Quick head’s up– I bought The Hunger Games Trilogy as one Kindle ebook and read all three at once. In my head, this is one story and it’s called The Hunger Games. Consider this your Spoiler Alert.
Ok. Moving on.
I was trying really hard to avoid jumping on The Hunger Games bandwagon. I mean, I am a grown ass woman. A grown ass woman who already has an unhealthy love for all things Harry Potter. The last thing I needed was to latch onto another series of books meant for kids. I do have some standards. And a life. (Sort of) But after a few weeks of “stop being a snob and just read it already” badgering by a friend, I didn’t really have a choice. (Sorry kids, try as you might, I draw the line at Twilight.) And of course - now I’m all in so Tally-Ho and all that - isn’t that what you say on a wagon?
Suzanne Collins should share her secrets to the CIA or NASA or The Dharma Initiative or someone because she has found a way to warp time. I sat on my couch at around 6pm and before I knew it was 3:30 in the morning and I was done with book one. And it kept happening. Every time I sat down to read, I would look up thinking 20 minutes had gone by only to find I had been tagging along with Katniss Everdeen and her band of warriors for hours.
As I got closer to the end, I was trying to figure out what it is about this story that had me, and so many others, so hooked. It’s a complicated mix of coming of age story, love triangle, and political thriller with elements of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Lottery , Survivor and Mad Max all rolled into one amped up concoction of violence, intrigue, suspense and small moments of calm. Back when I was 12, 13, 14, this story would have totally wigged me out in the best way possible.
The key I think, is Katiness herself. She’s a complicated character. More complex than most characters in most books for adults let alone kids. One minute you admire her strength, the next you want to smack her for being so selfish. Five pages later you have sympathy for her as she murders someone and then you’re back to thinking she is a bratty pain in the ass. Following her through a life of pain, suffering, confusion, highest highs and lowest lows, you can’t help but like and loath her. You become invested in her. You root for her. You root against her. You yell at the page and want her to turn left when she insists on turning right. While you might be cocooned on the couch wrapped in your cozy blanket drinking tea, really you are in Panem, right there at her side the whole time.
That realness, that rawness, that’s what Collins does so well. This story is alive on the page. You feel every moment of it, good, bad, terrifying, or lovely. You smell all the blood and gore. You see all the fashion and hungry faces. It’s beyond the school-girl “Team Peeta vs Team Gale” debates. For the record; Team Peeta all the way. This is a story that forces you to think about bigger issues. About governments and how they work to control populations. About sacrifice and what price you are willing to pay to save yourself, your family, your country. About our society’s need to always be on camera and what that does to the individual. About being put in unimaginable situations and how your actions and choices define you for the rest of your life.
I’m a little sad that I came to the party so late and I plowed through all three so fast. Now all I have to look forward to is the movies. Though I have to say, the idea of actually seeing this world live in front of me sort of makes up for it.
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