Susan Collins: books, biography. The Hunger Games Phenomenon

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Hunger Games book by Suzanne Collins has become a real sensation: huge circulations around the world, literary awards and phenomenal success, including its film adaptation.

This work spawned a number of literary clones:

• "Divergent" - a trilogy and a collection of stories by Veronica Roth, based on which three feature films were shot;
• The Maze Runner is a trilogy by James Dashner, a third movie is expected;
• "Delirium" - 3 books by Lauren Oliver, the film rights to which were bought by Fox.

Biography

You might be interested to know that Susan Collins is included in the list of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World". Still, the effect her novels have on teenagers cannot be underestimated.

But at the very beginning there was no hint of such a brilliant writing career. Susan Collins was born in 1962 in the family of a military officer, and because of her father's service, the whole family constantly moved from place to place. They managed to live in several eastern US states and in Europe.

In 1980, the future writer received a diploma in the theater department at the school of arts. Then she was expected to study atUniversity (Indiana), where she studied the basics of telecommunications. In 1989, Susan received another degree, this time as a writer-playwright at New York University.

In 1991, she began her career as a television writer for children's programs and cartoons. Soon, on the advice of one of her colleagues, namely James Promoys, Susan began to write real books.

Susan Collins: books

In 2003, the writer's debut book, Gregor the Overground, was published. She marked the beginning of a series of 5 novels about the boy Gregor and the world of the underworld. The writer said that during the creation of this work she was inspired by the adventures of the famous Alice. Even the first chapters of the novels are very similar: Lewis Carroll's girl falls down the rabbit hole, and Susan Collins's boy falls into an unusual underground country through a sewer manhole. Naming her books, the author clearly followed the example of JK Rowling, so subsequent editions had the titles: “Gregor and the prophecy of Thurs”, “Gregor and the curse of the warm-blooded”, “Gregor and the secret sign”. The last novel in the series, Gregor and the Claw Code, came out in 2007, but fans are still clamoring for a sequel. Only the first three books have been released in Russia.

In 2008, the first part of the Hunger Games trilogy appeared, and its sequels were released at intervals of one year. In Russia, the novels were published twice by the AST publishing house with different designs.

The Hunger Games Trilogy

Now we will try to figure out why this trilogy by Susan Collins is so popular. The Hunger Games was initially compared by many to Twilight, a typical teen romance with an obligatory love triangle. But how true is that?

The books don't have much in common, and they are similar, only if you don't go into details. But if you analyze each novel, it turns out that they are diametrically opposed. Bella (the heroine of the Twilight series) is a female image, under which the definition of "any" fits. That is, ordinary, pretty, without any special distinguishing features of character. Instead of Bella, teenage girls see themselves, and the whole story, if we discard all the vampire stuff, is built only on the all-consuming love of the two main characters.

In The Hunger Games, the author managed to create a truly strong female image, and the love line does not dominate here. Amid brutal murders, riots, starvation, and an incipient rebellion, Katniss barely thinks about who she wants to be with, all her thoughts and feelings are focused on other significant events.

Movie

Suzan Collins' novel was doomed to be filmed. Director Gary Ross devoured the first part of the trilogy in one evening and in a couple of days agreed with the producers about the project and his participation in it.

And all four feature films turned out great: Jennifer Lawrence and Woody Harrelson provided the proper level of "stardom" of the cast, the exciting plot completely copies the book, and everythingthe events taking place on the screen literally hypnotize the audience.

Perhaps this is the rare case when the movie turned out better than the book. Nevertheless, in the novel, the reader sees everything that happens only through the eyes of Katness, and in the film version there are scenes without the participation of the main character. This allows the viewer to see and learn more.

The Hunger Games Phenomenon: Why Everyone Should Watch

It doesn't really matter if you watch the movie version or read the novel by Suzanne Collins. They are interchangeable, but since there are more and more film lovers today, we advise you to start by watching the movie. Let's list its advantages:

1. Great plot. Post-apocalyptic America (Panem), which hosts an annual television show in which teenagers hunt each other. Of the 24 participants, only one will survive.
2. Despite all the harshness, there are no truly scary scenes of violence in the tape. All shown with teenagers in mind.
3. Great cast, including supporting characters.
4. Entertainment: a good picture, special effects, costumes and thousands of little things that please the eye.
5. Satire in the dialogues.

No wonder there's talk of The Hunger Games returning as a prequel with other characters. While Susan Collins hasn't promised to develop the Panem series further, there's a chance she'll change her mind.