Try this one on for size. Post-apocalyptic / Pre-apocalyptic literature. Yeah. Try to stay upbeat amidst that. Dare you to NOT become depressed. Add a healthy dose of songs in the Key of A Minor, some Skillet and Manafest on your iPod, and weed a bunch of books you cannot afford to replace after you leave your Kindergartner in tears at school. And I wonder why I'm anxious.
I gravitate to these kinds of books. They are the ones I get excited about. From the moment I read the reviews for The Hunger Games, I knew that I would be a part of the cult following. I was already a fan of Suzanne Collins and her prior series, Gregor the Overlander. I knew I would not be disappointed.
The conclusion to the trilogy left me in a sobbing heap in the Children's Department Office. Maybe some ideas are just TOO close to home.
When I was young, maybe 8, I used to be concerned that the Russians would invade the United States. I was convinced that they would show up in Decatur and kill us all as they traveled door to door with their swords. Yes, I said swords. Actually, more like scimitars in my mind. My main concern was always, who goes first? Do I watch my parents die? Do they watch me die? Can we be killed simultaneously? All that worry for nothing.
I also remember thinking, when I was younger, that we really needed something cataclysmic to happen in order to shake us out of our complacency. Now I would call it an inciting event. Thanks Don Miller. 9/11 is the idea, but on a much grander scale. Something that would stay with us longer than a few, several years.
What if we no longer had access to gas. Imagine, if I could no longer drive my children to school 20 minutes away from our home. Like a never ending snow day. Trapped in our houses with limited food stuffs. Could we survive?
Reality shows are our entertainment these days. But what if Survivor wasn't about verbal back-stabbing, but the real thing. 24 people placed on an island with limited weapons, food and shelter and no one was allowed to leave until only one remained standing - alive. And let's say that we choose not to kill our fellow contestants? The powers that be either force us to do it, or unleash demon beasts to do the work for us.
And what if we still persevere? Now we are on the authorities hit list. And what if the person we thought was the bad guy all along, well, they're still bad, but the alternative isn't any better … Government!!
If you need a hopeful book. If you need a feel good book. If you need a comforting book. Don't look here.
But, if you're anything like me. If The Giver, A Wrinkle in Time, The Scorpion House, The City of Ember, or First Light move you and push you to think in ways outside the Suburban box, this trilogy is a must.
Unfortunately, I so identified with the heroine, that I would have enjoyed curling up and and hiding for an extended vacation. Someone sick - please breathe on me. Or some cheerful person, please pass on something invigorating. Please and thank-you.
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