Plot Summary: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before -- and survival.
(excerpt from the flyleaf summary)
I must admit that I did not find The Hunger Games as riveting and suspenseful as everyone claimed it to be. I did not find Collins' writing style particularly interesting, nor any of her literary images particularly beautiful or, for that case, unlike anything that I write in my creative writing. However, I do think that by the time I finally got around to reading Games, I had already heard too much about the plot, and my expectations were to high for the story to meet.
Although I found the concept of the Games themselves despicable, my entrance with Katniss into the arena was not filled with suspense, wonder or the worry as to which of Katniss' friends would die. The Games to me were simply another part of the story that I needed to read in order to finish the book.
Although the central plot line of The Hunger Games did not suit my fancy, the overall structure of the world that Collins created fascinated me. I find the parallels that Collins makes with past and present world history in her creation of the Panem wonderful, clever, and engrossing (although I still haven't identified what each district is supposed to represent). I much preferred Katniss' time at home in District 12, and the tension that is evident between Katniss and the Capitol than the adventurous slaughter of the Hunger Games. I thought that the structure of the Capitol and Districts was much more interesting, and had many more layers to it than the Games did. The part that the Games played in the taunting and ruling over the districts by the Capitol I thought was far more interesting than the duration of the Games themselves.
Another thing that annoyed me throughout the novel was Katniss' attitude towards Peeta and refusal to examine her feelings about him. I understand that she was unsure about how she felt about Peeta, and that her feelings towards Gale further confused her, but I wish that these feelings were not merely glossed over and occasionally examined throughout the story. I would have enjoyed the story more if Katniss' confusion in regard to her feelings was explored more deeply all in one sitting, or in a few sittings rather than thrown sparsely about the novel. If Collins' goal in writing this way to accommodate Katniss' literal lack of ability to examine herself emotionally, I wish that the protagonist's confusion would have been elaborated upon with more descriptions of what Katniss was feeling as she tried to scrutinize herself, or Katniss trying to figure out why she was experiencing such a lack of emotion. However, I do realize at this point that I may be asking too much of the character, or expecting too much emotional investigation from a book that is meant to be a combination of science fiction and fantasy.
Although I did not dislike The Hunger Games I did not find it the holy grail of new young adult fiction that everyone swore it was.
