Welcome to Cheryl Reads The Hunger Games
“What is this blog about, Cheryl? What motivates you to devote your time and energy to such an activity?” If these are the burning questions filling your curious mind, then you have come to the right page.
This blog is going to cover my first ever reading of Suzanne Collins’ hit trilogy The Hunger Games. I will review the books chapter by chapter and document my thoughts on the story. I’ll be handling a running analysis of the plot, characters, literary techniques used – anything and everything that strikes me and that I feel deserves a good, hard look, whether that means major symbolism or simply a sentence with syntax that blows me away.
That being said, please do not give any spoilers for what happens in parts of the series that I have not yet gotten to. I have a NO SPOILERS policy for this blog, because the way I write these reviews will be to read a single chapter at a time, put the book down, and give my thoughts on the current material. This is a blind run for me. Telling me what happens later in the story will affect how I think about what happens up to that point, which will in turn affect my review. Thank you ahead of time for your consideration on this point.
“Is this whole thing inspired by Mark Does Stuff?”
Yes. Yes, it is. It’s also inspired by a few other things, but the format that I’m going for was definitely influenced by Mr. Mark.
No, I have not read his reviews of The Hunger Games series.
“And just what makes you qualified to do this?”
I’m an amateur creative writer and a lover of literature. I’ve been reading ever since I can remember. I am currently an English major at university also working toward a minor in linguistics. The lowest grade I’ve gotten on any of my English Lit essays in the past few years is an A-. That’s about it.
I’m not trying to pretend that I’m a professional here. I’m just a girl who loves to read, wants to read this series, and wants to share the experience with others. Hopefully, we can have fun with it together.
“So why review books? Why now? Why this series? Why a blog?”
Reviewing books covers a topic that I love, it’s something that I think I could do well, and I can do it here without being obliged to any rules or deadlines beyond my own. As for why I decided on this particular series, there are a few reasons:
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins has become very popular, with special thanks to the movie that came out based on the first book and now its sequel based on the second book coming out this year. Since the first movie came out, I’ve heard reviews about it from all across the aisle: the series is brilliant, the series isn’t anything special, the movie was awesome, the movie didn’t measure up to the books, they’re both mediocre, etc. etc.
I have not yet read any of these books, nor have I seen the movie. The first time that I even heard about the trilogy was in my Children’s Literature course, over a year ago now, right around the time that the trailer for the film was first released. While we didn’t read it, I was treated to a student presentation about its background and what makes it stand out as a children’s series.
All the conflicting opinions I heard once it became more popular were what really got me curious. What is it that has so many people awestruck, especially when so many other people don’t seem to like it at all? For that matter, what is it that those people don’t like? As someone delving into it for the first time, I hope to answer those questions for myself and my readers.
I’ll be posting up one chapter review approximately each week, perhaps more if time allows.
Now let’s get this ball rolling.
P.S. Warning! (For the sake of being able to say that I gave fair warning)
There will be major spoilers for The Hunger Games series in this blog. Every post I make about a chapter from a book will cover everything that happens in that chapter. When I say “everything,” I mean everything. If you are hoping that I will save some surprises for when you read the books yourself, then either prepare yourself for disappointment or, better yet, go read them ahead of time so that you can have a better experience on my blog and maybe even contribute your own thoughts about the story. I’d love to hear what you guys think about these books, and what you think about what I think.
Cheryl Reads The Hunger Games 