Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

I'm in Norway at the moment (although I'll likely be back home before I publish the review) and that means I have the opportunity to borrow my girlfriend's copy of the final Hunger Games book. I own the first book in the series, The Hunger Games, which was mildly entertaining in a brutal way, but didn't really live up to the enormous hype that surrounds it. It might even have worked better a movie. It followed the book pretty closely but I ended up liking the movie better. Stubborn as I am, I did decide to finish the series, despite not really liking Catching Fire, the second book in the trilogy. There is always hope the third one will be better but I'm afraid things only go downhill in this final volume. I certainly hope Collins is smart enough not to try and cash in even more on these stories an leave it at these three. This series really has run its course

Katniss has survived her second arena but survival is all it can be called. She is hurt badly both physically and psychologically. The rulers of District Thirteen try to patch her up as best they can but Katniss is depressed and traumatized. Peeta is in the hands of the Capital, suffering the consequences of her actions and her relationship with Gale seems to have changed forever. There is no peace for the weary though. Katniss has a value as figurehead for the rebellion in the Districts. The president of District Thirteen is well aware of that. She will do whatever it takes get Katniss to cooperate and become their mascot, their inspiration, their Mockingjay. The final battle for control of Panem has started.

Mockingjay is without a doubt one of the most depressive novels I have read in a long time. Katniss is a mess in this book. Not surprising given what has been done to her or course, I thought she wasn't nearly traumatized enough in the first novel to make the story believable. In this book Katniss positively wallows in her misery tough. She is hurting bad and frequently passes that on to the people around her, all of whom have their own wounds to heal. Katniss is stubborn, unreasonable, suspicious, sometimes even paranoid. She is also only a step short of being suicidal. It is very dark material considering these books are supposed to be young adult.

I can't say I like Katniss a whole lot in this novel even if her misery is understandable enough. She is pushed into a number of situations where she really shouldn't be in and inevitably ends up making some poor choices. Collins' depiction of District thirteen is almost as bad as that of the Panem. Where the Capital is decadent, District thirteen has adopted a Spartan way of life. Militaristic to the bone, without considerations for anything but survival and completely focussed on destroying the Capital. One of Katniss' many dilemmas in the novel is figuring out if the cure might not be worse than the disease. Would a Panem run by president Coin be any better than one run by president Snow? This question is explored in detail as the reality of the war that is being fought becomes clear to Katniss. The book contains just about every dirty trick and despicable act imaginable short of sexual violence. That, apparently, is where the line is in YA.

Collins' view on this war is a very cynical one. Every rebel we get to see is driven by a need for revenge or a lust for power. Motives to take part in the struggle are carefully disguised to be just and fair but underneath there is no ideology, dreams of a better future or even an idea what that future should look like. The war is all consuming, driving both parties to extreme violence, and apparently leaving no room for thought on what a post-war society should look like. Interesting enough, one of the few things both parties agree on is that the follies or our civilization, that was destroyed by war centuries ago in the novel, should not be repeated. Personally, I doubt these people really have learnt anything. In fact, at the very end of the novel the new President appears to agree with me. Or at least says that any lessons from the war are temporary at best.

I got very little in the way of positive emotions from this novel. I'm not even sure Katniss has any idea why she bothers putting up the Mockingjay show for District Thirteen. Perhaps the most telling scene come at the very end of the novel where a new round of Hunger Games are proposed and Katniss actually votes in favour. It is  typical for the lack of direction and sense of purpose she has in this novel. While I have to admit it is entirely in character, it is not a joy to read. Especially early on it the novel, where Katniss agonizes over the decision of whether or not to become the Mockingjay, the book does very little for me. It is a repetition of issues faced in the first two books mostly. The final part of the book is more action packed and, if possible, even more desperate. It reads a little better, although the outcome of the war is a forgone conclusion.

Maybe the novel has something to offer for readers who are more interested in the love triangle that is an overarching theme in the trilogy. The whole thing is pretty forced in my opinion. All the acting Katniss and Peeta have done, should pretty much have killed any chance of an honest relationship before one even started. I'm not particularly impressed with the way Collins resolved this problem. I must admit is does offer a tiny ray of hope in what is otherwise a very, very dark story but the outcome feels a bit too neat.

As usual with overhyped books I can't help but wondering if the people who rave about this novel have actually read other books. I think the first novel is mildly appealing but as a whole, the trilogy falls flat. Catching Fire is in part repetition and, in the end, relies on things that go on far away from the main character. Mockingjay is long litany of everything that is wrong in Katniss' world, combined with a war that has been decided before it started and some very unsatisfactory resolutions a the end. I guess if there is a lesson to be drawn from this read, it is for me to stay away from books that generate this level of raving.

Book Details
Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 448
Year: 2010
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-407-10937-4
First published: 2010

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

If there are any people left on the planet who haven't read The Hunger Games I'm not sure were they are hiding. I must have been the last one to read it (although I did manage before seeing the movie). As with many books that are surrounded by that much hype, it didn't quite live up to its reputation but it was a decent enough read. I've been hearing mixed things about the next two volumes in this trilogy though, so I've put reading the second book off for a bit. My girlfriend brought her copy of Catching Fire from Norway this week so I guess there are no more excuses. Like The Hunger Games, the second volume is a quick read. It was not nearly as engaging as the first book though. I've begun to suspect that this is one of the series one should only read the first part of.

After their dual victory in the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta try to settle in the victor's village in district twelve. With her winnings Katniss tries to help as many people as possible but things have changed. As much as she wants to, there is no slipping back into her old life. Something that is underlined by president Snow himself, when he shows up to tell her what is expected of her in the tour of the districts the winners are supposed to make after their victory. Her defiance of the Capital has seriously undermined his authority. In many of the districts discontent is obvious and rebellion is simmering right under the surface. On a more personal level, Katniss seems unable to fix her relationship with Gale. The constant pressure of having to keep up the star crossed lovers charade with Peeta is weighing heavily on Gale. An explosive situation on all levels.

For a large part of the novel, Katniss is dealing with the fall out of her performance in the Hunger Games. As the effects of her defiance ripple though the districts, Katniss has plenty of time to consider her position. It makes Catching Fire a lot slower than the first book, especially in the opening chapters. I guess Katniss is finding out why winners of the Hunger Games rarely are able to settle back in any kind of normal life. With guilt over there acts or mere survival pursuing them, the knowledge of the truth behind the Games and the Capital's power weighing on them and the estrangement from their friends and families setting them apart, more than one victor has fled into destructive lifestyles or substance abuse. Katniss feels it, she is restless, as discontent as the districts appear to be, and it makes her a bit of a whiny character. In fact, she is so absorbed in her own misery that she misses quite a bit of what goes on around her.

Like the first volume, Catching Fire is written in the first person and the present tense. It took me a couple of chapters to get back into this unusual style. More than in The Hunger Games, I feel Collins is running into the limitations of a first person narrative. She is playing her part, sometimes sees glimpses of the effect her actions have on the population, but mostly she is kept in the dark. Behind the facade of the Capital's unquestionable power a lot is going on. Public opinion sways, resistance is growing and violence erupts all out of sight. Katniss certainly faces her own challenges but I didn't think her part of the story the most interesting development in the book. While the interesting stuff is happening out of sight, the reader works their way though a novel that is part dark reflection on events from the first book and part repetition of the Hunger Games ritual.

Once again, I was struck by the sheer unlikeliness of the way the Capital expresses its power over its subjects. In Catching Fire we gear up to the 75th edition and even with the problems with this show of power obviously exposed in the last Games, they insist on an even more brutal version this time around. President Snow feels his power has been undermined by Katniss' refusal to kill Peeta and his ultimate answer to this problem is putting her in the same position again, which makes very little sense to me. I guess the outcome is more or less predictable.  Where in The Hunger Games you have a pretty good feeling of where the story is heading, there is still the puzzle of how Katniss will manage to get there. In Catching Fire, Katniss lets others find the solutions for her. Collins foreshadows a lot of events in the final chapters adequately and manages to avoid a true deus ex machina ending, but it is far from the strongest finale I have read. It absolutely pales in comparison to how she managed in the first novel.

I guess you could say I wasn't very impressed with this novel. It advances Katniss' struggle with the Capitol a little but not is a way that is very exciting to read about. Katniss herself is far from the admirable and capable young woman she has shown herself to be in the first volume and manages to be in the centre of the action with absolutely no idea what is going on. Fortunately Catching Fire is a quick read or I would have been seriously tempted to put the book down and read something else. No doubt there are readers who will devour this book with equal enthusiasms as the previous one, and dive right into the third book in the series, I'm afraid such devotion is not for me. I think I will borrow my girlfriend's copy of Mockingjay as well. I am mildly curious about the final showdown between Katniss and president Snow, but not enough to actually buy a copy.

Book Details
Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 472
Year: 2009
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-407109-36-7
First published: 2009

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Two of my friends wanted me to read The Hunger Games, one of the big hits in the YA genre at the moment. It is currently the second most reviewed book on Librarything behind, you've guessed it, Twilight. I understand it is going to hit the big screen soon too, which will no doubt will do wonders for Collins' sales figures. I try to avoid books that are surrounded by this much hype but somehow end up reading them anyway. Both these friends usually have excellent taste but it doesn't aways overlap with mine, so I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book. After reading it, I guess you could say I have conflicted feelings about this novel.

In a future dystopian America, twelve districts are ruthlessly suppressed by a central government known as the Capital. Each year, the Capital demands two tributes, boys and girls between the age of twelve and eighteen, to take part in the Hunger Games. This brutal, televised contest does not end until only one contestant is left alive. It is but one of the reminders of the power the Capital wields over the districts. The tributes are chosen in a lottery and every teen has a chance to be chosen. You can enter your name more than once to earn extra rations of grain and oil however, something that severly skews the odds and favours the wealthy. When Katniss' twelve year old sister Prim is unfortunate enough to draw the short straw, she does something drastic and volunteers to take Prim's place. Katniss, who has never left her district, is off to the Capital to fight to the death in the Hunger Games.

The novel is written in an unusual style. Collins uses the first person and writes in the present tense to tell her story. It is a style that takes some getting used to. I usually like first person narratives and the present tense gives the action scenes in particular a sense of urgency I very much enjoyed. For the more quiet or introspective passages it didn't work quite so well but that is not where the focus of the novel is. There were some interesting literary influences in the book as well. Katniss as Ariadne sent into the Minotaur's labyrinth. I understand there's also a bit of Shakespeare (Julius Caesar) in the novel. I don't share the English speaking world's obsession with his works so I must admit I missed it until it was pointed out to me. It is a novel with lots of potential and written by someone who knows a thing or two about the craft.

There is something deeply disturbing about the concept of the Hunger Games. The government that organizes it is of the Orwellian kind. One that wants control of every aspect of life in the districts. It made me wonder if Collins is playing on the distrust of a strong federal government in the US by making it such a totalitarian regime. Cruelty such as described in this novel is certainly not strange to humanity but there is something very counterproductive about suppressing a rebellion by demanding a tribute in blood. I'm not sure how realistic it is to expect this to go on for three quarters of a century without a second revolt.

The Games are televised in a way that is clearly inspired by reality TV, where, if the show becomes too boring, the makers intervene to spice things up. Collins has turned it into a sickening mix of entertainment and punishment, in which the participants are well aware of the fact they are being watched and that popularity with the audience makes them more likely to survive the ordeal. The way Katniss deals with this constant exposure to the public is one of the aspects of the novel that worked very well to me. On the one hand she tried to play her part as well as possible, on the other, she is hopelessly confused by the blurring lines between what are honest emotions and what is acting for the benefit of the audience. Katniss thinks she has a good idea of when she is being manipulated (hard to tell for the reader when the entire story is told from her perspective) but doubts clearly sets in once she realizes she isn't too sure of how much of her behavior is acting.

What is even worse is the reaction of the children to what they are being asked to do. Fight to the death and kill others of their age is not something that comes easy to a normal human being. What absolutely appalled me is not the fact that these children kill, but the ease with which they do so. Katniss is used to suffering and death but not outright murder, yet the idea doesn't seem to horrify her to the level that it should. The deaths affect her but the emotion is muted, not at all the trauma one would expect. I also thought the televised bloodbath was a bit of a missed opportunity. Collins goes though great lengths to show us just how manipulated the Games are but she doesn't really make the most out of Katniss experiences actually taking part in the Games. I guess I felt she was too ready to play, too accepting of her fate and not nearly as disgusted with it as her treatment would have justified.

All in all, I thought The Hunger Games a well-written novel but I can't say I really like it. I don't think we needed quite that much carnage and killing. The deaths in this novel are too easy, too free of consequences and too easily accepted as necessary or justified. I guess your average thirteen year old might be swept away by Katniss' adventures but the underlying story is very dark indeed. Instead of a girl who ought to be severely traumatized by her experiences, we end up with one wondering if one of her fellow contestants had genuine feelings for her. Image and perception are what occupies a large part of this book. It would have been nice if we had at least one character who has their priorities straight. Still, it kept me turning pages. Compared to some of the other have-to-read bestsellers I've read recently, this one doesn't do too badly.  I might even read the second book.

Book Details
Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 374
Year: 2009
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-439-02350-1
First published: 2009