Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Well my sister has pretty much dropped out of the book club. I should rename this Lindsay's Book Club. I wasn't going to write any more but I thought maybe I'd entice my lame sister back. We shall see.

I started trying to read Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls but I just couldn't get into it. It started out with epic tragedy and coming off her last book I just didn't think I could get into it. Maybe I'll try again in a few years. I requested several books from the library and was on hold for a while and then I got flooded by a ton of them at once. I prioritized my reading list by due date & by which ones couldn't be renewed. I landed on Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I had heard RAVE reviews from several people but I wasn't too sure how I'd like it. I'm not too big into fantasy or sci-fi and most places I've seen this book have categorized it as such. In addition, it's a young adult book and while I think some YA books are ok I keep thinking at some point I might grow out of this genre. However, SO many people had recommend it I thought it had a good possibility of decent and when I read some brief summaries of the book it reminded me a lot of my favorite short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson that I thought I should give it a whirl.

I am SO glad I did. This book was AWESOME. If I had to summarize it in one sentence it would be "Imagine 'The Lottery' meets Survivor and they have a baby and then you have The Hunger Games." 

First and foremost, while I can see why it's labeled fantasy/sci-fi, it is SO not typical sci-fi/fantasy. It's like the X-Men version of sci-fi/fantasy. Sure there are some things that are not realistic and far-fetched, but it's mostly grounded in reality and the things that are "unrealistic" are background mostly and don't really detract from the story. While post-apocalyptic style stories do intrigue me, I think they've been slightly overdone so I was hesitant about this aspect of the book. However, like the sci-fi/fantasy aspect, it's mostly background. It's the whole reason for the story but they do not dwell on it really. The story mostly revolves around the actual "game" itself (leading up to it, going through it and the aftermath) and that stuff was REALLY exciting and compelling. It was such a unique story I couldn't put it down. Literally. I read it in 6 hours with only bathroom and lunch breaks.

From the beginning it was hard to figure out who Katniss was. When I figured out she was a girl a while into the story (around page 14) I was a little surprised. As I read I had assumed that Katniss was a boy. This changed things a bit and made me a little more intrigued.

Besides the setting/environment, I really drew a lot of parallels with "The Lottery" at the beginning. However, after the story gets going it leaves that short story behind and moves on into a more Survivor like story but in a more serious way.

The best part of the book is the middle section once they are into the arena for the game. The preparation is interesting but I really couldn't put the book down once all of the contestants were fighting for their lives. I didn't see the "love story" coming, although it isn't misplaced or come out of nowhere but it wasn't something I predicted. It seemed very realistic and believable. Additionally, all of the struggles that the contestants had to go through in the game were also realistic and believable. Collins did a good job of creating an atmosphere of realism and I could definitely picture the setting from her words and imagery. One thing I thought was that the arena seemed bigger at the start of the game and seemed smaller by the end. Katniss journeyed forever on the first day and quite a lot on the second day but by the end it seemed like they could get anywhere in the arena in a few hours by the end. The complex emotions and personalities of the contestants was very interesting. A little Lord of the Flies but much more interesting and entertaining. The Truman Show parallels were also interesting to see. It's like Collins took some of the most interesting twists of all the above mentioned stories and wove them (very well) into this story. I don't mean to say this to make anyone think it's an old, tired story because they way she weaves it all together makes it fresh and interesting. I can just see some influences she may have had.

Although it seemed clear (to me) from the beginning that Katniss would win the game, you were still worried for her throughout the story and really rooted for her the whole time. The twist with bringing her and Peeta together was unexpected and nice. At the beginning of the game I was wondering how Collins would work that one out...although Katniss had some clear resentment towards Peeta I didn't know that she would be able to kill him unless something really drastic happened. I'm glad that the twist made that not have to happen. And because things got changed up so much throughout the story, even though Katniss winning seemed predictable, I didn't mind because the story kept changing so you were sure HOW she would win, and there was a possibility at several points that she MIGHT not win.

The one and only thing I didn't love was the ending of the book. The love story that emerged wasn't all that interesting to me, but mostly because I'm not a romance fan and particularly not in a YA novel. It would have been nice to end the book with a satisfying end rather than letting it linger, although obviously this left the end open for the subsequent books. I don't have a huge desire to continue the series, but since I got so involved with this book unexpectedly I am going to commit to the second book just in case it surprises me as well. This leads to a second tangent of something that I wasn't a HUGE fan of, although it didn't really detract from the story. Throughout the story I would forget that these "kids" were supposedly ages 12-18. They just didn't have a "teenage" voice. The characters were much more thoughtful and advanced than their supposed ages would seem. Again, their ages weren't really the point so it didn't detract from the story, but occasionally I'd reflect on it and think, no way, a 16 year old wouldn't be thinking about things like this. So it seemed a little unbelievable that they were actual young adults rather than young adult characters created by an adult author. But in terms of the overall book and story it was just a minor detail.

Overall I would suggest this book to ANYONE (over the age of 14 probably). I give it 5 Stars and would probably classify it as one of the best books I've read all year. I really, really loved it. Obviously loved it enough to write a review of it which doesn't always happen. Go get it NOW!

Final Review: Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Well apparently my sister has dropped off the face of the Earth! I was waiting for her to do her final review of The Glass Castle, but she's too slow. She had her chance; she blew it up.

In between starting and finishing The Glass Castle we started Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde. As we were moving across the country (me moving, Leslie helping) we decided we could take our book club with us on the journey! We decided to get a book on cd that we could listen to on the 3 day drive. Leslie picked this one...I'm not sure why, but maybe if she ever comes back to the book club she can say why.

We didn't start the book until late on Day 2, but once we started we were pretty hooked. We forced ourselves to take breaks and do other things in the car (sing our heads off, take naps, giggle, etc.) but we did a good job of plowing through it. However, the trip wasn't quite long enough because we only got through 4 and 1/2 of the 7 discs. It equated to about 2/3 of the book. Once I got a library card here I was able to go pick up the book and finish it in paper format.

The book on cd version was good except for the readers they chose. The voices of all the characters were SO annoying. Leslie and I couldn't stop talking about how annoying they were. Eventually we got over it enough to become absorbed in the story, but they were still annoying. After I started reading the book I could still hear their dumb voices in my head as I was reading.

I thought it was a great story overall. Very original, not something I'd ever read before. Listening to the story it was kind of hard to figure out who was telling the story and at what point in time they were doing so. It was much easier to do that with the paper version of the book. I think the back and forth of the story was the only part I didn't totally enjoy. It added to the story because if it would have just went in chronological order the story would have been very different. But it was kind of confusing.

I really liked the ending to this book. It wasn't the happiest ending, but it felt good in the end to have most of the loose ends tied up. It wasn't unrealistic, but you just felt like everyone was going to be ok. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fiction.

Review: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

So we've been on hiatus for a hot minute. I was finishing my dissertation, we moved, Leslie was finishing her summer classes, we were both starting a new school year...and our books went by the wayside. BUT! We are back in the saddle. 

This weekend I finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. 

Wow.

That story was out of control. At fist I was just so floored by the never-ending tragedies that seemed to befall her family. And then I got mad. I tried to give her parents a LOT of leeway in the beginning. I didn't want to label them "bad parents" but instead tried to really think of them as eccentric and free-spirited. But after a certain point, I really just couldn't do it anymore. They were absolutely horrid parents. My parents are fairly eccentric. Her parents were downright neglectful and abusive. And maybe my upbringing had something to do with the way I felt about her parents. My parents have always been a little on the weird side, and our family did a lot of things differently than other people. But my parents were still parents. My mom was also an artist, like Jeannette's, but unlike Jeannette's she realized that being a starving artist wasn't good for her family, and whether it was her life's dream to be an art teacher she did it because her family needed to eat (and have clothes, books, etc.). She committed to being a parent. Jeannette's mom just wanted to cry and moan about life's injustices and in the process, made her children suffer. It was just appalling. Her father was also appalling, but I think for a number of reasons I am less "shocked" by this. First of all, he's an alcoholic. Not that being an alcoholic is an excuse to be a crappy dad, but at least I can recognize that he has a disease. Secondly, he's a dad. Again, that's not an excuse to be a terrible parent, but it's less surprising when dads fall down on the job. When a mom falls down on the job it's pretty big. When my parents divorced and we lived with our dad it was pretty abnormal, and our mom was still involved with us, we just didn't live with her. So to have a mom who so clearly sucked at all things mom was pretty alarming. I was thinking about this after I finished the book and I was wondering if Jeannette's mom has an undiagnosed mental health condition. This is the only reason I can even begin to understand as to why she would behave the way she did. But maybe that's just me trying to come up with an excuse for her (like her father's disease). When Maureen loses it at the end it made me wonder if there was a history of mental illness in the family and maybe her mother was mentally ill as well. 

Overall I liked the story, but I'm not sure if I want to read another book by Jeannette Walls. At least if it has to do with her family, and especially any more stories from her childhood. This book seriously disturbed me. I woke up with bad dreams three different times last night. I hate the thought of children being abused and neglected. It makes me so sad. If you can get past the horrible neglect and abuse I would very much recommend this book.

Review: The Glass Castle

I finally started reading The Glass Castle the other day and I am glad so far. I have only read about the first 50 pages and so far it is really good. Jeanette seems like a child in a family that is very free! They are constantly on the run from bill collectors and her parents don't seem to pay much attention to rules or watching after their children closely. First Jeanette burns herself horribly and then later she falls out of the car (her parents returned for her after quite a drive!). Her father is an alcoholic - verbally abusive at times but also loving at others.

So far I haven't decided what my opinion is on her parents' upbringing - are the negligent or hippies??

New Book: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

We've started a new book! Well at least I have. I keep asking Leslie if she has and she keeps saying no. I'm sure she'll pick it up and finish it in one day, but for now, I'm steadily reading along. We'll see how it goes!

From Amazon: "In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets."

Final Review: House Rules, by Jodi Picoult

This review represents the views from Lindsay Briggs and no one else. Especially not that weirdo who posted below me.

I give House Rules four out of five silver glittery stars. I actually liked this one overall more than previous Picoult books that I've read. As mentioned by Leslie below, this one lacked a big plot twist which was a nice change, and it also lacked the "neatly tied up, everyone gets a happy ending" ending that typifies Picoult novels. This one was much more realistic than most (as in, I could actually see it happening without too much eye-rolling) and still had a good story throughout.

The reason I didn't give it five stars was due to the dumb romance of Emma & Oliver and the fact that it was pretty predictable and took a little too long to wrap all up. The last two books I've read of Picoult's seemed like her editor fell down on the job. They were longer than they needed to be and good have been edited a little better. There were two parts near the end that were almost verbatim repeats of stuff she had already written previously. That was kind of lame.

Overall I would recommend this book if you like Picoult novels OR if you would just like a light, but interesting read.

Final Review: House Rules by Jodi Picoult

This final review is the express, written review of Leslie Reed. I will not be held to the same views as my counterpart, Lindsay Briggs, nor will she be held to my (awesome) views.

I give House Rules by Jodi Picoult 4 out of 5 pink stars. Overall I was thoroughly engaged by this book. I read 3/4 of the book in one day even though I was trying to hold off for Lindsay so that we wouldn't speed through the book, but alas, I had to finish it. 

As a teacher I have had several experiences with children that have specials need. This past school year I also had a boy with Autism who was such an awesome kid. I also babysat a 1st grade boy several years ago named Jacob that had Asperger's syndrome so this book really connected with me (even with his name!).

I have read several of Picoult's books and usually she keeps you guessing but this book was a little more predictable than others, which I didn't mind too much because I didn't want Jacob to go to jail. Her endings are usually big but this one wasn't although it was a little abrupt. I couldn't give it the fifth star because it was missing just a little something. Every character had a little bit of extra something to them that made it more dramatic or unbelievable than it needed to be. But, I still enjoyed it and will continue read Jodi Picoult books.