Internet Issues and The Hunger Games Trilogy

[pristineungift]

Well, after about a week of working semi-consistently, my internet cut out again last night. So. Going to post one quick mod post after this, but after that not sure how my internet access I'll have over the next few days.

In other news, I went ahead and read The Hunger Games trilogy. I found it to be a fast easy read. While I've been struggling to read Game of Thrones, it was too complex for me to follow and remember what was going on in the moments I found to read between studying. The Hunger Games however, I finished reading in just a few days of reading for about an hour before bed.

Overall I liked it a lot. I'm not going to run off and join a landcomm or anything, but it was powerful, and the concerns I had about the ending were erroneous. I don't have time to write a proper review, but here are some bullet point thoughts under the spoiler cut.
[Spoilers (click to open)]

• It reads a lot like Animorphs and Uglies had a threeway with Ender's Game and knocked it up, and no one's sure who the father is. Which is great. I like all of those series.
• At times I had to put them down because the Peeta/Katniss/Gale love triangle was so painful to read about. I was there for political commentary and action, not romance. The second book was by far the worst for this. I just really really really really really don't care who she ends up with.
• On the other hand, kudos to the author for not making Katniss easily fall in love with either of them. Her struggle with her feelings came across as real, confusing, and frustrating for both her, the boys, and the reader.
• I don't understand how anyone could possibly think Rue isn't a person of color from her description in the books. Cinna is more ambiguous because his skin color is never specified, but I don't see that it matters. I actually pictured him as Egyptian because of the gold eye liner.
• I also picture Finnick and Mags as being native Hawaiian because of the fishing and the emphasis on their tan skin. 
• Speaking of Finnick: ALL THE FEELINGS. He's probably my favorite character.
• I was actually halfway disappointed the second Hunger Games was interrupted, because I was digging the arena and I wanted to see who would win. But I know the story was much larger than the actual Hunger Games, but still. Tick tock, tick tock.
• I like that there isn't truly a happy ending. Everyone is damaged. People you care about die. Nothing is tied up in a pretty bow. It feels very authentic, and there are several passages that read as a direct warning to today's society. I won't be surprised if The Hunger Games are studied alongside There Will Come Soft Rains and 1984 in coming years. The U.S. is clearly the Capitol, with the districts being the rest of the countries of the world. In other words, we treat everyone except for Districts 1 and 2 like shit. GUESS WHO THEY ARE. GUESS. This makes me feel like a painted, disgusting, wasteful Capitol citizen.
• I also really identify with Katniss, mostly because she hates humanity and both wants to save it and destroy it and is often disgusted with herself for being human.
• I am weirdly attached to Katniss' Capitol prep team. I was super sad about them sitting dejectedly on the side of the bathtub. 
• Since I live in America, which was once Panem, I have spent too much time trying to figure out which district I live in. I think I probably live in 11. Which makes me more attached to Rue because SHE WAS MY TRIBUTE.
• Everything that was annoying about the first two books is completely worth it to get to the third. The third book is omg so good.
• I was very shocked by Katniss killing Coin. Good job, author. I read a lot of fiction and I can usually see or guess at twists coming. This was one I didn't expect. 
• The epilogue: I can see how if you just read the epilogue without reading the rest of the books it would read as "Katniss doesn't want to have children but her husband does so she gives in" and it can come across as very anti-woman, and very 'woman must have children if their husband wants them.' But taking the works in as a whole, it doesn't read that way at all. Throughout the series, Katniss is shown to actually like and enjoy interacting with children, and Katniss has always cited her reasons for not wanting children: The Hunger Games, scarcity of food, war. By the epilogue, none of those things are a factor any longer, and really at this point I don't think anyone is going to get the Mockingjay to do anything she really doesn't want to do. I mean, she killed Coin and was prepared to die to save the world from another Capitol. She's not going to just have kids she doesn't want. Also knowing Peeta as I do now, he's really not going to be pressuring Katniss about it. Most likely how it went down is that they talked about it once, he never mentioned it again because Katniss and her feelings on it are more important to him than being a father, but he probably does things he's not aware of, like smile when he sees children playing. Katniss probably notices that, and then one day just randomly informs him that they can have children. 
• And I like that the epilogue doesn't paint having children as the fixit for Katniss' damaged soul. She's nervous when pregnant because it makes her feel vulnerable, and the books close on her worries about what she'll tell the kids about the Hunger Games, and the nightmares that still wake her screaming.
• I was however, disappointed at the lack of even one explicitly gay/bisexual character. Finnick doesn't count because he was being sold. But on the other hand, we got a strong female protagonist and main POC characters. I can't expect one series to address every social disparity in the world or in literature.
• So, TL;DR, yes it's irritating that there are not as many fictional female role models who remain childless by choice, but in this case I don't see the epilogue as being out of place, or out of character. It was a natural progression of Katniss' story, not a "oh and let's give her kids. People like it when heroes have kids."
• I would however like to suggest the Protector of the Small series as an example of a heroine who is childless by choice and stays that way.
• Also The Obsidian Trilogy. But really, everyone just needs to read this trilogy for reasons.