The Hunger Games, Wrap Up

I’ve finished The Hunger Games and given it a day to sink in.  Overall, I liked it, but I wasn’t blown away by it.  Granted, at this point, it’s hard for things to really, really impress me.  I’m cynical and I’ve read a ridiculous number of books, so my bar is pretty high for something to actively impress me.  That being said, I will go on and read the next two.  (Yes, the terrible event in Book 3 has already been spoiled for me, so I’m braced for it.)  I probably won’t live blog Catching Fire or Mockingjay unless you guys really want me to.

So, The Hunger Games… by the end of the book, I’m still not especially really emotionally attached to Katniss.  I feel for Peeta, but sympathy only takes me so far.  Peeta isn’t super fleshed out since we only have Katniss’s perceptions of him and Katniss herself is still very emotionally distant from the reader.  The two times she has completely unrestrained reactions to things are when Rue dies and when she and Peeta are taken up into the hovercraft.
I supposed that on one level I’m as morbid as the people in the Capitol.  I want to see real reactions from her.  I want to get into the emotion underneath all her caution and planning.  I feel entitled to all of that, which, I’m not.  But then again, I’m a reader of a book.  If I don’t feel a pull to the material, I’m not going to read the next book.  Or the one after that.  I’m also the worst of readers (from a sales and marketing perspective), because I’m a quitter.  If you don’t keep my interest I will drop your series like a hot potato even if I’m almost done.  I still haven’t read the last Charlaine Harris book because I got annoyed with the series.  I quit Harry Potter.  I quit the Anita Blake books.  So, I’m not entitled to a character’s innermost secrets, but at the same time, I don’t owe a book my time if it isn’t keeping my interest.
I’ll read Catching Fire, probably this weekend.  And then I’ll decide from there if I’m going to read Mockingjay.  I’ll also watch the films and possibly do a comparison post.  I’m in an interesting position right now.  I’ve read the book.  My boy-nugget has seen the first movie.  So, we’ve tried to have conversations about the story as I’ve been reading and it’s interesting how many things we just look at each other blankly about.
All in all, I liked it, but I’m not entirely sure why.  I was annoyed by lots of things, but I’m always annoyed by things.  I know slightly too much about too many subjects (like archery) to read most things without poking at them.  I am curious to see how it all plays out, although, I don’t particularly care about the love triangle aspect of things right now.  Maybe I will once Gale becomes more prominent.  (I’m not holding my breath though.)