The Hunger Games

[altogetherisi]

So yesterday I read The Hunger Games.

As soon as I finished it, I was absolutely desperate to read the next one. I'm gonna go buy it right after I make this post, but yeah, I think I wanted to record some thoughts and feelings before I moved on.

• I loved it. Lots.
• Not sure whether this is weird or not, but I found the beginning and early chapters most scary. They really horrified and sickened me, but by the time the actual Hunger Games actually started - all the stuff in the arena, all the character deaths - didn't scare or sicken or terrify me or affect me emotionally much at all. Essentially, I found the nature of the world of Panem to be more intrinsically horrifying than the actual Hunger Games. Which I think is fine and correct now I've expressed it. But as I was reading, I was a little surprised, I think because I expected it to get worse and worse, and not that I would *calm down* when the killing started.
• It is the best thing I have read in first person for a very long time. As a rule I dislike the first person POV, sometimes intensely, and certainly do have an instinct to avoid things written in the first person. But I really enjoyed it here.
• The pacing was terrific. Between how fast the pace is and how fast I read the book - 100 pages Thursday evening, 350 pages Friday morning - at the end when a character mentions about 3 weeks have passed I felt a bit disoriented. Of course they did, but it flew past in more than one way.
• At the end, there's a bit where everyone has to sit through like, a three hour summary clip movie thing of the Hunger Games that they just happened, and it was a really serious bit of the book but I couldn't felt going "lol that is totally the movie we will see soon!" Heh.
• THE WORLD BUILDING was a subtle build up - I like that, it's one of my favourite things, and it keeps you interested. Particularly when Katniss would vaguely mention something that either helpfully shed light on the situation, turned it on it's head, or that I would desperately want her to elaborate on. eg, the whole deal with sponsors and tributes being able to receive gifts in the arena was amazing and not something I'd have predicted at all. Also, I am fascinated by the history of Panem, and what on earth has happened to the rest of the world - I do hope the sequels elaborate on that a bit.
• THE ACTUAL HUNGER GAMES were pretty different from what I was vaguely expecting - basically, I didn't think they would last so long, or be in such a big arena, and I was surprised at how Suzanne Collins made it far more a story about survival than about killing. I was SO SHOCKED that Katniss didn't sprint for the bow at the beginning, seriously, that was one of the very few things that surprised me and clearly made the book take a suddenly left turn.
• I LOVE KATNISS. She is brilliant. Obviously I love her for all her positive skills and traits, but my overwhelming feelings for her come from loving her flaws, principally her self-esteem problem and her defensive emotional distance which I identify with so much omg. Also, it's interesting to me that she seems much better at short term strategy than long term strategy - I wonder whether that will develop.
• I AM IN LOVE WITH PEETA. SO MUCH. OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. From the movie trailer I was expecting Peeta to be somewhat my type - you know, blond and vulnerable and stuff - BUT CHRIST I DID NOT EXPECT TO LOVE HIM THIS MUCH. He is just so lovely. The contrast between his family and Katniss' family! The tragic crush. Not wanting to die but spending most of the book accepting it as inevitable. I just. I can't list everything about him I love, I just want to dissolve into a puddle of rocking, wailing fangirl at the thought of him. Gosh.
• RUE. I knew there was a girl called Rue and she died before I started, but I was not expecting to love her so much. Oh my heart. Rue my beautiful darling.
• It was brilliant having Rue tell Katniss a bit about her home district - it was interesting to have Katniss come from a District where stuff is very hard, but definitely isn't the worst off was fascinating.
• Ha, was anyone fooled by the rule change/unrule change plot point? It was interesting though that Katniss seemed not to expected it - girl has trust issues up to here. And I liked their solution.
• Did we ever get told the real name of Foxface? If we did, I've forgotten it. I really want to know about her, because I love her and think she is brilliant. Clever and subtle and cool, it so nearly could have been a book about her. Katniss wouldn't have figured out the landmines without her, but Foxface wouldn't have destroyed the food herself; and the bit at the feast, when she has hidden where Katniss wishes she had thought to, and gets away with her backpack cleanly was masterful.
• Which reminds me, the biggest WTF WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK moment was the wolf mutt things at the end of the Games. JFC THEY BETTER BE EXPLAINED HOLY SHIT.
• Um, what else. Haymitch and Effie and Cinna are fascinating. Cinna is a bomb, of course, but I really hadn't expected to be so intrigued by Haymitch. Since he's the only previous victor we meet, it's such an interesting picture to draw of what the best case scenario of winning the Games actually might consist of - the long term affects, how it never leaves you, how winning doesn't mean you go free. I'd -love- to learn more about Haymitch's games, and his life generally.
• Oh if I hadn't mentioned, I'm shipping Katniss/Peeta and um. Gale/Prim? I worry a bit that people might think I am crazy for shipping Gale/Prim. But I have my reasons! Mainly that Prim deserves someone excellent and dependable and Gale similarly deserves someone loving, and I am a believer in diversifying your skill sets, not doubling them up, so I think having hunter/baker and hunter/nurse makes for best combination. Obviously she is only 12 atm, but I am thinking long term so shush.
• I vaguely know from fandom and got the feeling from the book that Gale loves Katniss, but a) that is understandable, Katniss is awesome, and b) I think what Katniss really needs is friends, and I don't ever want her to endanger her friendship with dating. And yeah ok, I just think Peeta is better, so sue me.
• No, also, Gale will never be able to understand what she has been through like Peeta can. That's important. Gale might have been a totally fine match for Katniss at the beginning of the book, but no longer, because she isn't that person anymore. She's been through the crucible now, and so has Peeta, and Gale simply hasn't. The Hunger Games divide Katniss and Gale just as much as they bind Katniss and Peeta together.
• I REALLY WANT MORE MADGE. The friend Katniss hardly noticed she had. I hope she comes back. Maybe I can ship her with Gale. Hmmmm.
• AND OMG KATNISS' MOTHER. Yessssss. That was a wonderful surprise, I don't think I've ever encountered a character with depression like her, and the different ways Katniss and Prim responded to her is beautifully written and completely believable. No one even hined there was a character with depression! I appreciated that very, very much, just her being there, as well as the insight point it gave me into Katniss' family life and character.
• OK that's all I can think of.

WHAT I WANT FROM CATCHING FIRE:

• More worldbuilding, more politics, more history
• Lots of Katniss trying to cope with her changed life and changed self post Hunger Games in the environment of District 12 and her friends and family
• More Peeta. More kissing. Preferably Katniss/Peeta but I'll see what we get. Particularly, I want more insight into Peeta's home life. Because it's interesting that while it was easier than Katniss' in terms of food availability it clearly wasn't a walk in the park either.
• A sympathetic character from the Capitol. Cinna and Effie almost cross over, I do love Cinna, but I want them to fully make that leap to wherever Katniss is taking them. Going beyond doing my job with some fondness to being properly and fiercely on her side, devoted to her in whatever is ahead.
• WAIT STOP PRESS I have literally just realised what I really would adore is for it to be The Hunger Games again but from Peeta's point of view. Oh my god, so much. I gather that it is not what it is. But I really need to read that book. Does anyone know the fandom? Has someone written that fic? I need it OMG. PEETA.
• There is no way I can top that thought. I'm just gonna revel in it for a bit. Mmmmmmm. Peeta. My darling Peeta.

OK, going to buy Catching Fire now. BRB.