My The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Book Review on Goodreads

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Similar to my friend Arushi on here, I had no desire to read this book whatsoever when I first saw it. And then, just like Arushi, it was everywhere. I put off reading it until almost the entire known world had read every book, because I was so afraid of ruining the experience by not reading it to my fullest. I was curious, like Arushi, about why this book was so amazing. And I gotta say that I was pretty dissapointed. At FIRST. At FIRST. Don't get your knickers in a twist. I shall explain everything .



Well, let's see. I was not impressed by nearly three quarters of the book. I just didn't think it was great . And I think my problems were all a result of one mistake on my part:

That I waited too long to read.



As part of my Kids/Teens Book Club on this site, I read Divergent for the monthly read. And THAT was amazing. I reviewed it on Goodreads, so feel free to check it out. But, alas, it was too similar to Hunger Games for me to enjoy this book when I read it. It was either one or the other to think was great for me, and I read Divergent first because I waited so long to read HG. I had HG on my shelf for forever, I was just waiting to the PERFECT time to read it.



Also, I think I waited so long that I heard a crazy amount of hype. And the reviews and ravings I heard and read, it was just not possible for one book to live up to all of it when you compiled them alltogether. Yes, that was just too much hype for one book, and my expectations were raised too high.



So finally I found the perfect time to read it. In my real life book club, the Smarticle Particles (headed by my friend daredevil69), we decided to read this book as our March read (Feb. 25-Mar. 23) and then see the movie at 7:00 pm on March 23. This is HG AWESOMENESS!



But then all the hype and Divergent got to me and I didn't enjoy it. Until I got to the endish. When I got to the part where she found Peeta I was hooked from then on. It really got crazy for me when Katniss realized that the wolves were all the fallen tributes. And don't even get me started on Rue's death. I think that was probably my FAVORITE part. Not that I liked her dying, it was just so sweet Katiss's defiance of the Capitol and respect for poor Rue (I don't like the actor who they chose for the movie). OH WAIT I FORGOT! Which brings me to the part that I really liked and almost forgot about: the double suicide. Seriously if the Capitol's going to have these games, the possibilities of suicides are very high. There are a LOT of quick and easy ways to kill oneself in that arena, so they really should have taken that into consideration before. In fact, i think it was pretty silly of Collins to do that because the chance that no one had attempted that before? Unlikely. I know I would have the very second the Games started (though that's different). I really liked that whole defiance thing and think that from the beginning of the battle with the wolf-humans to the double suicide attempt, was the BEST part of the book.



But then I expected it to end there. I thought that this book ended with the end of the Games and then we were left wondering how awesome their lives became at the end, waiting anxiously to read the second. Boy, was I wrong. No, there was the whole "must make Capitol think I wasn't rebelling but just madly in love" thing that I didn't expect to happen in this book. More like the second book. (Though I know it does continue into the next book and much of it is about that.) I'm not sure if I liked this flow of events. It was weird and interesting the way it was set up, I guess its just going to make the next book start at an odd time. And am I ever excited to read the next. Because the last part of the book was the part I liked. Katniss is in trouble, and from what I read of the back cover of Catching Fire, this is going to be a book about her and Peeta "tricking" the Capitol, or maybe not tricking but telling the-*gasp*-TRUTH?! And REBELLION! Yay!!! I was just waiting for this to happen.



And the entire time, I was wondering: now I have to figure out why people loved this book so much. And while reading it, I think I found my answer. And I think part of the reason for this is that people covet and desire simplicity and work. People, deep down inside, miss being what we used to be: people who hunted, made, and gathered our food ourselves, or at least had trouble getting it. And the hope that maybe someday we will have to work for it again like our ancestors is so fascinating to people. I don't know if I'm the first to bring this up, but I definitely think it is a valid idea. In today's preserved food and supermarkets, we kind of want, deep down inside, to have to work for our food again, or at least know that it will not always be there. That ancestral desire and instict hasn't gone away just yet. And I succumbed to that ploy too just like everyone else. I think that's why everyone loves that Katniss is a hunter. I know I really enjoyed her desccriptions of the bare meals she enjoyed and the stew in the Seam. It's all part of that inner instict that we may soon lose.



Overall, this book was pretty good. I really liked it (again, overall). I just didn't love it (the description for 5 stars) throughout most of the book. I have a feeling that the next book will be five stars for me though, which is strange because most people say that this book was their favorite. But I hear the end ofMockingjay was TERRIBLE. Can't wait to read more.



P.S. One thing I didn't get: may the oods be ever in your favor. Not that funny or cool. At all.



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