Danielle Hanifin's Page

Nooo, you're leaving for Australia soon! 

The Hunger Games is VERY good. Many readers have been comparing the concept of it to other writings, like Battle Royal, or The Running Man, or The Lottery. While there is allowable reasoning for comparing these, the story is by no means a copy of anything previous. As a young adult novel, the writing style is very simple to follow, but it delves much deeper into the psychological and emotional effects the futuristic world has on it's people. It's a fine example of what can happen when a population that is just trying to survive looses track of the power it has allowed it's government, and how just agreeing with everything, because that's what the people before you did can destroy an entire civilization-- even one that survived a nuclear war. 

 It's all written from the point of view of the main character, Katniss. So you get all her emotions, all her thoughts and strategies-- and she's imperfect, so while you're cheering her on you're also disagreeing with her, "Damn it, why are you DOING THAT. Do the OTHER THING." This makes it much more real than a book like Battle Royal, which I thought was a great deal more clinical in it's telling of the story (although, that could be because it was translated from Japanese and some subtlety was lost). 

 I'm in the third book now, and the story has progressed well beyond the fight of the arena, and I'm still entranced. Hopefully the ending doesn't fall flat for me. I am also looking forward to the movie, because every single scene in the trailer is straight out of the book. The appearance might not be exactly how I imagined it, but close enough if all the acts are there. 

 Yes, it's worth fangirling over. :) 

WOK AND LOL!