I have to admit, sitting in the theatre a few months ago to see another movie, the trailer for The Hunger Games piqued my interest. So I decided to get a bit more info after a friend mentioned it was based upon a book. Come to find out, it’s been a best selling book for teens for quite some time, the first of three in a trilogy, and most of my adult friends who read it found it compelling. So I bought it and added it to the queue.
Then Chris read it. Then Chris kept talking about it. Then I kept snapping at Chris telling him, “I haven’t read it yet, stop talking about it!” Then Chris would forget I said that and start to talk about it again … well you get the picture.
So Saturday afternoon I decided to sit down and read. And yes, it’s that quick that if you don’t take a three hour nap, you could probably finish it in one day (I finished it in the car Sunday as we drove to visit Becky for her birthday), and yes you will be compelled to pick up the very next book in the series, Catching Fire right away (luckily, I’d bought the trilogy for my Kindle, right off the bat).
The story is told in first person by Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old resident of District 12 in a country called Panem built on the remains of collapsed North America at some point in the future. More plot than that, I’m really not going to talk about for fear of spoiling it for anyone else.
I will say I did enjoy the book. It’s an incredibly fast read. Katniss is likable (though maybe a bit dense at times) and I found the other characters that affect her life, distinctly drawn for as much as they interact with her. I guess what I mean, those closest to her are clearest in my mind which you would expect from first person narrative. Katniss is not omniscient and therefore neither is the reader. We don’t have full insight into the motivations of others, nor do we have full understanding of the history of Panem or the current country, which while frustrating to me (I like understanding the mythology of these created worlds), it absolutely makes sense given the narrative. I’m hoping more will be revealed to Katniss and thus to the reader in the subsequent books. Though I will say, I’m about half-way through the second, and knowledge is given out in small doses, probably why I keep reading…
That and because now Chris keeps asking, “What part are you at?” like every five minutes.
I gotta finish these soon.