The Hunger Games; Catching Fire; Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Wow. I just finished the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy this afternoon and I'm not entirely sure how to blog about it. I was recommended these books months ago and told that I HAD to read them because they were amazing. I put off reading them primarily because they were never available at the library and I always had something else to read. My mom was the first person to recommend them to me, she heard about them from her book club. Then my sister Teresa read them and advised that I have all three books on hand when I started because the story is continuous and we all know how frustrating it is to finish a cliffhanger ending and not have the sequel available. So when I visited my family for Thanksgiving I was able to borrow all three books at once since my dad had recently purchased them. I read the first 2 chapters of The Hunger Games on Sunday night after coming home from Thanksgiving with the family and knew right away that these books were going to be a dangerous read with my upcoming full-time work week. I finished book 1 Tuesday evening, Catching Fire on Thursday evening, and Mockingjay on Saturday afternoon (today). I read for a few minutes in the morning before going in to work, during my hour lunch break, my evening work out at the gym, and for about an hour or so after dinner before bed. These were some intensely difficult books to put down.

I don't want to tell much about the plot because I don't think I could do it justice and I also don't want to give anything away for those who are currently reading them or will soon do so in the future. If you'd like a plot synopsis you can read about it here for The Hunger Games, and just do a little snooping on Google and you can easily find reviews for Catching Fire and Mockingjay. But just as a warning, I probably will end up giving things away unintentionally, so if you really don't want any spoilers whatsoever you should probably stop reading now.

There are a few things that I've been thinking about since I finished reading. For one, I am impressed by how much I care about the characters Collins created in her story. I felt genuine anxiety when Peeta was captured, sorrow when Finnick was killed, amusement with Haymitch, inspired by Katniss' courage, fear when I could see no way out for the heroes. Katniss, who is the voice of the story, became an especially real character, almost like a best friend or a sister, or perhaps myself in some strange, alternate reality. I often became frustrated by her inability to see her relationships with others clearly and her ineptitude in communicating her feelings to those she cares most about. I really, really love Peeta. Collins did a beautiful job in developing his character and relationship with Katniss. I think I was somewhere toward the end of book 1 when I decided that I really wanted Katniss to fall in love with Peeta, even though we had been briefly introduced to her best friend Gale (who I was initially rooting for as the love interest) before the hunger games started. There were also several minor characters who were introduced briefly in the beginning and after making multiple brief appearances throughout took on a great significance toward the overall story. Particularly Darius, the redheaded Avox girl, Madge, Greasy Sae, Rue... I loved Collins' use of her characters to tell the story.

Upon my completion of Mockingjay I felt like I had read a story of deep significance, though I can't really put in to words what it is. Sort of making me want to take more interest in politics, but while also making me think about all the good things I have in life. It reminded me a bit of the gladiator games in ancient Rome, how people took entertainment in forcing people to fight to the death. Collins was inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus, where the city of Athens was forced to provide boys and girls to be killed by the minotaur. The idea of taking pleasure in watching children kill each other was a horrible one to deal with. In fact, there were a lot of horrific things that Katniss and the others had to experience. I can't imagine having to live the kind of life that was common in Panem.

I really loved how Collins would quote or allude to things throughout all of the books; it really made the story stronger and made you pay attention to every detail. It was kind of fun to find obscure references to previous events and remember where they came from and what had happened. Her use of symbols was also fabulous; I particularly loved the theme of the mockingjay.

I think that everyone should read these books. They are moving, exciting, inspirational, sad, humorous, disturbing, and beautiful. They were all I could think about for the 5 days it took me to read them. They fully captivated me and left me happy I had chosen to take the ride.

5 stars