Girl in the arena

I don't know what it was that made me put Girl in the Arena on my to-read list. After having it sit on my bookshelf for a couple of months, the summary sounded gimmicky and derivative. Perhaps it is. It's a very literal take on the same inspiration that stories like The Hunger Games came from. You can even find the common tropes all lined up for you. A tough not-like-other-girls girl who is the focal point of a family with an unstable mother, and a vulnerable younger sibling, is forced into a relationship for the sake of an insatiable viewing audience. Also, mortal combat. But its as if Lise Haines took Collins' concept and decided to actually say something with it.There will always be plenty to say about men, women and violence even if you're not dealing with a fictional modernized gladiator culture. The world that Haines invents, while not entirely feasible, milks the opportunity for everything its worth.Some people think violence is nothing when you're raised in Glad culture. They say we have no feelings, that we don't value life. There was a comedian who said we collect death like fast-food toys – something we enjoy with a quick meal. Or something like that.What they don't get is this: a Glad has an incredibly strong sense of reality. Dreaming is not, strictly speaking, what we hope for, what we encourage or need. And if you stop dreaming and get real, you have to accept the fact that violence is a part of life, part of nature. Ask any biologist. To a true Glad, the arena is the only fair fight.Lyn's reality is razor sharp and hot to the touch. She's thrust into a fish bowl for all the world to gawk at when her Gladiator step-father is killed and the man who beat him, Uber, is mandated by Caesar's Inc to marry her for plundering her dowry bracelet from her father's cold wrist. She becomes the unwilling face of a culture that she was raised in but wanted nothing to do with. Like us, she views Glad culture as an outsider, tries to document and analyze it. So when it comes to blow her house down, she believes she equipped to weather the storm. And if she's not, she has to at least try.That's the difference between Lyn and protagonists like Katniss. Not only does she get an extraordinary amount of agency within the story, but she demands it. It means that characters that would normally have a more heroic role, such as Uber, get sidelined. She doesn't want him to save her, and she's not shy about letting him know. Haines aptly portrays Lyn's pain but also her perseverance. She doesn't have to tell us that Lyn is smart and a bad ass, she lays it all out rather matter-of-factly and allows Lyn's merits to speak for themselves.The prose is my favorite style - evocative and clean as a whistle. Lyn's voice is casual, and very appropriate for her age, but still thoughtful and there are plenty of twisted little gems that catch you off guard. I think this the kind of writing that [a:Tahereh Mafi 4637539 Tahereh Mafi http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1299027546p2/4637539.jpg] was going for, but overshot by a mile. The character are written similarly - you never really get that close to them, but Haines relies on small moments to speak volumes. Lyn tying the scarf around her neck when she gets that “Marie Antoinette chill.” Uber placing the crown of thorns on his head and breaking it. These moments don't have an overall purpose, but they work. It paints a world that's slightly surreal, but still close enough to home.I could go on. There's still a lot going on involving the power of corporations, class warfare, gender roles and role of the media. But I'd prefer to let the book speak for itself, because it does it so very well.