The Hunger Games

On Monday I sat in Barnes and Noble for 5 hours reading The Hunger Games. Tuesday I had finished most of Catching Fire, and today I finished the trilogy by reading Mockinjay all day. It was an amazing trilogy and I couldn't put the books down. I haven't been this transfixed by reading since Harry Potter. While I loved My Antonia, The Outsiders is probably the only other book that has held my attention to this degree. When I'm really into a book, I lose track of time, I don't get distracted by anything, and I don't even think to eat when it's meal time.

This series was incredible. It totally transported me to another world. And it's making me think like few books of fiction can. About man's capacity for evil. About morality during war. About emotional scars being more horrifying than physical pain. About how to deal with loss. About revenge and vindictiveness. About human selfishness, especially in relation to our strong survival instinct. About reality versus illusion / deception and how we can keep track of what's real. About the value of sacrifice for a greater good.

I'm trying to work out what is making me feel so uneasy about the last book. I'm sure there are many reasons, but the ones that come to my mind first are how manipulated Katniss has been throughout the entire series. Collins certainly captures the psychosis of both her and Peeta. it was unnerving how she didn't know who she was by the end because of everything she's been put through.

Superficially I wanted her to be the one to kill Snow. I wanted some resolution between Gale, Peeta, and Katniss after Gale describes how she'll choose between them: with unemotional, cold, calculating practicality. and despite the epilogue I'm not entirely convinced she has regained her humanity, much less her sanity. I suppose from an analytical perspective, I'm (sub)consciously distressed that there's not a real emotional resolution. she will always be damaged, and will never be free from the nightmares and the ghosts that haunt her.

There are so many themes and symbols to examine. The mockingjay (and pin), Snow's roses, Prim's purity and death (particularly intertwined with the probably irony of being killed by a bomb designed by Gale, who stated that they were only playing by the same 'rules' as those in the Capitol.), Peeta's naiveté and corruption and ultimate redemption, Katniss' transformations from innocent to calculated survivalist to healer to lover to political symbol and tool to the girl who has a psychotic break who is unsure of who she is and what she wants, plagued with the deaths of those who she feels directly or indirectly responsible for.