Final Thoughts on Hunger Games
Just finished reading the Hunger Games trilogy and feel the need to review or, at least, talk about it for the benefit of the great anonymous internet. Lol, actually I just need to release all these thoughts before I can put this great adventure behind me. I've been so caught up reading it, so absolutely entranced, that the world hardly felt real whenever I tore away from Panem momentarily for reasons of utmost necessity (lol such as eating occasionally or using the restroom). And having now completed the entire series, even in such a short time frame, events from earlier in the story arc feels like they occurred literally YEARS ago to me. I feel like I've actually taken that journey with Katniss physically, and everything before that-- my life, my mundane routine-- is something so far away. Like a distant memory. Honestly, it was the most exciting read I've had since Harry Potter. But I know I will come down from this high fairly soon, quite likely before the end of the week, and even so it can't take away from the fact that it felt so good to be thrilled by something again.... to take part in some wonder, you know?
Before I start, I know I don't use this journal very much anymore and it's not just because of Facebook. Truly I have nothing of merit to note these days, and for me EL Jay has always been a place for substance. So forgive me if some email notification is dragging you back to this virtual ghost town. Please note that some spoilers may apply in proceeding. If you've not yet read the trilogy, in its entirety, I implore you to do so beforehand.
Let me just say, it's hard for me to place this story in any one specific genre. I will put that out there. Because it is simultaneously a love story and one of revolution, the horrors of war, injustice of oppression, and the need for equality & unity across all bounds. It's a quite a loaded set of novels, which is part of the reason I enjoyed it so much. But considering that the series ended with Katniss finally resolving her feelings for Peeta, and no mention being made of what ultimately becomes of Panem postbellum-- if that idea of establishing a republic set forth by Plutarch ever takes hold-- I'm willing to classify this a romance. Which suits me just fine as it was my favorite aspect of the story. When it comes down to it, at the end of it all the only thing we know with certainty is that she, not yet the country, is changed. Their relationship, hers and Peeta's, is the one thing that has been irreversibly changed from what it was at the start of the books. Not accounting for the epilogue, of course. And I mean, it's always been about Katniss, right? (As if the first-person person perspective didn't make that any more obvious). How she unwittingly sparked a revolution; how she took part in a war that ultimately set her country on a course toward change; How she finally put an end to the Games. Yet at the end of the day, the story boils down to her journey through hell and back and the realization that the path to her salvation lies in the one person she didn't know she needed, the one who had saved her life countless times before she even realized it.
And I love that it was Peeta! Sure there were plenty of clues hinting at this, such as the hungry stirring she never felt when kissing Gale, his telling her that the pain he felt for not having her would "pass," their frequent opposition concerning warfare, and his admittance of losing her when he failed to protect her family, but you were never quite sure she wouldn't just die alone until she finally accepted Peeta's love and allowed herself to feel the same for him. It may seem a little biased of me, I won't deny I've had a soft spot for him since his introduction and have been rooting for him since, but it's not just that he won her heart with his sweet nature. It's how the feelings unfolded, how she realizes it's been him all along. That final paragraph or so which closes out the books captures it so beautifully, particularly:
"On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself, What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that."The beauty in these lines is that Katniss' choice was not made arbitrarily. It wasn't just the person who happened to still be alive at the end of the books that she relents her heart to. Neither is it a case of who she's known/trusted the longest or has the deepest history with. She doesn't end up with Peeta because he happened to end up in the arena with her, the tables wouldn't have turned if it had been Gale instead. No, Peeta was always meant for her because he's always possessed the things she's needed to keep moving forward: his kindness, his willingness to sacrifice absolutely everything of meaning for her, his refusal to ever let her go, and the moral compass that always keeps him steering towards life and forgiveness rather than revenge or destruction. He is something she's needed since the passing of her father, a guiding light. A gentle kind of love that can prevent the fires of her soul from consuming her entirely without going so as far as to extinguish it either. The Games simply provided the opportunity for them to truly interact and explore these feelings. More importantly for her, the Games (both staged and otherwise) allowed her to search within herself to discover what it is she needs to survive not what, or who, she feels most comfortable with, i.e. - the least guilty with. It's a sad thing that they're both so damaged by the end of it all but I suppose that only strengthens the bond they share and proves how much they need each other. They save one another.
As a person in general, I so do love Peeta. Earnestly. If ever there was a perfect fictional love interest, he is it. Far better than the Mr. Darcys, the Heathcliffs, and the [heaven help us] Edward Cullens out there. And I say this for one simple reason: we all want someone like him in real life. Someone who knew, with complete and absolute certainty, the EXACT moment when they fell in love with you and already in that moment knew it to be true and unwavering. Who is steady in their belief that his or her love can never be compromised. It wasn't a realization that crept up gradually as is so often the case in the lackluster reality of life, it was immediate and definite. Lol oh, how my heart aches for such devotion!! And please, save your arguments, I can already hear the "But wait! Doesn't he suffer a period of doubt in his love for her? Doesn't he hate her in book three?" Let me just clear that up real quick, that wasn't the real Peeta. He was lost and forced into unrelenting confusion by Snow. Do you really think his feelings would have faltered had his memories been left unaltered? This is a guy who still loved her even after she damn near broke his heart on that train station after the first Games and chose to stay with Gale following his whipping. Doesn't seem likely.
That's not to say I didn't have my problems with the books, namely the narrative style. It didn't win me over but then again I'm skeptical that it's even possible successfully carry an entire novel, let alone a series, in the first-person perspective with flawless execution. Of course, this presented itself as more of a problem in the first book than any of the other two. For me, keeping the focus so tight on Katniss killed a lot of the excitement as well as the magnitude of danger/chaos brought on by the arena that the reader could have experienced had we been given clearance to wander a bit from her. But then, I concede that the story wasn't about the Games, It was about her so we didn't really need to see what was happening outside of her immediate circumstances. It could have been better, is all I'm sayin'. Also, because we're trapped in her head (and, as I've mentioned to others, she is almost unforgivably naive.... to the point of stupidity) we have to suffer as she clearly misconstrues the thoughts and motives of those around her when the reality of her situation is so obvious. The fatal flaw in this being that it lends far too much predictability to the plot, which is really unsatisfying to the reader. You never want to get too far ahead of your protagonist, it takes away from the element of surprise. I'd like to give Collins some credit for trying to add a touch of realism to Katniss' inner monologue, not that her thoughts weren't already so gratifyingly honest, by writing it the way most us think but all those fragmented sentences became a little annoying to read after a while. Not to mention, made it more difficult to follow the action smoothly. I'd be surprised if her word processing software wasn't just glowing with angry green squiggle marks as she typed out the story. Another thing that put me off were the substantial amount of redundant phrases or sentences throughout, especially in the first, as well as all the summarizing in book two. But I can't complain too much as they tied in quite nicely as Peeta regained more of his memories in the final book.
Overall, the story is fantastically written to come together beautifully in the end. It's enriched with honest, fully fleshed-out characters navigating highly complex relationships in an ugly time. One of Collins' greatest strength is her ability to craft deep, telling backstories that better develop her characters and weave them in seamlessly in flashbacks that perfectly compliment the current action of the plot. She's brilliant on that front. As well as heightening the element of suspense by escalating the conflict in ways that aren't overwrought or convoluted at all. I tip my hat to her, wish I could do that in my own writing but I'm far too nonconfrontational to even stay in the conflicts I've imagined myself lol.
:~+*AiDaN*+~: