The Hunger Games Trilogy

[Aurora B]

Jan 5, 2012 19:37:59 GMT -4 kostgard said:

I agree on Peeta. I mean, I like him. And I liked him for Katniss over Gale. I wish we'd had more information on why he was so devoted to Katniss. "I heard her sing that one time and she was really good" isn't enough for me to explain that level of devotion.

Agreed. I chalked his intense feelings up to the ages of the characters though. His devotion to her was basically a huge crush he'd been nurturing for years. She was kind of blindsided by it and seemed to be both confused and in denial that he was so devoted to her. Even though she used it to play up to sponsors and garner good will from the audience during the games, he was kind of an ass about it afterwards. She had been living with the plan that she would never marry so she had not considered any boy for a future mate, even Gale. I actually hated when he got so mad at her at the end of HG and froze her out, even when she told him she was confused by it all. He gained points with me when he apologized in CF and agreed to be friends and kind of saw it from her POV about his unexpected declaration of love for her.

What I see about both boys is that Gale was the match for her at the beginning, when their lives were only about surviving within their districts and trying to live with the only future they would be able to achieve at that time. Once their possible future has been changed at the end, along with all the characters being so damaged by the whole thing, the final outcome was the better one.

[kostgard]

Jan 7, 2012 23:28:56 GMT -4 Aurora B said:

Agreed. I chalked his intense feelings up to the ages of the characters though. His devotion to her was basically a huge crush he'd been nurturing for years. She was kind of blindsided by it and seemed to be both confused and in denial that he was so devoted to her. Even though she used it to play up to sponsors and garner good will from the audience during the games, he was kind of an ass about it afterwards.

That explanation works for me for the first book (and also why he was kind of a dick about it at the end). He had been nursing a crush for years and since Katniss never spoke to him after the bread incident, it was a crush from afar and he probably spent years building her up in his mind. He was only 16 after all. And I forgive him for being an ass at the end because he was 16 and in love and even though he probably would have figured out the truth if he stopped and thought about it, he let himself believe that the show Katniss was putting on was real.

But after he got over it and forgave her, he went right back to that level of unwavering devotion, and that's when things get kinda weird for me. After the first games he got to Katniss for who she really is (in all her effed up glory), and just went through a lot of stuff that would make him grow up fast. But he was never grew cynical (or even if a bit wary) about Katniss.

But I guess maybe that's what Katniss needed. She'd be "Screw all of y'all! I don't need anyone!" for so long she was pretty closed off. She said herself in the beginning that the only person she knew for sure that she loved was Prim (Dad was gone and Katniss resented the hell out of her mother for checking out after he died). Even though she cared for Gale, I don't think he had what was needed to finally break down some of those walls she put up.


But I still wish we knew more about Peeta to figure out how he got that way in general, but I guess what little we saw of his parents may explain a lot. His dad seemed like a nice, generous guy while his mother seemed like a heinous bitch (basically telling her crying son who was about to be shipped out to fight to the death "Hey! Our district might have a winner this year! And I'm talking about Katniss, not you. You've totally gonna die out there"? Jeez, lady!). Maybe he got his kindness from his father and his ability to convincingly lie and tell people what they want to hear from learning how to tell his mother the right thing to keep the heinous bitch-ery on a more manageable level.

[Babycakes]

Maybe he got his kindness from his father and his ability to convincingly lie and tell people what they want to hear from learning how to tell his mother the right thing to keep the heinous bitch-ery on a more manageable level.

Sometimes I forget that Peeta was already a victim of physical abuse from an early age. That probably helped him develop an ability to lie smoothly (to explain bruises to outsiders, or to keep from getting more). I think it would be pretty easy to escape to a fantasy world with your dream girl when you're living with a monster in an already shitty situation. I wonder if his mother's rage came from being second choice. Maybe she took her anger at Mr. Mellark (or the Capitol) out on Peeta. And again, I don't think we got enough of Peeta's thoughts or motivations. It was all Katniss' perception, all the time.

[Malle Babbe]

Nov 27, 2011 18:44:14 GMT -4 @regencydrama said:

Has anyone read The Girl Who Was on Fire? It's a series of essays by other young adult authors, reflecting on various aspects of the books.

I bought it on a whim, but I was really impressed after reading some of the essays. The authors pointed out details in the books that I've never considered before, and how Suzanne Collins clearly put a lot of thought into creating this world.

There's comparisons made between the rebellion and the War on Terror, a discussion on how PTSD created the traits we've seen in past victors, etc.

An interesting discussion of the Hunger Games and the current popularity of dystopian YA fiction can be found here on the NYTimes Website.

I have just started reading "The Hunger Games", and the one thing that really brought home how severely The Capital exploited the districts was the tesserae arrangement in conjunction with the Games lottery. The idea of young teenagers making the decision to have their names put in more times (increasing their chances of getting Reaped) in order to get more food rations for their families is horrifying.

Also makes me wonder if the release of movie this spring will lead to the likes of Fox News/Breitbart/etc. screaming that the series is Leftist Class Warfare Propaganda. I guess I'll have to get popcorn in advance....

[Babycakes]

Anyone still down for a re-read since we're 30 days out from the movie premiering? We'd still have time to do a chapter a day, if that's how these things go.

[cabbagekid]

Feb 23, 2012 13:39:30 GMT -4 Babycakes said:

Anyone still down for a re-read since we're 30 days out from the movie premiering? We'd still have time to do a chapter a day, if that's how these things go.

*raises hand* I am!!! Granted we only have about 3 weeks till the movie, but I still think we can at least finish Book 1 before the movie gets released. I'll actually be starting my re-reading tonight.

[Mugsy]

Well, I just finished MockingJay after a marathon of all three books, so discuss away.

This series could be two really good movies, or one big epic movie.

I don't think there is any way they could make one movie out of all three books. They have to set up the premise, the reaping, the prep, the first games and the aftermath - first book = one movie right there. Maybe they could squeeze the other two into one movie, but I'm doubtful. Although I found the third book a little plodding initially, it still has a lot of stuff that will probably be better shown on screen than on the page. To me, three books should be three movies. To stretch book three into two movies is dumb.

I don't think we got enough of Peeta's thoughts or motivations. It was all Katniss' perception, all the time.

Considering it's written from Katniss's point of view, there's no other way unless he tells her or she speculates.

The earlier discussion about race casting really surprises me that that was even an issue among (other) readers. From the beginning I pictured Rue as a delicate little black child, that's how she was described. Many of the other tributes (and characters) could be any race; I don't even notice if it's not specifically mentioned. I mean, Effie could have been black, just with her silly pink wig. I don't understand why anyone would care.

The talk about what age this is appropriate for; well, my niece who is in Grade 8 is reading this in school in English class. I'm sure most of the parents have no idea.

[memememe76]

I just finished the books last night and I have been devouring any and all analyses of the trilogy.

I love Peeta. I think his utter devotion to Katniss comes down to his mission from the first Hunger Games--to stay to true to himself during the competition. And to stay true to himself, that meant maintaining his feelings for Katniss. Peeta suffered just as much as Katniss (although they did not treat him well, Peeta did lose his entire family). While Katniss used Prim as her motivation to keep on living, Peeta used Katniss as his.

I read the books after watching the movie (just last week), so I never had my own ideas as to how these characters looked (well, at least the ones from the first book--I have my views of who should play the characters from the second and third books). After reading the first book, I didn't find myself thinking, "Huh, they got this person to play this character?"

[Babycakes]

Dec 1, 2012 22:51:18 GMT -4 memememe76 said:

I just finished the books last night and I have been devouring any and all analyses of the trilogy.

I love Peeta. I think his utter devotion to Katniss comes down to his mission from the first Hunger Games--to stay to true to himself during the competition. And to stay true to himself, that meant maintaining his feelings for Katniss. Peeta suffered just as much as Katniss (although they did not treat him well, Peeta did lose his entire family). While Katniss used Prim as her motivation to keep on living, Peeta used Katniss as his.

I read the books after watching the movie (just last week), so I never had my own ideas as to how these characters looked (well, at least the ones from the first book--I have my views of who should play the characters from the second and third books). After reading the first book, I didn't find myself thinking, "Huh, they got this person to play this character?"

I read a lot of interesting analysis after the books as well. I can't remember where, but I read an essay about how Peeta learned how to love and treat Katniss by watching her father and mother when he was younger. Katniss in the books always left me cold, I always thought Peeta made a better protagonist. I think JLaw breathed new life into the character. I was disappointed over how limited Peeta was in the first movie. I hope he gets to shine in Catching Fire. They have to keep in his big speech in D11, his baby bombshell during the interviews, and hopefully they'll include some of the bonding with Katniss on the tour and back in D12. I think that's when Katniss actually started to fall in love with him.

[cabbagekid]

Apparently, Buzzfeed did an article a few months ago entitled "9 Moments from "Mockingjay" that could be very depressing on film." Of the three books, I did find Mockingjay to be the most dark, but this article is insane! Yeah, a few of the things listed on there were depressing, especially Prim's death, but Prim's death was a catalyst for Katniss! Readers being upset with Divergent doesn't surprise me, but as depressing as Mockingjay was, the book as a whole left me satisfied.