Hello!
Hi! I’m feeling a bit better this week. Thanks for the kind messages. In the spirit of last week’s newsletter, I suppose I should also thank Suzanne Collins, who helped me more than most while my brain was split in half by grief.
I hoovered up the Hunger Games book quicker than I thought possible; at some point, I’d easily read about 150 pages in one go, something I never, ever do normally. I have to confess I’d never read the Hunger Games series, though had seen the movies, and you know what: they’re really great!
It’s Young Adult fiction, obviously, and I don’t think her prose would ever win her any prizes, but all three books are aggressively readable and very tightly plotted. I worried I’d struggle with the obligatory love triangle content, due to not being 13, but it’s all handled well, and the world building is deeply compelling.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the third book, which is quite serious and thought-provoking on the reality of civil wars, what it takes to win and how battles are really fought. If you a) have a teenager in your life b) desperately need something to distract you from the horrors of your life, I would heartily recommend the Hunger Games books!
I’m now going through the prequel, a Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and am preemptively quite sad to be leaving Panem for good in a few days.
Anyway.
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