Everybody's Doing It . . .


Students and adults alike were recommending Suzanne Collins's novel The Hunger Games, and I figured: if everybody's doing it, then it's got to be cool, right? and I didn't want to feel left out-- that's not good for my self-esteem-- I never got over the year I wasn't allowed to play in The Reindeer Games, that really hurt, and what if everyone was going to play The Hunger Game and I didn't know how? so I bullied a student into giving me her copy and I whipped through it in two days, and certainly enjoyed it, the cliffhangers kept me reading at a furious pace, but the experience was more like playing a video game than reading a novel . . . all the knowledge about the dystopian world of Panem is conveyed through high-octane action, and there is some cheesiness, especially at the end, but the book was intended for young adults, so I really can't be critical . . . I'll give it eight cornucopias out ten (but I should subtract another cornucopia because the idea is a bit of a rip-off of Battle Royale, a Japanese novel made into a fantastic and disturbing film by renowned filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku).

5 comments:

rob said...

dave cares about japan!

Dave said...

no one has ever questioned that.

zman said...

I'm reading "Filth" by Irvine Welsh, and just as watching "Deadwood" made me say "cocksucker" a lot, I now have to constantly check myself from saying "cunt" in normal conversation. I think it means something different in Scottish.

Danimal said...

royale with cheese?

dave - another rec for top 100 books...maybe 101st - The China Study. and if it was on the list, i apologize.

Dave said...

no-- never heard of it-- thanks. i will check it out. i love irvine welsh, but the c- word is definitely the scottish equivalent of "darn" or "shucks."

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