The Hunger Pains: A Parody by the Harvard Lampoon

book cover of   The Hunger Pains   A Parody   by  The Harvard Lampoon
Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 157
As some of you may know I am not a huge fan of the Hunger Games. I think it has received a lot more hype than it deserves, but that’s just my opinion. I didn’t really like the book and I thought the movie was a lot better with more ability to see the actually get a feel for the emotions and scenes that are occurring throughout the story.
So, when I heard about this book I jumped on it right away and went to my library to pick it up. As you can see it was extremely short, which was a good thing because if the book went on any longer I wouldn’t have been able to finish it.
It was a funny parody, but it started to become very stupid and very NOT funny, very quickly. I realized that even as a parody I hated the Hunger Games. The parody almost made it worse for me because the book was just THAT stupid. I don’t really like using that word to describe a book, but there’s no other way to really express how dumb it was.
And I know it was meant to be written that way, but come on. It was getting a little too ridiculous at times. The characters were all complete idiots who had no sense, there was barely a plot (if you haven’t read the Hunger Games don’t read this. You won’t get it. Plus, you need to read the Hunger Games to know the general gist of this story because they do a horrible job of explaining it here)
Parodies are supposed to be funny! And this was hardly funny at all! That’s why I was glad it was so short, because if it had dragged on as long as the original Hunger Games, then it would have been even more excruciating. 
Kudos to the Harvard Lampoon for making this parody (they also did one of Twilight, which I would like to read sometime) but I think they need to work on making it a little funnier, and a lot less…pointless, dumb, etc.
Very quick read, I went through it fairly quickly (probably so I could end my misery and not have to drag out this book any further) and even if you do like the Hunger Games I would suggest picking this up and reading it. However, if you are sensitive and can’t handle a parody, or someone making fun of another’s work, then this is definitely NOT for you because you will become very angered by the story.
By the way, I just love the cover!
See you soon!
Paige

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