The Hunger Pains

February 1, 2012
As the title suggests, this is another of National Lampoon's scene-by-scene parodies of literary phenomena (Lord of the Rings and Twilight). This time the subject is Suzanne Collins' wildly popular The Hunger Games. Those familiar with the original will know Collins' plot and have no trouble making the connections: Kantkiss Neverclean and the baker's boy, Pita Malarkey, are selected on Super Fun Day to represent District 12 (the Telemarketing District) in the Hunger Games, where they will attempt to kill representatives of Peaceland's 11 other districts. Our heroine, Kantkiss, falls somewhere between naif and idiot, as does her partner, Pita, though credit must also be given to his talent for disguising himself as giant baked goods. The humor swings between clever and sophomoric (no shortage of fart jokes here) but offers a near surfeit of snickers nevertheless. That it's published as an adult book says something about the huge crossover appeal of the original.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)