Collins, Suzanne - The Hunger Games
Thu, Apr. 9th, 2009 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterAnd once again, I pick up a book that is the first of a trilogy, although it is never mentioned on the cover. Argh!
The really sad thing is that I am fairly certain people online made note of this, so I made note of it in my head, but it took so long for me to get my hands on the book that I forgot. My memory = sieve.
It's sometime in the future, and the United States (the book says North America, but there is no mention of Canada and Mexico, boo) has torn itself apart and reformed itself as Panem. There's the Capitol and twelve Districts, and when the then thirteen Districts once rebelled, the Capitol put them down, eradicted District Thirteen, and instituted the Hunger Games. Each District must send 2 teenagers, one boy and one girl, to the Games, in which they battle each other to death in several weeks, all televised. Katniss Everdeen is from District Twelve, the poorest District located in what once was Appalachia. When her twelve-year-old sister is picked, Katniss volunteers in her place.
I haven't read other books in the genre of teenagers-battle-to-death-while-televised, especially Battle Royale, so I can't compare this to any of them. That said, I'm not wowed by the social critique of dictatorship or conquering people via media, but that is because I have seen enough of the use of TV in dictators' hands. Still, I very much like the portrayal of political oppression in the book, particularly how Katniss and her friend Gale as so much more aware of some forms of oppression than her slightly-better-off teammate Peeta from District 12, simply because Peeta is the son of a baker and has a few more resources to draw on. My favorite thing about the book is Katniss, who is strong and brave and cunning and the exact opposite of spunky. I love that she will do nearly anything to survive, that she coldly calculates how to manipulate the viewers' emotions, and I very much like how the love story in the book ended up going.
The weaknesses of the book lie largely in the plot or how characters must act because of the plot. The other contestants in the Games are not fleshed out very well, and I was particularly bored by the final battle. I thought Collins was going to go a different route, but she settled on a more familiar and standard resolution instead. That said, the unresolved bits of story make me really anticipate the next two books.
Spoilers
Basically, I was sure that Rue was going to be the last one standing, simply because she was the only one Katniss trusted. Having Cato be the final villain was rather boring and predictable, and I felt it cheated by letting Katniss and Peeta kill him without us feeling bad about it. The rest of Katniss and Peeta's kills felt like that as well, which seemed a little unbelievable given how the Games work.
I love love love the thing with Peeta and how Collins doesn't do the "he likes her and therefore he deserves to be liked back" thing. She is very good at showing that Peeta's emotions are genuine, but that Peeta and Katniss come from very different worlds, and I love that Katniss suspects Peeta the entire way through and doesn't care at all about using it to get out alive.
Still, I was glad to find out that the book was the first of a trilogy, because whenever Katniss railed about the system, I wanted her to not just win the Games, but to get out of them and ferment revolution and overthrow the Capitol! Hopefully we will get to see more of that.
This can be read without having the next books in hand; a few things are left hanging, but the book comes to a very satisfactory conclusion by itself.
Definitely recommended. How is Battle Royale, especially in terms of heroines? I may look it up once my nerves recover from this book. (I spent the day I was reading it convinced I was living in a media dystopia where everyone was going to kill me. Not particularly comfortable, but it says something about the power of the book!)
Links:
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buymeaclue's review
The really sad thing is that I am fairly certain people online made note of this, so I made note of it in my head, but it took so long for me to get my hands on the book that I forgot. My memory = sieve.
It's sometime in the future, and the United States (the book says North America, but there is no mention of Canada and Mexico, boo) has torn itself apart and reformed itself as Panem. There's the Capitol and twelve Districts, and when the then thirteen Districts once rebelled, the Capitol put them down, eradicted District Thirteen, and instituted the Hunger Games. Each District must send 2 teenagers, one boy and one girl, to the Games, in which they battle each other to death in several weeks, all televised. Katniss Everdeen is from District Twelve, the poorest District located in what once was Appalachia. When her twelve-year-old sister is picked, Katniss volunteers in her place.
I haven't read other books in the genre of teenagers-battle-to-death-while-televised, especially Battle Royale, so I can't compare this to any of them. That said, I'm not wowed by the social critique of dictatorship or conquering people via media, but that is because I have seen enough of the use of TV in dictators' hands. Still, I very much like the portrayal of political oppression in the book, particularly how Katniss and her friend Gale as so much more aware of some forms of oppression than her slightly-better-off teammate Peeta from District 12, simply because Peeta is the son of a baker and has a few more resources to draw on. My favorite thing about the book is Katniss, who is strong and brave and cunning and the exact opposite of spunky. I love that she will do nearly anything to survive, that she coldly calculates how to manipulate the viewers' emotions, and I very much like how the love story in the book ended up going.
The weaknesses of the book lie largely in the plot or how characters must act because of the plot. The other contestants in the Games are not fleshed out very well, and I was particularly bored by the final battle. I thought Collins was going to go a different route, but she settled on a more familiar and standard resolution instead. That said, the unresolved bits of story make me really anticipate the next two books.
Spoilers
Basically, I was sure that Rue was going to be the last one standing, simply because she was the only one Katniss trusted. Having Cato be the final villain was rather boring and predictable, and I felt it cheated by letting Katniss and Peeta kill him without us feeling bad about it. The rest of Katniss and Peeta's kills felt like that as well, which seemed a little unbelievable given how the Games work.
I love love love the thing with Peeta and how Collins doesn't do the "he likes her and therefore he deserves to be liked back" thing. She is very good at showing that Peeta's emotions are genuine, but that Peeta and Katniss come from very different worlds, and I love that Katniss suspects Peeta the entire way through and doesn't care at all about using it to get out alive.
Still, I was glad to find out that the book was the first of a trilogy, because whenever Katniss railed about the system, I wanted her to not just win the Games, but to get out of them and ferment revolution and overthrow the Capitol! Hopefully we will get to see more of that.
This can be read without having the next books in hand; a few things are left hanging, but the book comes to a very satisfactory conclusion by itself.
Definitely recommended. How is Battle Royale, especially in terms of heroines? I may look it up once my nerves recover from this book. (I spent the day I was reading it convinced I was living in a media dystopia where everyone was going to kill me. Not particularly comfortable, but it says something about the power of the book!)
Links:
-
buymeaclue's review
(no subject)
Sat, Apr. 11th, 2009 10:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sat, Apr. 11th, 2009 11:44 pm (UTC)