The
Hunger Games is a 2008 young adult novel by American writer Suzanne
Collins. It is written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who
lives in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, where the countries of
North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis,
exercises political control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger
Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from
each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by
lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death.
The book
received mostly positive feedback from major reviewers and authors,
including author Stephen King. It was praised for its storyline and
character development, though some reviewers have noted similarities
between Collins' book and the Japanese novel Battle Royale (1999), as
well as other works. In writing The Hunger Games, Collins drew upon
Greek mythology and contemporary reality television for thematic
content. The novel won many awards, including the California Young
Reader Medal, and was named one of Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of
the Year" in 2008.
The Hunger Games was first published in
hardcover on September 14, 2008 by Scholastic, featuring a cover
designed by Tim O'Brien. It has since been released in paperback and
also as an audiobook and ebook. After an initial print of 200,000, the
book had sold 800,000 copies by February 2010. Since its release, The
Hunger Games has been translated into 26 languages, and publishing
rights have been sold in 38 territories. The novel is the first in The
Hunger Games trilogy, followed by Catching Fire (2009) and Mockingjay
(2010). A film adaptation, directed by Gary Ross and co-written and
co-produced by Collins herself, was released in 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment