Reflections on The Hunger Games Series: A Personal Journey

I was in my 50s or older when I first read the novels of The Hunger Games series. While I am not sure they qualify as great literary classics, I found them absolutely riveting! Yes, I saw the movies, and yes, I cry every time I watch Katniss singing to Rue. The books certainly demonstrate character development and surprising plot twists.

Problems and Interests

While I had a huge problem with some aspects of the books and movies, I enjoyed them regardless. I've always wrongly assumed you can't like a book or movie if you don't like the main character, but The Hunger Games series and the Divergent series taught me differently.

Katniss Everdeen was not a nice person. She may have wanted to save people from what the Capitol was doing, but for selfish reasons. She couldn't run because she couldn't leave her beloved sister behind, and her sister wouldn't do well in the wild. Therefore, she was pretty much forced to stand up to the Capitol. When she finally agrees to be the Mockingjay, she decides to give a list of 'demands' before committing. While I agreed with what was on that list, the way she went about making those things happen was what I disagreed with. Katniss came across as rude, unpleasant, and determined to go her own way. The only things that could redeem her were her volunteering for Prim at the reaping and her working with Rue in the arena.

Opinions on Specific Books

Now, as for the first two books in the series, I have nothing but praise for them. They were very important to my life, as this was the first book I had ever read with a female protagonist. This series served as a stepping stone for me to read the Slated trilogy, which is one of my favorite series, the Contagion trilogy, and Young Elites, which unfortunately suffers a similar problem as The Hunger Games: a lacklustre final book.

As such, while the third book, Mockingjay, was disappointing, the first two, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, were highlights. Catching Fire is my favorite book and is such an ingenious idea. SPOILERS: There was a plot twist involving the map being a clock! END OF SPOILERS. Finnick Odair is also the best character; he's just awesome.

These reflections on The Hunger Games series hopefully provide insight into my personal journey with these books and the series' impact on me.