**WARNEING: Spoiler alert for those hoping to read The Hunger Games. Although I would save myself the letdown and do something more constructive with your time...like watch paint dry.
That may seem like a juvenile title but as far as bad language goes, in my house I may as well have said a swear word. And it’s directed at you Suzanne Collins. You and your stupid trilogy of mind-bending books, The Hunger Games.
Alright, lets not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? And give credit where credit is due? You rocked in the middle of the story! I will be the first to admit that although it took me a while to warm up to your storyline of children being forced to kill each other in the beginning, by the middle, I was HOOKED! Loved it. Loved the dynamics of the games, personalities of all the characters, loved the whole love triangle thing you had going on with Peeta, Gale and Katniss. You described everything so perfectly!
But what I want to know is, what happened at the end? It was like the last hundred pages you all the sudden realized that you had a deadline to meet and hastened to tell us a mediocre and depressing end. It was literally painful and disappointing to read. Like seeing a gifted young scientist bring the overused model of the planets in orbit to the National Science Fair. What happened??
You spent all that time building us up for two main things…the capture of the capital and for Katniss to decide between Gale and Peeta. Then you mention the overthrow of the Capital almost like an after thought, and made Katniss go insane (literally) and choose Peeta basically by default! Not to meantion the fact that Gale, her best friend in the whole wide world, who always has her back, never comes back to see her? But deserts her for some plush job with the government, whom he hates? I wanted her to choose Peeta, but not like that! Horrible horrible horrible!
I finished reading the final book while on the bike at the gym and was so upset on my drive back home that I had to make up an alternate ending and explain the complicated dynamics to my 11 month old daughter, who didn’t understand a word, but knows I’m brilliant. Never mind I had to keep working the words “patty cake” in there so she would clap.
I never thought I’d say this after finishing this series but Suzanne Collins, you disappoint me. I appreciate your struggle to be an innovative author and think outside the box to continually surprise your readers, but your ending does not match the personalities you’ve painted for your characters. Not by a long shot. Besides the fact that it’s depressing! How often do people actually end up with everything they’ve wanted in life? We are continually thwarted by reality in our efforts for a happily ever after, the least you can do is give it to us in fiction! Badly done Suzanne Collins. I think you have great potential to be a wonderful author but this one was badly done.
2 comments:
I agree! I loved the first book, thought the second one was pretty good, but the third book was a disappointment. The fact that it's written in first person wasn't a detriment in the first two books, but in the last book Katniss spends half of it in a drug-induced stupor. I agree that the ending was SO RUSHED. Half a dozen main characters were killed off in a single chapter. You should come to book club at my house on 11/29. The book is Pope Joan. Call me.
Wow, Aimee, I totally agree. I know you wrote this ages ago, but I just finished and have to give my two cents! I was completely hooked on the unique storyline and plot, but the last book was totally lame. She went on a wild goose chase to get to the President at the end for what? All her friends died in the endeavor and she did not accomplish ONE thing by doing it. By the time she got to the capitol and the president, it was captured anyway. I couldn't agree more that what I want in fiction is a story that is happy and entertaining, and I hated how she went crazy and was so broken at the end. Actually, the thing that disappointed me the most was how selfish she was. Why would Peeta or Gale want to be with her? She was one of the most selfish protagonists I have ever read about. And I did not have much patience with the love triangle. I wanted to tell her: Just choose someone and be dedicated to him. Have some integrity, woman!
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