The Hunger Games Trilogy

[Deaf Global Nomad]

Remind me - which one is he?

You can google "Minotaur summary" and look at any of those. A more detailed story is on wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur.

Picturing Cinnas creations is fun.

That is what makes reading great. You can imagine the story unfolding and nobody can tell you right or wrong.

From a military perspective,...

Thank you very much for your perspective! This is very interesting and puts an additional perspective. Some things you mentioned I suspected whereas others are completely new.

 

[anthony]

One minute I was with the rapist, and literally, the very next, I was watching my children asleep in their beds. I paced like a rabid animal for the rest of the night. There's times I still feel like that.

That is a very interesting point, you raise Clair. The transition, and how it crosses from both the books version of being within a kill or be killed militaristic environment, and then how much it relates to even a civilian environment, though just change the circumstance to rape... you have that instinct to live, to kill or be killed... same outcome. Interesting! I wonder what the reinforcement depth is afterwards, and how long it takes rape situations to come down to civilian realisation again. Days, weeks, months! Interesting viewpoint.

Enjoy the read... I am thinking about reading them all again in a month or two... just because I enjoyed them sooooooooooo much.

 

[ClairBear226]

I wonder what the reinforcement depth is afterwards, and how long it takes rape situations to come down to civilian realisation again. Days, weeks, months! Interesting viewpoint.

Katniss made reference to difficulty with hearing people talk about all the "normal" things going on in their lives, as if they had any weight or importance compared to what she'd been through. I remember feeling the same way, especially immediately afterwards. My kids were 8 months and 2 1/2 at that point, and I remember being irritated with them for squawking over a toy. About someone complaining about work. About a friend complaining about her mother. Of course, none of them knew or understood what I'd just been through, because I couldn't and wouldn't communicate a damned thing. But trivial worries and concerns that are part of most "normal" people's lives suddenly infuriated me. I was angry that they didn't see or understand how stupid they were. I can't say that I ever completely got back to normal on that one. It lessened over time, but there are still days when people argueing over trivial nonsense bothers me.

Holy cow, Anthony, have you finished all three already? Let a girl catch up, lol!

 

[anthony]

Yep... all three done.

But trivial worries and concerns that are part of most "normal" people's lives suddenly infuriated me. I was angry that they didn't see or understand how stupid they were.

Katniss touched on the answer to this though, which is the realisation of anyone who has not endured such a traumatic situation. To them... those little things are just as important as they are no longer as important to someone who has endured abuse, and been forced to realise they are actually less significant to themselves now.

Irony at its best via evolution due to trauma!

 

[ClairBear226]

Anthony, did you feel like that at all when you left a combat zone? It's a weird thing to try to explain to anyone.

Aside from a really gripping plot that turns on a dime, and really richly developed charactors, I like that the author has been able to describe thoughts and feelings during and after trauma that I've never had any ability to articulate.

I'm on the 2nd book. Gale was just beaten.

 

[anthony]

Simply, yes!

 

[ClairBear226]

Weird, isn't it? Trauma from very different sources, but very similar reactions.

It makes me want to know about the author. She almost "knows too much" not to have been there.

 

[anthony]

I think this answers that question:

In September 2008 Scholastic Press released the The Hunger Games, the first book of a trilogy by Collins. The Hunger Games was partly inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Another inspiration was her father's career in the Air Force, which allowed her to better understand poverty, starvation, and the effects of war.

Wikipedia

 

[Belle]

I can't say that I ever completely got back to normal on that one. It lessened over time, but there are still days when people argueing over trivial nonsense bothers me.

I think that is where the detached alien feeling comes from, of being isolated and almost watching and not being connected, I have analysed it as because people are saying and arguing over trivial things, people saying them somehow feel trivial and disconnected from the reality you know. Where things happen that you can't speak about and they feel like a dream.

I can relate to Katniss at the start of the 2nd book when she says 'If it was up to me, I would try to forget the Hunger Games entirely. Never speak of them. Pretend they were nothing but a bad dream.'

I think that is why those with PTSD can't bear the trivial arguments because they can't even bear to speak about their pain. There always seems to be too much chattering and after a trauma I think it just goes still in your head, disconnected somehow, like limbo.

 

[cocajo]

Read the trilogy love all of them. They really are page turners I read all 3 books in about a week. I am looking forward to the movie.

 

[anthony]

Read the trilogy love all of them. They really are page turners I read all 3 books in about a week. I am looking forward to the movie.

Same same... I thought it would take me a few weeks to get through them, but no! Once I started that first one, it was all over red rover, all three within a week.

I really want Nicolette to read them, because they're just so engrossing... they suck you into another world and keep you captivated the entire trilogy. I was never once bored of reading in any of them.

 

[Belle]

Read first two and just starting 3rd, amazing books :) glad I had week off so I could read back to back.