The second and the third book in the series. It took me some time between the last post and this post to finish reading them, hence completing my whole read on the Hunger Games.
I must be honest here and say that it's not quite like the experience I have when reading the Harry Potter series. All 7 books brought anxiety to me without fail and to think again, maybe that wouldn't be fair a comparison to the Hunger Games. It's quite a new read to me though I know this series have been out long enough since 2007, but I know myself. I need a couple more reads, maybe some flip-through to some of the chapters that I liked best and allow it to grow on me.
Speaking of a few chapters, I feel like this post will be shortly written to the point of prejudice in my part if I didn't share a few highlights that I like for myself. Maybe not an all round overview, but just enough to wirte about my journey when reading these books.
Yes, that should be it. A journey.
When I first read the Hunger Games, I must confess that I have probably 70% knowledge already on the book judging by the extensive reviews that I have read prior. In spite of that, it was still an enjoyable read. 70% of that knowledge revolves on the game played. The main character in this book is a very stubborn, hard-to-figure girl with speech incapability that sometimes get on my nerve called Katniss Everdeen. Bad characters aside, at least the ones I judged of her instead of what the author really wanted to portray, she is very brave, cunning, willing to sacrifice herself for her loved ones and one that stands out the most about her is that, she dislikes being in debt with anyone and will try very hard to repay them.
I went from liking to not liking to liking her back all the way through the books. And it isn't something that I can help because sometimes I feel like she doesn't like herself that much when she did something wrong for the sake of something she thought was right. That's why I love this book- it shows that not every story needs to be perfectly written, that sometimes even the main character fails you. And it's hard not to fail on you because the games are so realistic, so based on human morality and standards that you know by putting yourself in that situation, you might be forced to do exactly the same things as she did.
I think I'm confusing some of you here, but let's move on.
Anyway, Katniss has a mother and a sister named Primrose Everdeen and they lived off poorly, managing each day by scarce provisions that she could provide by hunting. Oh yeah I forgot to mention one good part of her, that she's very partial to her bows and arrows. She hunt down animals or "games" as they called it that way. She has a bestfriend named Gale Hawthron. They all lived in District 12 out of 13 Districts of Panem, controlled by the Capitol.
The Hunger Games is something that the Capitol invented, mostly to show that they are in complete power. So basically every year, a girl and a boy from each districts- 1 until 12- will get picked out to represent their districts in the Hunger Games. They were later called Tributes and in order to win, they must survived the rest in the Games and that vastly include killing. One thing that shock me reading this series is how eventhough I find the idea repulsive-and trust me when reading the actual thing, they make it look repulsive- I can't bring myself into hating any of the Tributes no matter how readily they seem to kill each other. Not even when they kill the ones that have no self defense or the quick witted ones or girl tribute who begged and cried. I'm not convinced that I have gone to think that it's okay to kill for your own life but in the games, they made it look like you have to choose what's at stake. I really like something that Peeta Mellark said (he is the boy tribute for District 12 besides Katniss), in Mockingjay, and I quote;
"...As bad as it makes you feel, you're going to have to do some killing, because in the arena, you only get one wish. And it's very costly."
"It costs your life," says Caesar.
"Oh, no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people?," says Peeta. "It costs everything you are,"
"Everything you are," repeats Caesar quietly.
And you will be very astonish as you read it that regardless of how brutal they made the games look like, there are still shreds of human morality that tributes cling on too. That even in the face of death, one has a choice either to do good or evil. That's how sometimes in the story, I doubt it made such a moving impact on me that such messages need to go through such barbaric storyline. In fact, I'm glad it did cause most of us wouldn't truly appreciate a thing (and in my case, this story) if it was played of easier. I was even okay with some of the killings, up till Book 3 where it evolves around the District wanting to rebel against the Capitol.
The games itself in my imagination is not a riff-raff sort of thing. None of Potter's magic to win the games or anything and the arena in which the games are held is not some techno structure like the ones they made in video games. The scene is real, though it's designed by the Capitol and the tributes fight on arms in combat. There are some rules and whatnots for the games but I'm not going through the details here. I think I've spilled enough.
Not quite.
If you're the sappy romantic kind that even look for it in a book, fret not. The Hunger Games is packed with all kinds of love and it is very very very deep and touching. The love for a mother to her child, a wife to her husband, between sisters, friends, even between allies or simply people who's not so nice to us and of course, the love triangle between Katniss Everdeen with Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorn. Though in most love stories, the reader would almost always know who's the right suit or candidate for the fellow heroin *cough Twilight cough*, trust me this book doesn't give away that privilege easily. I'm considerably torn between Peeta and Gale and both are perfect and imperfect in some ways. Both had their reasons to love Katniss and although rather frustrating to see her play with one in disadvantage of the other, the situation under which she was put into was so...delicate. It took me a long time in the books not to blame her for treating Peeta or Gale the way she had to treat them.
Spoiler alert: I must say that I'm very satisfied with who she chose in the end, only disliking the part where she and the other didn't end too well and, to put in my friend's choice of words, "It looks like the author is rushing to finish off that one,"
I don't know if they are going to make all three books into movies. I would be rather dissapointed if they don't because the ending in Book 1 wasn't that good enough to satisfy the whole story- it needs a countinuance. They might alter the ending, which lots of movies have done before *cough My Sister's Keeper cough*. I don't know if I'm going to like that but at least, my reading the series compensate to that.
Delighted and excited :) Bai Semua!
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