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A review by imme_van_gorp
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
5.0
|| 4.5 stars ||
I think the main beauty of this book was how it showed the other side of the same coin from the original trilogy, and that it did it perfectly.
The depiction of our main character as Coriolanus Snow was also beautifully complex. He was narcissistic, manipulative and always in desperate need of control, but he also had many moments where he showed genuine empathy and love to the people he cared about. He was the epitome of morally grey with a sprinkle of sociopathy.
When I picked this book up, I never fully expected to understand why his character becomes the person he is in the original trilogy, but this book showed his progression into the supposed “villain” masterfully. I really love that the book tried to rationalize Snow’s actions and thoughts; Snow never did anything out of pure evil or cruelty, but instead he always convinced himself (and sometimes even me) of the fact that he was doing the right thing. That he was doing something that was necessary or just unavoidable. Even if it meant doing something ugly.
This was actually a very strange reading experience because I caught myself genuinely rooting for him, even knowing who he becomes later in life. He was just a very intriguing and amazingly written character, and it made this already troubling story all the more interesting!
On another note, this book clearly reflected a lot of [a:Thomas Hobbes|10122|Thomas Hobbes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1267037419p2/10122.jpg]’ teachings, which made this a very interesting read for me personally because I actually agree with a lot of his philosophies (in a general sense). It was weird to see them executed in such a grave and gruesome manner though; it definitely made me reflect on this philosophy a little deeper and more thoroughly. I still stand by the idea of a social contract being necessary to ensue peace and moral behaviour, but it’s important to be delicate with the way that contract is enforced and controlled. That’s the main point where a society and their government can either go wrong or right on the morality scale.
I’m not entirely sure what the author’s own stance on Hobbes’ teachings are and I actually really appreciated that. Instead of preaching her own philosophy to us, she presented the opportunity for every reader to form their own perceptions and opinions on it all.
Lastly, I have seen people complain about this being too slow or uneventful, leaving those readers to feel bored, but I actually think this fit absolutely perfectly with Snow’s character. He sees the world in a very controlled and analytical manner, so it makes sense for him to narrate the story in that way as well. Besides, I was actually surprised by the amount of feeling Snow put in his thoughts; I expected him, and this book, to be much colder because of the preconceived notions I had about his character, yet he turned out to be much more diverse and complex than that.
All in all, I definitely never felt bored with this book whatsoever; I was engaged from start to finish, and found everything nothing less than engrossing, intriguing and riveting!
'The Hunger Games' series:
0. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - 4.5 stars
1. The Hunger Games - 4.5 stars
I think the main beauty of this book was how it showed the other side of the same coin from the original trilogy, and that it did it perfectly.
The depiction of our main character as Coriolanus Snow was also beautifully complex. He was narcissistic, manipulative and always in desperate need of control, but he also had many moments where he showed genuine empathy and love to the people he cared about. He was the epitome of morally grey with a sprinkle of sociopathy.
When I picked this book up, I never fully expected to understand why his character becomes the person he is in the original trilogy, but this book showed his progression into the supposed “villain” masterfully. I really love that the book tried to rationalize Snow’s actions and thoughts; Snow never did anything out of pure evil or cruelty, but instead he always convinced himself (and sometimes even me) of the fact that he was doing the right thing. That he was doing something that was necessary or just unavoidable. Even if it meant doing something ugly.
This was actually a very strange reading experience because I caught myself genuinely rooting for him, even knowing who he becomes later in life. He was just a very intriguing and amazingly written character, and it made this already troubling story all the more interesting!
On another note, this book clearly reflected a lot of [a:Thomas Hobbes|10122|Thomas Hobbes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1267037419p2/10122.jpg]’ teachings, which made this a very interesting read for me personally because I actually agree with a lot of his philosophies (in a general sense). It was weird to see them executed in such a grave and gruesome manner though; it definitely made me reflect on this philosophy a little deeper and more thoroughly. I still stand by the idea of a social contract being necessary to ensue peace and moral behaviour, but it’s important to be delicate with the way that contract is enforced and controlled. That’s the main point where a society and their government can either go wrong or right on the morality scale.
I’m not entirely sure what the author’s own stance on Hobbes’ teachings are and I actually really appreciated that. Instead of preaching her own philosophy to us, she presented the opportunity for every reader to form their own perceptions and opinions on it all.
Lastly, I have seen people complain about this being too slow or uneventful, leaving those readers to feel bored, but I actually think this fit absolutely perfectly with Snow’s character. He sees the world in a very controlled and analytical manner, so it makes sense for him to narrate the story in that way as well. Besides, I was actually surprised by the amount of feeling Snow put in his thoughts; I expected him, and this book, to be much colder because of the preconceived notions I had about his character, yet he turned out to be much more diverse and complex than that.
All in all, I definitely never felt bored with this book whatsoever; I was engaged from start to finish, and found everything nothing less than engrossing, intriguing and riveting!
'The Hunger Games' series:
0. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - 4.5 stars
1. The Hunger Games - 4.5 stars