The story: I liked it. I didn't love it but I liked it. I can agree that it's a really interesting, albeit terrifying premise which was carried out in a believable (if that's the right word) way. In a nutshell the book is about a future dystopia where after the ice caps melt (they don't say this but imply it), and the world has been destroyed by plagues, war, poverty and numerous disasters which were probably mostly man made, there's only 12 districts left in America and a single powerful central government called the Capitol. Due to a failed uprising, the Capitol has decided to once a year take one boy and one girl from each district and pit them against each other in a fight for the death for their amusement and to show that they are the big power. Heroine Katniss is from the poorest district and not expected to last long, but yet she ends up showing much promise when there. Along the way she meets some interesting characters and adventures ensue.
What I liked: It is an interesting concept that I could potential see happening, not anytime soon mind you, but in those conditions it was believable. How someone from such a bad place could do so well is also very believable as you get to learn more about her. She has such anger at the Capitol and you really feel for how unfair and awful her situation is. There are a lot of great characters who I really want to learn more about and can only guess you do in the sequels. There's the previous winner from District 12 Haymitch who is always in a drunken stupor. The fantastic new designer Cinna who you can tell is trying to make a change for the better. My favorite by far though is Peeta, the boy from her district. He seems so honest and real and my god I'm in love with him. It's probably because of this that I can't say I love the book(see Spoilers below if so inclined).
What I didn't like: Katniss is the emotional anti me. She's a hunter and a fighter and therefore doesn't let herself feel to much. It's because of this that I could never relate to her. I do understand it, and I'm not saying she's a robot, cause she's not. She does care for her family and others she comes across but she's not warm and loving and she pisses me off. It's also a horribly depressing book. It's about kids being forced to fight to the death. So the only way they win is if everyone else dies. Including the people from the same district. Katniss and Peeta begin their training together and as they get closer they both have to remember they will need to kill each other in the ring. How awful is that? It took a lot of plot twists and forcing myself to finish the book and once I did, I didn't feel compelled to keep reading the sequels, even though I will give it my best shot.
Stop reading here if you want to be surprised by the book or movie.
Spoilers: aka stuff I want to bitch about candidly. This is pretty much just a continuation of what I didn't like. Peeta confesses his love for Katniss before the games begin to the audience. They play it off like it's a ploy to get sponsor support but oh my gosh it's obvious he does. Every action he's shown both after they were selected for the games and before proves it. He's a great guy and he's done so much for her and she friggin' breaks his heart. Not because she doesn't care for him, but because she doesn't care about anyone really. How the hell can you not be in love with Peeta? I'm a 27 year old married woman and I'm ready to run away with this fictitious 16 year old cake decorator. What makes matters worse is when they're working together she has to pretend to be madly in love with him and she does find comfort in it and is kinda confused about her feelings. Why doesn't she just give in to them? There's another boy named Gale back home who she's close to but they say right away that she doesn't see him in a romantic way. She outright addresses it as a guy who she sees as a brother and now there's supposed to be a love triangle between the 3? It'd be one thing if they never addressed it, but to say she didn't have those feelings for Gale and then suddenly she does out of nowhere? That's uncool. Stick to your established story! There is a certain bit of understanding that she doesn't want to ever get married and have a family because if she does she'd have a child that she'd be worried would end up as a Hunger Game competitor. But if she's stuck to living this lie, she might as well try to enjoy it. This is all probably stemming from my inability to remain single for any point of time and I have to keep reminding myself that while I might be in love with the bakers son, she might see him as I do one of my guy friends or exboyfriend: a perfectly great nice, smart, attractive guy who is not Kenny, whom I see as practically perfect in every way. *Sigh* Ok, you can't force love. But she should at least give it a shot.
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