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Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins portrays the life of a teen girl in a corrupt economy. The “Hunger Games” is an annual game played in the country of Panem, which is divided into 12 districts and its capital, “Capitol”. Every year the name of a male and female tribute is “reaped”, who then have to participate in a barbaric and sadistic game where the last person standing wins. The annual Hunger Games is used as a source of entertainment for the people of Capitol. The lambs are fed and beautified and made appealing to the public’s eyes.

The country of Panem suffers from distressing levels of income inequality and class discrimination. The lower the number of the district, richer its citizens. The government is of dictating nature and believes in obliterating the source of the problem, much like it did to district 13.

The protagonist of the story, Katniss Everdeen, is used as a symbol of revolution. She is emotionally abused, used, and tortured. In the first book Katniss’s main concern was leaving the arena alive however, through the course of the trilogy, Katniss starts fighting for much more than what she eventually prepared herself for. Katniss’s petrifying life story was blatantly overlooked by the media of the Capitol, who focused instead on her love story. The story is not even about the love triangle that the Capitol, and everyone else, chooses to focus on. It’s about her fighting for her life, her family, her loved ones and in due course, for the voiceless and wronged.

The story of Katniss Everdeen is gravely misunderstood by many in the real world who concentrate on the love instead of the story of a simple girl in a restless world. One might realise the stark similarities between the Capitol and our world.

The Hunger Games is a beautiful literary piece about a broken girl in a broken world. It’s a must read for those who want something more than the cliché YA books.

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It Ends with Us

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover portrays chaotic love. The book shows how everyone has their own past trauma and how each person deals with it differently. Lily Bloom a 23-year-old girl who recently moved out of her hometown, has witnessed her mother being domestically abused. She could never encompass how her mother would get beaten up frequently yet won’t leave her father. She despises her mother for her decisions and strives to be anything unlike her.

Ironically, Lily falls in love with a short-tempered man, Ryle Kincaid, in Boston, where she moved for higher education. The two hit a mark in an instant and promptly started “talking”. One such time when the two were drinking and Ryle burnt his hand before an important surgery and was upset over it, Lily, failing to grasp the seriousness of the situation, started laughing. The unintentional laugh sent Ryle in a fit of rage that resulted in him pushing her and Lily getting hurt. Lily, who always resented her mother for forgiving her father, excused Ryle for his behaviour.

Lily’s first love was Atlas Corrigan; a homeless boy whom she provided shelter and warmth. He had to move due to unavoidable circumstances but promised to come back to Lily. By a happy chance Atlas and Lily meet at a restaurant after one such frenzy. Atlas assessed the situation skilfully and helped and emotionally supported Lily even when she was acting naïve.

Over the course of the book Lily had to make distressing decisions. The ridicule of the situation was such that Lily, who never thought she could forgive an abuser, kept on pardoning Ryle. Her torment only escalated after finding out about her pregnancy. She was confused and heartbroken and undecisive about the whole situation.

The climax of the book is when Lily, right after giving birth decides to divorce Ryle. She was endeared by the moment between Ryle and her daughter and makes the moment a bittersweet one by telling Ryle.

The book was written beautifully however, the ending was a bit hasty. Although Lily made the right decision by leaving Ryle as readers, we all fell in love with him. After the birth scene the book cuts to six months later where Lily has happily moved on, as she should, and ends up with Atlas. Although Lily deserves to be happy, the ending did not sit right with me. As a readers we felt Lily’s emotions and it would only be justified if we had gotten a chapter or two to see Lily move on, reason with herself, fight her heartbreak and not simply go back to the safe guy. Her ending up with Atlas, however much deserved, did not give the readers a closure they deserved. The book lacked any kind of character development. Lily always knew she would leave someone who abused her and since the first time Ryle hurt her, she somewhat decided she would. The absence of the description of either of the two characters fighting their emotions, maturing or moving on was what made the ending unfit.

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Harry Potter

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling is a book that has its own phase in each and every reader’s life. I had mine too. I recall being so fascinated by the series and blabbering about it to whoever would spare me their ear. Although Harry Potter was not my first series/book, it was definitely the one that marked the beginning of my love for reading. Harry Potter is a seven book long series encompassing the life of Harry, an orphan. The series brings out several themes which one will not understand in a single read. I personally have read the entire series at least five times accompanied by thousands of posts on social media. As a child, the magic, fiction, adventures, and emotions were what drew me into the fandom so deeply.

In the first book Harry fears going to Stonewell High, his next school, in Dudley’s (his cousin) old, hand-dyed uniform. The first few chapters of the first book give us a glance into Harry’s abusive household which is a complimentary contrast to Harry’s soon to be best friend’s family, Ron. Over the course of the book Harry finds a family at Hogwarts. He has multiple encounters that are strange even by the standards of the wizarding world. Towards the end, Harry has his first conscious, technically second, encounter with Voldemort, the antagonist.

Over the series Harry defeats Voldemort, one of the most powerful wizards of all time, over six times. Although the first time his victory at the end of each book seems quite engaging, it soon gets tedious. Each and every book, apart from the third one, has the same plot. It seemed like J.K. Rowling was stretching the series on forever. The fifth book, especially, was the one that wore me down. It was never-ending, with no specific plot and a poor ending. Parts of the series were really good, however they all began with Harry frustrated at the Dursley’s house (his aunt and uncle’s house who adopted him) during the summer break with some weird experience that will ultimately lead to Voldemort’s rise and ending with Harry’s victory.

Moving on from the plot, one can say that J.K. Rowling has idolised the wrong characters. For instance, Severus Snape ,Harry’s potions master, is depicted as a teacher who bullies his students so much so that one of Harry’s friend’s biggest fear is Snape. However, Rowling gave him a redemption arc and blamed Snape’s actions on the fact that he had a crush on Harry’s mother, the only person who gave him the slightest attention. Rowling showed Snape as the one who lost the love of his life to Harry’s father, James, a bully. She developed the plot in such a manner that at first glance young readers would totally favour Snape. However, in doing so she undermines the fact that Snape, a teacher, bullied his students, was ready to sell Harry and James to Voldemort for Lily (Harry’s mother), and only came over to the virtuous side because of Lily’s death. She fails to acknowledge that what Snape had for Lily was obsession and what James had for Lily was love. J.K. Rowling portrays Slytherin as the ‘evil’ house and uses Snape as an exception. By highlighting Snape she compromises the sacrifices of Regulus Black, who gave away his life readily and compassionately loved his house-elf Kreacher. He was the one who unravelled the Dark Lord’s secret of the horcruxes and tried to destroy them even before Dumbldore suspected a thing.  She diminishes Horace Slughorn’s contribution to the war, both of whom openly refused to be a part of the dark side.

Furthermore, she glorifies Dumbledore, harry’s mentor and idol. She depicts him as the one who is always correct and deserves all the respect. Nevertheless, upon closer inspection we see that he was the one who forced Harry to live in an abusive household for eleven years and continued to send him back every summer. He was the one that raised “Potter like a pig for slaughter”.

J.K. Rowling’s glorification of few characters impedes the contribution and intricate emotions of  characters like Hagrid, Ron, Arthur Weasley, Hermione, Fred and George Weasley, Mad-eye Moodey, Nymphador Tonks and many more who genuinely cared for Harry for who he was and not because he was the Chosen One.

Harry Potter is a beautiful piece of art which brings out several important issues; however, it fails to tackle them effectively and focuses primarily on the antagonist’s endeavors and Harry’s victories. It glorifies the wrong characters and brings out no particular message. Conclusively, Harry Potter is a good read but slightly overrated.