60 Hours with Suzanne Collins

My middle sister told me about The Hunger Games last fall, saying that I had to add them to my book list, which I dutifully did, because I'm a diligent youngest child. I'm trying to be better about buying books, because I've run out of bookshelf space, so I looked at the library--only to find that The Hunger Games was on a wait list. And what a wait. I mean, I knew these books were popular (you can't enter a book store without seeing The Hunger Games trilogy on prominent display), but waiting for over two months to get my hands on a library copy really hammered that lesson into my memory. Amazingly though, it was worth the wait.

A fascinating read dealing with the overarching themes of war and government power, The Hunger Games is based in post-apocalyptic America, where a central government requires its surrounding districts to send two children (a boy and a girl) to compete in a gladiatorial fight to the death every year as a punishment for an uprising staged 75 years earlier. Fast paced and surprisingly full of philosophical meat, I was intrigued not only by the story line and characters, but also by Collins' ability to provide food for thought without beating the reader over the head with a moral. And then The Hunger Games ended. In a cliff hanger of epic proportions. And I faced another two month library wait.

Obviously, that wasn't an option. So I was seriously considering just buying the trilogy (and housing them in the guest bathroom, which is our last remaining pretense of shelf space) when I realized: online reading! And in less than forty-eight hours (I'd spent maybe 24ish on the first book, between things), I'd finished Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Amazingly, I also managed to do other productive things during that time. I have to say, I really enjoyed reading all three books. I thought it was an excellent perspective on violence and government and what it is that makes us human. I was describing the trilogy to a friend, likening it to Lord of the Flies thematically, but what I like about Collins' book, as opposed to Lord of the Flies, is the ray of hope, however faint, that is portrayed. Best yet, I loved that in the last book, Collins shatters that hope into a million pieces only to rebuild it piece by piece without pretending that it is unscarred or whole. She doesn't tie everything up in a pretty bow, but we aren't left with a bunch of cannibalistic children pretending nothing ever happened either.

At any rate, it was time worth spending. I am, however, curious to see what they do with the movies. The trilogy is geared toward a young adult audience, but there is such an extreme amount of violence and even some nudity that I don't know how they could accurately present the material without getting an R rating. Just a thought. Loved the books. Not sure I could handle the movies. I had to close my eyes in Castaway when Tom Hanks knocked his tooth out with the ice skate. Just saying...