The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

4/5 Stars

I am so glad I had the chance to re-read this. I can't believe I'd never written a review for it in all these years but here goes. What inspired me to pick this series up again was the fact that we are in the thick of fall and for some reason that means I rewatch The Hunger Games and Harry Potter movies.

Rewatching the movies and re-reading this book for the first time in a decade made me realize specifically why I love Katniss and nearly every other aspect of this series.

Katniss is everything a female protagonist should be. She commands our attention and holds our love while being somewhat unlikeable. In the world of Panem, Collins delivers horror and terror, but also hope and the source of that hope is Katniss.

Something that I remember from the first time I saw the movie after reading the book was that the relationship between Peeta and Katniss was a little more endearing and natural. Their movie counterparts seem a bit stiff and almost as if they are walking on eggshells around each other. Maybe it is because in the books we are allowed into Katniss' inner thoughts and we know exactly what she is thinking, but I felt as though in the film she had to force herself to love Peeta whereas in the novel she truly grows to love him deeply.

Side note: the casting in these movies was completely amazing. I couldn't have casted it better myself.

I will reiterate the fact that Katniss Everdeen is everything a female protagonist should be. She is strong and will do anything for her loved ones, but most of all, she doesn't need to be saved. She differs from other YA female protagonists because she is very much three dimensional; she fails, falls, and makes mistakes like any other human would and she knows that the people that get hurt in consequence is something that she will have to live with. She is awkward, moody, antisocial, but we still love her for it. She has so much love for people even though she has never been much of a team player. In summation, she is a new portrait of a strong, young woman that we usually do not get to see within the genre.