"I didn’t feel cheated or jerked around by The Hunger Games."
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The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
Genre: Young Adult
Book Synopsis
Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.Eric's Rating
Eric's Review
Better than I feared, but not nearly as good as I hoped, The Hunger Games is a perfectly paced but empty piece of writing. Katniss should be my kind of protagonist. She’s tough, clever and the girl can shoot a bow through eyeballs at will. Sadly, she spends most of the book moving from plot point to plot point, and the rest bluntly and repeatedly thinking about how much she likes her sister. There’s no personality or spark, no sense of Katniss being more than an archer who really loves her sister. Despite being written in first person, The Hunger Games' protagonist seems hollow and voiceless. What hopes, fears and desires Katniss does have are simply explained to us, and never come out through her actions.
Still, the book moves quickly. It’s never boring or tedious, and it’s great at coercing you not to put the book down at the end of a chapter. When people say how much better written than Twilight the novel is, this has a lot to do with it. Collins hits the ground running and slows down only to give a needed breather. There’s something to learn from every book, and The Hunger Games is so stripped down to its essentials that it’s a great way to study how important structure and pacing can be.
Though the action is occasionally bloody, it’s also toothless. The specter of being forced to kill someone innocent is ever-present, but Katniss is only pushed into violence against deservingly cruel and evil Tributes. Because nothing happens but the barest plot essentials, Katniss’ few alliances are never strained, never subject to fear or paranoia or anger. Everything resolves so conveniently that it neuters the setup. Katniss is never forced to decide whether or not to murder a friend, despite it being the most horrifying aspect of the Games. In avoiding the worst of her scenario, Collins does it and her audience a disservice. Allowing her protagonist to use violence only as a hero implicitly justifies killing by avoiding its consequences.
The Hunger Games is not a bad book. In fact, it reads so fast and so easily that it’s hard not to recommend it for a long flight or as a palette cleanser after a tougher, more challenging read. The premise will probably work great in the upcoming film. I don’t know how much I want to finish the series, but I didn’t feel cheated or jerked around by The Hunger Games, and there’s something to be said for pure, page turning excitement.
Disclaimer: May not be appropriate for children due to violence.
