Dystopias are widely popular right now. The Hunger Games gave this genre a new ticket to life. When I first saw The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins in a local bookstore, I purchased it for my husband. I did not think it was my type of book, but thought that he might enjoy it. I was right - he absolutely loved it and went on to buy the rest of the books in the trilogy as they came out (Catching Fire and The Mocking Jay). I was still skeptical about the books, and got only marginally interested in the first one after I'd seen the movie. However, once I started reading the trilogy, I literally could not put it down and devoured the three books in less than six days. If you have not read these books, I do highly recommend them. Collins takes the current obsession with reality TV to a new level. She describes a society that picks teenagers from 12 "districts" to fight until death in the nationally broadcasted annual Hunger Games. The country itself is rules by the "Capitol" - the only prosperous area in the country, whose inhabitants watch the Hunger Games as you would a favorite sitcom.
To be sure, dystopias are not a new invention. Fahrenheit 451, Nineteen Eighty Four and others portrayed totalitarian societies gone very wrong. My personal favorite is We (published in 1924) by the Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin who described a dystopian society based on his personal experiences during the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917.
I tried reading other popular dystopias. I mostly stick with the young adult books for this genre. The Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver started out a bit slow but picked up the pace in books 2 and 3. The main character also developed quite a bit by book 3. The premise of this book is that a futuristic society decides that love is a disease and "cures" all citizens at the age of 16. If you are looking to get a dystopia fix, this could be a reasonable choice. However, it does not really compare to The Hunger Games. Other dystopias on my to be read list are: Matched and Divergent. So look for reviews of those in the coming weeks.
To be sure, dystopias are not a new invention. Fahrenheit 451, Nineteen Eighty Four and others portrayed totalitarian societies gone very wrong. My personal favorite is We (published in 1924) by the Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin who described a dystopian society based on his personal experiences during the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917.
I tried reading other popular dystopias. I mostly stick with the young adult books for this genre. The Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver started out a bit slow but picked up the pace in books 2 and 3. The main character also developed quite a bit by book 3. The premise of this book is that a futuristic society decides that love is a disease and "cures" all citizens at the age of 16. If you are looking to get a dystopia fix, this could be a reasonable choice. However, it does not really compare to The Hunger Games. Other dystopias on my to be read list are: Matched and Divergent. So look for reviews of those in the coming weeks.
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