Yesterday I started reading The Hunger Games at 4pm and, with the exception of time out for when Syracuse was playing, I finished it at 1am. Wow. It was a fast moving, easy read, but also a very hard read. (I did dream about being the head of my own post apocalyptic world after trying to sleep so soon after finishing it – I was really gorgeous…but that’s another story.)
I spent all day today thinking about just how I felt about it. The story certainly is thought provoking, but it takes my mind in so many directions, I just couldn’t settle on just one. What I really liked was the subtle backstory between Katniss and her mom. I imagined that would continue in the second book. I just started the second book today and sure enough, it did. I figured since I couldn’t settle on one train of thought for book one, I’d go on to book two and give myself more time.
The book is well-written and the characters are portrayed with just the right amounts of good and evil, graced with mystery, always leaving the reader wanting more. I was skeptical about the all-ages thing, but it’s true – everyone will enjoy it from teens right on up. One thing I appreciated was Collins kept it mostly realistic – like this could happen and stayed away from too much paranormal like in the Twilight series. For me, that made the scary things even more scary. All the while I was reading I had a feeling of someone shaking their finger at us saying, “See! See what could happen if things don’t straighten up in this country?” Daunting. If you haven’t already seen the movie, or, even if you have, I highly recommend this read. I also love that it is a trilogy because I was definitely not ready to leave the characters behind at the end of the book. Too many questions left unanswered.
And so, as another day goes by, back to Catching Fire, wrangling with my thoughts, and…I have written.
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