thought that about Peeta, but that might just be because Gale is introduced first.

I hated the love-triangle thing and thought it would be better if she'd just left it out. I have big problems with the main female character being emotionally manipulative for solely selfish reasons.

[–]Bortjort 1 point2 points ago

I only saw the movie, but the relationship angles seemed very forced.

[–]postslikeagirl 3 points4 points ago

In the book, the relationship actually is forced, at least on Katniss' part.

[–]AdrianBrony 1 point2 points ago

I honestly hope that the movie intentionally did the forced love thign with peeta. think about it, imagine learning that you were under such complete direction by the people running the game that your emotions were manipulated into making you fall in love with someone because it makes for good ratings.

that's some Truman Show type stuff there that they could be dealing with there.

[–]seeshellirun 1 point2 points ago

It wasn't just the movie - it's in book, too. Which really is one of the biggest problems I have with it. For a book geared at impressionable girls, the fact that she emotionally manipulates someone she supposedly cares about (romantically or not) - and then essentially is rewarded for it - makes me angry.

[–]AdrianBrony 2 points3 points ago

no, I was meaning she also being manipulated. like, in the games, her own emotions were manipulated with so thoroughly, the confusion over what was her and what was just the game, in relation to more than just the romance, should have made for an interesting direction to go with he plot.

[–]stevo_knevo 3 points4 points ago

I will say that the movie hasn't even begun to show the actual love interests. In the book they are forced upon her, by Haymitch. The movie didn't show very well that Haymitch was sending her a signal w/ the card that said "You call that a kiss? H" but the toyed for at least 2 more gifts in the book. Katniss realizes he's rewarding her for playing up the star-crossed lovers bit and hams it more. She's made it clear the whole time, though, that she doesn't really have any interest in love, she worries about surviving and that's it.

[–]monkeyjay 2 points3 points ago

I have not read the books at all and this is the first I've heard of the series. I totally got that she was playing it up and Haymitch (jesus what a name) was nudging her more. They hinted at it non-subtly (I thought) it a few times in the movie. My take was that the producers tried to play up the love angle for ratings (or whatever) and Katniss picked up on that and then played THEM even worse. She was in control. Peeta seemed to kinda get it, but probably was lying to himself that it was real. This is pretty much why I thought that Donald Sutherland guy (no idea his character name) got the swirly beard producer guy to kill himself. He knew that Katniss had played him, and that is dangerous.

Saying this though, my friend who I watched it with didn't pick that up at all.

[–]Jaerdo 1 point2 points ago

If it gets teenaged girls to stay the fuck away from Twilight, it has succeeded.

[–]Jaerdo 4 points5 points ago

It was aimed at the same age group / largely the same market as twilight, and is a HELL of a lot better than that. At least it raised some issues other than "what the fuck and I going to do now that my sparkly immortal boyfriend of two months moved on with his life".

[–]whatevers_clever 6 points7 points ago

The 2nd/3rd books get worse and worse but the first one.. pretty damn good. I just like the idea/the world created. Don't think the author is very good but the idea is just awesome. Not too hard to picture everything happening in your head... it's fun watching little kids get killed.

[–]junkit33 1 point2 points ago

It's somewhere between Harry Potter and Twilight. Enjoyable, not terribly written, but hardly a masterpiece. Ultimately it's a book meant for teens, and you need to read it with that in mind.

[–]Mage_tank 22 points23 points ago

Sounds like my marriage! Ohohohoho!

[–]Osiris32 10 points11 points ago

Up until the movie was announced, I had never heard of these books, and I spend an inordinate amount of time in bookstores and libraries. Seriously, did these only get popular because of the movie?

[–]Saifire18 15 points16 points ago

No, I heard about them a lot about a year and a half ago, and then I bothered to read them after my brother (who didn't read a lot until highschool) recommended them to me. To be honest, I read the book in less than a day (a couple hours before bed and a few hours the next morning) and I've been waiting to get the 2nd and 3rd books from my library. I'd say they make my list of "books I'd like my kids to read some day" but I'm not sure where on that list they'll be. The whole thing reminds me a bit of the Uglies/Pretties books.

[–]Tfish 32 points33 points ago*

I knew a girl that was obsessed with it far before a movie was ever announced. I mean super obsessed. Writing gay sex fanfiction about it obsessed. She had multiple retardgasms when the news that the movie had been green lit came out.

I've never read the book, yet after experiencing her I hate everything to do with it. Really, it's already lodged into my brain with too many bad keywords for me to have actually experience it without any sort of prejudice unless it is actually some literary/cinema masterpiece.

[–]ply447 19 points20 points ago

Them yaoi fangirls get crazy easily.

[–]seeshellirun 2 points3 points ago

I have an acquaintance who was, at the time, an aspiring YA author (and who recently got published, so I generally trust her judgment) and gave a GLOWING review for it a couple years ago. But other than that, it wasn't until the movie was announced and the trailer released that it became the next Twilight.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

No, I read them like a year ago because they were one of the best-selling books in the Nook store. Don't know how you missed them.

[–]Osiris32 1 point2 points ago

Didn't see them at Barnes and Noble or Powells, and the library really isn't in the habit of advertising individual titles.

[–]stevo_knevo 1 point2 points ago

I heard about them from at least 5 friends about 2 years ago, so I'd say it's mixed. Obviously there's a crowd only reading them because their interest was piqued by the movies, but it certainly had no shortage of a following beforehand.

[–]junkit33 1 point2 points ago

No, not at all. Big budget movies are only going to get made off of already popular books. I read them long before I heard of the movies, and teen literature is not exactly a genre I read with regularity. It was simply getting that much hype - not quite Harry Potter, but not terribly far off either.

[–]somanytictoc 1 point2 points ago

I'm a librarian. The books took a strange path to success. While it's a dystopian series written for teenagers, about half of our staff had read them before I had even MET a teenager who had read them. They're not exactly written well, but the storyline is one of the strongest to come out of YA lit in a long time.

The books were kind of critical darlings before they became mainstream. The Hunger Games series is the Arcade Fire of books.

[–]robot-rollcall 2 points3 points ago

Dude, I wouldn't blame you if you stopped after just 45 pages. There's some groan-worthy prose in the beginning. It gets way better though.

[–]seeshellirun 1 point2 points ago

I agree. Once the game itself actually started, I got into it more.

[–]GenericHamburgerHelp 365 points366 points ago

I told someone on FB that I thought the "Bridges of Madison County" sucked. She unfriended me, and then and texted my stupid-ass sister to tell me to stop posting hateful things on her Facebook page. We are all in our early 40's.

[–]DrunkenAss 31 points32 points ago

What the fuck do you mean you don't like something I like? YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE WHAT THE FUCK?!

[–]BeGentleItsMy1stTime 82 points83 points ago

The first time I saw the cover, I thought, "hey, this has Clint Eastwood in it. It'll be great!"

That movie does suck.

[–]charming_asshole 52 points53 points ago*

I was expecting the love interest to be threatened by an overzealous National Register of Historic Places official violently trying to stop any changes to the aforementioned bridges. The official would assault her and then Clint would carry out an impressive and needlessly bloody campaign of retaliation against his innocent coworkers, rationalizing that, "They're all the same".

It would then climax with the official trapped on the same bridge he had tried to save, and Clint would burn the bridge along with the helpless official, a steely look in his eyes.

FADE TO BLACK.

[–]artevelde 6 points7 points ago

I think we have the next Prufrock451 here.

[–]charming_asshole 2 points3 points ago

Oh-ho, that's that Rome Sweet Rome fella I've been hearin' so much about.

Well, I honoured that you'd place me in such esteemed company, but this is just a triflin' little thing, no need to get worked up about it. I do thank you for your kinds words though.

[–]drummererb 5 points6 points ago

I'm from Iowa and have been there. Trust me, they suck even in real life.

[–]Downhilldude 7 points8 points ago

That movie would have been so much better if there were some dinosaurs in it.

[–]OscarMiguelRamirez 3 points4 points ago

That's just what Facebook does to some people.

[–]AtlanticPrince 13 points14 points ago

Some people are just idiots. Facebook simply enables these people to broadcast their stupidity in a way that inevitably involves you.

[–]hollowgodric 91 points92 points ago

Well Woody Harrelson was in it and I thought the rest of the cast did a pretty good...

Rampart.

[–]Tartantyco 19 points20 points ago

Let's keep this on topic.

[–]ThePancakeMan 8 points9 points ago

That explains why he says "SO BRAVE!" during the movie...

[–]cantrememberpw12345 39 points40 points ago

Is this going to be another thing like Twilight where people being snarky and dismissive are going to be more annoying than the people obsessed with it?

For YA it's pretty good in my opinion. You might enjoy it as an adult and you might not. It's a little unfair to treat a property intended for one demographic by the standards of another.

[–]VagMaster2000 23 points24 points ago

I'm so sick of the Hunger Games being compared to Twilight. Idiots are already jumping on the bandwagon to hate the series just because it's popularity is rising. I remember several months ago I was browsing reddit and saw a thread on some interesting books that people would suggest as good reads. The hunger games was probably the number one suggested book. Now all I see is hate.. people really need to stop jumping on the bandwagon, and be individuals with real opinions.

[–]SkyTaxi 5 points6 points ago

What? It's not like reddit is visited by millions of unique viewers every week, who bring in their millions of individual opinions.

[–]Zodiwacts123 1 point2 points ago

"i hate the hunger games now, (name) and i read it b4 it was mainstream... gosh this sux" - Taken from my facebook. People hate things that are popular, even if they liked it at one point. Hipsters :D

[–]manaphany 2 points3 points ago

Doubtful, because this is actually decently written. Twilight was in no way a decent novel. I have an english teacher friend who LOVED them, but still said the writing was rubbish.

[–]pandalin 64 points65 points ago*

HUNGER GAMES IS THE BEST YOU JUST DON'T APPRECIATE TRUE LITERATURE no but seriously they're alright, man, if you're looking for a quick palate cleanser between books.

Edit: Palette schmalette. Thanks Amadan.

[–]doooom 14 points15 points ago

The first book was a great break between Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings for me.

[–]thehitchrestinpeace 2 points3 points ago

Same here! Not a very fulfilling one though...

[–]SaltyBabe 15 points16 points ago*

Yeah, they're fun and easy and you can sit down for a quick read. If it's your thing or not isn't really the books problem, it's good for what it is.

[–]shuzumi 1 point2 points ago

now give me a palette full of pickled ginger and we'll be talking

[–]FatZombieMama 1 point2 points ago

Thank you, that one always bugs me.

[–]Nico_74 68 points69 points ago

You might need to lay low for awhile at a relative's house

[–]BrainSlurper 69 points70 points ago

NO! WRONG!

You may want to find yourself a safe house, or a relative close by, and just lay low for a while, because you're probably wanted for murder.

[–]oodja 6 points7 points ago

Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident.

[–]BrainSlurper 2 points3 points ago

Brick I have been meaning to talk to you about that.

[–]Mudders_Milk_Man 19 points20 points ago

The novel is middle-of-the-road "Young Adult" fiction.

It's nothing all that special, but it's decently written, and streets ahead of Twilight.

[–]morelikeawesome 9 points10 points ago

"Pierce, stop trying to coin the phrase streets ahead."

[–]GeneralAverage 3 points4 points ago

Trying? Coined and minted.

[–]iamiamwhoami 75 points76 points ago

I've never heard of the books until a few days ago. I just watched the trailer for the movie, and I have to say it looks pretty fucking awesome.

[–]taibhse 34 points35 points ago

I saw it yesterday in cinema. It is pretty decent and worth a look.

The only complaint I have is the camera work. When there is action they shake it so they don't have to do proper fight scenes. It pissed me off a lot. Somehow it didn't manage to ruin the film.

[–]thisguy012 12 points13 points ago

Somewhat spoilers

Na, I just think that they couldn't really do much with showing kids dying without a shaky cam, like say when they first enter the field. So. Much. Teen blood

[–]jdk 10 points11 points ago

So. Much. Teen blood

Great, now the Twilght fans are all excited.

[–]taibhse 2 points3 points ago

I did not mind it so much at that very start of the game. It suited the chaos of the moment.

When they threw it in for every single fight it was just lazy and too hard to follow.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points ago

Oh god, the last part where they were on top of that metal building thing... WHAT THE FUCK?! I was getting nauseous. Other than that it was a pretty damn good movie.

[–]AdrianBrony 2 points3 points ago

see, I can almost understand why they did it. they wanted to find the best way to translate first person perspective to film, and that might have been part of it. I'm willing to give them benefit of the doubt that it was a poorly executed stylistic choice and not a lazy shortcut.

[–]IuriGragarian 114 points115 points ago

It is actually quite good. I mean Redditors will hate because..Well they're Redditors and they love hating things that they weren't in the ground floor for but its good.

[–]JohanGrimm 41 points42 points ago

Also if they were in the ground floor for they'll hate it after it took off because fuck man it's just so mainstream now-a-days.

[–]Cubix__ 27 points28 points ago

So redditors are just hipsters then?

[–]beliefsarerelative 78 points79 points ago

Like...nerd hipsters. Bitter-engineer-atheist-nerd-hipsters.

[–]Idontlikecock 6 points7 points ago

Are you just catching on?

[–]postslikeagirl 2 points3 points ago

Hipsters before they were cool

[–]drhilarious 0 points1 point ago

All the positive comments I've seen regarding the film never state why, just that it is. I have a very clear idea as to why it's a good adaptation but a poor film. The short version: nothing happens and you can't care about the characters. I think the movie must be great for people who liked the book, something I couldn't get into since it's basically Twilight. Also, there's a line on the first or second page where she puts on her boots before her pants. That threw me, man.

[–]CynicalTyler 4 points5 points ago

basically Twilight

Probability of Troll: 100%

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

I read the first book because I love Sci-fi and my friends told me it was a great pick for scifi readers. While it was not what I would call sci fi, it was pretty good. I didn't like the ending much, but it is a trilogy.

[–]Bieber_hole_69 5 points6 points ago

If you thought the trailer was good read and watch Battle Royale, because it's the same thing, and where she got the idea from.

[–]ravenspore 11 points12 points ago

Very true, I read the first book and thought "Well, someone was definitely a fan of the Battle Royale concept, if not so much a fan of the violence."

[–]TheNicestMonkey 7 points8 points ago

How are you getting Downvotes? I can't say that she "stole" the idea, it's not exactly new (I mean it's Running Man with kids), but Battle Royale is a very similar - but decidedly superior - book.

[–]dacookieman 8 points9 points ago

I thought she said that she had never heard of the book until fans later pointed it out? Regardless I feel like she did to Battle Royale what Disney did to old stories.

[–]monkeyjay 1 point2 points ago

because as you say, he says it's where she got the idea from. How the fuck would he know that? And then as you say, Running Man is even older... The kids part adds nothing, and this is a KNOWN conscription in a world that is OK with it, not a bus-full of teens randomly waking up and told to fight to the death by some strange maniacs. The whole thing felt so different it's very hard to say it's the same idea.

[–]TheNicestMonkey 2 points3 points ago

not a bus-full of teens randomly waking up and told to fight to the death by some strange maniacs.

Except that's entirely not the plot of Battle Royale at all. Even the movie, which glosses over a lot of the story in favor of violence, explicitly depicts the previous years victor (a blood covered child holding a teddy bear) as being shown on the news - indicating that the "battle" is a known annual event. It's like the first scene in the movie.

The book is even more explicit about the "Battle" being an annual event that randomly selects one class of high-schoolers to fight to the death. This is done by a totalitarian japanese government (that won WW2) as a means of proving their total control over the population and to demonstrate that under the right conditions no one can be trusted (so as to stave off revolution).

The games themselves are, on many levels, entirely the same as those in Battle Royale. Additionally, many of the other story elements of Hunger Games also crop up in BR (the love story, the careers, the attempts by gamemasters to force conflict, etc.) Plot wise, the only real novelty of Hunger Games is her decision to focus on the spectacle (reality TV) aspect of it. I will say that thematically they are quite different. BR (the novel, the movie is just a straight up action flick) ruminates on existentialist ideas of identity and purpose while HG seems to lean towards dealing with trust and totalitarianism and to an extent wealth disparity and imperialism.

[–]Worchester_St 2 points3 points ago

Hey reddit! This guy said he thought something was cool that we disapprove of! GET HIM!

BTW I personally really enjoyed both the books and the movie.

[–]hetaliafan 13 points14 points ago

The books are not bad, it's just when people mix the hunger games with twilight I'm like BITCH PLEASE. who dosen't like gore?

[–]KingOfTheMonkeys 6 points7 points ago

I've been hearing a lot about this series lately, but I really don't know anything beyond the title. What's the deal?

[–]Destructios 11 points12 points ago

SPOILERS ALERTS

Dystopian future, NA divided into 13 12 Districts. Every year each District sends 2 kids/teens, one boy, one girl to compete in the Hunger Games where they are in this arena and have to win by any means necessary including use of the genetically modified animals, some of which are unleashed by the government. Kids receive gift package thingies from people in the Districts and the thing is pretty much televised, as a big publicity stunt type thing. So these two kids from District 12, one who went to keep her lil sis from going, win, by threatening to commit suicide if they can't both win. End book one.

So it's a year later, and it's the 75th Hunger Games, which means that it's a special match between previous winners that happens every 25 years. Also, since the kids from 12 broke the rules, there has been minor rebellion against the stereotype all powerful gov't. So the kids go to compete but use secrets from this other team and break the arena's forcefield, then the protagonist gets carted off to the 13th District by rebels. End book 2.

So now the main character is the main rebel and she goes to fight the big bad president person, but lots of other rebels die along with her sister+many other people in an explosion sent from the rebels. Then the main character goes borderline nutso and goes to kill the big bad president, who tells her that the rebel person is also a bad guy because he ordered the bomb, so she kills the rebel guy and the crowd kills the other president then they ambiguously start to rebuild. End trilogy.

SPOILERS UNALERTS

tl:dr some kids fight some kids and stuff happens

[–]KingOfTheMonkeys 1 point2 points ago

Meh, doesn't really sound like my cup of tea. Thanks for the info, though!

[–]drummererb 3 points4 points ago

So is this movie only book one or is it all three condensed down?

[–]th_squirrel 1 point2 points ago

Just the first.

[–]BrainSlurper 8 points9 points ago

Book series about kids killing each other. First book good, second book okay, third book awful. Apparently the movie is good, but they censored all the killing so it's just some whiny girl in a love triangle. Because we don't have enough of those, do we?

[–]KingOfTheMonkeys 12 points13 points ago

Charming.

[–]jerpperd 6 points7 points ago

I saw the movie last night and I thought that they portrayed the violence pretty well. You have to consider that obviously they needed to keep the rating at PG-13 to stay consistent with their target audience. That said, it is one of the most violent PG-13 movies that I have ever seen. The tracker jacker scene is genuinely scarring. So while not as violent as the book, it my opinion that they did do it justice.

[–]exparrot136 6 points7 points ago

That's not a very accurate description of the movie. Have you seen it? Not all of the killing is censored, and the love triangle is never mentioned outright, and is only briefly shown with Gale looking awkward with Peeta and Katniss getting so close.

[–]extreme_flounder 6 points7 points ago

The whole point of the book was the killing ಠ_ಠ

[–]BrainSlurper 4 points5 points ago

Now we can all enjoy the cliche romantic subplot that was never any good to begin with.

[–]helloimowen 5 points6 points ago

This should be an official review.

[–]bvanman 5 points6 points ago

I stabbed a man with a trident!

[–]brackishthefish 6 points7 points ago

I love how all of a sudden EVERYONE was the biggest fan ever and can't believe, omg, that it got made into a movie because they are all totally such huge fans and omg can't wait to seeeeee it, omg.

[–]StudleyMumfuzz 7 points8 points ago

David Edelstein of NPR cause the Hunger Games the work of moral cowards. Interesting read.

"If the film's director, Gary Ross, has any qualms about kids killing kids, he keeps them to himself. The murders on screen are fast and largely pain-free — you can hardly see who's killing who. So despite the high body count, the rating is PG-13.

Think about it: You make killing vivid and upsetting and get an R. You take the sting out of it, and kids are allowed into the theater. The ratings board has it backward."

[–]PAYTONCROW 6 points7 points ago

To be honet with my fellow redditors I'm reading the book and I'm loving it but of course I'm a teenager which is the target adience.But even so its still a great read.

[–]GALACTICA-Actual 14 points15 points ago

Dude, I'm fifty, I read primarily hard sci fi, and I dug the Hell out of those books. Yeah, they're YA, so they'er not going to win any Phillip K. Dick awards, but they're good, enjoyable books.

[–]Feenster 19 points20 points ago

Serious question. Is Hunger Games like the next Twilight fad for women? I see a lot of girls on my FB going on and on about it and have yet to see a single guy say a word about it. I never heard of Hunger Games until about a week ago.

[–]beliefsarerelative 40 points41 points ago

Unlike Twilight the Hunger Games female main character is strong, intelligent, and a survivalist - she's a pretty compelling character. Unfortunately, I'd say the rest of the book is mediocre at best, but I think a lot of girls are desperate for good sci-fi stories that have nuanced female leads, and they're willing to overlook a lot if the main character has more personality than boobs+gun.

Edit: So to answer your question more directly no, it's not the next Twilight for women, there's actually something of substance to like. But I can see why more women are into it than men.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points ago

Except for the last book where she becomes a depressed and whiny.

[–]CombatKurt 21 points22 points ago

I think of her more as hollow. Like they said in the books, all the previous victors turned to a crutch to forget the games, and in many cases to remedy their hatred for the captial.

In the third, Katniss references many times how she feels responsible for all the deaths. Also, she's torn between her love interests, and feels defenseless against the different sides (capital and rebels) using her as a pawn in their "games."

So yeah, maybe she is whiny and depressed, but I justify the mood because of her experience and her personality.

[–]beliefsarerelative 8 points9 points ago

From everything I've heard, the last book is going to ruin all the wonderful things about this character I gleaned from book 1 :(

[–]Fairbairn 1 point2 points ago

Quite. The third book really killed it for me.

[–]UnfortunatelyMacabre 1 point2 points ago

You a word.

[–]Hokuboku 1 point2 points ago

A friend of mine who did a tour in Iraq describes her as a character with PTSD. He's actually hoping they carry that characterization into the movies.

That being said, the last book is incredibly rushed at parts which bothered me.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

I can see that. But yeah it did feel rushed.

[–]MartinGlow 2 points3 points ago

I hope not. It doesn't deserve that fate.

[–]bodnast 2 points3 points ago

in my high school english class, all the girls (and even my female teacher) have been ranting and raving about it, and they're all reading and re-reading the books and most went to the midnight premiere last night. then they post all about it on facebook.

I dont know a guy that's read it yet, yet it's all about kids killing each other apparently. i'm a bit confused about the hype. Oh well. It'll pass.

[–]CombatKurt 8 points9 points ago

I think any hype is worth checking out. Usually things are popular for all the wrong reasons, but at least then you better understand why a certain demographic might find it appealing.

Or maybe that's just me.

I went in to the Hunger Games with that mindset, the same as I did for twilight. But unlike Twilight, I kept reading after the first chapter. I really did enjoy the Hunger Games.

No literary masterpiece, but worth the read IMHO

[–]binermoots 50 points51 points ago

Seriously. I read the first one and thought it was OK, but I NEVER thought it would warrant such a sensation. I read 2 and 3 and they where so bad they made book 1 worse.

[–]itsSparkky 9 points10 points ago

My girlfriend liked em cause they were fast paced and interesting. I asked her if I'd like them and she told me not in the slightest.

[–]RedditAvalanche 54 points55 points ago

3 is the fucking worst. I could not stand the drawn out thought process in her head that took like 5 chapters.

[–]BrainSlurper 42 points43 points ago

It was fucking retarded. That book made the ME3 ending look solid.

[–]kripsykrememcdonalds 19 points20 points ago

IMO the second was the worst, at least stuff HAPPENED in the third book, in the second its "hey lets explore Katniss's depression and do fuck all for 3/4 of the book" but the ending of 3 was terrible, enough to ruin just about everything before it

[–]MutatedGamer 12 points13 points ago

I feel the opposite way, I enjoyed 2 the best because I thought the arena was pretty well thought out. 3 was the worst, but she rushed the entire book heavily because Collins said she just wanted to finish it. As for the ending of 3, yes, it was terrible, but I actually thought it was good in a surprise ending sense, since I honestly did not see it coming. Maybe I just wasn't thinking enough, but I thoroughly enjoyed the ending.

[–]MoparMogul 12 points13 points ago

Just capped the third book off today. Read the whole trilogy this week actually, which says a lot considering the horrifically slow reader I am.

I must say I rather enjoyed it.

I felt the first was fantastic, it really appealed to me. The first half of the second was pretty dull until the Quarter Quell bit, which had a fun and well thought out arena. I enjoyed 3 pretty consistently until towards the end when I couldn't really empathize with the way she was dealing with what happened. I did enjoy the very end though, even if it did feel a bit rushed and campy.

23 y/o male. I don't know if I should feel shame or not.

[–]MutatedGamer 11 points12 points ago

No shame at all, I remotely felt the same way. I'm male too :).

[–]kripsykrememcdonalds 5 points6 points ago

i mean the very ending, like how she wraps everything up in a "happy package" in the last pages of the book, it felt incredibly forced and unrealistic. and yes granted the arena in 2 was well thought out

[–]BrainSlurper 1 point2 points ago

It just seemed like at the end nothing exiting was happening so she made katniss borderline insane just to liven things up. This shit happens all the time. Remember the last pirates of the carribean movie, with the kraken?

[–]JustBrowsing4Chan 11 points12 points ago

That book made the ME3 ending look solid.

No. Fucking no.

[–]quakank 3 points4 points ago

I just started in on the first one last night. Halfway through and I'd say it's pretty meh. The story itself is half decent so far but it's not exactly original. Also, I hate first-person present perspective. And half the time it feels like the author wrote it in the past tense originally but then thought it might be better in the present so she went through and just edited it.

[–]aspeenat 6 points7 points ago

Not original to an adult reader but to a 5th, 6th or 7th grader the intended audience it is a unique story. Harry Potter was a rip off of many other wizard school books the best being Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea but the books intended audience 5th, 6th, and 7th graders had not read any of those books therefore Harry Potter was an amazing story for them.

[–]5eraph 2 points3 points ago

I posted once that it's a very interesting concept (albeit unoriginal in many respects) and that it has a lot of really interesting underlying issues that could have been expanded upon if it wasn't also written as a tween romance love triangle... Same result as OP.

[–]rvbcaboose1018 2 points3 points ago

I think the General thing that bothers me about HG is the sheer amount of hype surrounding it. My teenage years showed me to never give into hype too much and always expect the worst out of...well anything (MW2, Reach, TLA by M. Night, ect.)

Theres also the fact that ive never even heard of the Hunger Games till the Super Bowl (i think thats when the commercial appeared). The premise looks good, im not gonna lie. And maybe one day, ill read the books. But in the mean time, ive got about 10 Tom Clancy books, 1 Napoleon book and 1 Lincoln Assassination book in my possession. Those take priority.

[–]CynicalTyler 1 point2 points ago

Woah this guy reads Tom Clancy, we got a badass over here.

[–]FukushimaBlinkie 2 points3 points ago

All people talking about Hunger Games does is make me want to go watch/read Battle Royale again

[–]IAmGingerSnap 2 points3 points ago

I remember when the Hunger Games was a book for nerds and not obnoxious, hormonal, pre-teen girls. Those were the good days...

[–]duchovny 2 points3 points ago

So why exactly is this movie getting so much hype?

[–]oridjinn 5 points6 points ago

So I cannot remember why I started reading The Hunger Games. I think I was just looking for new trilogies. Fantasy/SciFi kind of search and I grabbed like 4 different series...

Yeah 4 different Trilogies.

Anyways I start reading THG.. and I was quickly hooked.. not cause I thought it was good... but because the situation totally freaked me out for some reason. I mean it's the same basic story we have seen a million time before, but something gripped me.

I read all the way to the end of the 3rd book.

I loved the first book. 2nd book was very very cool. and the 3rd book sucked ass. Now despite my opinion of the 3rd book I love the entire series. I hate the 3rd one more for the way the story went than for the writing...

and I went to go see the movie today and I laughed and Cried, so did my wife. we loved every minute of it.

I will be buying her a Mocking Jay Pin soon.

And you know what I think of your opinion? Meh. cool I don't care if people like or dislike the same thing I do. I enjoy having company and someone to talk to, but other than that.. what ever I liek plenty of things other people hate. and i like other things that are becoming fads or have been fads.

On a side note I find Skyrim to be a very plain and simple game. Morrowind/Oblivion with a graphical patch. Nothing more. I think it is a 'Good' game, but I have no idea why it is so popular. As a contest I went and played Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Obilvion. and ended up loving M and O.

DF is as cool as hell, but the controls and a few other.. lacks of modern niceties kept me from delving deeper.

Anyways My friend also accused me of trolling when I simply said things like "Skyrim is a good game, but I don't find it much different from Morrowin or Oblivion personally, but a very cool game."

Boom. all i got was "Stop Trolling Dude!"

[–]Propagation1 2 points3 points ago

Really enjoy your writing style.

[–]berwak 3 points4 points ago

Yeah, I know how you feel. What ever you do though, don't post on Reddit that you think Avatar was a really shitty movie and was nothing more than a modern mix-up of Pocahantus and Ferngully with shitty acting and pretty 3D........ah for fuck's sake, I did it again damnit!!

[–]thisguy012 4 points5 points ago

Yea man haha! Stupid teen girls and liking what's marketed at them. Amiright guys?!?

[–]Albatoonoe 12 points13 points ago

So, can I call it "Diet Battle Royale" or not?

[–]whoisfriend 17 points18 points ago

As someone who grew up loving Battle Royale (both the movie and the novel are on my respective Top 10 lists), it's really not. Apart from the "kids have to kill other kids" aspect, just about everything else is different.

80% or so of Battle Royale takes place during the game whereas only about a third of The Hunger Games does. The other two thirds are spent training and world building, since it's important to the overall dystopian setting and plot.

[–]drummererb 10 points11 points ago

Battle Royal was written about the difference in generations in Japan. And by that I mean there was this large feeling of all the "old" generations hating and fearing the "young" generations because they had no respect and no responsibility and everything was going to hell. Battle Royal was a political commentary on that actual feeling in Japan.

Hunger Games is more about class difference in a dystopian future USA. I would actually compare Hunger Games more towards The Running Man but again, there are differences, specifically with the meaning behind the "games" and the message it's trying to convey.

[–]frankie29 1 point2 points ago

My opinions on the book series went as follows: 1st Book- This is kinda not good, but I am sure the others will make up for it. 2nd Book- Oh shit son, things are finally going to get good! 3rd Book- I hate you Suzanne Collins.

[–]Typhun 1 point2 points ago

Probably a similar reaction reddit has when somebody says Starship Troopers was a shitty fucking movie.

[–]WTFisBehindYou 1 point2 points ago

I read this like I read all of the Eragon books. There were no marvel of modern literature but I enjoyed the story. Fuck the Eragon movie though.

[–]Mathmatical 1 point2 points ago

Can someone like spoil the book for me and tell me a summary of how the second two books are? Cause I barely liked the first one enough to finish it but I'd kinda like to know how she ended the series where everyone hates it so bad. In summary...I'm lazy. Tell me why the last book sucked. Please?

[–]g0ldenr3bel 1 point2 points ago

Its k, i feel the same way, I got through the first book and had no end, like even for a series is still didn't have anything similar to a fucking end, then i couldn't finish the second book cause it was such a shitty lovestory

[–]searingsky 1 point2 points ago

Dystopian novels are hit and miss for me.

I hated Brave New World, not so much because of the themes (even though I found much of it irrelevant) but because of Huxley's writing style.

1984 on the other hand completely blew my mind, in every way.

[–]thescrapplekid 1 point2 points ago

I actually lost a few friends today about what I said about the Hunger Games being like Battle Royale and The Lottery

[–]reevolver 1 point2 points ago

It wasn't good. But it wasn't bad either.

[–]Shippoyasha 1 point2 points ago

It's not that Hunger Games is bad.... it is just utterly unimpressive to me. It 'works' as a movie, but it kind of reminds me of Harry Potter. It's great entertainment and all, but they could have been so much better, imparted the darker feel and details of the book more, etc.

I suppose it can keep building up to the finale and be satisfying in its own way like Deathly Hallows part 2, but I feel these series of movies has a lot of room to improve. Possibly the effect of making it palatable for the mainstream, but most importantly, Hollywood.

[–]piouspastafarian 1 point2 points ago

I hold the opinion that the books were OK, not great. This opinion has received some interesting responses.

[–]TooSexyForMyKayak 1 point2 points ago

Overhyped book is overhyped.

[–]Clarke1337 1 point2 points ago

What the hell is the Hunger Games?

[–]dash141 1 point2 points ago

If I could somehow get Kony and a negative review on the Hunger Games on a Facebook update, I think I could single-handedly bring Facebook to its knees.

[–]SpineBuster 0 points1 point ago

People have been flipping their shit about this movie for months. Up until a few weeks ago, I thought it was some fucking weight loss challenge they were getting into.

[–]Ruhlmdc 3 points4 points ago

My friend posted a joke saying hunger games was a pretty good battle royale and one of his friends exploded on him. Why do people feel the need to rabidly defend that book when, from what I can tell, it's basically a most dangerous game free for all? (I may end up seeing it, my critic friend thought it was shitty but I still want to see how similar it is to battle royale)

EDIT: Also my friend was talking to his friends at his college, they mentioned hunger games. When it was described to him he was like "oh so it's battle royale". He explained what battle royale was, they called him a weeaboo (didn't realize watching a mainstream japanese film made you a weeaboo) and told him they're completely different (when asked how, they just repeated that they were completely different).

[–]w00tingspree 1 point2 points ago

Just watched The Hunger Games. Battle Royale delivers basically the same premise in a more satisfying and challenging way. Throughout the entirety of The Hunger Games I felt no sense of danger for the protagonist or horror at the scenario: something always swoops in to rescue the protagonist when she needs help, and the shaky camera editing to hide the gore and violence makes the whole thing feel too "clean." And the protagonist rarely faces any difficult moral choices, in a premise that should be chock full of difficult decisions.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

What's this hungergames-bullshit, reddit's fad of the week? Americanized battle royale, big whop. Who cares.

[–]wavefunction84 1 point2 points ago

I said that I thought Quentin Tarantino was an overrated director whose movies only appealed to people's inner-hipsters. I gave his movies a chance: I watched Pulp Fiction twice, I saw Reservoir Dogs and a few others. I could understand why people were into them but I found them boring and lacking in meaning.

This was a few months ago and people are still leaving me angry comments. Sometimes, even angry messages. I might get attacked on here too. It seems that I don't "get" Quentin Tarantino. I think I "get" him fine and just plain don't like his movies.

You're not allowed to be in your teens/20s and not like Quentin Tarantino, apparently.