The Hunger Games
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| The Hunger Games | |
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| Author | Suzanne Collins |
| Cover artist | Tim O'Brien |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction/ Young adult/ Adventure |
| Publisher | Scholastic Press |
| Publication date | September 14, 2008 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 375 |
| ISBN | 0-439-02348-3 |
| OCLC Number | 181516677 |
| LC Classification | PZ7.C6837 Hun 2008 |
| Followed by | Catching Fire |
The Hunger Games is a young adult science fiction novel written by bestselling author of The Underland Chronicles, Suzanne Collins. It was originally published in hardcover on September 14, 2008 by Scholastic Press. It is the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy.[1] It introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world where a powerful government called the Capitol has risen up after several devastating disasters. In the book, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the ruthless Capitol randomly selects one boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts, who are then pitted against each other in a game of survival and forced to kill until only one remains.
The second book in the series, Catching Fire, was published on September 1, 2009,[2] and the as-yet-unnamed third book is slated for release on August 24, 2010.[3][4]
Contents |
[edit] Origins and publishing history
Collins says that the idea for The Hunger Games came to her one day when she was channel-surfing, and the lines between a reality show competition and war coverage "began to blur in this very unsettling way."[5] She also cites the Greek myth of Theseus, in which the city of Athens was forced to send young men and women to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur, as inspiration for the nation of Panem; she explains, "Crete was sending a very clear message: 'Mess with us and we'll do something worse than kill you. We'll kill your children.'"[5] After writing the novel, Collins signed a six-figure deal for three books with Scholastic in 2006.[5] As of 2009, there are 500,000 copies of The Hunger Games in print[6] and 26 foreign editions;[4] rights to the novel have been sold in 33 territories.[7]
[edit] Plot
The Hunger Games takes place in an unidentified future time period after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a rich Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, every year one boy and one girl, between the ages of 12 and 18, from each district are forced to participate in The Hunger Games, a televised event where the participants, or "tributes", must fight to the death in a large outdoor arena until only one remains. The story follows fatherless 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the Games in place of her younger sister, Prim. Also participating from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a boy whom Katniss knows from school and who once gave Katniss bread and risked a beating when her family was starving.
Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where they meet the other tributes and are publicly displayed to the Capitol audience. During this time, Peeta reveals on-air his long-time unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss believes this to be a ploy to gain audience support for the Games, which can be crucial for survival, as audience members are permitted to send gifts to the tributes during the Games. The Games begin with 11 of the 24 tributes dying in the first day, while Katniss relies on her well-practiced hunting and outdoors skills to survive. As the Games continue, the tribute death toll increases, but both Katniss and Peeta are able to evade death.
Supposedly due to Katniss and Peeta's beloved image to the audience as "star-crossed lovers," a rule change is announced midway through the Games, stating that two tributes from the same district can win the Hunger Games as a pair. Upon hearing this, Katniss searches for Peeta and finds him wounded. She nurses him back to health and acts the part of a young girl falling in love to gain more favor with the audience. The couple manages to outlast all the other tributes, so the Gamemakers reverse the rule change and try to force them into a dramatic finale where one must kill the other to win. Instead, they both threaten suicide and are subsequently both declared winners. After returning to the Capitol, Katniss must deal with the aftermath of defying the Capitol publicly. Her on-screen romance with Peeta also comes to a halt when he is heartbroken to learn that their relationship was all an act for the audience, though Katniss is unsure of her feelings.
[edit] Cover
The cover of The Hunger Games is black, featuring a gold bird with an arrow inscribed in a circle. Except for the addition of the arrow, this is the pin given to Katniss by the Mayor's daughter, Madge,[7] as the image matches the description of the pin that is given in the book: "It's as if someone fashioned a small golden bird and then attached a ring around it. The bird is connected to the ring only by its wing tips. I suddenly recognize it. A mockingjay."[8]
[edit] Critical reception
The Hunger Games was received well by critics. In Stephen King's review for Entertainment Weekly, he said, "Reading The Hunger Games is as addictive (and as violently simple) as playing one of those shoot-it-if-it-moves videogames in the lobby of the local eightplex; you know it's not real, but you keep plugging in quarters anyway", but also noted that, "Balancing off the efficiency are displays of authorial laziness that kids will accept more readily than adults", and gave the book an overall B grade.[9] Elizabeth Bird of School Library Journal praised the novel, saying, "Collins has written a book that is exciting, poignant, thoughtful, and breathtaking by turns. It ascends to the highest forms of the science fiction genre and will create all new fans for the writer. One of the best books of the 2008 year."[10] Booklist wrote, "Populated by three-dimensional characters, this is a superb tale of physical adventure, political suspense, and romance."[11] In a review for The New York Times, John Green wrote that the novel was "brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced", and that "the considerable strength of the novel comes in Collins's convincingly detailed world-building and her memorably complex and fascinating heroine"; he also noted, "Collins sometimes fails to exploit the rich allegorical potential here in favor of crisp plotting, but it's hard to fault a novel for being too engrossing."[12]
The Hunger Games has also received a number of awards and honors, including being a USA Today[13] and New York Times Best Seller,[14] and being named one of Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of the Year" in 2008[15] and a New York Times "Notable Children's Book of 2008".[16]
[edit] Film adaptation
Lionsgate Entertainment has acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of The Hunger Games, which will be produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force production company.[7][17] Collins will adapt the novel for film herself.[17]
[edit] References
- ^ Collins, Suzanne. Interview. Planning the Trilogy (Video). Scholastic Canada. Retrieved on 2008-12-14.
- ^ "The Hunger Games". Scholastic. http://www.scholastic.com/thehungergames/about-the-book.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ "Suzanne Collins's Third Book in the Hunger Games Trilogy to Be Published by Scholastic on August 24, 2010". CNN Money. 2009-12-03. http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0565512.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
- ^ a b Diane Roback (2009-01-22). "'Hunger Games 2': A First Look". Publishers Weekly. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6631377.html. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
- ^ a b c John A. Sellers (2008-06-09). "A Dark Horse Breaks Out". Publishers Weekly. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6568137.html?q=hunger+games. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
- ^ Susan Carpenter (2009-09-02). "'Catching Fire': This second 'Hunger Games' book truly might". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-catching-fire2-2009sep02,0,3070032.story. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
- ^ a b c John A. Sellers (2009-03-12). "Hungry? The Latest on 'The Hunger Games'". Publishers Weekly. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6643639.html?industryid=47141. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
- ^ Collins, Suzanne (2008). The Hunger Games. Scholastic Press. p. 42. ISBN 0-439-02348-3.
- ^ Stephen King (2008-09-05). "Book Review: The Hunger Games". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20223443,00.html. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ Elizabeth Bird (2009-06-28). "Review of the Day: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins". School Library Journal. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/90029009.html.
- ^ Francisca Goldsmith (2008-09-01). "The Hunger Games". Booklist. http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=2739783. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ John Green (2008-11-07). "Scary New World". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/books/review/Green-t.html. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ "Best-Selling Books Database". USA Today. http://content.usatoday.com/life/books/booksdatabase/default.aspx. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
- ^ "Children's Best Sellers: Chapter Books: Sunday, November 2nd 2008". The New York Times. 2008-11-02. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E6D7133AF931A35752C1A96E9C8B63&scp=6&sq=%22hunger%20games%22&st=cse. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
- ^ "PW's Best Books of the Year". Publishers Weekly. 2008-11-03. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6610357.html. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
- ^ "Notable Children's Books of 2008". The New York Times. 2008-11-28. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/books/review/KidsNotable-t.html?scp=5&sq=notable%20books%20children&st=cse. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
- ^ a b Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit (2009-03-17). "Lionsgate picks up 'Hunger Games'". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ic096395f454426da4ab38f45275a12fc. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
