The Hunger Games
Pages: 374
Publisher: Scholastic Publication Date: September 14, 2008
SUMMARY
This dystopian tale focuses on teenage Katniss Everdeen and her fight for survival in the gruesome Hunger Games. Katniss resides in Panem, where the countries are split up into twelve different sectors. Katniss and her family inhabit district twelve, the most deficient of the divisions. Once every year, an annual reaping takes place, claiming the lives of two children to battle to the death in a televised tournament alongside twenty-two fellow tributes.
REVIEW
My overall review for this novel is one star out of five. I am well aware that this is a beloved book of many, and I am happy that so many people love this book and its follow-ups. Unfortunately, I didn't see the hype everyone witnessed in this novel. But just because I didn't enjoy this novel does not in any way dignify that it is terrible. This novel just wasn't the right choice for me.
CHARACTERS
The characters were a major let-down. I could not grow a formal bond with any of these characters. It felt that they were well hidden behind a brick wall. I had an excruciatingly difficult time connecting with our main character Katniss. Katniss offered no supplementation regarding personal mentality. I only saw Katniss as a "Warrior", I found all of her emotions to be completely closed off, along with little support to a background that gave insight to a deeper side of her. Moving on to our "love" interest Peeta Mallarck; I didn't found him to be much better. Following Katniss' lead, Peeta appeared to be immune to background building and personal traits. I strongly felt that I didn't have the ability to grasp the actual Peeta, alongside Katniss. As for the other tributes, I found the majority of them to be white noise. I didn't have the time or the ability to form an actual bond with any of them because of the realistic weight of the competition.
PLOT
I had major issues with he plot. There was no background building at all regarding the reason for the Hunger Games, or the motive the capital had for investing in such a daring conquest. As for the actual event, I found the battle to be dull and monotonous. The action became profoundly blended to the point where I as the reader received no evident shock or emotion from the chaos emitting from the scenes. All of the scenes had the same monotonous feel to it that it became repetitive after a short while.
WRITING STYLE
Evidently, Collins writing style wasn't the right pick for me. I found her writing to be eerily dreary and dull for the entirety of the novel. Collins writing didn't necessarily speak out to me in a different countenance then other dystopian writers have; other then the fact then it being a bit more slow and tedious in my personal opinion.
P.O.V
Katniss, in my state of mind, didn't live up to her duty as a successful narrator. I truly felt that she could have done a better job of reaching out to her audience a bit more; along with building a better backdrop for her personal life. I also felt her world building skills were lacking in detail, I found her short lived description of the reason behind the Hunger Games to be less then satisfactory.
CONCLUSION
While my experience with The Hunger Games wasn't ideal, that does not make it a terrible novel. It just so happened that in this circumstance, this novel isn't of my preferred reading taste. But I am happy for those who were enlightened by this novel, and wish all of you good luck on your future reading adventures. Thanks for reading. :)
