9.4.12 The Hunger Games

A friend loaned me The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins in June.  I just didn't get started with it until last week.  Many things beg me to read them, but the Hunger Games was not calling my name.  Admitedly, futuristic, apolcolyptic stories are not my genre.  However, whenever a book (or trilogy) takes the world by storm, I  ususally read it because I want to make my own judgement about it.  I want to find out if the author is writing the one book that had to be written, to share their story, and that it was so good the editor couldn't deny them publishing or....if they have more to share and will grown and change as writers, and take me along for the ride.

One of the things I struggled with at the beginning of the story was the names of the characters. Just because the story is futuristic, doesn't mean you have to give the characters names like Katniss and Peeta. However, I"m about halfway through the first book, and have come to like these characters in spite of their names.  As I read this book, I think it would be a great read for 5th-8th graders, and it would be a great teaching tool.  The writing is really clean.  It's not overly deep, and you don't have to concentrate overly hard when reading it.  If you think this is a critiscism, it's not.  Some of the greatest writing occuring right now, is happening in young adult novels.  The quality is often a lot higher than whatever is on the best seller list at any given time.  (Those authors that have published umteen books to fulfill contracts, that have been telling the same stories over and over, and just changing the names of the characters.) 

What I see in The Hunger Games, is a writer with a passion for her characters, and really good editing.  I want to see where she takes the characters.  Halfway through the first book, I'm thinking beyond the "Games" themselves, to the bigger picture.  If Katniss and Peeta are the leaders I think they are, who posses a moral compass and have survival skills, I want them to take down the entire heirarchy of power, leading ordinary citizens into rebellion and victory. It's been done before, in other centuries! So, I will continue reading.