The Hunger Games

On to the next work of fiction.... I am filling my break time quite well.  The Hunger Games hold the remarkable distinction of being one of the few works of fiction that Wendy and I both love.

SPOILER ALERT: Please stop reading here if you do not want to know about what happens in any of the three Hunger Games books.

Shelly lent me the series at the end of exam time, thus taking away the two excuses I had not to read them.   Within two pages, I thought, "I am Katniss Everdeen."  Then I decided this was just my projecting myself on the main character, which meant she was well-written.  When Wendy and I chatted about the books, she was 150 pages from the end; I was 50 pages.  And she told me that she basically thought Katniss was me.  At that moment, I knew Katniss and Peeta were going to end up together, although I'd been rooting for Gale.  Though, quite frankly, her eternally rationalized issues with authority are stronger evidence for our similarity than her romances.

Before I picked them up, I was worried that The Hunger Games would be another Harry Potter -- decent enough books, but not worth the hype; maybe even a little annoying.  Or worse, another Twilight -- four weekends of my life I will never get back from the land of poor writing, underdeveloped characters I don't like, and misplaced value systems (the value systems of Harry Potter are an entirely different discussion).  Instead, I found three new favorite books.

Reasons Why The Hunger Games Are Awesome:  They are well written.  They are young adult fiction and not the type of literature that will be taught in English classes in years to come, but the writing is good.

The characters are realistic. They are complex and don't behave as you want or expect.  I especially loved seeing into Katniss's head.  She has a great combination of selfless and loving on one hand, and selfish and self-focused on the other.  And she can't sort out the two.  Another way in which I had fellow feeling for her.  She also had a wonderful mix of being incredibly aware and oblivious of other characters' actions, feeling, and motivations.

The books ask big questions.  About  right and wrong in terms of individual actions and societal structures.  About personal responsibility and culpability.  The answers aren't simple, so the books make the reader think.

And finally, any book that can combine a heroine carrying a bow and arrow and the principles of MAD cannot but be awesome.