Because I stayed up super late last night reading the final book Hunger Games Trilogy, Mockinjay, by Suzanne Collins. It was such a great book, even though there were some part of the final book I didn't personally like, or thought could have been different. But who am I to second-guess an obviously talented writer like Collins (I mean, she's creative and successful and has, let's face it, made several million more dollars off her books than I've ever made off writing a book!)
Mockingjay follows Katniss Everdeen (yeah, awful name) as she volunteers herself in place of her younger sister, Prim, into the annual Hunger Games-- a Survivor-type game where 2 teens, a boy and a girl, from each District (12 in total) enter into a huge arena until only one is standing, and the other 23 are dead. Its chilling, if you think about it-- kill or be killed. Can you imagine? These young kids, some of whom trained their entire lives for this, some had the unlucky fortune to be picked from the entire population, some strong and clever, others young and weak, forced to kill each other. And to make it a sick satire on our reality-tv culture, these "games" are filmed and watched live on every television screen in the nation. The people in the Districts, who are the workers, watch because they have to while the people in the Capitol city, watch for entertainment. They even place bets and cheer on their favorites, apparently never fully understanding the humanity, or lackthereof, that's involved.
I thought theses books were really good and I'm sure there are more intelligent people than myself trying to parse the language and themes to produce anti-war, or wicked consumerism messages, but I just thought it was a great book with some very haunting thoughts. I mean, reality tv exists today so that people can watch "real people" suffer through challenges (Survivor), or have their heart broken (Bachelor), or live their mundane/exciting lives (Kardashians, Tori and Dean, Housewives, etc.). Its not really a huge stretch of the imagination to imagine a wealthy class of people getting their kicks by watching stronger children kill off the weaker ones; remember the Gladiators in the Coliseum. I'm very intrigued by the scary aspects of human nature-- what one would do to stay alive, in very inhumane circumstances. So, dystopia books like this one make me think of what I'd be willing to do, or what my people would do to stay alive, or what they might be willing to overlook for fear of standing out from the crowd.
Its not a stretch to me to think I'd be willing to step up for my sister, like Katniss. In fact, its a running joke in my family that I'd offer to go to prison for Betsy or Nicholas, if necessary (I've not extended this to any other members of my family!) Partly because I KNOW I would be okay in prison (mostly from my obsessive interest in all things prison-related but also because I'm an attorney and I'm sure I could just spend my time doing Post-Relief Petitions in exchange for, you know, protection, cigarettes, etc.) and partly because I'd just do anything I possibly could to protect them.
But these books really made me think, long after I'd finished with each of them (and isn't that the best indicator of a good book?). In the Capitol area, the privileged, soft residents spent most of their time planning parties and outfits and getting extreme plastic surgery to make themselves beautiful-- the District workers see these people are grotesque and frivolous to an extreme. The Capitol citizens see the Districts as wild animals, less than human, only useful to the extend they can provide for the Capitol. Neither group really considers the other to even be human, and thereby, has no problems killing them or watching them be killed. To me, its super scary how one can stop valuing human life just because someone's different, and how that is a slippery slope into mayhem.
My deep thoughts on this book are over now (and they aren't really that deep!) but its still a great series and is actually quite funny with a large amount of teen romance (which I think is for the birds really- I mean, all teenagers think their love is the greatest, no one else has ever loved before them, no one understands their love, etc. Its all so dramatic, and frankly, useless, as so few of those dramatic loves ever last). Its a good series, which, despite my rather wordy and possibly confusing "review" is a quick read. Go buy it!
In other news, tonight's the first week of GA's for the year and I'm super excited about seeing all my kiddos! I love them! Plus, I've actually reviewed the lesson prior to class, and organized my thoughts so this week should be good! Each year, when Missions starts, I vow to read the entire lesson for the month and decide what to do, what supplies I need, etc. I've never actually done that till this month, so hopefully my dedication will pay off!! On a sour note, the church supper for tonight is lasagna. I don't like lasagna, never have, which is surprising since I love pasta. I don't know, I'm weird.
And finally, my friend Katherine, over at Its a Great Life..., are planning a big announcement soon. Its part of our attempt at "finding ourselves!". I'm sure no one will really be interested, but if you are reading this blog, you are exceeding my expectations already, so who knows!!!
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