Originally Posted By StealthyBlagga:
Exceptional. My wife read the first book and loved it, so we took the audio book version on an 18 hour road trip. The kids and I were engrossed for the whole journey. All the kids said after each stop was "Dad, lets find out what Katniss does next". HIGHLY recommended. Can't wait for the next installment.

Originally Posted By GoneRebel:
If you can get past the "a war can be won from behind a camera" bullshit, the teenage girl bullshit, and a host of other fembook bullshit, then...
actually no. theyre terrible

Originally Posted By RolandofGilead:



1. Wars in real life have been won or lost with public opinion....which often comes from behind a camera.
2. The main character was a teenage girl sooo...yeah. The only "teenage girl bullshit" in it was when she was decided which of the male characters she liked, which was such a minor detail of the books it's hardly worth mentioning.
3. Fembook? Really? So any book with a strong femal character is a "fembook?"

If you didn't like it, that's cool everyone has different tastes but it looks to me like you grasping for reasons to dislike it.

Originally Posted By GoneRebel:

i was actually trying to avoid spoilers by not going into specifics, out of consideration for the OP who hasnt read the books yet

Originally Posted By Delta-Force-of-Venus:
Yes...it's EXCELLENT. I teach middle school...a student recommended it. I read the first one in two days (and I'm a HARD sell on any book, let alone adolescent fiction). I don't think it's geared to a female audience, just because it has a female lead. The guys in my class loved it just as much as the girls. It's smart fiction, so a good read for adults, too.

Other YA post-apocalyptic fiction:

The Chaos Walking Series (Patrick Ness)
The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Carrie Ryan) - also a trilogy with a female lead...does involve zombies, though in an unexpectedly good way
The Maze Runner Series (James Dashner)
Unwind (Neal Shusterman)

I'm hard to impress...and all of these are excellent.

Originally Posted By Delta-Force-of-Venus:
Yes...it's EXCELLENT. I teach middle school...a student recommended it. I read the first one in two days (and I'm a HARD sell on any book, let alone adolescent fiction). I don't think it's geared to a female audience, just because it has a female lead. The guys in my class loved it just as much as the girls. It's smart fiction, so a good read for adults, too.

Other YA post-apocalyptic fiction:

The Chaos Walking Series (Patrick Ness)
The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Carrie Ryan) - also a trilogy with a female lead...does involve zombies, though in an unexpectedly good way
The Maze Runner Series (James Dashner)
Unwind (Neal Shusterman)

I'm hard to impress...and all of these are excellent.

Originally Posted By BeautifulStranger:
I absolutely loved them. I was addicted from the moment I started. Although the lead character is a teenage girl I dont see it as a girly series. I cant wait for the movie to come out. I hope they follow the books as close as possible.

Originally Posted By Moose57:
I agree with the others. The Hunger Games Trilogy is a must read. Very well written and very entertaining. Two thumbs up!

Paul

Originally Posted By SteelCased:
Is this series suitable for a 10 year old? The comprehension won't be a problem, I'm just wondering about the subject matter.

Originally Posted By Kharn:
I finished all three books in under a week, very quick reading.
I liked the anti-authoritarian message and did not have a problem with the female lead or the (limited) boy drama.

Originally Posted By TN-popo:
I read all three.
I enjoyed the 1st two, but was kind of lukewarm on the third book.

I just saw the trailer for the movie and I thought they did an outstanding job on the casting.
Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss), Donald Sutherland (Pres. Snow), Woody Harrelson (Haymitch)...just to name a few.

Originally Posted By Leonidas777:
The trilogy was overtly feminist. I got to the third book and couldn't finish.

Originally Posted By Leonidas777:
The trilogy was overtly feminist. I got to the third book and couldn't finish.

Originally Posted By Hulka73:
I finished all 3 in about a week and a half. I really enjoyed them. My wife is probably going to start them soon.

Originally Posted By RolandofGilead:





Just because the lead female character wasn't making sandwiches the whole time doesn't mean it was a feminist book...

Originally Posted By Leonidas777:


No. I have no problem with a central female character who shows leadership or courage. The problem is with how all the men are portrayed.

Haymitch = drunk
Peeta = a cake maker and frosting designer
President Snow = incarnate evil
Cinna = a metrosexual fashion designer: albeit he has courage

Gale is the one exception. He has masculine characteristics, but the author gives him second place to Peeta.

Am I forgetting any other central male characters?

I'm not trying to argue that male characters should be without flaws, but I think the author goes a little far. Essentially, The Hunger Games is a story about a very young girl, who has every admirable quality imaginable, working with men who all have serious problems.

And these books are intended for a young audience. What character does a young boy have to look up to? Hopefully not Peeta.

Originally Posted By Leonidas777:


No. I have no problem with a central female character who shows leadership or courage. The problem is with how all the men are portrayed.

Haymitch = drunk
Peeta = a cake maker and frosting designer
President Snow = incarnate evil
Cinna = a metrosexual fashion designer: albeit he has courage

Gale is the one exception. He has masculine characteristics, but the author gives him second place to Peeta.

Am I forgetting any other central male characters?

I'm not trying to argue that male characters should be without flaws, but I think the author goes a little far. Essentially, The Hunger Games is a story about a very young girl, who has every admirable quality imaginable, working with men who all have serious problems.

And these books are intended for a young audience. What character does a young boy have to look up to? Hopefully not Peeta.

Originally Posted By RolandofGilead:


I think you're looking too hard to find something to complain about. Peeta is baker, as already stated- I can't really find anything wrong with that...he fights and kills, as does Gale.
Yeah, Cinna is a metro fashion designer. Um...is there any other type? (not counting the gay ones). He's a good character, and oddly true to life. I have no problem with this character either.

Haymitch, yeah he's a drunk, but again I think this is true to life. He's a good character, with scars from the games. Is this so different from war scared vets who turn to alcohol? Not really.

The women in the story are hardly perfect. Katniss is courageous, but flawed. Her mother is a selfish and insane IIRC.

No offense, but this sounds just like the women who bitch because there were no femal characters in Saving Private Ryan or something.

Originally Posted By RolandofGilead:


I think you're looking too hard to find something to complain about. Peeta is baker, as already stated- I can't really find anything wrong with that...he fights and kills, as does Gale.
Yeah, Cinna is a metro fashion designer. Um...is there any other type? (not counting the gay ones). He's a good character, and oddly true to life. I have no problem with this character either.

Haymitch, yeah he's a drunk, but again I think this is true to life. He's a good character, with scars from the games. Is this so different from war scared vets who turn to alcohol? Not really.

The women in the story are hardly perfect. Katniss is courageous, but flawed. Her mother is a selfish and insane IIRC.

No offense, but this sounds just like the women who bitch because there were no femal characters in Saving Private Ryan or something.

If you watch Disney, Nickelodeon, or read young adult literature, our culture places little emphasis on turning boys into men. Most of the male characters are weak, indecisive, goofy, or inept. While the female characters are strong, confident, sophisticated, and able. Just watch a car insurance commercial. Boys need male role models, even in books and television.

Culture is extremely important in shaping how a society functions and most of our culture is filtered through books and television.

Originally Posted By Leonidas777:

I see your point. Maybe I am reading into it too much, but I honestly started reading the books with the best intentions. My girlfriend read them first and told me about how the characters lived in a post-apocalyptic world with gladiator matches, so I was interested. The fact that the main character was female didn't deter me at all.

I was an english minor in college, so maybe I'm a little unforgiving with the books. My girlfriend has nothing but praise for them. But I still think for a young boy the books are lacking.

If you watch Disney, Nickelodeon, or read young adult literature, our culture places little emphasis on turning boys into men. Most of the male characters are weak, indecisive, goofy, or inept. While the female characters are strong, confident, sophisticated, and able. Just watch a car insurance commercial. Boys need male role models, even in books and television.

Culture is extremely important in shaping how a society functions and most of our culture is filtered through books and television.

Originally Posted By LearningToLive:


I don't think you're reading too much into it or being unforgiving. If anything, I think you're being too forgiving of Katniss. I don't know how to do the spoiler tags so I tried to avoid spoilers, but fair warning for those who haven't read the books.




Katniss wasn't exactly a good role model. She had potential in the first book, though still she was more often REactive instead of PROactive. After that she was an emotional mess and became increasingly unstable. She was extremely selfish and her motivations were entirely self-focused. She almost never showed true leadership and most of her courageous actions were rooted in her personal survival and wants with little regard for the big picture. Not much of a role model. The point was made over and over that Katniss is very similar to Haymitch, only Katniss isn't as clever.

Gale was one of the few characters who was consistently admirable. And Cinna, though, yes, his profession was not masculine (though I'd argue that his actions are far more important than his profession in terms of setting a positive example). Both characters saw the big picture, fought for reasons outside of their personal survival, and were willing to risk it all to stand by those ideals. Gale may have had second place to Peeta (though not always––and primarily when Katniss herself was weaker), but that was less a mark against Gale and more a statement about Katniss.

You said you didn't finish the third book? At what point did you stop reading? I'm trying not to spoil anything, but you might want to push through to the end. I liked the series overall a lot, but it wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting this "Girl on Fire" I kept hearing so much about, courageously leading a revolution, but that couldn't have been further from the truth.

I'm surprised the focus of criticism here has been on male/female role models and not the jaded "there are no true heroes in war" and Pyrrhic victory messages. Does anyone know if the author's intention was to say this is sometimes the case in war or that it is always the case? I'm fine with it if it's the former, but the latter...I can't get on board with that.