[Book Review] The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

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, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Collins delivers equal parts suspense and philosophy, adventure and romance, in this searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present.

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Quick PSA before I start: because it's been over a decade since these books were published (and like I said, seven years since the first movie premiered) I may get a bit spoiler-y in this review. I try to stay away from spoilers most of the time, but feel like it's okay in situations like this where the books were such a huge phenomenon and franchise. But, if you're still avoiding spoilers because you just haven't gotten to this series yet, know that I loved it and I highly recommend it.

I haven't read this book in over seven years. The last time I read it was in the movie theater, I was finishing up the last chapter while sitting near my fiancé (boyfriend at the time) and friends as we were waiting for The Hunger Games movie to start it's midnight premiere. I was motivated to read it because of two things, one being the announcement of the prequels. We don't have a lot of information just yet but I am really excited about them. And the second being that there is this new TikTok trend of creating Hunger Games original characters and it made me really miss the characters and story. However, because it's been so long, and like anyone in a seven year span I have changed not only as a person but a reader I was honestly a little worried I wouldn't like this book as much as I did when I was younger. And although I'm sure I gave it five stars the first time (granted, I was super lenient with my star ratings) the aspects I disliked now versus then is far smaller than the aspects I picked up more as an adult and loved. So I am so glad that I loved this book maybe even more than I did before. 

"May the odds be ever in your favor!"

Katniss is a character I've always admired, but I have noticed she gets made fun of more in the last few years and I am not sure when that started becoming really popular. Maybe it's more the movie version of Katniss (granted, I think Jennifer Lawrence did a fantastic job, so that seems off too) but re-reading The Hunger Games as a grown adult made me admire her more than ever. I forgot how young she was when her dad died, and how she basically had to force herself to become the sole provider of the family because of her mom's depression. She had to not only keep her family alive by learning to hunt and trade at The Hob, but she also had to hide the severity of her mother's illness and make sure both her and her sister looked taken care of and presentable. Otherwise, the government would take them away from their mother put them in a children's home. That is so much pressure for a young girl to handle, while also dealing with the death of her father and losing her mother in the process. And in the end, she obviously does a good job because her mother starts becoming herself a little more each day until she becomes a respectable healer for District 12, and Prim is not only as healthy as she can be in the world they live in, but she is learning to become a healer from her mom. Without Katniss, who knows what would have happened to Prim and their mom, but with her their family is alive. Sure, they're still struggling like everyone is in the district but they're surviving. I think because Katniss has had this enormous responsibility for so long even she can forget that she's still just a kid. There's one scene in particular that honestly made my heart ache for her. She's in The Capitol and after helping this Avox girl pick up a mess that she kind of caused the girl tucks Katniss into bed and for a moment Katniss wishes that the girl could stay by her side until she fell asleep. And in that moment I realized that for the first time in years she doesn't have to take care of anyone else but herself, and focusing on yourself can be hard when you're used to putting yourself at the bottom of a priority list.

Peeta is a character I've always really liked, I think it's because he's softer than Katniss and I liked their dynamic. The way they banter and bicker but obviously learn to care and rely on each other when honestly at times they shouldn't. Because we are in Katniss's point of view the entire book (and series), the reader isn't sure if we can fully trust Peeta, but there's always a little hope that he is on our side and I think that is done really well. He is so selfless, and although it's hard to see that through Katniss's eyes because she always expects people to want something for her after doing her a favor because hand outs aren't something that happens often in a desperate place like District 12. Katniss has harbored a lot of negative feelings towards Peeta for a long time, not only for the bread he gives her resulting in her feeling like she owes him, but also because his family never needed to hunt for food. She always assumed he had a soft life, bread and food ready for him and his family whenever they wanted. When she learns that Peeta's family almost exclusively ate the bread that was burnt, stale, or unwanted by customers it gave Katniss a new perspective. She realized how depressing it must be to only have stale and hard bread instead of fresh food like her family often had because of her hunting skills. Peeta's family may have never needed to wonder where their next meal would come from like her family often did in harsh winters, but at least for the most part when they had food it was fresh and tasty. It shows that most of the citizens in District 12 (and other districts probably, but since Katniss is from 12 that is what we are focused on) are struggling to survive and you don't know what someone is going through by looking at them. I think putting that into perspective was so interesting and important for Katniss.

 "So instead of acknowledging applause, I stand there unmoving while they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong."

When the movie came out I never really understood the outrage behind the film changing how Katniss gets the mockingjay pin. But now, re-reading it I feel like I understand why people were so upset because getting it from Madge felt different somehow. The pin was originally owned by Maysilee Donner, Madge's aunt and one of the dead tributes of the 50th Hunger Games, which is the same Hunger Games that Haymitch was the victor. It all comes full circle in a way, since Haymitch becomes Katniss's mentor and helps her basically spark a revolution. Between the story of how the mockinjay was created mixed with the significance of the Mayor's daughter passing this pin (a family token) to Katniss feels more powerful than Katniss finding it at The Hob, giving it to Prim, who then gives it back to Katniss. I understand that movies have to make changes and cuts because it's a different form of storytelling, but I also understand the outrage.

Of course, I love so many of the characters in this story, but I think one that will always stand out is Cinna. I love him so much. He is so good to Katniss and he truly believes in her and that just feels so good to see. I know a lot of the characters believe in Katniss but I think the majority of those people believe in her because of their perception of her and what/who they want her to be. But Cinna sees Katniss as Katniss and I love him for it. 

"Destroying things is much easier than making them."

The writing is the weakest point of the book for me. There are good parts of the writing, don't get me wrong, but I did find a lot of grammatical errors and typos and despite being an English major I am really bad at finding them a lot of the time. So when I do, you know it's an obvious one. The writing often felt choppy and although it isn't awful, it was noticeable enough for me to point it out. I think my least favorite part of the writing is more story based, and that's the love triangle. I know that love triangles were more popular when this book came out, but re-reading it, Gale seems like an unnecessary love interest and I preferred him more as her childhood best friend. I'm not just saying that because I prefer Peeta. I just think the romance plot got a bit out of hand. Having this teenage girl (who just watched multiple people die, some by her own hands) be consumed with her emotions for Gale when she is on the way home after an ordeal like the Hunger Games seemed super out of place and out of character. She never saw Gale like that before, but now that Peeta shows genuine interest she's thinking of Gale? I think that the romance between her and Peeta in the games made sense, she was trying to survive. But Katniss never seemed like someone who cared about relationships, so it felt shoehorned in so we could have a love triangle. However, I do understand  Peeta's frustration and hurt when realizing that Katniss was pretending in the games when it came to her feelings for him. She did what she had to do in order to keep them alive. I think her being unsure of her feelings for him because she isn't sure of what was real or what was forced in the moment works really well with the "real or not real" moment between them in the final book. I think people having theories and head cannons of her being asexual make sense, but because it's not strictly stated I don't see it as representation. 

Overall, I am so excited that I re-read this and I already know when I am reading the sequel! I plan on re-watching the movies after each book too, because it's been far too long since I've watched them. I also cannot wait for the prequel books to come out! It's been so long since we've had a new Hunger Games book and to be able to see what happened in a previous Hunger Game sounds so cool. 

Thanks for reading!