I watched the movie in college and really liked it at the time, but I admit I didn't remember a lot of it other than the initial premise. I wanted to read this to see if the book was any different and if there was more of a backstory about why there was a program like the one the kids were forced into, but unfortunately the book wasn't all that. The context of the program is still vague, or if not vague, makes no sense about why people are just okay with a once a year killing of 29 kids, other than fear of the government, or rocking the boat.

It is really weird to be reading this book at this stage in US authoritarianism, and I thought it would hit harder, but something about the writing made it difficult for me to really immerse myself into it. Maybe because of the sexist overtones of the main narrator, even though the point of view shifts multiple times, but I couldn't really get into the headspace. Even getting more background in the characters, which would make them feel more real didn't make their deaths that powerful.

I ended up skimming a lot of chapters, especially ones about random students mostly because I knew what would happen to them, or it was a repetitive rehash of their death, which I already read about from a different character's point of view.