The Hunger Games

The Book

The Hunger Games is an exciting read that keeps you interested in the story and wanting to know what happens next. It is set in a dystopian future where 12 Districts of Panem (USA) are kept under the control of the Capitol through reducing food supplies and supressing any insurrection. The games take a boy and a girl from each District and pit them against each other in a fight to the death.

Katniss Everdeen volunteers as one of the tributes for District 12, when her little sister, Prim, is picked out. What makes the 74th Hunger Games different, and marks the story out as more than just an arena fight for survival, is when Peeta, the boy chosen from District 12, announces in his pre-games interview that he is in love with Katniss. This revelation is news to Katniss and the plot keeps you guessing as to whether this is Peeta's true feelings or a ruse in the game.

As in all the best dystopian stories, you really connect with the underdogs and are wishing them to succeed against all the heavily stacked up odds. The setting up for the games is just as interesting as the action itself, showing the injustice and tyranny of the current society.

The changing of the rules of the game at the end did not come as much of a surprise to me, as its what you would have expected from the totalitarian state, but it was very satisfying to see the end game play out not on their terms.

 The book website

Link to the film website

The Film


The film stayed very true to the book and brought the vision of the Capitol to stunning reality. Some of the camera work took some getting used to - to start with there were so many cuts to show different aspects of life in District 12 and then some of it was very handheld and jerky - but this is a minor quibble.

The addition of the Games Master and the control room for the Games worked well - I was a bit unsure about how the werewolf type creatures would be done and I am glad they stayed away from the genetically re-engineered fallen and went for simple vicious dogs. I also thought the use of the berries presented to the Games Master at the end was a great touch.

What made the film for me, however, was the brilliant acting. You were under no illusion that Primrose Everdeen (Willow Shields) wouldn't have lasted a minute inside the arena. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss was fantastic - her trembling fear before entering the arena, her sadness and then rage at the death of Rue and the final desperate bluff at the end of the games were particularly memorable - and even though I knew the story, it made me near to tears.




The folky rustic score by James Newton Howard is also very good, with the simple guitar of Healing Katniss and the building elegy of Rue's Farewell of particular note.

If you enjoyed the book, try 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley or The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau
If you enjoyed the film, try Logan's Run or The Running Man