THE HUNGER GAMES

• by Suzanne Collins
• [rated by PBS readers as #40]
• 374 pages

I know nothing about this book, other than its success the movie’s success. I like Jennifer Lawrence, who played the lead in the movie (which I haven’t seen, but I’m sure she is good in. She’s always good!). The print is bigger than some of the other books I was looking at and my eyes are tired these days. And it promised great pacing. I’d give up a lot of other stuff to have great pacing.

So, for these less stellar reasons, here we go!

ABOUT A THIRD OF THE WAY IN…

I find opening premises in books sometimes quite interesting. The Hunger Games uses this tried and true method. It goes like this: just state the preposterous premise up front, as fact, and then no one can refute it.

So. A post apocalyptic world where the bad guys reign. Why? How? We don’t know. And to make matters worse – the people are already starving and have nothing to count on in their lives – there is a ceremony every year where they take two kids from all 12 districts and they fight to the end. Last one still standing is a big winner. All the other 23 are dead, dead, dead.

Why does everyone accept this? Why is there no more horror involved? Beats me. It starts that way, so we have to accept it.

I’m less sure all the time what constitutes entertainment these days. But whatever. It’s not for me to say. The books and the movies have been wild successes. It seems sad that when we have continued to evolve and try to make life better for our offspring, that they find it entertaining and fun to go back to times where their choices are more limited and death lurks around every corner. Go figure.

Back anyway. The pacing is quick and I appreciate that a lot. And I do want to find out what happens. Suppose you can’t ask for a lot more than that to go on.

OVER HALFWAY THROUGH. THE NEXT DAY!

OK, here we just go! Fun, fun, fun!

One of the things that has to happen, when you start a book with such an absurd premise, is that you have to hit the ground running. And this sucker starts in a nationwide sprint and never lets up.

I got to a point tonight that I couldn’t put the book down. This girl can pace! The only thing that stopped me from reading the whole thing tonight is that I didn’t think I could quite get through it. And after I saw that, it became a case of when to hop off this train. The pacing is such that the feeling of hopping off was quite literal.

There is a nagging feeling in me that we are the worse off for enjoying a human sized video game, but hey. It isn’t as strong a feeling as wanting to know what happens next.

The lack of context keeps it from being high level literature. For instance, why do people put themselves through this? They are already starving with no will to live, so… And the emotions of the characters are almost blithe, when death could be around the corner. They all seem game, which translates to suicidal, which they aren’t. So none of that gives the story enough terra firma to be classic structure.

But this blog and this PBS contest aren’t about high literature. Thank God for that! They are about the greatest reads. And let me tell you, The Hunger Games unflinchingly qualifies to be in that bunch.

Whew! As I’ve said before, great pacing is a gift and I always feel so lucky to be in the throes of it.

DONE.

Wow. The pacing was amazing! I am especially amazed at how this bat-out-of-hell pacing doesn’t stop! And I mean does. not. stop!

At first, I thought the romance part was a little dippy. And then Collins uses it to practically force you to read the next one!

Will I? Not right away, but I just might.

Ms. Collins, all I can say is thanks for the ride!