The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Time: 11 hours 14 minutes Narrator: Carolyn McCormick
I originally read these books when the first film came out but haven’t touched them since, so, although I remembered the broad outline of the story, I really didn’t remember much of the detail.
It took me a while to get through the audiobook because I used Gspn.com’s Hunger Games fan podcast as a buddy read. Gspn also did a chapter by chapter of the Twilight Saga and they are ver good at picking up on the little details. It’s also fun to hear them speculate on where the book will go.
Story In a post-apocalyptic North America there remains 12 districts and a capital. The capital lives in luxury while most of the districts live in a state of poverty and starvation. After a failed rebellion, the capital set up the Hunger Games. Each year a boy and and a girl from each district, drawn from a pool of all 12 to 18 year olds, are placed in an arena to fight to the death. The capital treats this evnt as a popular reality show. This book opens at the draw for the 74th Hunger Games.
Narrator I really couldn’t get away with Carolyn McCormick as the narrator of these books. The main character, Katniss, is 16 years old, and the book is written in the first person. This narrator just seemed too old for the part. There was something slightly patronising about the narrator’s tone at times, as if she was reading a bedtime story. This really is no fairy tale. When Katniss had dialogue, McCormick played it with breathless naivety. Though Katniss is young, she is mature beyond her years through being the main provider for her family. She is also far from naive. There is a point in which Katniss screams out with emotion and then sings. The narrator just doesn’t pull this off.
Overall These are magnificent stories, but if you aren’t already aware of the books be warned of violence and heartbreak. The audiobook, however, fell short of my expectations.
6/10