READER RESPONSE

My thoughts on the book are that it was very well written.  Suzanne Collins had me from the first page, which hard to do.  The very first page of your book is what I call the "Judgement" page; its the page that people are going to read and see if they actually want to take the time out to read your book.  As the book went on, I felt attracted to the book, actually reading the descriptions which I normally skip over in other books.  I found myself eventually reading for four hours at a time, trying to finish the book as fast as I could.  This was not to simply finish the book, but to find out what happens without having to wait.  The tone was so compelling that eventually at the slightest disagreement within the characters, I would feel myself trying to jump into the book and try to help.  The final book really punched me in the gut, so much that I cried within the first couple pages of reading what happened to the gang.  I do feel that Mockingjay is confusing and jumped too much between scenes, but I may just have to reread it - I might have been reading too fast!  Overall, Collins may be my favorite author because this was a (freaking) masterpiece.

While reading reviews from other fans, I have figured out that people have literally fallen in love with this book, one even posting on Barnes and Noble that she bought a bow an arrow set, (Anonymous, 1).  I don't blame this girl, I loved the book series so much that I wanted to be Katniss for Halloween but decided against it because I thought that everyone else would be her, and you know me, I don't want to be like everyone else.  So, I'm just growing out my hair so I can braid it like hers.  It seems as though this book is another crazy hit, following in the footsteps of the Twilight series.  I know that when the movie opened, people dressed up as their favorite characters, died their hair, and even shaved their beards to look like Seneca Crane.

Another person says that they believe that Collins, "knows how to write a book.  The book kept me out of my seat.  The characters were real and easy to relate to.  The ending was weird but...  I highly recommend this book to any age," (Irishmanreader_111, 2).  I really agree with this person, I feel as though I couldn't put the book down either, and like I said, was rushing through the pages to get the book into my mind.  I never really felt Katniss was relatable since she was very isolated and distant, but I guess in the way that she cares for her family over her life, I believe everyone would want to act like that.

While I did read dozens of reviews, I feel the overall response to the series was that they loved the books, and that they were ready to read the next one.  Some were frustrated with the cliffhanger ending which sort of left everyone wondering what would be coming up next.  Others were frustrated with everyone comparing the success of the book to Twilight, and frankly, I agree.  Twilight and the Hunger Games are totally different, in which one is a heroine, and one believes she must "die" for the one she loves, (get it? Die, because she gets bitten, and turns into a vamp - well I thought it was funny...)  One reviewer was so fed up that she compared the two as "The Hunger Games for one, is a good read.  There is actual plot development and heart to it.  Twilight was...as exciting as watching grass grow," (Hop_Frog, 3).  My goodness, I laughed out loud at this.  And I agree, some.  The whole plot seems much more developed than did the Twilight series; each book is just a new fight over who can almost kill Bella and take down the Cullens.  The Hunger Games has a different timeline per every book, and what I mean is that one could say that the plot is to take down the Capitol or to have one's own life, and each book works toward that in different situations.  Rather than just fighting over Bella through every book, Katniss has different struggles and mindsets and thoughts through every book.  Whether that diminishes through every book, (which is what I believe) you be the judge.  Does her mind change?  Does she lose her mind?  I'm not completely sure, but I think that she certainly starts to lose it.  And this is part of the compelling story that keeps me interested in, what is Katniss going to do next?

2 comments:

  1. I agree with your blog post because many readers raved about The Hunger Games, but there were numerous readers who didn't care for the book. Some of the aspects that readers enjoyed was that the book was action packed, attention grabbing, and page turning. Readers who didn't care for the book though it was violent and Collins didn't put a whole lot of diction and imagery into her book. I personally thought The Hunger Games was a good book. Just good. Not the best book I've ever read or the worst book I've ever read. It was a fast, page turning book, that kept my attention. I wished Collins and I'm sure many other readers would agree with me that Collins should have developed the characters more and used more imagery. I pictured what the characters looked like in my head, but after watching the movie they became more realistic. Collins didn't go to in depth about her characters which is an aspect of writing that I like in authors. Having well developed characters let's me put myself in their shoes going through the story. Details such as physical features, personality, etc are a big part in character development which I think Collins could have gone a little deeper with. Personally, I think a great story has tons of imagery. When reading books, I like when I can image myself in the same types of setting and situations as the characters are in. It makes reading more enjoyable and imaginative. If I had to rate The Hunger Games on a five star point system, with five stars being the highest I give the book a solid 3.5 stars.

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  2. I think I could picture what these people looked like pretty well. Like for Twilight, I was thinking some black haired guy playing Edward. Kind of "emo" or whatever, but that didn't come true. My visions of everything were pretty much spot on with what the movie was, but that's just my opinion!

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