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Post by 4amWriter on Jan 8, 2012 0:21:13 GMT
BEFORE YOU READ FURTHER, PLEASE KNOW THAT THIS THREAD IS ALL ABOUT THE HUNGER GAMES AND WE'LL BE GIVING AWAY ALL THE JUICY PARTS!! Everyone who wants to is welcome to join in the chat!  |
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Post by 4amWriter on Jan 8, 2012 0:36:51 GMT
Okay, the first thing I have to say about the books is that I couldn’t get over how Suzanne Collins kept the tension level at a constant high for me. Just when I thought Katniss was safe or at least could breathe easy, something else happened. I lost count of how many times I was late picking up my kids from school because I had to read one more page!
How did she do that? And so consistently?
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Post by loupy on Jan 8, 2012 1:13:57 GMT
I agree! And even after the first book was finished I thought phew finally they were safe - not really knowing what the other two were about. Then they got stuck back in that darn arena!!
I will admit I was team Peeta, I know y'all said Gale :-P Peeta was just so darn sweet!!
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Post by 4amWriter on Jan 9, 2012 2:23:51 GMT
Peeta was sweet, I'll admit. And in the end, it did make sense for them to be together because she needed him to offset her. I suppose I'm one of those readers who always gets hooked on the "first" love interest (even though Katniss didn't have feelings for Gale, it was so obvious he liked her and I really got into the attention he paid her). So, when Peeta came along I was a little miffed at what I thought was interference. I can think of two reasons why it took me a while to hook into Peeta. First, I TOTALLY believed that he had turned against Katniss by siding with the strong players. Collins did an outstanding job with that storyline. Second...I didn't have a strong enough picture of him in my mind, nor did I feel a strong connection to him. I'm sure part of this is because for the better part of book one, I wasn't sure of Peeta's intentions. But I also don't know if Collins really described him. (I'd have to reread book one to be sure). Whatever the reason, it wasn't until the second book that I began to see him in my mind as well as bond with him. But by then, I'd already decided I liked Gale! Oh, the drama! |
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Post by loupy on Jan 9, 2012 5:16:44 GMT
Yep you make a good point, I was really against Peeta when I thought he'd totally tricked her and gone with the stronger guys. Gale just always seemed to angry and brooding for me. I want to say I had an image of Peeta from the start but that might have been by the time I picked up the first book they were already rolling out the first images of the film , so that might not be fair for me to even say. I'd have to re-read it too to see if she really let on clues about him or if I'd made him up based on the actor (who is from Kentucky like me yeaahhhh)
She really did keep me guessing the whole time. I remember actually exclaiming out loud "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!!" when they announced they were going back into that arena. That really had me going! haha.
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Post by limebirdsophie on Jan 9, 2012 15:03:22 GMT
I have to say I don't have an image of peeta at all in my head and I dont really feel I get what makes him tick. You see so little of him throughout the books and he's always playing some angle or not quite himself.. First pretending he's against her, then he's life threateningly sick with infection. Then in the second book there's a certain distance between them and then in the third he's been messed up by the Capitol so I guess that's why I could never get attached to him. Gale however was always this unwavering force that stood by katniss throughout with no fear or concern for himself. I understand why the author did what she did but I wasn't happy lol. Also may I add the death of prim was just horrendous and I think if I was katniss after everything that would of truly broken me. I think she did a spectacular job of showing that in the real world wars and rebellions don't happen without some really painful loses and that even the hero's can't escape that. From a writing point of view can we figure out what techniques she's using if any to keep you page turning? Like is it very short sentences or something like that I dont know much about writing (academically) speaking so if anyone has any ideas I'd love to know |
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Post by 4amWriter on Jan 10, 2012 18:02:35 GMT
I have to say I don't have an image of peeta at all in my head and I dont really feel I get what makes him tick. You see so little of him throughout the books and he's always playing some angle or not quite himself.. First pretending he's against her, then he's life threateningly sick with infection. Then in the second book there's a certain distance between them and then in the third he's been messed up by the Capitol so I guess that's why I could never get attached to him. Gale however was always this unwavering force that stood by katniss throughout with no fear or concern for himself. I understand why the author did what she did but I wasn't happy lol. Also may I add the death of prim was just horrendous and I think if I was katniss after everything that would of truly broken me. I think she did a spectacular job of showing that in the real world wars and rebellions don't happen without some really painful loses and that even the hero's can't escape that. From a writing point of view can we figure out what techniques she's using if any to keep you page turning? Like is it very short sentences or something like that I dont know much about writing (academically) speaking so if anyone has any ideas I'd love to know Yes! That's exactly what the problem was with Peeta--There wasn't the opportunity to bond with him like there was with Gale. The minute Gale said, "Up you go, Catnip" in the second chapter, I knew how important the relationship was between him and Katniss. Tension on every page, that's how Collins does it. At least, that's my way of thinking. She also keeps the language very simple (which would be a necessity anyway because the genre is YA). But you don't get swamped in a lot of imagery or literary devices. Even Katniss' inner story is pretty clear-cut. I would have to re-read the books with an eye for sentence structure to know whether her format has anything to do with it. There were times, though, that I wished for things to slow down so I could get a better idea of the world in which these stories took place. It helped to have the geography of the US, but I am a sucker for setting. And sometimes I didn't feel like I knew the layout of the land. |
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Post by limebirdsophie on Jan 10, 2012 18:59:28 GMT
Yeah I agree a nice simple map lord of the rings style would of been nice just to have an idea of each districts setting. I really enjoyed the storylines but I have to admit that parts were predictable, for instance I knew that she would go back into the games in book two and knew that they would take on the Capitol. Now that isn't a criticism at all, I like when books follow what I think should happen because it means it's based in a reality of sorts and she threw in enough surprises to keep me guessing. The only thing is that I would of liked Katniss to of been more involved in the rebellion fighting wise especially as Cinna worked so hard on her war armour. I also loved the little moments she had with Prims cat throughout I thought they were very cleverly done and added that little something extra that makes good books great.
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Post by loupy on Jan 10, 2012 20:46:56 GMT
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Post by 4amWriter on Jan 11, 2012 2:47:44 GMT
Thanks for the links Loupy. They're not highlighted (accessible) on the forums; I'll try to paste and copy and see if I can get to the sites that way...I would love to see what other people came up with!
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Post by 4amWriter on Jan 11, 2012 2:57:15 GMT
Yeah I agree a nice simple map lord of the rings style would of been nice just to have an idea of each districts setting. I really enjoyed the storylines but I have to admit that parts were predictable, for instance I knew that she would go back into the games in book two and knew that they would take on the Capitol. Now that isn't a criticism at all, I like when books follow what I think should happen because it means it's based in a reality of sorts and she threw in enough surprises to keep me guessing. The only thing is that I would of liked Katniss to of been more involved in the rebellion fighting wise especially as Cinna worked so hard on her war armour. I also loved the little moments she had with Prims cat throughout I thought they were very cleverly done and added that little something extra that makes good books great. That's funny that you should say that you wished she would have been more involved in the rebellion fighting. I agree. Slightly off topic, but still related: that reminded me of the Twilight series when Bella went off to a mountainside with Edward to "keep Edward safe" while the evil vampires and good vampires fought. We saw none of that action, and that's all I cared about--not Bella. (sorry if I gave away something in Twilight. egad!) Anyway, same with Katniss. Although she finally went in with her own squad, I felt gypped because I didn't get a full sense of the rebellion as it affected the territory and all the people she once knew. |
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Post by loupy on Jan 11, 2012 5:48:21 GMT
Thanks for the links Loupy. They're not highlighted (accessible) on the forums; I'll try to paste and copy and see if I can get to the sites that way...I would love to see what other people came up with! Whoops! Sorry bout that, its just a link to google images, because when I was reading the books and really trying to figure out what Panem looked like I went to google images to see what other folks thought of it. It's interesting the amount of variation there is, some folks have district 13 up near Washington DC, some have it down in Florida. (As I was reading I sort of felt it was in the New England area, but I'm not sure why I thought that) |
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Post by loupy on Jan 11, 2012 6:03:36 GMT
Yeah I agree a nice simple map lord of the rings style would of been nice just to have an idea of each districts setting. I really enjoyed the storylines but I have to admit that parts were predictable, for instance I knew that she would go back into the games in book two and knew that they would take on the Capitol. Now that isn't a criticism at all, I like when books follow what I think should happen because it means it's based in a reality of sorts and she threw in enough surprises to keep me guessing. The only thing is that I would of liked Katniss to of been more involved in the rebellion fighting wise especially as Cinna worked so hard on her war armour. I also loved the little moments she had with Prims cat throughout I thought they were very cleverly done and added that little something extra that makes good books great. That's funny that you should say that you wished she would have been more involved in the rebellion fighting. I agree. Slightly off topic, but still related: that reminded me of the Twilight series when Bella went off to a mountainside with Edward to "keep Edward safe" while the evil vampires and good vampires fought. We saw none of that action, and that's all I cared about--not Bella. (sorry if I gave away something in Twilight. egad!) Anyway, same with Katniss. Although she finally went in with her own squad, I felt gypped because I didn't get a full sense of the rebellion as it affected the territory and all the people she once knew. I definitely agree.... I really did get frustrated toward the end of the 3rd book, the big battle began and then --- she woke up and told us this happened and then that happened, the end. It felt like she was writing the book then though "oh jeeze I'm closing in on 400 pages I better end this sucker now" , at least that was how it felt to me. |
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Post by limebirdsophie on Jan 11, 2012 14:08:26 GMT
Yeah it's kind of like katniss evolved as a character backwards. She was kick ass as a hunter and fairly ruthless in the games I expected that she would of been trained up earlier and her skills utilised but instead she got less battle hard and became more talk than action. It's a strange way to take the character in my opinion as I know in her place with all my friends and acquaintances being killed I would of been out for blood no matter the consequence. Maybe because it's a YA book the author felt she needed to portray that fighting isn't the answer or something, I have the feeling if it was an adult book she would of become the person I thought she would. I'll def be checking out those images when I get in . I don't know much about the states geographically so it's all a mystery to me. Although would I be right in assuming that the fishing district would be Florida or Miami? |
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Post by 4amWriter on Jan 11, 2012 19:57:13 GMT
Sophie, I thought the fishing district was New England, or at least the Eastern seaboard--which could include Florida. But I thought Katniss' district was towards Florida--oh gosh, here I go. I better figure it out...it's going to drive me mad.
Anyway, yes, re Katniss' character changing: in fiction writing we are told the MC needs to undergo change from beginning to end. It would make sense what with all Katniss had been through to change monumentally. However, I agree that she went the opposite way from what I would have expected.
I believe that the author felt Katniss needed to simmer down towards the end in order to help finish out the series, as well as be able to make the decision between Gale and Peeta, as well as not be so vengeful that she goes on a killing spree. I'm not entirely convinced that the change was complete enough; in other words I feel like katniss should have done more at the end for me to believe she changed that much, or that differently.
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