Book 1

Experiencing the book

The Hunger Games is set in a post modern yet medieval backdrop about a country under dictatorship. The autocracy forces its subjects to nominate 2 children from each district and forces a free-for-all battle-to-death with the last remaining child, declared as victor. They call it “The Hunger Games” and consider it as entertainment at it’s peak. The story follows Katniss, a girl from one of the districts, who finds herself competing and ultimately winning them too. The book follows her journey as narrated by her. From her days in the past with her now-deceased father, her complicated relationship with her hunting partner, Gale to the time right after she has won the Hunger Games and her complicated relationship with her fellow co-victor, Peeta.

For me, Hunger Games has been an emotional roller-coaster. The story starts sobby, it feels dull and depressing and for the sake of it too. Capitol is made the symbol of hatred and the author is not soft about it. This continues for a large chunk of first third of the book.

The second third is what solely carries the book for me! It is when Katniss reaches the Capitol as the chosen one and witnesses morally grey characters like Cinna and Cladius Templesmith. The world feels more believable, like something larger is at play here. The best moments are when Peeta describes his desire to die as himself and that Capitol cannot take away that from him…The games are also great for the most parts. They are high thrill, high reward events are clearly meant to be the climax.

The final third of the book, right after Rue’s death, again starts feeling slightly superficial. There is a thick plot armor around the protagonists and yet they are more in their heads than on the battlefields. Even the ending suffers from the same fate in my brutally honest opinion. The ending is a cliffhanger leading up to book 2 of the series.

The theme it revolves around

Hunger Games is a dark, brutal, dystopian novel still aimed at early-teens. It tries to tackle few difficult concepts like bleak oppression, war mindset and strategic advantages. However, one of the central themes of it seems to be a love-triangle between the protagonist’s friend back at home and her current colleague…a romantic subplot beaten to its death in the industry. This is not particularly a bad trope, however in context of this book and this backdrop feels like a huge missed opportunity, almost like visiting a buffet and just stuffing yourself with one type of dish to the brim.

The thoughts I had during and after completing it

The book is thrilling. It is a fast-paced action. It keeps you to the edge of the seat by the end of almost all of the chapters, even the last one. However, at each point of time I kept thinking about the wasted potential at the back of my mind. The world of Panem is interesting. I wanted to know more about it but the story keeps leading farther away from it. After completing the book, I have a bitter aftertaste. The middle third of the book gave a glimpse of how good the book could have been. I raised my hopes and expectations which probably has resulted in a slightly negative outtake of the book.

Negatives

Unfortunately there are a bunch of them. I have covered how it was a big missed opportunity in the earlier sections, so I do not dwell over that one. I judge the book for what it is, and not what it could have been.

To begin with, I believe that the author is a great character builder, but a remarkably poor world builder. She fails to describe Panem well but does a good job with Katniss, Petaa, Gale, Haymitch, Prim. I am more of a fan of world building, soft world building so the book ends up feeling slightly undercooked for my taste.

Furthermore, I do not like the protagonist, Katniss, all that much. I find her to be too much into her head. She is amazing at reflexes and acumen, but when it comes to pro-active actions, she falls flat. I found her bearable mostly when she was reacting rather than taking lead herself. This particular decision may be to target young female audience who represent the largest population of readers, but personally, falls flat for me.

Finally, I despised the fact that Peeta is literally turned into “lover-boy”. He was my favorite character midway. He was complex and multi-dimensional. He understood where he stood in the brutal world he was put in. Towards the end? Towards the end, he is nothing but a rival to Gale. A pawn in the grand game of Katniss and Haymitch. This fall from grace has hurt the most.

Ratings: 5/10

I ain’t even big on dresses but the way the author described it, even I wanted to wear Katniss’ pre-games interview skirt and twirl. We all need a Cinna in our lives don’t we?