The Hunger Games

[rfisher]

rfisher approves the addition of Ajax into the proper Hunger Games collective.

[kwanatic]

As I said in the other book thread, I enjoyed all three. One and two were better than three, but three had its strong points IMO. I enjoyed the reality of Mockingjay--the fact that Katniss is a complete and utter emotional wreck for the duration of the book. I mentioned before that had she stayed the same through all three books, I'd have been really disappointed. When people experience trauma, it changes them. So I thought the author did a good job of conveying that.

I do agree that Prim was a rather undeveloped character IMO,

Spoiler

so when she dies randomly at the end, I had a more "Oh, that sucks" reaction rather than a "OH. MY. GOD!! Rowling just killed Dobby/Fred/Dumbledore/Sirius! ALL IS LOST!!"

I do agree that the ending seemed rather rushed and disjointed, so that was a slight let down, but not enough to ruin it for me.

I liked that the book had some romance but it wasn't the central theme of the book. Like someone said, Katniss is kinda like, "Yeah I guess they both love me and I guess I love them but I'll worry about that later." I thought the twist in book three with Peeta was very interesting. I have to say from the first story about the burnt bread, I was rooting for him. I get the relationship with Gale, but IMO it wasn't as strong b/c their relationship didn't get as much "screen time" as the Katniss/Peeta relationship b/c Gale wasn't there throughout most of it.

Spoiler

And in the end, Peeta was what Katniss needed to balance her out so I'm happy with them ending up together, though I do think the way the Katniss/Gale storyline ended was a bit of a cop out. It made it so Katniss didn't have to choose; the choice was made for her.

Anyhoo, I enjoyed the books quite a bit. I read Hunger Games in about four days, Catching Fire in three days and Mockingjay in about a day b/c it was Saturday and I didn't have to go to work . I find that I zoooom! through first-person books. There's less setup in a first-person book versus a third-person book, so they just go a lot faster to me. I read all four Twilight books in a week too...I'm not proud of that.

I've heard of Battle Royale...but I think I might have thought it was a video game or something. I don't know of the books so I don't know how close the similarities are, but I will say this: it's very difficult to find an original idea nowadays that hasn't been thought of, done, redone or revamped. It's all about taking something and making it your own. You take pieces of things and put it together to try to make something new or at least newer. I might check out BR just so I can make comparisons.

The Hunger Games books were cool, mostly because they're so outside of the kind of YA I usually read. The movie looks pretty cool so I might check that out too...unless it comes with a horde of screaming girls, in which case I'll Redbox it when it comes out. But given that there aren't any sappy sparklepires or neutered wolves, my hope is that Hunger Games will attract a less fan-girly crowd.

[Artemis@BC]

I do agree that Prim was a rather undeveloped character IMO,

Spoiler

so when she dies randomly at the end, I had a more "Oh, that sucks" reaction rather than a "OH. MY. GOD!! Rowling just killed Dobby/Fred/Dumbledore/Sirius! ALL IS LOST!!"

LOL!

BTW, I haven't read Battle Royale either, but I did find some some similarities with two Stephen King novellas/stories, namely The Running Man and The Long Walk. But regardless, I'm not going to get too caught up in whether or not The Hunger Games is "original." After all, who was it that said there are basically only 5 book/movie plots?

[Theatregirl1122]

I do agree that Prim was a rather undeveloped character IMO,

Spoiler

so when she dies randomly at the end, I had a more "Oh, that sucks" reaction rather than a "OH. MY. GOD!! Rowling just killed Dobby/Fred/Dumbledore/Sirius! ALL IS LOST!!"

I do agree that the ending seemed rather rushed and disjointed, so that was a slight let down, but not enough to ruin it for me.

I always thought the point of this was less that

Spoiler

we were supposed to feel sad about Prim herself and more that the effect was supposed to be in what happened to Katniss. Katniss did all of this, went into the arena, played along with the capitol, went into the arena again, ignited a revolution, etc. etc. etc. to save Prim. And in the end, the whole world changed but she still lost Prim. So it's sort of about the futility of it all, rather than about Prim herself.

[rfisher]

Either that or Collins thought she should kill somebody to add drama.

[michiruwater]

I prefer TG's explanation

[Theatregirl1122]

Either that or Collins thought she should kill somebody to add drama.

She'd already killed somebodies. That we actually did care about.

[Marge_Simpson]

In the first paragraph of the first page of the first book, Katniss reaches out for Prim and her hand comes away empty. If that isn't foreshadowing; I don't know what is.

[vesperholly]

I always thought the point of this was less that

Spoiler

we were supposed to feel sad about Prim herself and more that the effect was supposed to be in what happened to Katniss. Katniss did all of this, went into the arena, played along with the capitol, went into the arena again, ignited a revolution, etc. etc. etc. to save Prim. And in the end, the whole world changed but she still lost Prim. So it's sort of about the futility of it all, rather than about Prim herself.

... I never thought about it that way. Obviously I am long past my years of thinking about books critically!

She'd already killed somebodies. That we actually did care about.

LOTS of somebodies!

[PrincessLeppard]

She'd already killed somebodies. That we actually did care about.

The thing is,

Spoiler

Prim had been absent from the book for so long at that point, and it was handled in such a clumsy manner (my sister didn't even realize Prim was dead until it was mentioned later) that it lost any impact it might've had otherwise. That's why it feels just sort of "tossed in." Oh, hey, I need something DRAMATIK to happen here! Let's kill Prim! And then Katniss can pass out again!

In the first paragraph of the first page of the first book, Katniss reaches out for Prim and her hand comes away empty. If that isn't foreshadowing; I don't know what is.

I read the books as they came out, so I have zero recollection of what was on the first page of the first book. I would buy it as foreshadowing if I thought Collins had any clue how Mockingjay was going to end. Or be "plotted."

[rfisher]

The thing is,

Spoiler

Prim had been absent from the book for so long at that point, and it was handled in such a clumsy manner (my sister didn't even realize Prim was dead until it was mentioned later) that it lost any impact it might've had otherwise. That's why it feels just sort of "tossed in." Oh, hey, I need something DRAMATIK to happen here! Let's kill Prim! And then Katniss can pass out again!

I read the books as they came out, so I have zero recollection of what was on the first page of the first book. I would buy it as foreshadowing if I thought Collins had any clue how Mockingjay was going to end. Or be "plotted."

This. I promptly gave all my copies to the local library, albeit the 3rd book was bit battered after being thrown around a good bit, so the movie will be brand new. I knew without a doubt I'd never reread any of the books multiple times.

[Spareoom]

She'd already killed somebodies. That we actually did care about.

Spoiler

Finnick.

[kwanatic]

I always thought the point of this was less that

Spoiler

we were supposed to feel sad about Prim herself and more that the effect was supposed to be in what happened to Katniss. Katniss did all of this, went into the arena, played along with the capitol, went into the arena again, ignited a revolution, etc. etc. etc. to save Prim. And in the end, the whole world changed but she still lost Prim. So it's sort of about the futility of it all, rather than about Prim herself.

You know, that's the same thing my cousin said when I asked her about it.

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She did it all for Prim, to protect her, and in the end she ends up losing her anyway.

I definitely get the point

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of her death.

I guess the execution was a wee bit sloppy b/c it did sort of happen all of a sudden and just like that everything was over.

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Finnick.

Yeah, now that did suck. For that one I was like, "No! No, no, aww dammit!!"

[ChelleC]

That means you'll side with PL and me.

Yep, I'm thinking I probably will.

I've finished it. Not a bad book, but not one I'm going to pick up a read again like I have the HP books.

[Matryeshka]

I'd never heard of Battle Royale until this thread, and I think there's a good chance Suzanne Collins hadn't either. I don't think a dystopian society in the future where kids are forced to kill other kids is all that original. But then, I don't care that much about originality; I care about execution. Harry Potter was not that original in its main idea--boy discovers he's a wizard and goes off to wizard school.

Suzanne Collins--epic FAIL in execution. And the worst of the kills was the

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complete character asassination of Katniss, who went from an awesome, take-charge adult to a whiny, easily led shell of an adult.

[kwanatic]

Suzanne Collins--epic FAIL in execution. And the worst of the kills was the

Spoiler

complete character asassination of Katniss, who went from an awesome, take-charge adult to a whiny, easily led shell of an adult.

Again, I cite trauma. Some characters grow harder through adversity, toughen up so to speak; Katniss comes apart at the seams a little bit but still has enough fight left in her to finish it out. She's not as tough at the end b/c her life experiences have worn her down. I get that. Even though I would have liked her to go all Ripley and turn into an ass-kicking machine, it makes sense to me. I definitely have a thing for tougher female character and, in a sense, Katniss does "man up" and make some things happen. But ultimately, her psyche wasn't strong enough to go unscathed after all she went through.

I just compare her to a character like Bella and can't help but think that in terms of development Katniss is lightyears beyond Bella, who literally stayed the exact same throughout all 4 of those terrible books...no growth whatsoever. I appreciate Collins trying to inject a bit of reality into the series by breaking Katniss in the last book, even though in the ideal situation she'd be all superwoman-ish. She could have gone either way to be honest...in situations of adversity people either stand tough or crumble and Katniss crumbled a bit.

[Marge_Simpson]

So, has anyone read "The Hunger Pains"?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hunger-Pai...0748386&sr=8-1
I borrowed it from the library and it's fairly amusing.
Who is planning to see the film when it opens? I already bought a ticket.

[Spareoom]

I bought my ticket yesterday on Fandango, and got a free iTunes download of Tomorrow Will Be Kinder by the Secret Sisters for my troubles. A whole group of us are going to the midnight showing in IMAX at our local AMC...egad, were the tickets expensive, but thank goodness for saving up ticket deals and discounts for times like this.

I saw The Hunger Pains at Target today and I flipped through it and was highly amused from just a few paragraphs. I went ahead and put it on hold at the library; it should be a fun read!

[Marge_Simpson]

I wish I could figure out how to unsubscribe from the Hunger Games site I signed up at. I got put into District 8, btw. I keep getting email from President Snow, and now that the movie is about to open, I am getting messages from Seneca Crane as well. Oh, well, he will be dead soon.

[michiruwater]

There's probably something to click on at the bottom of the e-mails that allows you to unsubscribe.