The Hunger Games - Review
The Hunger Games, set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future, follows 16 year old Katniss Everdeen as, after having taken the place of her younger sister, she is forced to participate in a televised fight to the death against 23 other children for a brutal reality television show. The book, which has sold over a million copies in over 25 countries, has been hailed as one of the best books for young adults ever written.
In general, I tend to avoid the 'Young Adult' market. There is a certain writing style, a certain melodrama, certain cliche's, and a certain tendency to over-hype that tend to put me off most things marketed under that demographic. And when I first heard about The Hunger Games, it was because of these reasons that I ignored it at first. The hype surrounding it put me off, and also, I've got to say, the fact it was endorsed by Stephanie Meyer, who described the book as 'amazing'. When someone so famed for their literaturely prowess as Meyer describes something as 'amazing' then that is prooooobably not a good indication. So I put off reading it. But recently, the book was recommended to me, both by a friend in RL and friends online. And as I heard more about it, I've got to admit, my curiosity was aroused. It was an unusually dark theme to be covering in young adult fiction, and I was very interested to read it for myself.
The first thing I want to talk about in this review is the writing quality. The Hunger Games is often marketed as 'the best written book in decades'. It isn't. The writing quality is actually much more 'meh', bordering on crap in a few passages early on in the novel. The first two chapters read a bit like a mediocre fanfiction, both in terms of writing quality and how elements of the plot and the characters are introduced. The writing relies a bit to heavily on describing; it is very much along the lines of 'I said/he said/I did this/this happened/the room looked like this' ect. As a result, the first 3 chapters drag a bit, and to begin with I found it a little hard to take seriously. This book contains a lot of YA fiction/teen-action-novel cliche staples: within one chapter we already have an obvious future love interest introduced, confusing, broken references to the main character's tragic past, and I guess the main way to sum up the introduction of all these elements in the plot is as a little 'clumsy'.
However, once you get in to the second part of the book, and the actual games begin, then this descriptive style of writing really comes in to it's own: it matches perfectly to the genre of the novel, and the result is a book, that in it's majority atleast, is adrenaline fueled, incredibly suspenseful and very, very addictive. I read last two thirds of this book over the course of three days solid reading. Once you get in to the actual games, it really is impossible to put down.
And also regardless of anything else, The Hunger Games is quite simply the rare example of something that has a plot that is just so good it compensates for any shortcomings in regards to the writing quality. The Hunger Games is a brilliant novel. Unsettling, violent, dark, addictive, suspenseful, powerful and thought provoking, it is genuinely amongst the best books I have ever read. The premise of the novel, of a group of 24 children aged between 12 and 18 being made to kill each other for people's entertainment, is appalling, and makes this novel one of the most disturbing and thought provoking of recent years. The idea of children being taken from their families, trained to use weapons, put in awful conditions and made to kill each other while the world watches from a televison screen is terrifying and sickening. Especially terrifying since you put yourself in the shoes of the main character, and have to question what you would do if you were chosen for the games. You like to think that you would never be capable of the acts commited by the children in the novel, but I think if I was forced, deprived, desensitized, manipulated and terrified in to the same circumstances as these children, I think I would do the same. I think anyone would. And that is one of the things that I think is so unsettling about the novel to so many readers.
I didn't really get an awful lot from the main characters, but they were likable, unstereotyped leads. Katniss is a strong, resourceful and unique lead character, and Peeta, her fellow tribute from her district, is a brilliant example of a male character who is both physically strong, and kind and sensitive, with the latter not being treated as something that is at the expense of the former, as it unfortunately so typically would be in many action novels. I actually liked him more than Katniss. And I've got to admit I felt sorry for him at the end. He does seem like a really nice guy. There are other likable and interesting characters amongst the cast, such as Katniss and Peeta's mentors Haymitch and Effie, and Rue, a small, haunting, waif like 'tribute' (i.e. contestant) who Katniss befriends near the start of the games. You also can't help but hold a lot of curiosity towards the other 21 tributes, but, as was to be expected, you learn little about them, and their pasts, lives, or what they were like before they became tributes is never really revealed. Every one of them were people before they became contestants, which adds another level of sadness and tradegy to the awful nature of the games.
So overall, The Hunger Games was a brilliant, hard-hitting, addictive book which I really enjoyed reading and would really recommend. I really enjoyed my time reading the novel, and hope to read the next book in the triology soon. I'm also now quite interested to see the new movie adaptation at some point soon. I rate it a 8.5/10.