Mockingjay

Suzanne Collins

(The Hunger Games)

(Catching Fire)

Finally, after a month of putting it off I can write about Mockingjay, it's not as good as Catching Fire but it is a very exciting and satisfactory ending to Katniss's ordeal.

The weakest part of the story is the first half of the book. We are dealing with new characters and settings and it can be a bit tedious. This is on purpose, though because Katniss is feeling that same tediousness and slowness, so in part the reader is sharing her experience. The second half of the book is much better. It brings the excitement and the panic of the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell but on a horribly larger scale.

The characters grow and mature though the story and the love triangle between Peeta, Gale and Katniss takes a turn for the worst. Peeta has been brainwashed by the Capitol to kill Katniss, and Gale is realizing his skills as a trapper can be used in the war against President Snow. Katniss' loyalties are tested. Their ending is predictable but the journey is full of twists that damage the couple and makes their epilogue the very definition of bittersweet.

Although Katniss' story has been told (in part- another problem might rise that needs the Mockingjay) there's a lot of Panem's history that I would like to know. It's big playground and other writers might do something fun with the different districts. I wouldn't mind more stories about the Rebellion of the Districts or the first ever Hunger Game. Hopefully, the movie (which is looking very very good) can spark Susanne Collins into writing more about Panem and it's citizens.

Catching Fire

Suzanne Collins

(Hunger Games)

What I like most about Catching Fire is the subtle way the story raises the sense of danger for Katniss. A meeting with President Snow is filled with tension and foreshadowing. The announcement of the Quarter Quell, that past victors will have to compete makes Katniss react so brokenly, we question her sanity. Everything is charged with a sense of finality and doom. It makes Catching Fire seem like a dark shadow of the first book.

The world building in this book is much improved. Katniss narrations are not as "expositional" since we already know what she's talking about. She can revel in little details, which is what I was expecting from The Hunger Games.

The new cast of characters is very fascinating, they are all very deadly indeed. The Quarter Quell arena is something of horrid beauty with exciting new traps. I admit I was entertained by the painful deaths of the victors. Katniss carries herself expertly, using her smarts and reflexes to survive but still being sweetly naive about the motivations and machinations of her fellow contestants. She's a joy to read about.

The ending is a great cliffhanger that made me run to the third book and devour it as quickly as possible.

On the subject of Race in The Hunger Games

Back in December I read The Hunger Games. Now as casting for the movie is well under way it seems Jennifer Lawrence is the top choice to play Katniss. Jennifer Lawrence was the lead in Winter's Bone which I thought had a LOT of similarities to Hunger Games. Both book and movie deal with the poverty predominantly white people suffer in the Appalachia.

This has stricken a cord with people who didn't place a specific race on Katniss (the main character in the books). She's described as having dark hair and grey eyes, but there's no mention of her skin color...no "creamy, rich, or luminescent" adjectives anywhere. So in theory you can place yourself in Katniss no matter the race which is a good way to play it. Kudos, Suzanne Collins!

But the book does hint at problematic race relations in the Districts. They are separated by race, because Rue is clearly described as African-American(/Panem?).

"And most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that, she's very like Prim in size and demeanor."

[On a side note, the Hunger Games Wiki has a picture of Rue and she's shown as white. Whitewashing Wikis-- Good Lord!] Anyway...

So Rue has dark brown skin and District 11 (where she's from) deals with agriculture. She's kind of living in a "slave" like environment where they pick crops, get very little food, and have their lives dictated upon by higher ups. Oh yeah and Rue sings to signal the end of the day-- which I hope is a play on stories where slaves are so happy to be slaves that they sing-- or I also hope it's a small tribute to how slaves communicated escape planes through song so the higher ups wouldn't get it.

In this case, Katniss' life sounds more like the poverty stricken white people working in coal mines. Her District is more lenient, and Katniss enjoys a great deal of liberty compared to Rue. Katniss hunts and is respected for her ability and skill. But Rue is just another cog in the agriculture machine. Race plays a subtle but important part in The Hunger games and it would be a shame to lose it in the movie where in can play a more prominent role.

Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

Hunger Games is a YA sci-fi survival story much like Battle Royale. Scratch that, it's exactly like Battle Royale, but in this case it's a plus more than a minus.

A few hundred years have gone by since our present, and the United States no longer exists. The nation is now called Panem, and ruled by the Capitol, a decadent and wealthy city-state. The rest of Panem is divided into Districts, each serves it's own purpose like Agriculture, Factory Production, Coal, etc. There are some Districts wealthier than others, and inside the Districts there are social structures so that it's common for people to starve while wealthier merchants and the Peackeepers (Po-Pos) watch.

There used to be 13 Districts but when they tried to rebel, the Capitol won and punished District 13 and established the Hunger Games, where each District must choose by lottery a boy and a girl to fight to the death as Tributes. The Games are viewed all across Panam like Reality TV. It's gruesome and bloody and it keeps the masses entertained and the Districts hopeless.

Our main character is Katniss Everdeen, a hard 16 year old who supported her family after her father died in the coal mines of District 12 (in the Rockies). She's a good hunter, she's light on her feet (undernourished and half starved) and she's very very cynical.

Katniss knows how to play the Hunger Games (much like people who know exactly what to do and say to keep the cameras on them on Reality TV). She volunteers for her sister and plays the game almost expertly. What she lacks in graces is made up by her partner in the games, an impossibly naive young man called Peetah. In order to win the favor of the audience and so receive gifts from their "sponsors" they play up a "Romance" that for Peetah is very real (stupid, stupid boy) and for Katniss is her ticket to survive and get home (cuz you know... she's cynical).

The Hunger Games run as you would expect and we get tidbits of this depressing future where genetic Muttations were bred for war to spy and destroy. They also play a horrific part of the end of the book, the only truly nightmarish thing in the story, and a clue as to what the Capitol and the Gamekeepers are capable of.

Although I liked the story, I felt there was something missing (maybe I'll find it in the other two books!) There should have been more Americana involved in the Districts, otherwise why bother with the United States setting. The world seems too new with no historical or cultural attachment to the past. We witness some rituals but don't really get the importance of them. This in turn makes it very difficult for me to understand what the Capitol sees as defiant and what could be "drama" played for the audience (which is one of the points of the game, calling attention to yourself and being a camera hog)

Katniss narrates and explains everything but I found myself wishing I was shown instead of being told about this new world. There are tantalizing bits of criticism to our society: body modification, media gluttony, Reality TV, desensitized society, among others that really make this book a nice read. It's an addictive story, today I start Catching Fire, and I'm looking forward to the Hunger Games movie because I can't imagine how they'll film this.