A Reading Vocation

Reading this book was like reading a collection of essays by an incredibly articulate college class.

It's been a long time since I've read "critical reviews" like this, and it seems perhaps I've lost the taste for it. I guess I just expected something different than for a bunch of YA authors to write their Hunger Games Theses, complete with quotes and citations throughout. What did I want? Maybe something edgier, more personal, more impactful. As it was, the essays were interesting -- I especially liked those that examined the human brain and PTSD in its relationship to the Hunger Games -- and I think they gave me a deeper appreciation for the trilogy. But perhaps I would have gotten more out of them if it hadn't been a few years since I'd read the original books -- I seem to remember them well, but these essays called out specific details that I did not remember.

I think I have greater respect for the choices Suzanne Collins made, especially in Mockingjay, but the book didn't make me want to revisit the original. Although I recognized a handful of the authors included, none of them make my "faves" list, and in some ways this book feels like a way for lesser known authors to get some free press by riding on the coat-tails of a more popular series. Now that I officially feel like a bad person, I think I'd better wrap up this review.