IThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Book #4: A Young Adult Bestseller

I’m not above reading YA. I believe that sometimes people disregard YA novels because they are too juvenile. You could not make a bigger mistake. Generally speaking, YA isn’t full of fancy language. It’s just easy reading & generally captivating. Since I had bought Hunger Games sometime back on the recommendation of pretty much everyone in the world, and I feel like I’m the last person left in the universe to read it, I figured I’d better hop to it. That, and because I’d broken the cardinal rule of all readers everywhere, & watched the movie a couple of years ago. That’s right, before I ever cracked the spine on the book. One of the guys at work, who never reads anything at all, even commented that it was the only book he’d ever read cover to cover for pleasure (not assigned school reading). So it HAD to be good.

I found it spellbinding from the get go. I was thankful for the explanation early in the novel of how Panem, their country, came to be because I never understood that from the movie. Furthermore, Katniss’s homeland, District 12, is the Appalachians. So she’s even more near & dear to my heart. “To the everlasting credit of the people of District 12…they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong.” Because they don’t have freedom of speech. America as we know it was dissolved eons ago. Katniss, flying in a hovercraft to her destination thinks, “This is what the birds see. Only they’re free & safe. The very opposite of me.” Birds are used throughout for parallelism, symbolizing several different people to Katniss, serving as a messenger, & a source of luck, almost.

While most of the book is grim, there are several heart lifting lines. Early on, you see Katniss’s softer side. She lets her sister keep a bedraggled tomcat, even though he’s just another mouth to feed. Buttercup becomes a protector of sorts to Prim. “I’m so glad I didn’t drown him,” Katniss admits. She’s riddled with guilt throughout the entire novel about this, that, & the other. However, she is nothing if not sensible. “I rank music somewhere between hair ribbons & rainbows in terms of usefulness. At least a rainbow gives you a tip about the weather.” Katniss has definite ideas for sure. She says if upon winning the Games, the winner “will be given a lot of useless plaques & everyone will have to pretend they love us.” Sounds a bit familiar, hmmm?

The storyline kinda puts you in the mind of Lord of the Flies, especially early in the arena when the career tributes are traveling as a pack. Then it’s like Survivor as everyone hunts & gathers & just tries to make it out alive. Luckily, our protagonist has skills (earned from breaking the law repeatedly just scavenging for food to survive) & is a hunter in the truest sense of the word. In her last conversation with her hunting partner, he says that the arena will not be much different from hunting outside District 12’s fence, & Katniss thinks to herself, “The awful thing is that if I can forget they’re people, it will be no different at all.” Can you imagine hunting alone in unfamiliar woods? At night? For PEOPLE?? “Everything has an unfamiliar slant to it. As if the daytime trees & flowers & stones had gone to bed & sent slightly more ominous versions of themselves to take their places.”

I’m not sure if everyone does this, but I find myself trying to seek out things in common with the characters. With Haymitch there were some obvious traits I could relate to. Peeta says, “I don’t think people in general are his sort of thing.” As far as Katniss goes…well, pickin’s were slim, I’m no warrior. I didn’t find much besides our mutual dislike for coffee: “it tastes bitter & thin to me”. I laughed out loud when she describes how she feels about her makeover people: “They’re such idiots. And yet, in an odd way, I know they’re sincerely trying to help me.” You can sympathize, all this grandeur & waste she’s amid now, after she’s scraped & struggled for everything she’s ever had at home. Haymitch, when not plastered, is quite beneficial. He cuts straight to the truth: “‘You’ve got about as much charm as a dead slug.’”

Katniss knows she’s no beauty queen & has about as much chance faking it as a fox in a henhouse. “This day belongs to Cinna. He’s my last hope. Maybe he can make me look so wonderful, no one will care what comes out of my mouth.” And he does; he works magic. Katniss becomes known as The Girl on Fire, a stunning description of her in the breathtaking dress she wears in the Capitol. Cinna also coaches her for her interview. “I can see that he’s been talking to Haymich. That he knows how dreadful I am.” But she sails through with flying colors. “I’m giggling, which I think I’ve done maybe never in my lifetime.” So Katniss becomes likable to Panem. And I think, in this way, being truthful, she becomes likable to us as well. “And there I am, blushing & confused, made beautiful by Cinna’s hands, desirable by Peeta’s confession, tragic by circumstance, & by all accounts, unforgettable.”

Honestly, I couldn’t help it; my favorite character was Effie Trinkett. Anyone with pink hair is ok by me  And, she delivers the best line in the book: “‘See, like this. I’m smiling at you even though you’re aggravating me.’” Pretty sure she is descended from the southern belles of cotton plantations.

If you’re cautious about what your children read, know that this one is clean. Even though there is violence & a lot of kissin’ goin’ on, it never alludes to anything more serious. I don’t have a problem recommending it to anyone, young OR adult. There’s many good things to be said about this book, & it deserves its bestselling status.

Amy Johnson, Guest Blogger in Residence 2016 Book #4 of 52