I finally finished The Hunger Games trilogy and although it was a great story, as I shut the last book I felt a sense of hopelessness, of history repeating itself, and of lives lived with little joy. I know not all books are meant to leave the reader in a good place. I’ve cried as I finished some books, but never have I felt such a sense of worthlessness. Not in my life but for the characters in the books. All that they went through, the triumps and loss, the death, just to get to a place where they lived a bleak existence in a world void of the ones they loved most.
It almost feels like a loss of innocence. Life was tough for Katniss, Peeta, and Gale before the Hunger Games changed everything, but at least there was family and happiness, friendship and love. When the great war is over and the Capitol has been defeated all that is left is dead relatives, destroyed homes, and families separated from one another. For a long time I was torn between whether I wanted to see Katniss with Gale or Peeta and I went back and forth but in the end it really didn’t matter to me, the events that transpired went way beyond what their relationship could be and made it non-important who she ended up with.
I don’t want you to think I didn’t enjoy the books, the first book was amazing, easily one I would re-read, and the other two were good reads as well, it’s just that the story didn’t have a happy ending (in my opinion) and I guess I wanted it to. I wanted families to be together, I wanted hope to be restored, I wanted Katniss to somehow end up with both Peeta and Gale!
If you haven’t read The Hunger Games you should. Don’t let this post discourage you. I’m very excited for the movie adaptations but I do wonder how they will keep them at PG-13 because the books were pretty graphic. If you’ve already read the books or read them in the future let me know your thoughts as well!
Around the world in 30 years 