BLURB:
Winning will make you famous.
Losing means certain death.
The nation of Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, is a country that consists of a wealthy Capitol region surrounded by 12 poorer districts. Early in its history, a rebellion led by a 13th district against the Capitol resulted in its destruction and the creation of an annual televised event known as the Hunger Games. In punishment, and as a reminder of the power and grace of the Capitol, each district must yield one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery system to participate in the games. The 'tributes' are chosen during the annual Reaping and are forced to fight to the death, leaving only one survivor to claim victory.
When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives, some of whom have trained for this their whole lives. , she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.
MY THOUGHTS:
Let’s get on with it. Shall we?
I’m a person with black heart and black soul. I won’t allow myself to feel so much. I have read number of battles where I have seen number of corpses. I neither shed a tear nor did I feel sad. But this Book literally tore me apart. Every time, the tears are flowing freely without me knowing. When people ask, I will lie,“Something is irritating my eyes.” Poor them, they actually believed it. But what I actually want to shout out to the entire world,” THIS IS TOTALLY UNFAIR. WHY THIS BOOK HAPPENED TO ME? READ THIS BOOK AND CRY A RIVER ALONG WITH ME.”
If GR didn’t mess with my reading status, it will say that I’m reading this book for the second time. If you can see my first rating, it would be 3 stars, I guess. And you may ask ”What changed this time?” Shall I tell you? Wait a second. I guess you already know. If not, well it’s me. It’s ME who has changed. I read this book when I was budding as a reader. I was like a new born baby. Even if I didn’t understand the problems, I liked it enough to give 3 stars. But now, everything has changed. My perspective has changed. My reading habits have changed. And now this book gives me a new meaning and at the same time crushing my feelings for the whole Galaxy to see.
So everyone knows about these books. If not, they have known J-Law as Katniss Everdeen. So I’m jumping straight to the things.
1. I Love KATNISS SO MUCH. She is fierce as hell. I love her humor. She doesn’t even know that she can make others snort while they’re drinking. She loves her sister so deeply that I want to curl into a ball and cry my heart out thinking why don’t I have a sister like her. At least, a sister in general. Her thoughts are about her family and how she doesn’t want them to die from starvation. My heart goes out to her. It makes me think that there are still people who are starving when we’re busy being picky about it. I’M ASHAMED OF MYSELF. BECAUSE I’M VERY PICKY WHEN IT COMES TO FOOD. After her father died, her mother hides herself in the grief. Then Katniss became Prim’s mother. Lots of responsibilities on her shoulder along with hunting. I can write page after page about Katniss. If you didn’t get the gist, here I will tell. I LOVE HER FIERCELY.
2. Happiness is when you get Hogwarts letter at 11. Happiness is when you entered Camp Half Blood at 12. It is maddening that you got a compulsory invitation to a death party where you don’t get drugged and mugged. Because that would be easy. No, here, you would face death in twenty three different faces. You need to SURVIVE if you have a dream to follow. What would the poor child do? Of course, Harry has his magic surrounded by people who loves him. Percy was well with his father’s power and was surrounded by people who have started to love him. But this. IT IS HELL. SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE WHOSE ONLY GOAL IS TO SURVIVE BY KILLING YOU.
3. Peeta. My baby. He is so nice and kind. Sometimes I really really have doubts whether he is playing the role or really expressing his inner feelings. It’s hard to tell sometimes. The boy who gave bread. Again starvation point. Katniss was at the verge that she was ready to die. “Light can be found even in the darkness” line roar into life when Peeta came to her aid after bearing the roars from his crazy mother. He got his beatings too. Poor baby stuck up with a cruel mother. Then he charmed everyone’s pant off when he came into the games.
4. President Snow was fucked up. Do you know what I want to do? I want to make him rip his own eyes out and eat it while the whole Panem and Capitol are watching us. Let him know, how it feels while someone is mind fucking him. I still remember his eyes when he crowns Katniss. She should’ve beat him to the pulp with the crown itself. It would be amazing. I would watch the show with caramel filled popcorn(how I told you about me being picky)
5. Let us imagine the situation where Prim misses her sister so much she couldn’t do anything but glue her eyes to the tv screen. Her not want anything to eat. Gale cajoling her to eat saying that’s what Katniss wanted. Even the cat, Buttercup missing her to show off his attitude. And her mother was so overwhelmed with the fact that the baker is providing provisions for the family and wondering whether he is doing because of his son and Katniss being a team or he is giving out of kindness or Katniss asked him to do. Imagining these things make my heart go numb and the tears became my only companion I could embrace.
6. AND RUE! Poor soul she is. She is sweet little bird. A child for God’s sake. I .FUCKING.DON’T. WANT .TO .TALK .ABOUT .THAT.
7. It’s the show people want. Action. Performance. If they got bored, the gamemakers would leash a fire on them. If they want actions, they would sic some mutations on them. SICK. The ‘love act’ done by the girl on fire and the boy who gave bread was the thing that makes them sit on the edge of their seats. If they satisfy people, sponsors would give what they want. Haymitch is real dick for making them act. But he has done it so that they can survive. So I would call him a savior. When it comes to Hunger Games, deceiving others is better than being not alive.
8. That epic moment where Katniss outwitted Snow. That rebellion act was so perfect. I wanted to read it again and again and again and again. When I read it first time, I couldn’t understand how it could be a rebellious act. But now, I understand it so perfectly. THIS.IS.FUCKING.BRILLIANT.
9. The moment when Peeta realized it has all been an act for the show, I literally heard two hearts breaking. One is his’ and the other is mine. Poor Peeta. Come here and let me give a bear hug for you.
10. How could I forget to mention the amazing talented stylist? SUE ME! CINNA, a perfect brilliant man. He could even make me look like a badass when I actually am a lazyass. From the innocent look to the fierce look and everything in between, he could do it. Miss world competitors should go for a hunt. Search and make him your stylist. GO ON.
OVERALL: An amazing start to a wonderful story filled with heart breaking/numbing/stopping moments. Somehow I can understand the situation of the people of Panem. A government, overruling its people, causing fear and hate. But people can’t voice their hate. If they did, they would send you straight to the mortuary. But in reality, at least we can voice our opinions if it was faced with infinite number of hateful comments. Anyway, I was off the track for a while. So, here it is. READ IT. AND DIE WITH ME.
MY RATING: Outstanding
