Let me start off by saying if you haven't read this series--and you should--you don't want to read the rest of this post. I'm usually not one for spoilers but this isn't exactly one of my usual commentaries so; you've been warned.
I read The Hunger Games last fall and really liked it. I read Catching Fire and Mockingjay this past week: awesome and 'blah' respectively. I also saw the movie last weekend and I think I only enjoyed it because of my familiariy with the book.
Linda, a co-worker of mine, read all three books in the past ten days or so and we've been talking. She would define herself as a grandmother first, followed by parent and wife. We're best friends, I see her for forty hours a week and we have the same taste in everything (except that I've never had a girlfriend she's approved of, but that's a different story). So Linda calls me last week as she's starting Mockingjay and I'm about half way through Catching Fire. It was 10:30 at night which is an odd time for her to be up as I know she's an early riser.
"She's a damn Whorebeast and I hate her." This isn't exactly an odd way for either of us to start a conversation but I was still a little bit confused.
"Who?"
"Katpiss! I can see the multiple layers of Whore-dirt under her nails."
"Mmm, Whore-dirt."
That will be my defining memory of these books.
The conflicted love interest aspect of the books never worked: Gale's prescence in the first two was so small that it wasn't believable that Katniss would ever consider him.
Prim came out-of-nowhere in Mockingjay to be an assertive character. It wasn't bad just odd, she developed a voice and backbone and personality a bit too easily, especially considering the circumstances. The word "Mockingjay" was annoyingly overused. Speaking of repetition…
In Catching Fire I couldn't believe there was another Game. I kept thinking, "Surely we're not doing this again." But we did. And then a third time in Mockingjay.
Oh, and Mockingjay could have been a hundred pages short and no worse for wear.
Did anyone else feel like Godzilla was unleashed in Mockingjay when EVERYONE starting dying? And boy oh boy was that ending rushed (perhaps the book wasn't too long, rather the right material didn't have enough time dedicated to it).
Where else can you get amazing commentary like this? Surely you can tell how much I enjoyed reading these books. (You have to love it to get this worked up.)
It's easy to tear these books to shreds if a reader feels inclined to do so, but it's easier to get caught up in the characters lives and start guessing who will die next. These are must read books and they only take five or six minutes each to read should you happen to be one of the six people who have yet to pick them up.
I went to see the movie last night. I agree that the movie is somewhat mediocre on its own if you haven't read the books. All these relationships form instantaneously in the movie that felt much more natural in the book. But it's possible I may be judging more harshly because some of the details are not the way I imagined them. For example, President Snow looks very different from what I expected.
ReplyDeleteI got some of my friends to read the book too and it seems like the opinion is very divided on liking Katniss. People either really like her or she pisses them off to no end. Did you like her character as you read the books?
Still, I got people to read the books and that's an achievement in itself ;)
I couldn't agree with you more on President Snow not being what I expected. That said, I think he did fine and will grow to own the part as his role becomes more interesting in further installments.
ReplyDeleteI started off indifferent toward Kitniss and then grew to dislike her. She became a walking pity party by the end. I never liked her, but didn't hate her as much as Linda.
Did you like her?
ReplyDeleteI did like her in the first book. Towards the end of the series, probably not so much. The relationship angst is a little over the top, but other than that I could sort of relate.
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