The Hunger Games, and why you should read them.
So on Twitter, I have been banging on about a YA series called The Hunger Games for a while now.
This is because The Hunger Games is, no lie, MOTHERFUCKING AMAZING and something you guys should all read, especially as we're heading into the holiday seasons and your relatives are asking you what you want for Christmas.
This is what you should tell them: "I'd like The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and you can get all three books on Amazon for under thirty bucks." Hardcover copies, no less! I believe they all come in Kindle conditions, too, if you prefer eBooks.
You can read Chapter One of the first book online (and the first chapters of the subsequent books in the series online, too, though they will spoil the hell out of you if you haven't read the previous books).
"Puel, this is awesome and all, but what the hell are these books about?" you may ask. I will steal the summary from the New York Times review, because I like theirs better than the one on the book jacket:
“The Hunger Games” begins long after the human population has been decimated by climate change and the wars that followed. Now North America is the nation of Panem, a country with 12 fenced-in districts that all work to feed the enormously wealthy and technologically advanced capital...
Long ago in Panem, there was a District 13. The district revolted, and the Capital demolished it and killed all its inhabitants. To commemorate the event - and to remind the districts of its power - the Capital organizes the annual Hunger Games. First comes the reaping: one boy and one girl are chosen from each district to attend the Games. Then the games themselves: a fight to the death among 24 teenage competitors in a sprawling environment controlled by sadistic game masters. The event is watched by the whole nation on live TV.
The winner - and there can be only one - returns to his or her home district triumphant and rich.
The protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, lives in District 12, the smallest and poorest district. Since her father's death in a mining accident, she provides for her mother and sister by illegally hunting in the woods outside her district. When her sister Prim is chosen in the Reaping, Katniss volunteers to take her place in the Games -- a certain death sentence, she thinks, because no victors have come from District 12 in decades. As the games progress, she realizes she might have more of a shot at winning than she thought, but even winning carries a horrific price.
I describe it as "Battle Royale in America. AND THEN IT GETS WORSE. And more complicated." It's hard to describe the ways in which it gets more complicated without massive spoilers, but this is a series that tackles its subject matter head-on and fleshes out (with surprising economy) a world that's terrifyingly similar to our own. The characters are fascinating and thorny and really really cool, and I'm really impressed at how sharp Collins's characterizations are, given the size of the books.
Still not convinced? Here are 12 non-spoilery reasons to read The Hunger Games. (Actually, there may be occasional spoilers, but they will all be white-texted and clearly marked with SPOILER and END SPOILER.) The lovely mithrigil has assisted on some of them.
1) Awesome lady POV.
One thing that is consistently great about YA, especially these days, is how many awesome female protagonists the genre features, and Katniss is a worthy addition to that list. On the first page of the first book, we discover that Katniss loves her little sister, and that she has no problem with drowning kittens. This is the kind of character sketch of your protagonist that you want. Katniss is, above all else, a survivor, and unlike a lot of other female-survivalist characters, refreshingly unsentimental about it. Her background (and events over the course of the story) makes it difficult for her to trust people, and the constant presence of cameras after her arrival in the Capitol and entrance into the arena makes it difficult for her to figure out what's real and what's an act. She's tough, resourceful, and frank about her shortcomings without descending into Jerk Sue territory -- and that makes her moments of vulnerability and genuine emotional connection all the more poignant. Plus, she can use a bow and arrow like nobody's business.
The story is told in first person present tense, which I am normally a little leery about but which works wonderfully for this story, since it puts us right in Katniss's head, right in the middle of the action. That kind of closeness between reader and character brings me to...
2. Concentrated attack on reality television without being anvilicious. (credit mithrigil)
It's going to be a big big big day! We're going to make sure you look your very best when you go out there to be interviewed before you go into the ring--just remember, the interviewer is there to make you look good and make sure you drum up audience sponsorship and support. After all, it's just as real for them as it is for you, even if they're not the ones in the ring. You have to make them care about you or else you won't have a chance at all, and the best way to make them care is to be yourself, but the right angle of yourself, the yourself they can understand without having to try....
...ahem.
3) FINNICK ODAIR.
He gets to be in capslock because he's my favorite character. We don't meet Finnick until Catching Fire, the second book, and some of the reasons why I love him are mad spoilery, but HE IS KIND OF AMAZING. Finnick is the drop-dead gorgeous victor of the sixty-fifth Hunger Games, which he basically won because the Capitol decided he was too pretty to die (and because he's good at killing things with an oversized fork). There are a lot of interesting things about the kind of objectification he gets and the kind of sexy he presents himself as and the commodification of beauty in the Capitol and how the ways in which he's a sex symbol are usually coded female but that is a long-ass meta post for another day. He plays a lot of games with public presentation, but the boy has a lot of secrets, and as the series goes on, we start to unravel who he really is and what he really cares about, and it's heartbreaking. Also, he has a delightfully morbid and self-deprecating sense of humor, and he is allergic to clothing. Pretty and competent and kickass outside! Incredibly fragmented and screwed-up inside! HE IS THE PERFECT STORM OF A PUEL-CHARACTER (this is a lame pun because Finnick and his district are associated with the ocean).
SPOILER: Basically, Finnick is a hooker with a heart of gold. No, really. But a dude. Who kills people. And is in love with a crazy girl. This makes him awesome. END SPOILER
4) Haymitch, the best drunken mentor ever. (credit mithrigil)
He makes his introduction by falling off the stage. He cements his position of authority by withholding information from Katniss so that she gives the most natural reaction. He eats your lunch. He is neck-deep in a bottle of moonshine. And he is a magnificent bastard.
5) The rest of the cast.
Turns out they're all pretty amazing! Rather than trying to swamp us with details about all twenty-four contestants (to say nothing of their support staff and other Capitol notaries and -- you get the idea), Collins picks a few to focus in on and really develop, with awesome results. There's Cinna, Katniss's gentle and enigmatic stylist for the Games and the closest thing she has to a friend in the Capitol. There's Rue, a tiny girl from District 11 who reminds Katniss of her little sister. There's President Snow, who smells of blood and roses and is suitably terrifying. There's Johanna Mason, a previous victor who won by pretending to be small and helpless and slaughtered everyone in the arena who underestimated her. There's Gale, Katniss's best-friend-and-maybe-something-else from home who's itching for the chance to stick one to the Capitol. And there's Peeta, Katniss's fellow tribute from District 12 and the boy with the bread from her childhood, who has all the people skills she lacks and who may have feelings for her -- but how much of that is for the benefit of the cameras?
6) Really whammy lines and gutpunchy revelations.
So you know one-line pivots, sentences that authors drop at the end of a chapter or section that sock you in the stomach and completely change what happened before? Collins is good at those. Really good at those. The plot of the first book isn't exactly novel (though the second and third books do different and great things with the concept), but there are enough tilts in the story to throw even the most trope-savvy reader (like my girlfriend) off-guard at times, and to keep readers scrambling to find out what happens next.
7) ...but there's still humor.
Katniss's life sucks enough that she's learned to develop a rather dry outlook on it, and her reactions to the Capitol and the excesses (and craziness) of its citizenry are pretty great. Haymitch is a Deadpan Snarker par excellence, and a lot of other characters get some great one-liners, too. Like "Yes, frosting. The final defense of the dying."
And "Well, don't expect us to be too impressed. We just saw Finnick Odair in his underwear."
(Both of these are even better in context.)
8) The book goes really fast, the pacing is amazing, so you won't want to put it down and don't have to worry about it eating all your time.
I think the immediacy of the first-person present PoV helps a lot with this, but damn is the plotting and pacing in this series tight. It's hard for me to give examples without basically quoting the book, but Collins has a great sense for what scenes need to be in the book and what can be safely skipped or elided to keep the narrative moving. The books have crazy momentum, and it's worth noting that I finished the first one in around three hours or less and debated whether or not I wanted to order the second and third from Amazon or not, because even if they were cheaper, I'd have to wait a few days before I'd own them. When I made Mith and Linden read the books, they sped through them at the rate of about a book a day, if not faster. You will not want to put these things down. They remind me of how I used to marathon Harry Potter books, but even more so. (Also, they're shorter.)
9) Closed canon, no worry of the author dying off. (credit mithrigil)
I described this to someone who asked "Wait this is YA?" as "It's YA for teenagers who would otherwise be watching 24 and reading Berserk and A Song of Ice and Fire. But they're smart to read The Hunger Games instead, because they won't have to wait until swine take wing before the next installment comes out."
10) IT GOES THERE, for most definitions of THERE.
The series reminds me of Animorphs, my first YA love, that way. Apparently Stephenie Meyer is a big fan of the books and some of her fans checked the series out and felt betrayed when the series didn't turn out to be all about the ZOMGlovetriangle, but good lord is it not. The story is as much about the aftermath and consequences of what Katniss does as much as it's about what she has to do, and she and the people around her don't escape unscathed from any of it. But there's a strong note of hope in the series, too, the possibility of beauty and kindness and even love in the harshest dystopia, and that's what keeps the characters going and makes the series worth reading.
11) CANON HET THAT I ACTUALLY LIKE what is this.
No, seriously, you guys, I like the canon het. This does not happen very often nowadays, because a lot of canon het I encounter seems to rely more on building on audience expectations that two characters who exhibit certain characteristics will get together, rather than, you know, building a compelling and believable relationship between those characters. But The Hunger Games doesn't do that! The romantic relationships are interesting and believable and kind of heartbreaking! And I ship the fuck out of certain pairings that are actually canon. I'm as surprised as you are.
12) The kitty stays alive!
...this one is Linden's fault.
Sounds awesome, yeah? Sounds like something you want to read, right? Then I highly suggest making time over the holidays -- or before Yuletide, because there are a lot of Hunger Games requests this year -- to check them out. They're quick reads, not too expensive, and oh lord do they present fic opportunities.
(I will try to keep the comments spoiler-free, but if you want to discuss spoilery things about the series in them, could you whitetext said spoilers?)
.
This is because The Hunger Games is, no lie, MOTHERFUCKING AMAZING and something you guys should all read, especially as we're heading into the holiday seasons and your relatives are asking you what you want for Christmas.
This is what you should tell them: "I'd like The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and you can get all three books on Amazon for under thirty bucks." Hardcover copies, no less! I believe they all come in Kindle conditions, too, if you prefer eBooks.
You can read Chapter One of the first book online (and the first chapters of the subsequent books in the series online, too, though they will spoil the hell out of you if you haven't read the previous books).
"Puel, this is awesome and all, but what the hell are these books about?" you may ask. I will steal the summary from the New York Times review, because I like theirs better than the one on the book jacket:
“The Hunger Games” begins long after the human population has been decimated by climate change and the wars that followed. Now North America is the nation of Panem, a country with 12 fenced-in districts that all work to feed the enormously wealthy and technologically advanced capital...
Long ago in Panem, there was a District 13. The district revolted, and the Capital demolished it and killed all its inhabitants. To commemorate the event - and to remind the districts of its power - the Capital organizes the annual Hunger Games. First comes the reaping: one boy and one girl are chosen from each district to attend the Games. Then the games themselves: a fight to the death among 24 teenage competitors in a sprawling environment controlled by sadistic game masters. The event is watched by the whole nation on live TV.
The winner - and there can be only one - returns to his or her home district triumphant and rich.
The protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, lives in District 12, the smallest and poorest district. Since her father's death in a mining accident, she provides for her mother and sister by illegally hunting in the woods outside her district. When her sister Prim is chosen in the Reaping, Katniss volunteers to take her place in the Games -- a certain death sentence, she thinks, because no victors have come from District 12 in decades. As the games progress, she realizes she might have more of a shot at winning than she thought, but even winning carries a horrific price.
I describe it as "Battle Royale in America. AND THEN IT GETS WORSE. And more complicated." It's hard to describe the ways in which it gets more complicated without massive spoilers, but this is a series that tackles its subject matter head-on and fleshes out (with surprising economy) a world that's terrifyingly similar to our own. The characters are fascinating and thorny and really really cool, and I'm really impressed at how sharp Collins's characterizations are, given the size of the books.
Still not convinced? Here are 12 non-spoilery reasons to read The Hunger Games. (Actually, there may be occasional spoilers, but they will all be white-texted and clearly marked with SPOILER and END SPOILER.) The lovely mithrigil has assisted on some of them.
1) Awesome lady POV.
One thing that is consistently great about YA, especially these days, is how many awesome female protagonists the genre features, and Katniss is a worthy addition to that list. On the first page of the first book, we discover that Katniss loves her little sister, and that she has no problem with drowning kittens. This is the kind of character sketch of your protagonist that you want. Katniss is, above all else, a survivor, and unlike a lot of other female-survivalist characters, refreshingly unsentimental about it. Her background (and events over the course of the story) makes it difficult for her to trust people, and the constant presence of cameras after her arrival in the Capitol and entrance into the arena makes it difficult for her to figure out what's real and what's an act. She's tough, resourceful, and frank about her shortcomings without descending into Jerk Sue territory -- and that makes her moments of vulnerability and genuine emotional connection all the more poignant. Plus, she can use a bow and arrow like nobody's business.
The story is told in first person present tense, which I am normally a little leery about but which works wonderfully for this story, since it puts us right in Katniss's head, right in the middle of the action. That kind of closeness between reader and character brings me to...
2. Concentrated attack on reality television without being anvilicious. (credit mithrigil)
It's going to be a big big big day! We're going to make sure you look your very best when you go out there to be interviewed before you go into the ring--just remember, the interviewer is there to make you look good and make sure you drum up audience sponsorship and support. After all, it's just as real for them as it is for you, even if they're not the ones in the ring. You have to make them care about you or else you won't have a chance at all, and the best way to make them care is to be yourself, but the right angle of yourself, the yourself they can understand without having to try....
...ahem.
3) FINNICK ODAIR.
He gets to be in capslock because he's my favorite character. We don't meet Finnick until Catching Fire, the second book, and some of the reasons why I love him are mad spoilery, but HE IS KIND OF AMAZING. Finnick is the drop-dead gorgeous victor of the sixty-fifth Hunger Games, which he basically won because the Capitol decided he was too pretty to die (and because he's good at killing things with an oversized fork). There are a lot of interesting things about the kind of objectification he gets and the kind of sexy he presents himself as and the commodification of beauty in the Capitol and how the ways in which he's a sex symbol are usually coded female but that is a long-ass meta post for another day. He plays a lot of games with public presentation, but the boy has a lot of secrets, and as the series goes on, we start to unravel who he really is and what he really cares about, and it's heartbreaking. Also, he has a delightfully morbid and self-deprecating sense of humor, and he is allergic to clothing. Pretty and competent and kickass outside! Incredibly fragmented and screwed-up inside! HE IS THE PERFECT STORM OF A PUEL-CHARACTER (this is a lame pun because Finnick and his district are associated with the ocean).
SPOILER: Basically, Finnick is a hooker with a heart of gold. No, really. But a dude. Who kills people. And is in love with a crazy girl. This makes him awesome. END SPOILER
4) Haymitch, the best drunken mentor ever. (credit mithrigil)
He makes his introduction by falling off the stage. He cements his position of authority by withholding information from Katniss so that she gives the most natural reaction. He eats your lunch. He is neck-deep in a bottle of moonshine. And he is a magnificent bastard.
5) The rest of the cast.
Turns out they're all pretty amazing! Rather than trying to swamp us with details about all twenty-four contestants (to say nothing of their support staff and other Capitol notaries and -- you get the idea), Collins picks a few to focus in on and really develop, with awesome results. There's Cinna, Katniss's gentle and enigmatic stylist for the Games and the closest thing she has to a friend in the Capitol. There's Rue, a tiny girl from District 11 who reminds Katniss of her little sister. There's President Snow, who smells of blood and roses and is suitably terrifying. There's Johanna Mason, a previous victor who won by pretending to be small and helpless and slaughtered everyone in the arena who underestimated her. There's Gale, Katniss's best-friend-and-maybe-something-else from home who's itching for the chance to stick one to the Capitol. And there's Peeta, Katniss's fellow tribute from District 12 and the boy with the bread from her childhood, who has all the people skills she lacks and who may have feelings for her -- but how much of that is for the benefit of the cameras?
6) Really whammy lines and gutpunchy revelations.
So you know one-line pivots, sentences that authors drop at the end of a chapter or section that sock you in the stomach and completely change what happened before? Collins is good at those. Really good at those. The plot of the first book isn't exactly novel (though the second and third books do different and great things with the concept), but there are enough tilts in the story to throw even the most trope-savvy reader (like my girlfriend) off-guard at times, and to keep readers scrambling to find out what happens next.
7) ...but there's still humor.
Katniss's life sucks enough that she's learned to develop a rather dry outlook on it, and her reactions to the Capitol and the excesses (and craziness) of its citizenry are pretty great. Haymitch is a Deadpan Snarker par excellence, and a lot of other characters get some great one-liners, too. Like "Yes, frosting. The final defense of the dying."
And "Well, don't expect us to be too impressed. We just saw Finnick Odair in his underwear."
(Both of these are even better in context.)
8) The book goes really fast, the pacing is amazing, so you won't want to put it down and don't have to worry about it eating all your time.
I think the immediacy of the first-person present PoV helps a lot with this, but damn is the plotting and pacing in this series tight. It's hard for me to give examples without basically quoting the book, but Collins has a great sense for what scenes need to be in the book and what can be safely skipped or elided to keep the narrative moving. The books have crazy momentum, and it's worth noting that I finished the first one in around three hours or less and debated whether or not I wanted to order the second and third from Amazon or not, because even if they were cheaper, I'd have to wait a few days before I'd own them. When I made Mith and Linden read the books, they sped through them at the rate of about a book a day, if not faster. You will not want to put these things down. They remind me of how I used to marathon Harry Potter books, but even more so. (Also, they're shorter.)
9) Closed canon, no worry of the author dying off. (credit mithrigil)
I described this to someone who asked "Wait this is YA?" as "It's YA for teenagers who would otherwise be watching 24 and reading Berserk and A Song of Ice and Fire. But they're smart to read The Hunger Games instead, because they won't have to wait until swine take wing before the next installment comes out."
10) IT GOES THERE, for most definitions of THERE.
The series reminds me of Animorphs, my first YA love, that way. Apparently Stephenie Meyer is a big fan of the books and some of her fans checked the series out and felt betrayed when the series didn't turn out to be all about the ZOMGlovetriangle, but good lord is it not. The story is as much about the aftermath and consequences of what Katniss does as much as it's about what she has to do, and she and the people around her don't escape unscathed from any of it. But there's a strong note of hope in the series, too, the possibility of beauty and kindness and even love in the harshest dystopia, and that's what keeps the characters going and makes the series worth reading.
11) CANON HET THAT I ACTUALLY LIKE what is this.
No, seriously, you guys, I like the canon het. This does not happen very often nowadays, because a lot of canon het I encounter seems to rely more on building on audience expectations that two characters who exhibit certain characteristics will get together, rather than, you know, building a compelling and believable relationship between those characters. But The Hunger Games doesn't do that! The romantic relationships are interesting and believable and kind of heartbreaking! And I ship the fuck out of certain pairings that are actually canon. I'm as surprised as you are.
12) The kitty stays alive!
...this one is Linden's fault.
Sounds awesome, yeah? Sounds like something you want to read, right? Then I highly suggest making time over the holidays -- or before Yuletide, because there are a lot of Hunger Games requests this year -- to check them out. They're quick reads, not too expensive, and oh lord do they present fic opportunities.
(I will try to keep the comments spoiler-free, but if you want to discuss spoilery things about the series in them, could you whitetext said spoilers?)
.