Ramblings On...The Hunger Games Trilogy

The first book of the series was given to me by my mother at my request for Christmas last year.  I had hoped to read it before the movie came out in the theaters, to do the reverse of what I did with Harry Potter.  I just hadn't t hadn't gotten around to it yet.  The book has been on my coffee table since December. When the movie came out, I chose not to see it in the theatre, wanting to read the book first. In case you didn't know, I did see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone before reading the book.  I was dragged to it by a friend and absolutely loved it.  That was when I read all the books that had been printed to that date, and then picked up the rest at midnight as they came out.  Regarding The Hunger Games, I set a new goal of reading the book before the movie came out on DVD/Blu Ray.

People who say that they have wanted to ______, but just haven't found the time, kind of unnerve me. I have always felt that we have enough time to do the things that are important to us.  If we don't find the time, then they just aren't that important to us.  So maybe the fact that it took me so long to get around to reading The Hunger Games was because reading a YA novel was not all that important to me...besides, people had compared The Hunger Games Series to the Twilight Series, which I must admit I disliked intensely.

It is strange that I would have such a negative feeling toward a book as I had for Twilight.  It was mainly Bella, who I felt was so weak and not at all like me at that age.  As a kid I thought that when you got old, like Allison says in The Breakfast Club, the heart dies.  That we forget what it was like being that age.  I haven't forgotten, but for the first time I realized that Bella wasn't ANYTHING LIKE ME.  It made me fear that maybe THAT is what a generation gap is.  Not that the adult has forgotten what it is like to be a kid, but that being a kid means something totally different.  That maybe, possibly, our experiences when we were that age are no longer relevant.  Reading The Hunger Games enforced that NO, how I felt, who I was at that age was still relevant.  Although I was a bit more girly than Katniss, I could completely relate to her.  I guess since Katniss is a hero, I hoped that she would make better choices than I would have in her situation...been a better person than I would have been...but I am getting ahead of myself.

I decided that I was going to make an effort to get through the Hunger Games, and in all honesty, the first few pages I was just sure I was going to hate the book.  I tried to remind myself that it wasn't just teenagers that loved this book.  This book was recommended to me by a fellow female attorney who is close to my mother's age.  This book was liked by someone I know who works at the local library and I believe holds a Masters in Library Science.  At the end of the first chapter, when Katniss desperately volunteered to take her sister's place as tribute, I cried.  I was hooked.  I started reading The Hunger Games at lunchtime on Monday at my desk in my office while eating my lunch from Cafe Lebannon.  I finished it at about one am that night.  I then picked up Catching Fire and Mockingjay, reading both with the same intensity, finishing Mockingjay at lunch on Thursday.

Looking back, I think I did the series a disservice by reading it immediately after reading Something Wicked This Way Comes over the weekend.  Another page turner, but one written by the amazingly gifted writer Ray Bradbury, readingThe Hunger Games immediately after Something Wicked This way Comes was not unlike following War and Peace with Frog and Toad Are Friends.  The voice of the Hunger Games was so much less refined.  Quite frankly, it sounded like an angry sixteen year old wrote it.  The fact that The Hunger Games are written in first person POV and in present tense, no less--something generally only seen in scripts--made it seem as if the author was using cheap parlor tricks to bring the reader into the story.  But I was pulled into the story none the less.  I also would have to admit I appreciate the brilliance of a writer who not only made the point of view of the story an angry teenager, but was also able to mimic that angry teenager's feelings and tone of voice.

I mentioned that I found Bella to be a weak protagonist, but it was so much more than that in Twilight that kept me less than amused with the storyline.  I wanted to love Edward, but he came across as stalker like and unrealistic.  After all, Stephanie Meyer had taken away any reason not to want to be a vampire.  Her vampires had supernatural strength, supernatural beauty, weren't dead until dark, could go outside, but would sparkle in direct sunlight and didn't have to feed on human blood.  They were young and beautiful forever with very few negative things to contend with.  Sign me up!  Yet Edward hated his existence and didn't want to suck Bella in, which just made no sense to me...And don't even get me started on the controlling ne-andrathal Jacob...

In the Hunger Games series I liked the development of the male characters.  I loved both of them, although I will admit I was happy with how the series ended up.  I wish it had been more Katniss's choice.  I felt that the ultimate decision was taken away from her.  I would have been happier if she had actually said that she chose him, instead of her being with the one that was there... I think there is a lot in the series to show that it would have wound up that way anyway, but still...

I would say that there are many things about the books that remind me of other things. At times, The Katniss/Peeta/Gale triangle reminded me of Wuthering Heights, where I felt like Katniss was essentially using both for different reasons much as Catherine used Linton and wouldn't let go of Heathcliff.  The thirteen districts thing, with trying to find out what happened to the 13th district reminded me of Battlestar Gallactica.  The first time in the arena reminded me of Supernatural's "All Hell Breaks Loose", but if Dean was forced to play instead of Sam (Katniss's personality I found much more like Dean's than Sam's).  Of course we have to draw ideas from somewhere, and everything is put together in interesting new ways that make for a great story.  I enjoyed the entire series immensely, so much so that I am rereading it right now.  I think I will probably write up more in depth reviews of the books as I finish reading them the second time, but I didn't want to present too many spoilers at this point!

Let me know what you thought of the story!