Let's eat Grandpa!

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

Narrator: Paul Boehmer
Source: Sacramento Library
Finished: 2/8/11
Rating: 6 out of 10
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 320
Originally Published: 2003

Synopsis: What if Alice fell down an air vent in a New York City apartment building instead of down a rabbit hole? Collins considers a similar possibility in her exceptional debut novel, a well-written, fast-moving, action-packed fantasy. Eleven-year-old Gregor expects a long, boring summer of baby-sitting his two-year-old sister, Boots, and his senile grandmother. Distracted with thoughts about his father, who disappeared three years ago, Gregor belatedly notices that Boots has crawled into an air vent in the laundry room. He dives in after her, and the two are sucked downward into the Underland, a fantastic subterranean world of translucent-skinned, violet-eyed humans, and giant talking cockroaches, bats, spiders, and rats. Eventually, the terrified Gregor is transformed into a warrior hero who leads a successful battle against an army of invading rats and discovers his father, who has long been held prisoner by the enemy.

Overall Impression: I thought I was going to like this more than I did. After reading (devouring) the Hunger Games trilogy, I thought I’d check out Suzanne Collins’ Overlander series, which was written for kids. The themes are the same — war, betrayal, sacrifice, and family — and how all of these things affect children. Of course, it was a lot less violent and gruesome than the Hunger Games because if its younger audience. I thought Gregor’s character was great — he struggled and made bad and good decisions, and he learned the value of love and sacrifice. I also liked the lovable cockroaches (that will be the only time I will ever type that sentence!). But had to roll my eyes a bit for his younger sister, Boots – I have never, ever (ever, ever, ever) seen a two-year-old behave as well as she did. Ever. And the Underlander characters fell a little flat and cliched (uppity royal children, evil beasts, etc.). I also felt like the must-rescue-my-parents-from-the-forces-of-evil plot is a little overdone. I thought the whole book was pretty good, but not great. Younger audiences, however, would probably enjoy it more than I did.

Narration: Not my favorite narrator. It was hard to distinguish between the characters’ voices, and a lot of time it was like he was reading out of a picture book to little kids.

Positives: Collins’ greatest strength is that she brings the realities of war and shows what they do to children. It’s haunting to think that there are real kids out there who live in such darkness.

Negatives: Felt flat and and like it’d been done before.

Other books I’ve read by Suzanne Collins:
Hunger Games (review)
Catching Fire (review)
Mockingjay (review)

Other books I’ve listened to narrated by Paul Boehmer: none

Other blogger opinions:

Connor (who is Michelle’s son, from That’s What She Read): “This book, which is one thousand times less violent than the Hunger Games trilogy, is a very good read.”

Amy (My Friend Amy): “Additionally, Collins doesn’t avoid or soften the hard issues. She has made clear that she writes books about children and war and this is certainly that.”

Seth (World’s Strongest Librarian): “…for anyone who was intrigued by the buzz over The Hunger Games but put off by the amount of violence portrayed, Gregor the Overlander is a kinder, gentler view of war.”