But the thing is there's so much focus on how they're surviving and getting by that it takes away from hunger being a threat. We're told hunger is an issue but what we're shown is the major characters... pretty well off: Katniss with her hunting and foraging, Peeta being a baker's son, all these descriptions of people being big and strong and tall. It kind of felt like the author wanted hunger to be an issue in order for it to be the driving force for the plot, but couldn't quite bring herself to really show the gritty reality of it except with a casual mention of it here or there.

That's not to say I wanted gritty reality, just a bit more sense of starvation as an issue. Even my sister was a little thrown by it and wondered why Katniss kept complaining about going hungry when she was getting so much food and things to trade from the woods.

But as I said, it's actually a small complaint and pretty much my only one.