The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and why I HATED it.

I Hate The Hunger Games.  Did I get your attention? I'm not afraid of the thousands (millions) of teens and adults who have loved the book since it first came out in 2008. I'm not afraid of the millions of people who saw the movie already (which I promise I will not be seeing). I'm not afraid of the beloved author being mad at me if she ever reads this. I have to be honest and true to me. I hated that book.

While I will say that Suzanne Collins wrote a brilliant novel that I could not put down, I still hated the book. I hated that I couldn't put the thing down, I hated that I kept wanting to read, I hated the whole thing.

I just read The Hunger Games  for the first time last week, and I only read it because everyone told me I had to read it. So after weeks of agonizing over it, I finally spotted a paperback copy on the shelf, checked it out and started reading it.

For those of you who don't know what The Hunger Games is about, it set in a dystopian country called Panem, which is a future United States, just a little smaller. In this country, there is a yearly "Reaping" where the names of every child between the ages of 12 and 18 are entered into big bowls. Two names are chosen from each of the 12 districts of the country- one boy and one girl- to fight to the death in an areana for all the nation to watch. These children fight to the death because of a rebellion against the Capitol that ended wipping out a 13th district. To keep the other districts from rebelling, the Capitol has to show its control and what better way than by killing the children.

The first tears fell at the end of chapter one. The end of the very first chapter I started crying. Even though I KNEW what was going to happen, the trailers for the movie that had been floating around every major television market in North America and half of the cable networks (Food Network, thank-you for not showing movie trailers!) told me what was going to happen so early on, I was still angry and devestated to see Primrose Everdeen called.

I found myself growing angrier and more upset as training went on, as the 24 tributes were introduced, as each adult who had lived their lives never being called to fight to the death for food did NOTHING to stop the madness. As people in the capitol were celebrating children being led to the slaughter and as little Rue was doomed to fail. . . and I felt no different from all of them. What was I doing, I was reading a novel about children being sent to fight to the DEATH in a competition made for television that everyone had to watch. I felt no better than the people who bet on different tribute to win. I was rooting for Katniss the whole time, knowing 23 other children would have to die for her to win. I rooted for Katniss, knowing that a 12 year old would have to die in order for her to win.

I want to reiterate, I think Suzanne Collins did an AMAZING job with the book. She produced a well written work of art that has encouraged thousands of teens to continue reading. She also made me think and gave me nightmares for a week. I woke up each night last week praying ferevently to God that He would not let this sort of the thing occor in the future.

Even though I HATE this book, I still must give it

While I have no intentions of EVER reading it again or seeing the movie, it was well written and thought provoking.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

In a society where abortion is totally illegal, parents have few options when dealing with an unplanned child. They can choose to "dump" the baby on a strangers doorstep after it's born (and that family would HAVE to raise the child), they can drop the kid off in a state home (StaHo) where the child basically has to compete for the right to live' or raise the child until they are 13 and then have them unwound.

Unwinding is only an option for children between the ages of 13 and 18 and when the Unwind orders are finalized, the child is taken to a special center where they await their bodies being harvested piece by piece while they are still awake.
For 3 kids, the Unwind orders are signed, sealed and they are being delivered to the harvest. Lev is the 10th child of 10 children and he is being offered as a tithe to God. Risa, who grew up in a StaHo is being Unwound to make room for the babies because she's not special enough to live whole. And Connor finds tickets for his parents and brother to go on a vacation and finds his unwind orders for the day before the vacation.
A chance meeting binds these three children together and their survival becomes interdependent on each other.
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This book was what I like to call a mind-trip in a book. I will admit that reading this book angered me a bit and caused me to think about it for days. The thought of dismembering teenagers haunted my dreams for at least a week, but I think that's exactly what Neal Shusterman wanted. This book really did make me think about where I stand on certain issues and made me realize that maybe everything is a simple issue. . .