8 replies to this topic

[Christian]

I saw a sign recently at Borders promoting a 12:01 a.m. release-day story event to sell suzanne Collins' Mockingjay, a YA novel I'd never heard of, by an author who was/is completely unknown to me. I know there are some YA writers and experts at A&F, so I thought I'd ask: Just how popular are the books in Collins' series? Have I been living under a rock? I'd heard of the Harry Potter and Twilight books, of course -- the other books that generated midnight release-day parties. But Mockingjay?

The New York Times provides some background.

The “Hunger Games” trilogy unfolds in a grim future-world where children are sent into an arena to fight to the death. Ms. Collins has described the story as rooted in the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.

While dystopian fiction for teenagers has been around for decades, it has recently experienced a small revival in books like “The Maze Runner” by James Dashner and “Incarceron” by Catherine Fisher. Many of these books have also built a considerable audience among adults.

Much of the conversation about the “Hunger Games” trilogy has happened online, from fan fiction to Facebook pages devoted to the series.

Edited by Christian, 24 August 2010 - 06:25 AM.

[Jason Panella]

Isn't the title Mockingjay? Anyway, they're pretty popular. Not to the extent of the Harry Potter or Twilight novels, but still popular. Also, and maybe uniquely, they have pretty avid critical support. A friend — an English teacher and lit nerd — started reading them to review, and she said they're wonderfully written.

[Christian]

Jason Panella, on 24 August 2010 - 05:52 AM, said:

Isn't the title Mockingjay?

Yes, it is. What made you think otherwise? [Fixed. Thanks]

[Andrew]

It's my understanding that these books are quite popular, per a local librarian as well as the New York Times' Book Review. After my 13 year old son read the first book of the series in less than two days' time, I dove in and read Books 1 and 2 (number 3 was just released today). It's quite an engrossing and well-written tale. The author really understands the psychology of trauma and loss as well, as we experience the story through the mind of a teen whose father died in a mining accident and who is striving to hold on to her humanity in a violent dystopia.

Edited by Andrew, 24 August 2010 - 08:19 AM.

[Peter T Chattaway]

I was vaguely aware of Mockingjay prior to this thread, because John Granger has been posting quite a bit about it at his Hogwarts Professor blog lately, but I haven't been paying terribly close attention. Maybe if and when the movie deal is announced.

[methnen]

Great books.

As a former elementary school teacher and occasional reader of YA fiction and someone who has fond memories of reading Louise Lowry's The Giver series, who found the Harry Potter books tolerably good but somehow lacking, and who read the first Twilight book thinking something had seriously gone wrong with people's idea of a good book, I found new hope after finishing the first of the Hunger Games books. (How's that for the worst sentence ever written?)

There's a few plot holes or what not. But they are well written, well paced, and there's actual substance to the plot and the actions of the characters.

I was really impressed.

Jamie

[Overstreet]

Link to the thread on the film adaptation, directed by Gary Ross.

[Tyler]

I started Mockingjay Tuesday afternoon and finished it this evening (Thursday). Yay for Thanksgiving break.

The first two books in the series (The Hunger Games and Catching Fire) were both pretty violent, but the scale and scope of the brutality in Mockingjay goes well beyond them.

Spoiler

Basically, the violence that was confined to the Games arena in the first two books spills out into the whole world in the last book.

And the cynicism (or cynical realism) that was present but more latent in the first two really comes to the fore here, almost to the point that it overwhelms anything else. There are still a few redemptive characters and threads, but for quite a while there it felt like Inglourious Basterds for kids.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Link to our thread on the book version of The Hunger Games (2008). We don't seem to have a thread on the book version of Catching Fire (2009).

Links to our threads on the film versions of The Hunger Games (2012) and Catching Fire (2013?). We do not yet have a thread on a film version of Mockingjay.

Edited by Peter T Chattaway, 19 April 2012 - 09:46 PM.