Simplified Series - The Hunger Games

Well, it may be my least favorite of the three, but I do think Mockingjay has the best cover.

My feverish pursuit of MOAR content brought forth this feature: Simplified Series. Here's the pitch: quick synopses (I'll try and keep them spoiler-free, but, you know, most of these are past the statute of limitations on spoilers) of the entries in a series followed by the reasons you should or shouldn't read it. This week:

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Background Info: I mean, you've probably heard of the Hunger Games trilogy or at least the tetralogy of films based on it (they were fairly popular, Jennifer Lawrence played the lead and they even got famous and well-regarded actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland and others to play the grown-ups). But if you're completely unaware, the books take place at some unspecified future date when the North American continent is ruled by the repressive government of Panem (as in panem et circenses, or bread and circuses) in which a decadent Capital lives off of the raw material and industrial production of twelves districts. Seventy-four years before the first book, the now eradicated District 13 led the districts in rebellion against the capital. As punishment, each district must now send two youths (a boy and a girl) as tributes in the Hunger Games, a televised battle royale in which the tributes (aged between 12 and 17) must fight to the death in an arena filled with booby-traps (and hidden caches of weapons and supplies). The victor is the last teen standing and gets live out the rest of their days in relative wealth and privilege. The games are must watch (like literally, everyone's television set automatically broadcasts them) and, of course, are viewed with horror in the districts and glee in the Capital. Sounds like fun, right? Right?

The Hunger Games (2008) - Katniss Everdeen is just your ordinary 16-year-old with ordinary 16-year-old problems: a best friend of the opposite sex who's definitely in love with her even though she's not sure how she feels about him, a mother who still isn't over the death of her husband in District 12's coal mines, and a little sister who's just been selected as a tribute in a bizarre death ritual meant to punish citizens for a failed rebellion three generations ago. So Katniss does what anyone would do, she volunteers to take her sister's place. She joins fellow tribute Peeta (his family owns a bakery, get it, Peeta/pita (look as far as terrible names in this series go, this is about as unterrible as it gets)) on a journey to the Capital where they're paraded around as rural curiosities before being dumped in an arena to murder or be murdered by twenty-two other children. Oh, and speaking of normal 16-year-old problems, Peeta let his unrequited crush on Katniss slip on national TV. Good thing she'll have ample opportunities to kill him in retaliation, I guess. Will Katniss be able to win the favor of wealthy sponsors despite her complete lack of charm or any social graces? Will she and Peeta be able to reconcile their awkward teenage feels and uncomfortable teenage urges? Will the gamemasters change the rules midway through in a manner that would surely drive all the gamblers in the Capital to call for a bloody revolution?

Catching Fire (2009) - So, after the climactic events of the previous installment, (SPOILERS definitely ahead) Katniss and Peeta end up as co-victors, living in the Victors' village with their mentor and only other surviving District 12 victor, Haymitch. The good news is that they can't be tributes in the Hunger Games again this year. The bad news is that Panem's President Coriolanus Snow doesn't believe that they're really in love and threatens to kill their families if they can't pass off their romance as legit. Complicating this is the fact that Katniss might be developing uncomfortable teenage urges for her best friend Gale, which Gale is all for, since he definitely feels uncomfortable teenage urges towards her. Further complicating things is the announcement that this year's Hunger Games (the 75th) are a special "Quarter Quell" with special rules. Namely that the tributes will be selected from the pool of surviving victors. So, as 12's solely surviving female victor, Katniss is definitely going to the Games, but she and Haymitch decide they have to spare Peeta, because, let's face it, it's a miracle that the baker's son managed to survive the previous games at all. Will this book basically just be a more exciting version of the first one? Will all the other previous victors turnout to be either severely traumatized or vicious psychopaths? Does it ever seem weird that the first person perspective forces Katniss to make all sorts of wild guesses about the goings on outside of the arena and that she's usually right?

Mockingjay (2010) - So, after the climactic events of the previous novel (I mean, seriously, TEH SPOILARZ!) Katniss finds herself in the weird subterranean state of District 13, which was, as it turns out, not actually eradicated. However, the Capital has razed Disctrict 12, leaving all of Katniss's friends and family as refugees at the mercy of an austere, authoritarian regime. Even worse, Peeta's now a captive of the Capital. What's Katniss's role in this strange new dystopia? She'll be the Mockingjay, a symbol of the rebellion against the Capital's tyranny. But also, more of a figurehead. Her real job is to star in short propaganda films so that District 13 can hack into the Capital's broadcasting network. As more districts join the rebellion, Katniss is forced to decide where her loyalties lie. And the morality of total war. And whether it's a gain or a lateral move to replace one form of tyranny with another. And which of the two hot, but boring guys in her life she really loves. Will the rebellion be successful? Will the ending be happy? Does anyone actually care about the love triangle?

Why should you read the Hunger Games trilogy? It's actually a pretty fun read. Katniss isn't necessarily the most engaging narrator, but Collins writes her with an endearing, just-the-facts affect. She's never comfortable discussing her feelings and often shunts them aside to focus on the task at hand. The series is also an effective "pre-teen's first dystopia," sure any middle-schooler could read 1984 (or at least Animal Farm), but the Hunger Games use of reality-tv satire (if not original) may be more immediately recognizable to younger readers than Orwell's depictions of analog propaganda (again, not advocating for reading this instead of other classic YA dystopias, but there's room for more than one). Also, you know, you can be hip to what the kids were into several years ago, so you'll get pro-rated cool points.

Why shouldn't you read the Hunger Games trilogy? Panem makes no fucking sense. The world of the novels works just long enough for you to finish reading the trilogy and no longer. There are myriad other faults. The love triangle feels tacked on and neither of the other segments is as well developed as Katniss. Having two novels take place inside of two consecutive Hunger Games is duplicative and leads to comparisons that are unflattering to whichever of the first two novels you prefer (#teamcatchingfire). And, of course, Mockingjay just isn't that good a book. The trilogy is running on fumes at the end there (though I do think the ending works, the path to getting there feels too contrived).

Oh, before I forget, next week there will be no blog updates. You know, because of Thanksgiving or something. Updates will resume on Monday, November 26.