I note, too, that the Hunger Games books consistently pop up at the top of my Kindle list when I’m perusing. There must be something that’s attracting so many folks.
I read all 3 and loved them as well. I saw it on my Kindle app’d EVO for a long time and wondered what the heck it was, probably some chick thing wifey, the publisher/editor, put on. Since I ran out of new stuff to read I opened it and the first few pages told me it was sci-fi or something else I don’t like, but by page 5 or so something clicked and then I was hooked.
They are about $7 each on kindle - Written for teens but honestly it is pretty hard core considering it is teens in a death match. I think they speak to conservatives because we fear the government taking over and see the characters in this series as fighting “our fight” against big government.
The author tapped into several themes.
It’s as if American Idol contestants were given weapons and told to fight to the death. They have groomers, advisers (`mentors’) and sponsors.
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” in choosing the “tributes.”
A harsh, arrogant, decadent `Capitol’ surrounded by sullen, angry, virtual-slave districts. (Gee, lemme think on it...)
“Survivors”: Katniss Everdeen forced to hunt to feed her family, with her male friend Gale—equals—using forbidden weapons—with the penalty for poaching and invading the Capitol’s forests—death. (A little Robin Hood?)
Katniss is a high-powered model as well, with Capitol fashionistas at her back and call. Not wanting to marry, worried about her own children having to enter the arena. Torn between two male friends, Gale and Peeta. Trying to figure out who she is, what she stands for, what is important. Scholastic is behind it. It’s for kids, and the kid in all of us.
Underlying it all, the struggle to live, and to live with a modicum of dignity. Hunger is a constant theme. Hunger for what? Begin.