I have fallen victim to “the hunger.”

Yes, I finally joined the rest of America and decided to start reading The Hunger Games. I was barely a few chapters in before I realized that Jennifer Lawrence had been perfectly cast as Katniss in the movie version. In fact, she’d basically already played the character to critical acclaim, only that time it was in Winter’s Bone. 

Let me break it down for you: Katniss Everdeen is an angry, independent teen who takes on the responsibility of caring for her little sister when her mother goes catatonic after Katniss’ father’s death. They live in District 12, which is basically Appalachia. She’s smart and resourceful and helps get her family through truly terrible times, and volunteers to replace her sister, Prim, in the Hunger Games.  On the other hand, Ree is an angry, independent teen who takes on the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings when her basically catatonic mother fails to do so. She lives in the Ozarks, and goes head to head with some hillbilly meth dealers in order to save her family home.

There is one main difference between the two characters: Ree is blonde and Katniss is a brunette.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not disparaging…well…anything. I loooooved Winter’s Bone and have barely been able to put down The Hunger Games long enough to make a living. I may take a vacation day to finish Catching Fire. I just found the similarities to be too many to ignore.

On an only vaguely more literary note, I am about 60% sure that reality television will, eventually, come up with a version of the Hunger Games. Maybe not in America, but it seems like the Germans might be into it. Or China. They have more than enough Tributes there.