With all the hype about this book and the movie that recently came out, I finally decided to read the novel. I’ve already heard about the trilogy’s success last year, but I never felt the urge to find a copy. The idea of pitting 24 contestants in a fight to the death is forever cool, but having 12-18 year old kids compete puts me off. This would appeal to that age group, but the extreme violence and the oppressive Capitol reminds me of more adult themes.
Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I felt strained to continue reading. By the end of the novel, I had the impression that this was 2/5 action and 3/5 romance. This is definitely a girl’s book. I didn’t like the main character, Katniss. Sometimes she would be that hardcore, survivalist girl who cares about nothing but survival and despises her own mother, then in the middle of the action she’s this dreamy girl pondering her love triangle between the boy in the tournament and the boy back home. I did not understand many of her actions, but then again, maybe it’s because I’m a guy and girls are weird. I also didn’t like Peeta. Everything he does results in Katniss performing worse in the arena. I found it was only the romantic stuff that made him seem like an appealing guy.
To me, the whole timing of the story being told was a little off. Some parts I felt like were going too fast, while others I felt like were going too slow. The setting didn’t particularly interest me. The writing style was not uninteresting and the narrative was sub par. The introduction felt empty but many flashbacks later on would fill in the spaces. I felt, however, that these flashbacks were created more to explain the current situation than to fill in the history. The story begins about the Capitol and the districts and when you enter the arena, the rest of the world seemingly disappears. It was like an unrelated story jammed in the middle of a larger story. Being such a short book, it resulted in what I felt was an underdevelopment of the whole thing. The author should have written more to create a better picture, or just separated them.
I can understand why so many people enjoyed it so much though. It would have been a good read for younger teens and girls, but it just didn’t appeal to me. It felt too simple and it didn’t give me any lasting effect. Again, I did enjoy the story and I do want to know what happens in the next two books. However, I think I’ll just go with the plot summary on Wikipedia rather than spend my time on the books. I’ve heard mixed reviews on the movie, and because the book is always better than the movie I doubt I will watch it (I watched it, so read my movie review).
Rating: 3/5
[alert_danger] More analysis below, but includes spoilers! [/alert_danger]
From the start, I already had a strong feeling that this book was meant for girls. You meet Katniss, a very unfeminine girl who is forced to support her family and keep them from starvation. She despises her mother for failing to take care of them after their father’s death, and is adept at hunting. She’s a very empowering female character, but later on, I saw conflicting traits. Her stylist, Cinna, plays a pretty huge role in the story – mainly with the emotional support. All this guy should do is just dress her up all nice and pretty in the story, but he continues to reappear in important scenes for seemingly no reason. Also, a lot of time is spent on the scenes where Katniss is being dressed up. Her make-over is explained in great detail, and even the arena garments have an emotional effect on Katniss. The only reason I can think of is that girls really like looking pretty and having stylists. As I’ve mentioned before, there is a love triangle. Peeta is the quiet boy who suddenly emerges as the long time lover of Katniss, where Gale is the old friend she’s spent so many years with hunting in the forest. She is constantly thinking about Gale, and it is obvious she has affections for him, despite her saying that she doesn’t. Then Peeta is the one who has shown to be loyal and protective, even if it means endangering his life. But it’s like she forgets she is in the arena with death on her hands, and I am sitting here reading about her thinking about these guys and her feelings for them.
Haymitch, the drunkard mentor, suddenly overcomes his alcoholism in a split second. He is probably the most reasonable character in the book, but how he overcomes this alcoholism so quickly is a mystery. Effie Trinket, whom I thought would play a large role in symbolizing the Capitol and all its evil, ended up being on the protagonist’s side. Overall, it seemed like emphasis was placed in the wrong places. The meaningless stylist, Cinna, played such a large role while Effie could have had more potential and importance as an evil subordinate of the Capitol.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, the pacing of the story is a little off. I felt the introduction leading up to the reaping was too short. The training that took place before the games was a week, but it felt like 2 days. During the game itself (about 2 weeks), scenes where certain days and certain hours go by so fast it feels like only 4-5 days have passed. I wish the author had put in the time to make the long periods actually appear long to show how terrible the experience was, instead of skipping over them. The scenes where I particularly had no interest in, like the dressing up scenes or the times where she starts to think romantically, felt disproportionately long compared to the other scenes I felt could have had more written about them.
All in all, the story was good, but I didn’t like the way it was told.
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