SSMB BOOK CLUB 2! September: Child Death Match !

[Pelly <3's U]

Hey everyone,

Welcome back to our second month. As you can tell from the title, this should be a good one. Thanks a lot to Dissident for talking to me and helping me come up with this months theme (so you can blame his sick twisted mind).

This month we're going to be picking out two pretty famous books that have somewhat similar themes, and comparing how they go about them.

So without further ado

Our pick of the month is:

Battle Royal - Koushun Takami

This is the heartwarming tale of a group of Japanese students that are told they are going out on a fieldtrip only to end up in a fight to the death. It's gotten a lot of notoriety for the theme of its story so I'm sure a good few of you have heard of it or have exposure to some form of it.

Our alt book this month will be:

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

This has become a huge hit lately, so I'm sure many of you have read it or seen the movie. If you haven't, it's the story of a country where 12 Districts are all run by The Capital, and every year each District much select one boy and girl from ages 12-18 to compete in a death match broadcast across the nation. If you haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, I would highly recommend it.

While Battle Royal is our main book, this month is all about comparing and contrasting the two so if you get a chance see if you can read both.

Happy Reading!

[Sami]

So ready for this.

Edited September 2, 2012 by Dissident

[Octarine]

I kept swearing to myself last month that I'd get around to reading Hatchet eventually; it was a short little YA novel, after all, and I had that PDF readily available so I wouldn't even need to go to the library! ...and then I lost my internet connection in the last week of August. Oops.

I absolutely, for sure, 100%, no doubt am going to read Battle Royale this month, though. I swear. For real this time.

[Sami]

So I'm a little more than a hundred pages into Hunger Games and... eh...

It's okay so far. Ignoring the fact that I can't stand Katniss because the only trait I actually like about her is her attitude towards her sister, I feel that the book takes far too long establishing its world in an incredibly simple way. Much of what I've read is composed of nothing more substantial then "and we do this, which sucks. We also deal with this, which sucks. Then there's this, which sucks." Battle Royale showed off the horrors of the Greater Republic of East Asia through the individual backstories of each character; using their own individuals quirks to show just how much of an influence it has on people's life; look at Shuya, Shinji, and Mitsuko - they all have their qualms with the government, but the problems they deal with are broad and really show off the power and influence the government has. Hunger Games, on the other hand? Yeah, I know Katniss' life sucks, but what of the people from the other districts? I know it's competitive in Districts 1, 2, and 4, but what else is life like there? How rigorously do they train? Does everyone train? They're considered wealthier, but how much so? Are they like a third world country of today? Better? Worse? None of it is clarified, and it irks me to no end.

There's also the fact that I don't know who any of these tributes are; sure, I haven't even gotten to the games yet, but I don't remember anything about anyone not named Katniss, Rue, or Peeta from when I read the book a few years ago, nor have I heard anything about them from my friends who are fans of the book. Battle Royale made me care about most of its characters. There were many whose deaths I felt really bad about, and some whose deaths I absolutely relished. I cared. Male tribute from District Four died? Oh well, I don't even remember his name, so whatever.

tl;dr Hunger Games is really mediocre so far and Battle Royale was infinitely better in just about every aspect.

[Autosaver]

Isn't Battle Royale a "BANNED BOOK"? I'm in a Banned Books club at school and BR was the chosen novel.

[Sami]

Isn't Battle Royale a "BANNED BOOK"? I'm in a Banned Books club at school and BR was the chosen novel.

It's for adults. Not surprised it got banned.

[Blackbell]

I've read both Battle Royal and Hunger Games. Both have their good points and bad point but are based around the same thing:

• Set in an altenative time line the story revolves around groups of children fighting until only one lives. The winner gets to go home.
  
• Both are based off the original "Lord of the Flies" philisophical idea that the environment and situation can turn even the most civilised people into murderers.
  
• The main characters come from poor/ deprived backgrounds.
  

Starting off with Battle Royale. The book is based around Shuya, Nariko and various other class members in the same school. The population has sored and crime is at it's highest (due to poor behaviour and respect) leading to the Japanese Government to bring in the programme Battle Royale- where one class with the lowest test scores is chosen. The children are tricked into going on a field trip when they are gassed and taken to a recent vacated island. Their teacher explains the procedure and one by one the pupils are sent out (with a backpack and a weapon varying from guns to saucepans) to fight until the death. The game adds features such as collars with explode if the pupils try to remove the or enter a forbidden zone. If there is no winner after 3 days all the children die. The story adds twists with two exchange students, one is psycholotic and can't feel pain and entered for fun, and one who survived the game before. Shuya's friend dies near the beginning and he makes it his duty to protect Nariko throughout the duration of the programme.

Hunger Games slightly differs as their games are based on trying to keep peace after an uprising. Two players from the tweleve districts (boy and a girl) are chosen, trained and then sent into the arena until one is left standing for the sake of entertainment and to discipline the districts. Katniss, from the poorest district volunteers instead of her sister and along with Peeta (who helped a starving Katniss) go to the Capitol to compete. The two pretend to be lovers in order to get sponsers and gain access to essentials such as medicine and food.

Which is better? Battle Royale is a bit blood and gore. With mention of rape, murder, suicide and terrorism it's a little steep for someone under 16. However the extra details make you understand the characters motives and I enjoyed this more than Hunger games because there was more at risk and it wasn't guaranteed that any character would survive. Because you switch to so many different characters you are unsure which of the good guys you want to support. The twist towards the end was great and how it ended always make me wish they made a sequel of the book- the film sequel isn't that great. The bad point is that there are a lot of Japanese Names which are similiar to each other and I had to read it a few times to understand which character had died.

Hunger Games- I enjoyed the romance and battle elements in the first and second but hated the third. The first book is well written and the whole world situation have an impact. I was unsure of Katniss until the last book and felt that way about most of the characters. Peeta and Gale (the two love interests) compared together should be no competition (Gale) however the character of Peeta seems almost a pointless addition. However it is a nicer version of the Hunger Games and guarantees the main character will survive due to it's good and then terrible sequel. It's more suited to the younger version and still offers enough impact to make an impression.

Battle Royale will always be the original though and whilst I did enjoy Hunger Games the franchise has pushed the best aside for it's Twilight sister.

[Sami]

Okay, I can't take this anymore. I've been very slowly inching my way forward in The Hunger Games, and I'm at Page... 320-something now, I think. Katniss and Peeta are in the cave cuddling and making romance and whatnot. This book... I'm done. I don't like Katniss at all, and I can't take any more of her narration.

Battle Royale is better. End.

[Crash]

I've started Hunger Games, I don't like Katniss at all, but I kind of like the suspense of it. I'm at around page 70, only started yesterday.