bazhsw
5/1/2022
Bit of a tricky one for me to review this one. My son has recently read this and is working his way through 'Catching Fire' and absolutely raved about this and I am aware of it's history and how loved it is amongst fans so I borrowed my son's copy so we could have a chat about it and see if it lived up to the hype.
The obvious thing to get out of the way (and I am sure it has been mentioned in thousands of reviews) is just how derivative this book is of other books and movies, and worse, reading this in 2022 it's clear that many of it's imitators have done the theme of the 'reality death match' so much better. The formula I guess is well known by now, teenagers living in a post-apocalyptic dystopia are selected at 'random' by an authoritarian government to take part in a battle royale to the death for entertainment. That isn't to say this is bad, but reading it you kind of feel like this has been done so many times before and after. I guess if you were a teenager picking this up a decade ago this wouldn't be a factor.
What I will say, is that the pacing and the structure of the book is generally excellent, it's about 450 pages and I whittled it off over the weekend which suggests a certain 'un-put-down-able' quality which despite any criticisms does show I wanted to read the book and stayed with it every chance I could to pick it up. So, it's addictive, fast paced and each chapter ends with a 'go on, read another' moment. Whilst that is a definite plus, there is part of me that thinks now and then the book needing to slow down, it needed to explore how the protagonists felt, what the implications of the setting where and what the future would hold. Much of the book is pretty superficial and the reader is expected to just go with the notion of 'Capitol and it's inhabitants = evil fascists' and everyone else is a downtrodden victim. There are parts where I wanted the novel to go deeper but it never really did.
Katniss, the central character is one it is hard not to root for, although she does seem a little superhuman and at times the novel reads like a long masturbation and justification of hunting (dressed up as a need for survival, but at times I thought I was reading something else entirely). I joked to my son, that she does well by mostly hiding, but there is a sense that she is always at risk, always thinking and always just trying to survive the next hour or so.
There is a romantic triangle involved which really does not work, and though it is a central part of the book, it is completely ineffective, and reading this through an adults eyes I can't help think the love interest in the Games, Peeta is generally needy, pestering and demanding of Katniss's affections. It reads more like pestering for sympathy kisses until Katniss gives in rather than a real romance and it isn't cool at all. I am sure this angle will be developed in a later book but it really didn't work.
Where the book does work is in it's pitching at a young adult audience. My son is 10 and when he described the book to me I was thinking there are things in it I am not exactly comfortable about and after reading the book I feel okay about it. I think fiction is a great way to introduce more adult themes to children and generally children are better at handling things than most adults think. The book is very violent and at times leans towards sadism but it's controlled by the author. There is just enough to make parents squirm and kids delight that they probably shouldn't be reading it whilst still being appropriate.
I don't think the book is great, but I did have fun reading it and it's been glued to my hands all weekend. It's action packed, faced paced and some readers will absolutely love this.