This slim volume dedicates itself to finding out the history behind the names of the characters in The Hunger Games. I don’t know whether Suzanne Collins named her characters consciously trying to speak through the symbols etc but the names do give credence to many of the characters in both their personalities and their actions.Katniss the Cattail is more on the academic side than not and that’s why I judged it as a scholarly piece of writing and not one for entertainment. However, it educates as well entertains and it is a handy tool to use to deepen your understanding and appreciation of The Hunger Games.That said, I felt that the writing could have been more crisp and the tone a bit stronger. I don’t know what kind of scholarly material is available for such research but I think the author of the volume did her work and it comes through her frequent references to outsides that help to ground the novel somewhat on solid academic foundation. I say somewhat because obviously it needs to be peer reviewed for it to be totally academic.Anyway, in simpler words, if you dig The Hunger Games like crazy, this book lets you glimpse at it a bit closer than you know…you might have.
