Have you Met Sally

I’ve spent many many years of my life watching and loving this movie series. I’ve probably watched the first movie at least twenty times. Usually every time I get sick. But I’ve never actually read the series until now. Although I’ve had good experiences with book to movie adaptations, I was skeptical for the longest time about how the books would be able to compare to a movie series I love so much.

However, this book did not disappoint. Honestly, the book to movie adaptation felt perfect to me when reading it. It’s insane to me the fact that the movie was so spot on, especially dialogue wise to the book. All of the characters were embodied perfectly and I loved every second of it. Part of me thinks that having the movie engrained in my mind when I read this book made me like it more because I know what to picture. But then I have to remind myself how well the book and movie reflect each other and how this isn’t a thing in other book to movie adaptations. The movie wouldn’t be so fantastic if the book wasn’t.

It amazes me how this book is able to put so much emotion and movement and place it in such equally lengthened chapters. Everything fits so well together and the timing feels so natural. When I think of time progression in novels I’ve accustomed myself to the jump cuts. But somehow it feels so smooth that a text break for a time jump isn’t necessary. Every scene and moment just seems to flow and progress as if it was written for a screen. Even though the Games themselves took up less of the novel than I expected, the amount of detail in a singular book describing the deaths and actions of so many people shocks me that it is only a simple 300ish pages. It’s perfect for the mind to create the perfect mental movie.

This is probably one of the only books I have read recently where I don’t dislike any of the characters present. If anything, I am team Gale all the way. At least at this point. No life saving tactics can change my mind at the moment, they just seem so much more compatible than Katniss and Peeta. I’ve seen a lot of hate towards Gale about stuff that happens in the later novels but I’m not there yet. And I’m sort of dreading getting to that eventual change in character. Just the way that Katniss is stuck between Peeta and Gale can be interesting based solely off of her lack of forward interest. It just develops a whole new layer to the story of her coming to terms with emotions and love and maturing in that sense.

Even looking into the emotional depth of Katniss’s family trauma and how it effects her character. Going through grief and emotional dis-attachment while still caring for her sister and providing for her whole family at such a young age brings so much emotional baggage that makes sense when looking at her love life. She has been so focused on survival for so long that any amount of love outside her circle makes no sense. It may create a burden of having to provide for more people with the already large uncertainty of safety that exists in District Twelve. Along with the concept of Katniss not really having any friends other than Gale. They’ve developed that level of caring for each other and relationship development between the two families. It just makes you want to lean more towards Gale over Peeta, regardless or not of his immediate love and care for Katniss that has existed for a lot longer than her relationship with Gale. I think a part of it with Gale is that he has the male character qualities that so many readers admire. And I guess I’ve been lost in that trope as well of falling for the guy that so many girls want.

I honestly don’t think there is much I can even say at this moment to begin to explain how developed and amazing this plot line is. I can’t pinpoint one specific moment that completely stood out to me to even talk about without just wanting to gush about the series as a whole. This first novel is really just the beginning and I’m excited to see how the novel version of the rest of the series pans out. Thinking of comparisons to later movies to their respective novels and both character and relationship development. I think that the Hunger Games is one of the best series to possibly get into because of how jam packed with events it is. There’s never a dull moment, always some sort of drama going on. And maybe eventually I can venture out from this rekindled love for novels other than romance which may hopefully lead me to finally reading ACOTAR… no promises.

xo Sally