The Hunger Pains: A Parody

Oh, Harvard. What have you come to? I mean, you’re supposedly one of the best educational institutions that the United States has to offer, but if the Harvard Lampoon is the standard by which your brilliance can be measured, America has even more serious problems than I realized. The Hunger Pains is cheap capitalization off of a popular franchise, rather than a clever satire or parody of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.

Of course, it is much harder to be impressed by parodies of things that I enjoy, but, even if I loathed The Hunger Games, I doubt this mess of juvenile humor would have entertained me. The Hunger Pains might amuse a drunken frat boy audience, but that’s probably about the extent of the ideal audience here. Actual show more fans of The Hunger Games will find little to amuse, though there were a couple of things that did make me laugh inwardly, and when I say a couple I really mean two. Peeta fans should be especially leery of this “effort.”

Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions. show less

Yes, that's right! You've read the title correctly! The Harvard Lampoon has taken the book The Hunger Games and made a parody out of it. For those of you that love The Hunger Games and aren't afraid of some great humor along the way, then you will LOVE this book.

In this complete parody on literally everything associated with the Hunger Games, we find ourselves being introduced to District 12's Kantkiss Neverclean who is on her way to meet Carol Handsomestein for a little hunting practice to gain food since in this District ruled by the Capital, there isn't enough food. So using all their vital hunting skills, Kantkiss and Carol, dodge chain link fence, some one line jokes on their way to their first kill, a lowly cow grazing in the show more pasture. As they divide the Top Sirlion from the New York Strip, the face the dawn of Super Fun Day. The day in which a tribute is chosen from each district, a boy and girl, to compete in a challenge to the death in a series of games.

The parody is literally non stop as you read through each paragraph and each subtle new character is introduced, from Kantkiss's partner from District 12, Pita Malarkey to their stylist, Cinnabon, who prepares them to meet their challengers in the Hunger Games. The parody cleverly tackles the themes of morality, government control, and personal independence with the Harvard Lampoon's signature wit.

I received a copy of the Hunger Pains compliments of Touchstone, a division of Simon & Schuster publishers for my honest review. Being huge Hunger Pains fans, I had to read this one. I was quite literally reading this out loud to my husband and we were laughing and smirking all night long. I would easily rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars, and some of the humor in parts of the book can be borderline sexual in nature. With that being said, if you love parody's of your favorite movies or books, then this one will be a must have in your collection. I can almost see this one coming to the big screen as is featured in the book trailer, which was quite well done! show less

I didn't laugh as much as during Nightlight, but this one is still pretty brilliant and very enjoyable. The angst and drama of Kantkiss's time in the Hunger Games is full of suspense and a heart-wrenching love triangle. And lots of food.

I watched its trailer even before The Hunger Games came out.
It's been in my TBR list for almost a decade.
Imagine my disappointment when the plot in the book is different from the trailer. (or did I forget something?)

Is it just me?
Maybe I have enough of The Hunger Games, maybe I wasn't hit by the punchline or maybe because I'm ESL?
*checks other reviews*
*saw other 1/5 rating*
There are some gross parts that I wish I never read.

I'm still willing to give other books a try.
Will read Bored of the Rings next time.
I haven't read The Lord of the Rings, so I won't be expecting anything in the plot.

This was a cute book. Complete nonsense and stupidity of course, but amusing all the same.

Interesting parody of the Hunger Games. I'm glad I read the original series first, otherwise the humor wouldn't have made sense. They must have had some permission from the Hunger Games publisher, or else the cover wouldn't look so similar to the real Hunger Games book.

This book was so dumb it was funny. I don't even know what to think.