Games of Hunger

Ironically enough, I AM hungry, but this post is actually about the alleged "Hunger Games". Like the majority of people who don't live under a rock, I have heard all of the hype surrounding these books, and I'll admit I was skeptical (wha? me? never!) to read them because of the types of people that kept saying how amazing they were.
A couple people in my classes last year said they were an easy read, and pretty interesting, so I decided I might give them a shot one day, just to see what all of the fuss was about.
The more I heard about the books, the more I put off reading them. Then, over Christmas break, my sister gave me the first one and told me to read it. I looked at it for awhile, and I even read the first sentence, but I left home with the book tucked away in a backpack, and soon forgot about it.
Social media reminded me that I should probably get started on the book, but the more I heard about it, the less I wanted to start reading.
The last weekend in January came. I worked Friday and all day Saturday, and when Sunday came I realized I had the entire day off. I went to church, cleaned out and vacuumed my car, then set to work on my house. I cleaned, scrubbed, vacuumed, washed, straightened, folded, you name it, I did it. With everything gleaming, I decided to curl up with a cup of coffee and a book. Unfortunately, the books I recently purchased from McKays were not calling my name. Then I remembered the book that I had stuffed in a backpack, and I kept hearing that its a book that you "can't put down", so I decided a day when I had a nice block of time was a good time to read it.
And so, I started it. Now, if you know me at all, you know I'm about to give you some opinions. You can disagree of course, but this is my blog so if my opinions offend you, look away. Little disclaimer there.
My first reaction was "What the? Present tense? Terrible choice." Because as anyone whose ever taken a basic writing class knows, present tense is difficult, and it usually doesn't work very well. It was jarring, and even after finishing the book, I think present tense was not the best choice. But, she did make it work, so props to her for that. I just personally didn't care for the tense.
Also, as I read the first four or five chapters, I kept finding grammatical errors. This is a curse I was born with; anytime I read anything my mind automatically corrects the errors. I was confused; was she trying to convey the voice of the narrator by using incorrect grammar? Or were they mistakes?
So, that threw me for a small loop. But, I overlooked it, because a fellow writing student told me that despite the rough writing in the beginning, it gets better.
So, I pressed on.
I thought it was obvious that the author was setting up a romance between Gale and Katniss, so I was pleasantly surprised when he didn't volunteer to go to the games as well.
I didn't find the book particularly interesting until about halfway through the Games segment. The writing definitely improved, and the world that she set up turned out to be much more in depth than I expected. It was a strange combination of a post apocalyptic world, where the people have nothing, and the electronic future, where everything is tracked and watched and televised. Obviously I found myself thinking of Lord of the Flies several times, but the Hunger Games had a sick twist, since the children should not have been in that situation in the first place.
I appreciated how dark she let the book get; I was afraid that being in the "young adult" genre would hinder her from going into too much detail. There was a nice balance between action and suspense and description, which is hard to do.
I didn't find that I "couldn't' put it down", but I did find myself curious as to what would happen. It was a really easy read, which was a nice change, and the plot was nicely pieced together. All in all, I'm glad that I read it, but I wouldn't say that I would read it again. I'll probably see the movie, and I might even read the rest of the trilogy if someone offers me the other two, but other than that, my time with the Hunger Games is finished. I gave it a chance, it didn't dazzle me but it did entertain me for a few hours, so that is that.
Cheers!