The Hunger Games
I finally got around to reading the Hunger Games, as they've been referred to me multiple times at this point.
The Hunger Games was surprisingly catchy. I expected to like it, after so many people told me I would, but I hadn't thought it would be so absorbing. The beginning feels a bit simple, but the amount of raw emotion that's written into the story from the start just pulls you in. As the book continues, the first person POV really grows into its strength and the book ends wonderfully -- making you want to start the next one immediately.
Catching Fire was great, but at first I didn't like it as much as Hunger Games. About a third of the way in the plot picks up and I started becoming more absorbed. I kept feeling like Katniss was really dense during much of this book, but it was a realistic part of her character, so I didn't get too annoyed. And then the book ends on a cliff-hanger so you're definitely going to want to have the third one on hand.
Mockingjay slides into being darker and having more adult concerns and considerations out in the open. I think it's a natural progression from the first two, and nothing is ever presented in a way that breaks Katniss's character from being realistic. In fact, I think first person POV was an interesting choice for this book especially -- Katniss being fairly unobservant and out of the loop, and yet a very important character nonetheless. I liked this one from the start, though I would have preferred the end of the book to be a bit more coherent (I feel like it got a bit confusing due to the POV and Katniss's mental state at the end).
Overall, I think it was a very enjoyable series and it's definitely up for a reread.
The most interesting part about the series I think was Katniss herself.
I didn't "enjoy" the Peeta/Gale back-and-forth except as a view into Katniss's character. I liked both Peeta and Gale and throughout the series I was betting on varying end situations -- whether I thought it was going to be Peeta or Gale or neither of them changed throughout my read. My thoughts on who she would end up with were affected by who I thought was going to survive. For most of the series I was betting on Peeta not surviving. But then towards the end I thought either possibly Gale wouldn't survive. I was definitely betting on someone dying -- and one point in Mockingjay I thought maybe it would be Haymitch. Prim dying surprised me because I didn't think she would be the character killed off. But I have to admit it makes the most sense in an affecting-Katniss-way. And in a skewed twist it brings the whole series back to the beginning where Katniss volunteers for Prim at the reaping. In a sense it highlights how Katniss didn't really do anything from her point of view.
Which brings me on to my next point. Katniss is a catalyst -- but the whole series is from her point of view and she rarely realizes how much power she really has. We are watching a catalyst not from the outside -- like I feel normally happens -- but from her own point of view. She never sees herself as doing something hugely important. In fact, she's a very reactionary character. Her best actions come from reactions to other people's actions. And her role as a catalyst never changes. She's never placed into a situation where her action creates a lasting result in and of itself. Her actions always cause other people to be able to do things. Which is interesting since she is a character that needs action.
Take the end for example. Katniss never makes it to the mansion to kill Snow. The rebels win without her help. But. From an outside point of view she created a distraction that might have been key to the rebellion winning. But we don't know that for sure because Katniss doesn't know that. She's a character that is very much stuck inside her own head. Even when she kills Coin, we don't learn how that affected the big picture -- we only know how it affected Katniss. On one hand she doesn't care -- her act of killing Coin was a pure action of revenge for Prim and she doesn't care about the big picture. But on the other hand, no one has included her in big picture things from the start, so why should they now?
It's a very "teenage" view of the world. Her view of the world is a bubble that she can't really see outside and doesn't really care to see outside of. She only cares about the things that affect her and the things she can personally change. I'm not saying all teenagers are like that -- definitely not. And I can't see Katniss as a character really changing from that point of view. But I do feel like it's the type of point of view you have as a child and grow out of as you get older (well, some point don't grow out of it but others do). Despite that, I thought Katniss was a very likable character. I think it's her honesty about herself. She knows she's not the nicest person and she doesn't always like that about herself but she accepts it. She's also a fairly unreliable narrator. I think her biases are pretty out in the open, so it can be simple to see between the lines, but sometimes it's unclear what's "really" going on in the world.
Take for example, Peeta. During the Hunger Games I didn't feel like I got a good sense of who he was as a character. I want to say I didn't like him all that much, but really I was withholding judgement. I felt like I could like him, but he seemed really shallow. As I kept reading, I realized that the shallowness was Katniss's fault more than anything. She didn't want to get to know someone she knew she was going to have to kill. So Peeta gets very little "screen time" in Katniss's mind and we get to pick his character out of the actions that Katniss is watching, and possibly misjudging. (Multiple times when she thought Peeta was acting, I was like, no, Katniss, that's just his personality.)
At the end of the first book I thought that possibly in the very original version of Hunger Games, Gale went into the arena with Katniss. I felt that Gale's character was much stronger that Peeta's character -- that he was more fully rounded. I thought maybe Peeta was added into the book at a later date. Maybe that's true, but as I kept reading the series I no longer thought so. Instead, I think that the shallowness and strength of the characters depends entirely on Katniss. She trusted Gale and knew him well, so we get a clear view of his character. Peeta, on the other hand, she had to get to know during understandably questionable circumstances, so we get a much weaker view of his character. I think the Hunger Games, if not the entire series, would have played out very differently had Gale gone into the arena with Katniss.
One of the things I dislike about the ending -- aside from the confusing POV and not being sure what's going on, which is due more to Katniss's mental state than anything else -- is that we don't see Gale at the end. I can see him disappearing into another district and all that, but I'm not sure I believe that Katniss would never ever talk to him again. Always be a bit angry at him, yes, but complete disappearance from her life? Maaaaybe. I can explain it. I can say that he wouldn't want to contact her knowing she partially blamed him for Prim's death, and she wouldn't want to contact him for the same reason. But she hung onto their friendship so hard during the series that I can't quite believe a complete disappearance.
I do like her and Peeta hooking up at the end, finally. For a while I was betting that she wouldn't want either him or Gale at the end, but then the world changed so her perspective changed, too.
Overall, I thought it was a good ending and the series had a lot of things to think about in it.
The Hunger Games was surprisingly catchy. I expected to like it, after so many people told me I would, but I hadn't thought it would be so absorbing. The beginning feels a bit simple, but the amount of raw emotion that's written into the story from the start just pulls you in. As the book continues, the first person POV really grows into its strength and the book ends wonderfully -- making you want to start the next one immediately.
Catching Fire was great, but at first I didn't like it as much as Hunger Games. About a third of the way in the plot picks up and I started becoming more absorbed. I kept feeling like Katniss was really dense during much of this book, but it was a realistic part of her character, so I didn't get too annoyed. And then the book ends on a cliff-hanger so you're definitely going to want to have the third one on hand.
Mockingjay slides into being darker and having more adult concerns and considerations out in the open. I think it's a natural progression from the first two, and nothing is ever presented in a way that breaks Katniss's character from being realistic. In fact, I think first person POV was an interesting choice for this book especially -- Katniss being fairly unobservant and out of the loop, and yet a very important character nonetheless. I liked this one from the start, though I would have preferred the end of the book to be a bit more coherent (I feel like it got a bit confusing due to the POV and Katniss's mental state at the end).
Overall, I think it was a very enjoyable series and it's definitely up for a reread.
The most interesting part about the series I think was Katniss herself.
I didn't "enjoy" the Peeta/Gale back-and-forth except as a view into Katniss's character. I liked both Peeta and Gale and throughout the series I was betting on varying end situations -- whether I thought it was going to be Peeta or Gale or neither of them changed throughout my read. My thoughts on who she would end up with were affected by who I thought was going to survive. For most of the series I was betting on Peeta not surviving. But then towards the end I thought either possibly Gale wouldn't survive. I was definitely betting on someone dying -- and one point in Mockingjay I thought maybe it would be Haymitch. Prim dying surprised me because I didn't think she would be the character killed off. But I have to admit it makes the most sense in an affecting-Katniss-way. And in a skewed twist it brings the whole series back to the beginning where Katniss volunteers for Prim at the reaping. In a sense it highlights how Katniss didn't really do anything from her point of view.
Which brings me on to my next point. Katniss is a catalyst -- but the whole series is from her point of view and she rarely realizes how much power she really has. We are watching a catalyst not from the outside -- like I feel normally happens -- but from her own point of view. She never sees herself as doing something hugely important. In fact, she's a very reactionary character. Her best actions come from reactions to other people's actions. And her role as a catalyst never changes. She's never placed into a situation where her action creates a lasting result in and of itself. Her actions always cause other people to be able to do things. Which is interesting since she is a character that needs action.
Take the end for example. Katniss never makes it to the mansion to kill Snow. The rebels win without her help. But. From an outside point of view she created a distraction that might have been key to the rebellion winning. But we don't know that for sure because Katniss doesn't know that. She's a character that is very much stuck inside her own head. Even when she kills Coin, we don't learn how that affected the big picture -- we only know how it affected Katniss. On one hand she doesn't care -- her act of killing Coin was a pure action of revenge for Prim and she doesn't care about the big picture. But on the other hand, no one has included her in big picture things from the start, so why should they now?
It's a very "teenage" view of the world. Her view of the world is a bubble that she can't really see outside and doesn't really care to see outside of. She only cares about the things that affect her and the things she can personally change. I'm not saying all teenagers are like that -- definitely not. And I can't see Katniss as a character really changing from that point of view. But I do feel like it's the type of point of view you have as a child and grow out of as you get older (well, some point don't grow out of it but others do). Despite that, I thought Katniss was a very likable character. I think it's her honesty about herself. She knows she's not the nicest person and she doesn't always like that about herself but she accepts it. She's also a fairly unreliable narrator. I think her biases are pretty out in the open, so it can be simple to see between the lines, but sometimes it's unclear what's "really" going on in the world.
Take for example, Peeta. During the Hunger Games I didn't feel like I got a good sense of who he was as a character. I want to say I didn't like him all that much, but really I was withholding judgement. I felt like I could like him, but he seemed really shallow. As I kept reading, I realized that the shallowness was Katniss's fault more than anything. She didn't want to get to know someone she knew she was going to have to kill. So Peeta gets very little "screen time" in Katniss's mind and we get to pick his character out of the actions that Katniss is watching, and possibly misjudging. (Multiple times when she thought Peeta was acting, I was like, no, Katniss, that's just his personality.)
At the end of the first book I thought that possibly in the very original version of Hunger Games, Gale went into the arena with Katniss. I felt that Gale's character was much stronger that Peeta's character -- that he was more fully rounded. I thought maybe Peeta was added into the book at a later date. Maybe that's true, but as I kept reading the series I no longer thought so. Instead, I think that the shallowness and strength of the characters depends entirely on Katniss. She trusted Gale and knew him well, so we get a clear view of his character. Peeta, on the other hand, she had to get to know during understandably questionable circumstances, so we get a much weaker view of his character. I think the Hunger Games, if not the entire series, would have played out very differently had Gale gone into the arena with Katniss.
One of the things I dislike about the ending -- aside from the confusing POV and not being sure what's going on, which is due more to Katniss's mental state than anything else -- is that we don't see Gale at the end. I can see him disappearing into another district and all that, but I'm not sure I believe that Katniss would never ever talk to him again. Always be a bit angry at him, yes, but complete disappearance from her life? Maaaaybe. I can explain it. I can say that he wouldn't want to contact her knowing she partially blamed him for Prim's death, and she wouldn't want to contact him for the same reason. But she hung onto their friendship so hard during the series that I can't quite believe a complete disappearance.
I do like her and Peeta hooking up at the end, finally. For a while I was betting that she wouldn't want either him or Gale at the end, but then the world changed so her perspective changed, too.
Overall, I thought it was a good ending and the series had a lot of things to think about in it.