The Hunger Games trilogy:
- The Hunger Games
- The Hunger Games - Catching Fire
- The Hunger Games - Mockingjay
takes place in an unspecified future time in a post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, in the ruins of North America.
The country consists of the wealthy Capitol and twelve (formerly thirteen) poorer districts ruled by the Capitol. The Capitol wastes wealth and is technologically advanced whereas the twelve districts are in varying states of poverty.
Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in The Hunger Games
As punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol where all the districts were defeated, one boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are selected by lottery to participate in the "Hunger Games" on an annual basis.
The Games are a televised event with the participants, called "tributes", being forced to fight to the death in a dangerous public arena.
The purpose of the Hunger Games is to provide entertainment for the Capitol and to serve as a reminder to the Districts of the Capitol's power.
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th Hunger Games in place of her younger sister Primrose. Also participating from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a boy who loves Katniss from the first monent he saw her.
Peeta confesses his love for Katniss in a television interview prior to the Games, leading the Capitol to portray Katniss and Peeta as "star-crossed lovers". This revelation surprises Katniss, who harbors feelings for Gale Hawthorne, her friend and hunting partner.
Peeta confesses his love for Katniss in a television interview prior to the Games, leading the Capitol to portray Katniss and Peeta as "star-crossed lovers". This revelation surprises Katniss, who harbors feelings for Gale Hawthorne, her friend and hunting partner.
Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in The Hunger Games
Katniss and Peeta fight against other tributes together, pretending they are in love to win public favor.
During and after the Games, Katniss develops genuine feelings for Peeta and struggles to balance them with the connection she feels with Gale.
Catching Fire
In Catching Fire, which begins six months after the conclusion of The Hunger Games, Katniss learns that her defiance in the previous novel has started a chain reaction that has inspired rebellion in the districts. President Snow threatens to harm her family and friends if she does not help to defuse the unrest in the districts and marry Peeta.
Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games Catching Fire
They tour the districts as victors and plan a public wedding. While they follow Snow's orders, Katniss inadvertently fuels the rebellion, and the mockingjay pin she wears becomes its symbol. District by district, the citizens of Panem begin to stage uprisings against the Capitol. Snow announces a special 75th edition of the Hunger Games —known as the Quarter Quell— in which Katniss and Peeta are forced to compete with other past victors, effectively canceling the wedding.
At Haymitch's urging, the pair team up with several other tributes, managing to destroy the arena and escape the Games. Katniss is rescued by the rebel forces from District 13, and Gale informs her that the Capitol has destroyed District 12 and captured Peeta.
Mockingjay
Katniss returns home and sees the remains of District 12. It is revealed that District 13 survived The Dark Days by living underground and is led by President Alma Coin. Katniss, after being brought to 13, agrees to become the 'Mockingjay' to recruit more rebels from the districts. It is revealed that Peeta has been 'hijacked' and brainwashed to kill Katniss.
The Hunger Games Mockingjay
Peeta tries to choke her to death upon their reunion. After her healing, Katniss and a team known as the Star Squad, consisting of Gale, Peeta, Finnick, camera crew, and various other soldiers, embark on a mission to go to the Capitol to kill Snow, thus winning the rebellion.
Katniss finally comes to genuinely love Peeta, which come to have a life together as a family.
In the epilogue, Katniss and Peeta remain together, Peeta's love having won out against the venom. The pair have two children, a boy and a girl.
What I liked the most of this trilogy is the courage of Katniss to sacrifice for the people she loves and to fight for a fairer world. However, this determination contrasts with its constant internal struggle to clear her feelings towards the people around her.
Katniss is a noble girl, although fierce and unsociable, rebel, impulsive, passionate, instinctive, strong, very independent and really sensitive to the injustices. This sensitivity comes from the poverty and hunger she suffered in her district.
Instead, Peeta is calmer, loving, very warm and affectionate, optimistic, generous, with the clearest feelings, sense of humor and as noble as Katniss, although he shows it more easily.
The romantic intrigue between Katniss and Peeta is another element of the story which has hooked me to this book because of the apparent incompatibility between them and the constant change of attitude of Katniss towards Peeta. However, eventually Katniss loves Peeta since he brings her the calm, enthusiasm and hope that she had lost.
I also liked the values of teamwork, friendship, solidarity and the message of hope this trilogy conveys: fighting, the world can be changed so that it can be a better place for our children although that cost much struggle and many wounds and emotional scars. The hope that future times may be better although present is extremely difficult.
Finally, I think that The Hunger Games is a criticism of consented or induced poverty and hunger by governments, the futility of war as a generator of poverty and suffering and the anything goes for the entertainment of the people to distract them from the real problems.
Finally, next you have links of other interesting book I have read:
Personal Opinion
What I liked the most of this trilogy is the courage of Katniss to sacrifice for the people she loves and to fight for a fairer world. However, this determination contrasts with its constant internal struggle to clear her feelings towards the people around her.
Katniss is a noble girl, although fierce and unsociable, rebel, impulsive, passionate, instinctive, strong, very independent and really sensitive to the injustices. This sensitivity comes from the poverty and hunger she suffered in her district.
Instead, Peeta is calmer, loving, very warm and affectionate, optimistic, generous, with the clearest feelings, sense of humor and as noble as Katniss, although he shows it more easily.
The romantic intrigue between Katniss and Peeta is another element of the story which has hooked me to this book because of the apparent incompatibility between them and the constant change of attitude of Katniss towards Peeta. However, eventually Katniss loves Peeta since he brings her the calm, enthusiasm and hope that she had lost.
I also liked the values of teamwork, friendship, solidarity and the message of hope this trilogy conveys: fighting, the world can be changed so that it can be a better place for our children although that cost much struggle and many wounds and emotional scars. The hope that future times may be better although present is extremely difficult.
Finally, I think that The Hunger Games is a criticism of consented or induced poverty and hunger by governments, the futility of war as a generator of poverty and suffering and the anything goes for the entertainment of the people to distract them from the real problems.
Finally, next you have links of other interesting book I have read:
- Playing the Enemy (John Carlin)
- The Alchemist (Pablo Coelho)
- The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
- The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
- The Physician (Noah Gordon)
- The Cathedral of the Sea (Ildefonso Falcones)
- The Art of Loving (Erich Fromm)
- Annoyomics (Risto Mejide)
- Ninja Crisis (Leopoldo Abadía)
- The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafón)
- The Afghan (Frederick Forsyth)
- The Eight (Katherine Neville)
- The Fire (Katherine Neville)
- The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
- Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
- Dante's Equation (Jane Jensen)
- Wecome to the Real World (Sandro Rosell)
- The Physician (Noah Gordon)
- The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
- Le Petit Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
- El Quijote (Miguel de Cervantes)
- Victus (Albert Sánchez Piñol)