Book - The Hunger Games, $5 on Amazon, average rated 4.5/5 stars
My Rating - 3/5. An entertaining book but not worth the money.
Review in a nutshell - An entertaining but shallow and unsatisfying book of static characters and a predictable plot.
My Thoughts - Overview
I've been so excited to read Hunger Games after hearing about it for a while, and the release of the movie really pushed me over the edge, as I didn't want talk about the movie to ruin the book for me. I was pleasantly surprised to find Hunger Games on the Amazon Prime lending library, so I got to read it for free! I was surprised at how short the book was (only around 350 pages), so it didn't take long to read - around 5 hours over two days. For the most part, Hunger Games moves at an incredibly fast pace (it needs to, for such a short novel!), so it really wasn't hard to sit and read for a couple of hours. I just finished it last night, but I hate to say it, but I'm disappointed, so disappointed. I'm disappointed in, especially because of the intrigue and complexity of the premise, the utter simplicity of the plot. I was actually so disappointed that I couldn't sleep last night, just sort of fuming at how shallow and predictable the book is and imagining alternate, more exciting storylines. I know this review is overwhelmingly negative, but the book was actually enjoyable - it's just that I had much greater expectations for such a best seller. To put it into movie(ish) terms, I was expecting a book on the caliber of The Prestige, but what I got was Transformers (or any other Michael Bay film). Similar to how The Invention of Lying and Stranger than Fiction started with great premises but eroded into chickflicks, Hunger Games built up an amazing premise but eroded into a merely action book. Hunger Games is still a good book that's worth reading, but in the end, it's just intense action without a deeper plot, unconvincing characters without much personality - an entertaining book without much intellectual substance.
My thoughts are below, after this ginormous spoilers warning for anyone who hasn't yet read the book or seen the movie.
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW. LIKE. TONS OF THEM.
If you haven't already watched the movie or read the book, don't read any more of this post!!
There's so many things I can start ranting about. But I'll start with my favorite part of the book, which should set up my other points on why the book was a total letdown.
What I liked
My favorite part of the book was without a doubt Part 1 of the book, from the very beginning all the way until the beginning of the Games. Here, we get a glimpse into the crazy weird society and government that is Panem, and we see the cruel injustice of Capitol on the Districts. We learn the interesting history of the rebellion of the Districts, and we start to get the picture of how power-hungry yet insecure Capitol is. We see through Katniss' eyes the stark contrast between District 12 and Capitol - the contrast bet and how all the poverty in the Districts is really unnecessary. Like Katniss and Peeta, we start to build a real hatred for Capitol, the Careers, and even the Gamemakers, and along with Peeta, we think of a way that the tributes could possibly upset the system and bring it to destruction. I absolutely loved that the Hunger Games was clearly presented as not only a gladiator fight, but a real symbol of injustice.
What I didn't like
The Predictability
The predictability of the book is easily my top complaint against Hunger Games. The only time I was actually shocked was when Primrose's name was pulled from the orb, but after watching the trailer for the new movie, even that won't be a shock to anyone. The predictability of the story is really just a result of the over-simplicity of the plot and the lack of character development throughout the novel.
Katniss' Victory
I don't think anyone in the history of the world reading Hunger Games thought that Katniss was going to die. Not only was the book written in first person (making her death somewhat more improbable), we also know that the Hunger Games is part of a trilogy, making Katniss' death even more improbable. When you're reading a book about a person trying to survive against all odds and have this feeling that she's going to survive, a lot of the edge of reading the book disappears. When the Careers almost caught up with her and forced her up the tree, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that she was going to escape. When Chace had wounded Katniss, I didn't for a second think that she would die. She had gotten this far, why would the author kill her off now, especially by a character she barely developed? This certainty of her survival really made the book less exciting, and I secretly wished that she actually would die, just to make the book a little bit more surprising and more interesting. And as it turns out, Peeta didn't die either, but could anyone really see Katniss killing Peeta after reading the first part of the book? Also, did anyone not think that the Gamemakers were going to force the remaining two people to kill each other? Child, please. Tricks are for kids.
Static Characters
A lot of the predictability of the book stems from the lack of development of any of its characters. I absolutely hate that the characters in the book stay the same from the beginning of the book to the end. Katniss is stubborn and cold from the beginning to the end of the book. Peeta was soft and caring. Cato was angry and hateful. Foxface is sly and resourceful. Rue was shy and innocent. There's no betrayal and similarly no surprising acts of kindness. The "good" characters in the book stay good, and the "bad" characters in the book stay bad. The characters you like from the beginning you continue to like, and the characters you dislike, you continue to dislike.How much more interesting would it have been if Rue turned out to actually be cold-hearted and betrays Katniss by taking all of her supplies and leaving her for dead? What if Peeta, seeing how close the end is, decides to let Katniss kill herself and be the lone victor? How much more interesting would it have been if Cato turned out actually help Katniss survive in with his dying breath? Every character in the book was a cookie-cutter character, doing exactly what you expect them to and not doing anything that would surprise you. To me, the only characters that actually show any sign of development are Haymitch and Effie Trinket. But in the arena? No one did anything unexpected or out of their percieved character, which obviously leads to predictability.
Allow me to rant a little bit - Is anyone else annoyed at how stupid the tributes seem to be in that they lack any critical thinking skills at all? Katniss especially, simply because we get to peek inside of her brain, seems quite...stupid. At what point did you say when you were reading the book, "Wow. That was really smart. I never would have thought of doing that?" Only one time in the entire book was I surprised by the intellect of Katniss - when she was about die of water and wondering why Haymitch still hadn't sent her any aid and she realized that she must already be near water. That's it. She's frustratingly slow about Peeta's feelings about her, and really doesn't seem to be able to come up with a clever plan for anything (her plan with Rue was elementary. You or I could have thought of that).
Hand in hand with this seeming stupidity of the tributes is the seeming fact that the tributes don't experience the same emotions, behaviors, or thought processes as regular human beings do. It seemed like Katniss was really angry that Peeta joined the Careers, but why didn't she ask him about it when they were in the cave together? Why is it that neither Katniss nor any of the other tributes seem to feel any real remorse or trauma after killing people? Why is it that none of the tributes refuse to fight? Why is it none of the tributes commit suicide in utter despair and fear of a worse death? Maybe my examples aren't the best. But just think (like I'm sure anyone reading the book has) - "If I was thrown into the hunger games and wanted to get back at the Capitol, what would I do?" Maybe your strategy will be to stick with the other tribute from your District. Maybe you'll convince the other kids from the poor districts to stick together and fight the Careers together. Or maybe if you're really defiant, you just kill yourself to refuse to give Capitol what they want (I actually thought that is what Peeta was going to do).
The Length of the Arena Fight/Survival Portion
Starting from where I left off before, I had thought that Katniss and Peeta weren't only going to fight the other tributes -they were going to fight Capitol....except they didn't. The majority of the book was spent inside the Arena, as Katniss was simply just struggling to survive...for 150 pages. As an action-movie lover, this may surprise you, but I thought that the time spent inside the Arena was too lengthy in comparison with the entire book. With the suspicion that Katniss was going to win, it really wasn't an issue of "if" but "when". As we followed the tributes get killed one by one, it just felt like a countdown to when the Games would finally be over and Katniss would be victor. Thinking about it, I'm sort of reminded of the movie 12 Rounds, where John Cena has 12 tasks that he needs to complete or else the villain will kill his wife. The tests he goes through are pretty interesting, but it gets kind of dull and repetitive halfway through those tasks. Similarly, the whole Arena thing got kind of dull and repetitive around halfway through, when it became abundantly clear that most of what Katniss was going to do was simply run, hide, and survive. I get it. The author was trying to convey the length and the brutality of the whole matter. The author was trying to convey that the Games actually lasted around two weeks, and she wanted the reader to be as anxious for the end of the Games as much as Katniss was. In reality, the number of pages the author spent on the Games wasn't actually that much, but it was the whole repitition and dullness of it all (and all the other reasons that I've described) that made it seem much lengthier than it really was. I get it. It's just never a good sign when your best-selling book is compared to a John Cena movie.
In this middle part of the book, the only enjoyment I found in reading wasn't to see if Katniss was going to stay alive (I knew she was), but to see how she would stay alive, kind of like watching an episode of Man vs. Wild. With the end result already figured out, it really just became the journey that I had to be entertained by. I had also obviously hoped that she and Peeta would remember their hatred of Capitol and think of something to do about it. To me, this is the biggest conflict in the book, not that of the tributes against each other. Too bad the author refuses to address it (minimally) until after the Games are over.
The Ending
Lack of a "Bigger Picture"
After the movie 12 Rounds, John Cena, along with all of the viewers, realize that the villain wasn't actually just trying to make Cena do 12 pointless tasks, but that there was a bigger picture to the details they had been focusing on. I had really expected something like that to happen in this book. I expected Katniss to leave the Arena and have some bigger realization about the situation at hand. I had thought throughout reading the book that massive things were going on behind the scenes that Katniss just couldn't see, and that after winning the games, she would realize what had been going on the entire time she was in the arena. This suspicion of mine is from the constant attention Katniss pays to the Gamemakers, the viewers, and basically the outside world. She makes a lot of assumptions about Haymitch and her sponsers and Capitol that I had hoped would be disproven in some way. Maybe she would leave the Arena and realize that the Hunger Games were fixed. Maybe she would learn that Haymitch was a rebel of some sort. Maybe there was a rebellion happening out in Panem, but she didn't know about it. But there was none of that. The entire book had the feeling of the entire stage being frozen except wherever Katniss was. The entire world was static and was unchanged whenever Katniss went back
Unanswered Questions...that will probably stay unanswered
Unanswered questions are obviously a great way to end a book that has sequels, but the problem I have with these unanswered questions is that they probably won't be answered in the next book. Even if they are, their application and relevance is immediate. Some of the questions that were burning in my mind as I was reading about her time in the arena - What's going to happen after she wins? Who are her sponsors, and how are they significant? Did she interpret Haymitch's gifts correctly? How did Thresh die? How were those dog beasts related to the dead tributes? The book refuses to answer any of the many questions that were raised in my mind in the arena and just goes on to pursue overly simply plot lines - the friendzone with Peeta and the "anger" of the Capitol. Neither of these are addressed properly, as the book, along with the train carrying the the tributes back home, comes to an abrupt halt.
Conclusion
I enjoyed reading Hunger Games. I really did. I wouldn't have finished reading it in a couple of days if I didn't. But it's the same kind of enjoyment I get from reading Redwall or Harry Potter - a simple, mindless sort of enjoyment. Maybe my expectations were just too high for a 350-page book, or maybe I've just been too heavily influenced from reading the epics of A Song of Ice and Fire. Either way, I was disappointed in the over-simplicity of the plot, the lack of character development, the static nature of the universe and the lack of parallel storylines, and the failure to address the real, huge conflict that the first part of the book seemed to have been building up to. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, and I really hope that some of those bigger, more interesting issues (like the injustice and iron fist of the Capitol on the Districts) will be addressed. I hope the characters are more interesting, the plot is more involved and complex, and I hope the ending won't be a cop-out.
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