Book Review - The Hunger Games
What with the movie coming out and my sister having two of the books I thought I'd finally give them a try.
The best review I feel I can give THG is this - it feels like forever since a book grabbed me, yanked me in and kept me reading into the wee hours of the night. I mean, sure, I've been reading stuff that I enjoyed, but not to the point where I stayed up until one in the morning to get to the end and find out what happens because it's so exciting I can't put it down and, oh noes, something's happening and are they going to live and, and, and...! Yeah, I think you get the picture. One part even made me misty eyed, which books rarely do to me.
To highlight some of the likes: definitely the characterization, because characterization makes or breaks a book for me and these characters had substance. I understood their motivations, their decisions, why they thought and acted like they did, and without wanting to strangle them at any point. It was one of those stories that managed to established the characters pretty quick and pretty simply, which I'm always insanely jealous of.
The story did some interesting things. The "romantic" aspect, for example, which is all I'll say but if you've read the books then you know what I'm talking about. I found it fascinating.
Action, adventure, tension and darkness mingled with a little hope.
My only nit is that I didn't really get the sense of "starvation always looming." Yes, the story did a good job of telling us the sundry ways in which the threat of starvation is an issue, but between all the hunting and trading and Prim having a goat it was hard to see what the big deal was. Compounding this was how healthy everyone around Katniss seemed. It's pretty much Katniss and her family monopolizing words like "small" or "thin" or "hollow" while those around them are tall or broad or "built like an ox," most especially where the boys are concerned, and this made me rather twitchy at times. For example, from what I know about malnutrition it can cause things like stunted growth, and yet Katniss' friend is described as six feet tall and someone who looks almost like a man. At one point Katniss is heading toward emaciation while Peeta, who's been sick and unable to get food, is merely less stocky than he was.
Which is probably an issue that didn't bother anyone else, but it bugged me. I would have liked to have "seen" more of the starvation issue. Maybe Gale not being all that tall, or Peeta stocky and strong until they see those from the healthier districts and, suddenly, Peeta isn't looking so big. Little indications dropped here and there that the poorer districts are suffering. But it's mostly Katniss that is the focus of the starvation issues (it's also a bit of a pet peeve of mine when it feels like an author is harping on girls = skinny and boys = big, strong and muscular and that's the way it is and ever will be, despite the circumstances within the story saying otherwise).
But it's actually a small complaint in the grand scheme of the story. Any other time, it would have been enough to get me to set the book aside, but the story kept hold of me tight enough that I was able, for the most part, to ignore it and focus on the story. And that should say it all, because it doesn't take much to get me to set a story down and never pick it up again.
The best review I feel I can give THG is this - it feels like forever since a book grabbed me, yanked me in and kept me reading into the wee hours of the night. I mean, sure, I've been reading stuff that I enjoyed, but not to the point where I stayed up until one in the morning to get to the end and find out what happens because it's so exciting I can't put it down and, oh noes, something's happening and are they going to live and, and, and...! Yeah, I think you get the picture. One part even made me misty eyed, which books rarely do to me.
To highlight some of the likes: definitely the characterization, because characterization makes or breaks a book for me and these characters had substance. I understood their motivations, their decisions, why they thought and acted like they did, and without wanting to strangle them at any point. It was one of those stories that managed to established the characters pretty quick and pretty simply, which I'm always insanely jealous of.
The story did some interesting things. The "romantic" aspect, for example, which is all I'll say but if you've read the books then you know what I'm talking about. I found it fascinating.
Action, adventure, tension and darkness mingled with a little hope.
My only nit is that I didn't really get the sense of "starvation always looming." Yes, the story did a good job of telling us the sundry ways in which the threat of starvation is an issue, but between all the hunting and trading and Prim having a goat it was hard to see what the big deal was. Compounding this was how healthy everyone around Katniss seemed. It's pretty much Katniss and her family monopolizing words like "small" or "thin" or "hollow" while those around them are tall or broad or "built like an ox," most especially where the boys are concerned, and this made me rather twitchy at times. For example, from what I know about malnutrition it can cause things like stunted growth, and yet Katniss' friend is described as six feet tall and someone who looks almost like a man. At one point Katniss is heading toward emaciation while Peeta, who's been sick and unable to get food, is merely less stocky than he was.
Which is probably an issue that didn't bother anyone else, but it bugged me. I would have liked to have "seen" more of the starvation issue. Maybe Gale not being all that tall, or Peeta stocky and strong until they see those from the healthier districts and, suddenly, Peeta isn't looking so big. Little indications dropped here and there that the poorer districts are suffering. But it's mostly Katniss that is the focus of the starvation issues (it's also a bit of a pet peeve of mine when it feels like an author is harping on girls = skinny and boys = big, strong and muscular and that's the way it is and ever will be, despite the circumstances within the story saying otherwise).
But it's actually a small complaint in the grand scheme of the story. Any other time, it would have been enough to get me to set the book aside, but the story kept hold of me tight enough that I was able, for the most part, to ignore it and focus on the story. And that should say it all, because it doesn't take much to get me to set a story down and never pick it up again.