Collins,
Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2008.
- - - .
Catching Fire. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2009.
- - - .
Mockingjay. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010.
1,154
pages total.
Reviewed
by J. d’Artagnan Love
***SPOILER
ALERT***
This review
contains information about this series that reveals important plot points.
The Hunger Games is the first book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy set in a
dystopian future. In this future, the United States is divided into 12
districts that are all ruled by the Capitol and renamed Panem. The districts are poor and tightly-knit
while the Capitol is rich and wasteful. The districts formed after a rebellion
against the government and, as a punishment for the rebellion and a reminder of
the peace the Capitol now brings, the Capitol mandates The Hunger Games which
is an arena-style fight to the death. Each district must sacrifice two children
between the ages of six and twelve, one boy and one girl, to fight in the
Hunger Games. The children are chosen by a lottery and then taken to the Capitol
to train for the games. Once trained, the tributes, as these children are
called, are thrown into an arena and must kill one another until there is only
one left—this last tribute is then declared the victor of the Hunger Games.
In the first book of the series, readers are introduced to the
protagonist Katniss Everdeen. Katniss’ younger sister Prim is chosen as one of
the tributes from their district so Katniss volunteers to take her place. She
and Peeta, the other tribute, then travel to the Capitol, train, and enter the
Hunger Games. The two end up successful by tricking the game maker into
thinking they would commit a double suicide rather than killing one another.
This first book does an excellent job introducing the readers to the
characters and dystopian structure of Panem. Collins avoids falling into any dystopian clichés that tend to run
rampant in the genre such as the world being overtaken by technology or
completely returning to agrarian lifestyles with no technology at all. Collins
finds a nice balance between these common depictions which makes the setting of
this series eerily plausible.
Right away readers are presented with important questions. Is your own
survival more important than the life of another human being? In a world that
is strewn with poverty, disease, and violence should one even entertain the
idea of raising children of one’s own? These are all questions that Katniss and
other critical characters wrestle with in The Hunger Games.
Catching Fire picks up where The Hunger Games leaves off with Peeta and
Katniss on their victory tour. By rebelling against the game-makers, the two
have unintentionally started rebellions in varying districts and President Snow
has demanded that they settle the unrest on their tour. When the duo are not as
successful as Snow desires, a 75th Hunger Games is created in
which all the victors must return to the arena, sending Peeta and Katniss in
for round two. During this Hunger Games Peeta and Katniss make alliances with
victors from other districts and are unknowingly caught in a tangled web to
overthrow the Capitol.
Catching Fire was my favorite book of the series because the arena was
incredibly creative and the characters unique and lovable. This book was a
page-turner—even more so than the first. It expounded on the questions from the
previous novel as Peeta and Katniss discuss how to handle this round of Hunger
Games as ethically as possible, and still survive.
By the time readers reach Mockingjay, the third and final book, Katniss
is in District 13 with a rebel group attempting to overthrow the Capitol.
Collins is not kind to her readers in this portion of the series. Beloved
characters are maimed and killed. Entire districts are destroyed. In the end,
both leaders, Snow and Coin (leader of the rebel group) are murdered. The end
of the series is abrupt and hastily written. Many readers argue it is the weakest part of the
trilogy and leaves readers with a pit in their stomach. Neither side of this
war are redeemable. There is no side to root for, no victory to cheer and by
the end, Katniss, the leader, mascot, and symbol of hope is broken.
It took
me months to understand how I felt and what I thought about the end of this
series. My first reaction was to be extremely disappointed. A nagging at the
back of my mind told me there was more to this conclusion than my initial
reaction. I realized the ending of the series doesn’t sit well with me because it is so darn realistic. War is
messy. War doesn’t have nicely wrapped up climatic endings in which good always
triumphs over evil. The line between good and evil is blurry and difficult to
draw. War ends abruptly and leaves a lot of loose ends. The conclusion of this
series is all these things. Instead of following the typical narrative of romanticizing
war, it does the opposite. It says that war is not something to revel in. It is
not something to celebrate. No one is innocent. No one is unaffected. We aren’t
supposed to enjoy it and until we stop romanticizing war, there will always be
another Hunger Games.
This
realization made me really appreciate Collins’ choices in ending the series.
Yes, it felt rushed and yes, perhaps I’m assigning my own meaning to this body
of work and she was just rushing to meet a deadline. Isn’t that what literature
is supposed to do, though? Help us find a deeper meaning and navigate parts of
our own psyche? I’ve heard many people bash the ending of The Hunger Games
series and all I ask is that you think it over a bit more before drawing your
conclusions.
4.5
darts out of 5
Bookshelf
Project Status: KEEP
