The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wooo hooray! I finally finished reading this book, after much nagging from my friends to read it. I watched the movie and thought it was thrilling and exciting. However, after my friends recommended the book I refused. First of all, it is written in present tense, something I've come to abhor due to other young adult novels out there (Water for Elephants, Divergent, among others). I shuddered. But then I thought, "I am a fan of Katniss Everdeen." Okay, maybe I should give it a try, for Katniss.

Oh boy, I didn't even pay that much attention to the way the book was written or how it was structured. All I wanted was Katniss. Katniss, Katniss, Katniss! *the crowd goes crazy* She is the best YA heroine out there! Followed closely by Cinder (as of yet). There are several reasons why I like Katniss. First of all, she's a survivor. She loves the forest. She loves her little sister Prim. And she is really adept and skillful with bow and arrow. What else can you ask? I wasn't bothered by her scowling. I thought it was pretty cool and defined her as a character. She is completely in my liking :))) She was the one with the pants in the family, very independent and rational. She can take care of herself.

Now Peeta, on the other hand, is almost complete opposite to Katniss. He might be as brave and strong as her, but in a different way. Not very appealing or striking to me. He was quiet, reserved, extremely naive, and useless! Ugh, I can't even start recounting my dislike that he survived because Katniss nursed him back to health. She hunted for him, she protected him. That is why I like her and Gale more than her and Peeta. Whenever Peeta leaned in to kiss Katniss, I cringed. I knew she did it for the Games, I could managed that. But he's so naive as to believe that she really loves him. Utterly disgusting. Sometimes I wished Katniss would just tell him she's doing it because it means survival. Cold-hearted Katniss. I like you so much. And you're such a skilled hunter!

Okay, now for the content of the book. Very original and dystopian theme. I found I really liked it. However, I could not completely buy the reason for the Hunger Games to exist. It seemed very shallow that the Capitol would require the districts to offer a child as tribute to fight for the death. I mean, it's very entertaining and all, but I cannot find it all rational. The developments in the arena were awesome, real fun, and very intense!

Okay, I must confess first that I watched the movie before reading the book. So I kinda knew beforehand what the book was about and what scene would follow. Although the movie does offers some new perspectives, perspectives that are not solely centered on Katniss (due to how the book is written). I actually had uneasiness when I went to sleep last night (at 1:30 AM) after reading what had happened to the other tributes (mutts) and Cato. It was disgusting and terrifying. But oh well, it was a good book.

Though not my favorite, it's fairly above just liking it.

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