What do you think?
Rate this book
Critical Insights: The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins' dystopian adventure series has been met with critical and commercial success across the globe, spawning three novels and four major blockbuster films. Essays in this volume analyze the importance of The Hunger Games' success on young adult readers, compare the world of Panem to other notable dystopias, and closely examine the relationships between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale.
- GenresNonfiction
316 pages, Hardcover
Published March 15, 2016
1 person is currently reading
20 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 14, 2024
3.5 rounded up.
Some essays in this were truly thought-provoking and provided deep critical insights to my understanding of the Hunger Games. Some were too focused on repeating the actions of the novel to truly establish enough unique critical insight. Overall made for an interesting read, but I'd probably recommend just checking out the contents and finding which essays most directly interest you.
Some essays in this were truly thought-provoking and provided deep critical insights to my understanding of the Hunger Games. Some were too focused on repeating the actions of the novel to truly establish enough unique critical insight. Overall made for an interesting read, but I'd probably recommend just checking out the contents and finding which essays most directly interest you.
July 29, 2016
The four stand-out essays in this collection are "His Fordship in the Capitol and Big Brother in the Districts: The Hunger Games and the Modern Dystopian Tradition" by Amy H. Sturgis, "'Where you can starve to death in safety': Appalachia and The Hunger Games" by Elizabeth Baird Hardy, "Labyrinthine Challenges and Degenerate Strategies in The Hunger Games" by Lars Schmeink, and "Pavlov, Peeta, and PTSD: Historical and Contemporary Research on Scientific Principles Underlying Hijacking" by Louise M. Freeman. That's not to say the others in the collection weren't well-researched and written, but these four spoke to me and my interests.
August 13, 2016
All the essays were interesting, but the essay, "Labyrinthine Challenges and Degenerate Strategies in the Hunger Games" stood out to me. I recommend this book for everyone interested in delving into the Hunger Games series and exploring a bit more about the Dystopian genre.
February 4, 2022
This is a very readable book full of information and analysis of The Hunger Games. Some of the main points include:
The series can be used in classrooms for gender studies, citizenship classes and related history/psychology classes.
The series led to a growth in archery interest and classes.
Scapegoats.
Social criticism in dystopian fiction.
Can violence be morally legitimate?
Panam had a population of around 4.5 million. (Current United States population is around 329 million. This could lead to a good classroom discussion of what happened to over 320 million Americans?)
Some people really hated the Mockingjay book.
Some people hated the anti-war stance of the books. (Which, I assume, meant that they supported war?)
There are similarities to the book 1984.
Katniss had become a surrogate father.
The importance of fear as an element in controlling a population.
Appalachia and The Hunger Games.
Gift theory.
Katniss and the ecosystem. (She knew a lot about the forest and this gave her an advantage in the first Hunger Games she was in.)
There is lots of information about PTSD.
Scientists studied fear condition and, in one case, used that on an 11 month boy. (So, how can such a thing be justified? The kid was only 11 months old, for goodness sake.)
Myth and moral guidelines for what is right and what is wrong.
Spartacus and Katniss.
There's a lot on Machiavelli related to The Hunger Games people and events and the section is very interesting.
For a while Katniss lived in hatred.
This, of course, is not all that there is in the book. There's a lot more and it's all pretty interesting. If you are into any analysis of the Hunger Games this is one of the books you should get.
The series can be used in classrooms for gender studies, citizenship classes and related history/psychology classes.
The series led to a growth in archery interest and classes.
Scapegoats.
Social criticism in dystopian fiction.
Can violence be morally legitimate?
Panam had a population of around 4.5 million. (Current United States population is around 329 million. This could lead to a good classroom discussion of what happened to over 320 million Americans?)
Some people really hated the Mockingjay book.
Some people hated the anti-war stance of the books. (Which, I assume, meant that they supported war?)
There are similarities to the book 1984.
Katniss had become a surrogate father.
The importance of fear as an element in controlling a population.
Appalachia and The Hunger Games.
Gift theory.
Katniss and the ecosystem. (She knew a lot about the forest and this gave her an advantage in the first Hunger Games she was in.)
There is lots of information about PTSD.
Scientists studied fear condition and, in one case, used that on an 11 month boy. (So, how can such a thing be justified? The kid was only 11 months old, for goodness sake.)
Myth and moral guidelines for what is right and what is wrong.
Spartacus and Katniss.
There's a lot on Machiavelli related to The Hunger Games people and events and the section is very interesting.
For a while Katniss lived in hatred.
This, of course, is not all that there is in the book. There's a lot more and it's all pretty interesting. If you are into any analysis of the Hunger Games this is one of the books you should get.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews