The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At long last, I have jumped onto the bandwagon and read The Hunger Games. Several friends/family have asked me what I think, and to sum up, as you can probably guess, I think the book is a mixed bag. I would like to give the book three and a half stars, but Goodreads forces me to choose between a three and a four. Anyway, here are some specific thoughts:

1. Collins is an outstanding storyteller. Her greatest strength as a writer is that she knows how to create suspense and keep us reading. When I first got into the book, I kept thinking, "This is Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery.'" In fact, I think Collins was consciously drawing on Jackson for the section "The Reaping," and the book overall is every bit as exciting as "The Lottery." Comparisons to "The Most Dangerous Game," another great, action-packed story, are also appropriate.

2. I'm teaching Shakespeare right now, so with my literary antenna fully extended, I enjoyed how Collins adds depth to her novel by referring to Shakespeare--specifically to Romeo and Juliet and to Julius Caesar. There are characters in the novel named Cato, Caesar, and Cinna (and I think one or two more references to the play, or at least to figures in Roman history). Cinna, in particular, is a significant reference, because Shakespeare's Cinna was torn to pieces by the angry Roman mob simply because he had the same name as one of the conspirators. Shakespeare uses this incident to critique the fickleness of the masses, but this critique is even more appropriate in reference to a television audience than to the audience in Shakespeare's time. (A fickle television audience figures prominently in the novel.) There are also multiple references to Katniss and Peeta as "star-crossed lovers," a specific reference to Romeo and Juliet, and there's a plot twist at the end of the novel that definitely evokes memories of the ending of Romeo and Juliet.

3. I knew the book was going to be violent, but it is actually more graphic than I expected. (Truth be told, I probably should have expected more). But let me add that the existence of violence in this book is not necessarily wrong. In fact, it is crystal clear in the book that the very existence of the Hunger Games, a deadly competition among children, is wrong, and is totally contradictory to normal human moral sensibilities. Katniss rightly hates the Capitol for its cruelty in making children participate in the games, and she pities every one of the children she is forced to compete with to survive. And as the television audience in the book laps up the blood and gore, it's clear that Collins is satirizing, not promoting, our society's lust for violence. By portraying the Hunger Games as a big, violent reality show, Collins is saying that, like it or not, our society is headed towards the type of world she has imagined. (Ironically, the fact that her own books and the movies adapted from them are so popular for some of those very reasons shows that she is right.)

4. I appreciated the fact that this book makes us consider the American (and probably human) belief that we must outperform other people to validate ourselves. This concept is so pervasive in our society that we don't even think about it, but almost everything on television is about finding out who is better than who in some way. Shows like Survivor, America's Next Supermodel, Rank, American Idol, Wipeout, Hell's Kitchen, and the Voice (not to mention every college and professional sports event) are all about ranking people in different ways and getting the lower tier rejected in favor of the person or people at the top. For some reason, we love the spectacle of watching people try to out-do each other in various forms of one-upsmanship. This aspect of our Americanness--or maybe of our humanity--is powerfully depicted in the novel. In fact, the young people are in competition in many ways even before the games themselves begin. Right when they are chosen to compete, the competitors are given a set of fashion designers and so forth whose jobs are to make him/her look good and get more sponsors and more popularity among the audience. It's all a big popularity contest, filled with glitz and glamour. It's ridiculous, but it's totally believable--because it's how Americans think.

Collins may not be consciously critiquing this idea, but it makes me ask what's wrong with us. Why can't we just accept each other for who we are and not make everything a competition for one-upsmanship? I appreciate the fact that even though Katniss participates in all this, she hates doing so at times. Sometimes she loves all the fame and all the popularity she receives, but at other times she's very uncomfortable about the whole system, and she's mad at herself for being a part of it. It seems to me that something in her is about to snap at the end of the book, and I look forward to seeing how she develops later in the series.

5. The book powerfully shows us that in an age of media, public perception counts more than reality itself. One reason Katniss survives is the fact that she knows how to manipulate her own brand image. She is a master manipulator of her television audience because she can say things and act in ways that people want her to. But she's faking it--for the sake of her image. I don't think Collins is saying this is a good thing, but I don't know that she's saying it's a bad thing either. But her portrayal of this theme is insightful. Reality and truth have fallen in the streets.

6. I was frustrated with the lack of character development in this story. When I finish a story, I like to look back and see how the character has grown, has developed, has transformed--because like life itself, good stories are about character development as a result of conflict. Honestly, I just wasn't satisfied with this aspect of the story. Katniss is too good to start out with. She's too brave, too smart, too mature right from the start. Yes, she faces difficult circumstances, and she gains experience and confidence, but she is too predictable. I, like most readers, connect more with stories in which the main character is genuinely inexperienced and has a lot of growing to do by the end of the story.

7. One of the most notable aspects of the book is its moral complexity. In the fact that it makes us figure out what we think, this is an advantage, not a weakness, of the book. Christians will probably find problems in regards to this aspect of the book, but it's good to grapple with the questions that the book raises. Is Katniss doing what's right? What would you do if you were in her shoes? Few Christians that I know of are writing books of any comparison in their moral complexity, so we must find books that are willing to ask the questions, like this one is, even if the answers they give are not ideal.

I think this would be a great book for parents to spend time reading and discussing with their teenagers to develop critical thinking skills and to develop moral discernment. In this book, as in life, there are no easy answers, and books like these give Christians practice in learning to think in other areas without easy answers (which, incidentally, we face all the time--healthcare decisions, entertainment choices, and so forth). I don't agree with every decision that Katniss makes, but I can gain empathy with her for making the decisions she makes because of the crucible she is placed in. In addition, it's clear that Suzanne Collins is not portraying Katniss as a completely positive character. We need to recognize that this is a work of art, not a sermon being preached at us. This book is a laboratory, an experiment. It's not prescriptive, but descriptive. The book shows us where we're going as a society, and in Katniss, we have a human being who is good in some ways, and not so good in other ways.

When we are willing to look at the book in that sense, reading it can be worthwhile.

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