Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Books That Started It All

   

     The Hunger Games Phenomenon has taken off and has numerous fans obsessed with the story that Suzanne Collins has developed.  Collins started the phenomenon by writing the first book entitled The Hunger Games.  The first book of the trilogy engaged the readers by telling the story of a teenage girl, Katniss Everdeen, killing to survive against 23 other contestants in the annual Hunger Games competition.  The Capitol created and runs the Hunger Games in order to keep the districts, or towns, in line and to prevent an uprising.  Suzanne Collins fills the book with action and romance, which makes it impossible to put down.
     Catching Fire, the second book, picks up after Katniss has won the Hunger Games, along with her fellow District 12 participant Peeta Mellark.  This causes problems among the districts for the Capitol because there is normally only allowed one winner, and they forced them to have two.  In order to prevent a rebellion against the Capitol, they create a different type of Hunger Games where the contestants are chosen from previous victors of the games.  When everyone is in on a secret to protect Katniss, everything changes and instead of obeying the Capitol and finishing the games, the previous victors start a rebellion.  
     In the final book, Mockingjay, Katniss leads a rebellion against the Capitol and tries to kill the leader, Snow.  At the end of Catching Fire, Katniss discovers that District 13, which was thought to be destroyed, was still there but just underground.  This is where Katniss and the Squad retreat to and plan their rebellion.  Also, the Capitol has taken Peeta and other victors from the games captive, so the Squad is trying to get them back.  After running into difficulties with Peeta, her sister Prim, and Snow, Katniss prevails and completes her mission.  

3 comments:

  1. without having ever read these books it seems like the plot escalates intensely from the first book to the third book. It seems interesting and I am curious myself as to how it all really happens. Is this trilogy it for the Hunger Games or can we expect an even more intense 4th book?

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  2. I have seen the first two movies, but have not read the books. Although books and movies are not normally the same, from what I have learned in the movies, your descriptions are right on point. It is very intriguing to see how the first book evolves to the third book, and your descriptions of each book make me want to read them to see what the movies miss.

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  3. I have read all three of the Hunger Games books and I saw the first film. Let me make it clear that I love reading and I love watching movies and I don't necessarily prefer one over the other. Sometimes I like the book version more and sometimes I like the film version more. But, in the case of The Hunger Games, I definitely liked the reading experience more. Perhaps, in part, because I was having a reading race with my nephews who were bound and determined to tell me everything that happened before I got to it. What seems interesting to me from the comments to Jessica's blog addressing the phenomenon of The Hunger Games, is that the films seem to be occupying everyone's attention right now more than the books. I wonder what is inspiring even those of us who haven't seen the movies or read the books to be talking about The Hunger Games?

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