Furrowed Brow

 It was fifth grade, and my friends confirmed that I had lines on my forehead that were not normal. They were pretty sure I was thinking too hard. As an adult I’m sure they were right. I’d decided someone had to understand the problem of human evil so that it could be overcome. Yes, I knew Jesus had overcome it already, but there was this pesky thing called the Apocalypse. I thought it was a piece of future history we could do without.

So I was studying human evil and how it might be overcome. Anytime someone said something was really evil I looked it up, I asked around, I made up horrendous playground games. I gave people nightmares. I did not waste time on horror movies and such, only non-fiction evil for me. I don’t think that was healthy, and my brain is a little fragile as a result. I never figured out the answer to human evil, and for the sake of my health I quit trying.

Suzanne Collins explores the problem of human evil with the creativity and a faux innocence that could easily be credited to a child. I fell into her Hunger Games and knew I had to beat it to death or run and hide like her protagonists. I chose the deep dive, and was relieved when I could sit in the meadow with Katniss at peace. Despite the stress it was causing me I loved Suzanne’s writing. I liked living in the world deep enough to understand it. The way her character’s brains worked awakened old models in mine. 

When The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was advertised in the window at Barnes and Noble, I was apprehensive. When the movie came out I went to see it, but with half a mind in reserve. I kept putting off buying the book using my book budget as an excuse, but I love her voice. I was going to buy it and I was glad when I finally did. Songbirds is more about human evil, but examined in a slowed down, armchair traveller way. It gives her a chance to help those of us who were too freaked out by the rush and carnage of Hunger Games a chance to see the underlying principles this time in a slower more tempered way. It is the right book for the truly committed. I should have read it right away.