Let the Games begin…
“When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.”
For years I’ve been saying I’ll get around to this series. It’s not that I’ve not wanted to read it, I’ve just never been so desperate to get my hands on it. Most people I know have already read it and have their opinions, and perhaps I’ve been shaped by some of these. The first in the trilogy is already seven years old, and with the films having been released, many plot points had already been revealed to me, although not necessarily with the right context.
Nonetheless, I have finally read the first book. As usual, I’ll start with a summary of the plot (for those of you who are even later to the party than me) and then I’ll get on with the gritty analysis.
So, The Hunger Games takes place in an undisclosed year of the future in a country called Panem that was once the USA. After a war, the country was divided into thirteen districts and the capital city, The Capitol, each district having a responsibility for a certain product or aspect of the country, be it fishing, mining, agriculture, power, etc. Every year, two teenagers are chosen at random from each District and forced into an arena together where there are no rules and the last one left alive is rewarded with great prizes of food and comfort for the starving population of their District.
This year, Katniss Everdeen, a keen archer and natural hunter, and Peeta Mellark, the son of a baker, are the tributes for District 12. Katniss wasn’t selected, it was her younger sister Prim, but unable to see Prim go though with the trial, she volunteers to take her place. Her world is thrown into turmoil as she and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, dolled up to look beautiful and make the public love them, before being thrown into an arena from which only one victor will emerge, the other twenty-three contestants having died. And everyone in the country will be watching.
OK, so, I’ll get my complaints out of the way first. Naturally, through the fact that the novel is narrated in the first person, we know from the outset that Katniss will survive. (That’s not a spoiler, right?) The tension is also diminished by the fact that the series is over and we know that it’s a trilogy. By rights, Katniss has to survive. I’ve also come to note that people really play up the love triangle aspect of the book and say that the film took it to extremes, but if you ask me it’s not exactly an undercurrent here. I’m aware that the Katniss and Peeta relationship is being played up (by Katniss at least) for the cameras, but it’s definitely not a minor plot point that she has feelings for her friend back home, Gale, too.
An expert archer at 16, because of course.
Also, I have to note that Katniss is one of those protagonists that I simply don’t like very much. She joins the ranks with Lyra (His Dark Materials), Alice (of Wonderland fame), and, yes, Harry Potter (let’s face it, no one’s favourite Harry Potter character is Harry) of protagonists that I find irritating. I know she’s playing up to the cameras for a lot of it, but, come on, how right is she about what’s going on out there? She has plot armour on up to her eyeballs, and I find her something of an insufferable know-it-all. I know you’re supposed to take all this with a pinch of salt, and I ran with it for as long as I could, but disbelief can only be stretched so far.
HOWEVER.
As young adult books go, this isn’t badly written. It’s smart and pacey, has a lot of very interesting ideas and builds a world that is horribly foreign and yet, at the same time, worryingly realistic. While I’m fundamentally bored by Katniss (Peeta exhibits traits that might make him a little more interesting), I do want to know so much more about this world. Who’s idea were the Hunger Games? How did the country get divided up? What’s going on in the rest of the world? Have they ever tried to stop Panem?
The supporting characters are more interesting, too. Effie Trinket is obviously a cog in the evil machine of the Capitol, but one that occasionally reveals glimpses of her true personality behind the mask, possibly suggesting that she doesn’t necessarily like everything that goes on. Haymitch is great, and while his alcoholism feels slightly tacked on at first, it quickly becomes obvious as to why he’s like that. Caesar Flickerman is also an interesting one, as I really can’t tell if he’s meant to actually be on the tributes side, or if he’s as bad as the rest of them and it’s all a front. My favourite of the supporting cast, though, is Cinna, who seems to be the only genuinely good person there. The other tributes feel pretty one-dimensional. Obviously many are killed quickly to bring down the number of characters we have to contend with, but even those that survive longer don’t excite me that much. That’s the nature of the story, I suppose; we have to know and see what Katniss knows and sees.
I’ll carry on with the series, sure, but not without trepidation. Most of what I knew about the series has happened here (although obviously my knowledge had enormous gaps; I had no clue that the Games were literally about hunger and the supply of food) so I’m going into murkier waters, although I can make a good guess at some of what’s coming. If you haven’t read the books yet, and aren’t put off by any spoilers I’ve revealed above (although I don’t think I’ve done too badly), then be prepared for the first few chapters to be a bit of a slog, but stick with it. The payout is very good.
