The Hunger Games
I have finished The Hunger Games trilogy. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't great. The more I think on it though, the more disappointed I am with how the trilogy ended. And the more I think it's not a good book for an audience of young adults.
The Hunger Games: Katniss is poor, hungry and finds herself in the one place nobody wants to be. But through it all, she steps up, struggles through everything and becomes empowered. This is a good story for a young girl. There's an underlying plot of politics and romance, and of course the main story is very violent, but the focus - to me - is about a young woman accidentally finding herself empowered simply by being true to herself.
Catching Fire: Again, Katniss is the main focus and again the main story line is violent with heavy undertones of politics. Add a dash of romance (and the confusion that goes along with it) and there you have it. Katniss is still empowered, and now finds herself in a position to empower others. She has to work to become the symbol she's been made into, but that's just part of growing up; fitting what has been put onto your shoulders and doing it without losing who you are. I think this one too is a good story for young girl; I wouldn't hesitate to let my pre-teen or teenage daughter read this.
The Mockingjay: Here is where everything derails onto a different track. Plenty of violence, with the politics being very heavy. Very little romance, but a lot of talk about which boy she should be with in the future. But this story seems to be more of Katniss whining about the situation she finds herself in, hiding from everything she's been since her father was killed and waiting to die. I swear, the character spent more time hiding in closets and trying to sleep than she did eating. Decisions were no longer in her hands, but instead of being stubborn and forcing herself into the game, so to speak, as she did in the previous stories, she ran away. Instead of showing the world the empowered woman she's become, and marching towards the plot of the people taking back their freedom from the government, she fled and created chaos in her wake.
There was a strong undercurrent of suicide in the third book and I think this is the point that bothers me the most. Because the author never really explained that suicide is a bad idea; it was more the go-to idea when things got bad, but then circumstances got in the way, so Katniss had to go do something before she could go through with killing herself. But the character never has the realization that it's the wrong idea... she just sort of gives up trying to actively kill herself when she can't find a way to do it and decides to let herself starve to death. And then, suddenly, she's told she can go home. Everything has been taken care of for her, the politics played out behind the scenes while we watched her walk around the room and sing to herself. And she's now home to sit in her cozy house while others struggle around her and she loses herself in her grief. Her grief is substantial and true, but unlike the idea where she has to grow up and step into the responsibilities put on her, she never steps up to work through her grief and help those around her. She just sits in front of the fire while people cook her food, bury their dead and try to rebuild around her. Oh, but she realized she was indeed in love with Peeta. The End.
It bothers me. I'm sure if I had read this at thirteen I'd have a completely different understanding. After all, at thirteen most kids are the center of their own world and everything is the worst thing ever and worthy of woe. But the strength that soared through the character in the first two books, the strength that I felt made her a good role model, didn't just die down; it completely disappeared. Add the undercurrents of suicide being the way out and it doesn't sit well with me. Like I said before, the trilogy wasn't awful and it wasn't great... but it could have been. It was on its way to greatness before it fizzled out.
I also think this is why I've never completed and published my novels... because I don't want my own stories to be judged as something so close to awesome that the fact that it never gets there makes it horrible.
The Hunger Games: Katniss is poor, hungry and finds herself in the one place nobody wants to be. But through it all, she steps up, struggles through everything and becomes empowered. This is a good story for a young girl. There's an underlying plot of politics and romance, and of course the main story is very violent, but the focus - to me - is about a young woman accidentally finding herself empowered simply by being true to herself.
Catching Fire: Again, Katniss is the main focus and again the main story line is violent with heavy undertones of politics. Add a dash of romance (and the confusion that goes along with it) and there you have it. Katniss is still empowered, and now finds herself in a position to empower others. She has to work to become the symbol she's been made into, but that's just part of growing up; fitting what has been put onto your shoulders and doing it without losing who you are. I think this one too is a good story for young girl; I wouldn't hesitate to let my pre-teen or teenage daughter read this.
The Mockingjay: Here is where everything derails onto a different track. Plenty of violence, with the politics being very heavy. Very little romance, but a lot of talk about which boy she should be with in the future. But this story seems to be more of Katniss whining about the situation she finds herself in, hiding from everything she's been since her father was killed and waiting to die. I swear, the character spent more time hiding in closets and trying to sleep than she did eating. Decisions were no longer in her hands, but instead of being stubborn and forcing herself into the game, so to speak, as she did in the previous stories, she ran away. Instead of showing the world the empowered woman she's become, and marching towards the plot of the people taking back their freedom from the government, she fled and created chaos in her wake.
There was a strong undercurrent of suicide in the third book and I think this is the point that bothers me the most. Because the author never really explained that suicide is a bad idea; it was more the go-to idea when things got bad, but then circumstances got in the way, so Katniss had to go do something before she could go through with killing herself. But the character never has the realization that it's the wrong idea... she just sort of gives up trying to actively kill herself when she can't find a way to do it and decides to let herself starve to death. And then, suddenly, she's told she can go home. Everything has been taken care of for her, the politics played out behind the scenes while we watched her walk around the room and sing to herself. And she's now home to sit in her cozy house while others struggle around her and she loses herself in her grief. Her grief is substantial and true, but unlike the idea where she has to grow up and step into the responsibilities put on her, she never steps up to work through her grief and help those around her. She just sits in front of the fire while people cook her food, bury their dead and try to rebuild around her. Oh, but she realized she was indeed in love with Peeta. The End.
It bothers me. I'm sure if I had read this at thirteen I'd have a completely different understanding. After all, at thirteen most kids are the center of their own world and everything is the worst thing ever and worthy of woe. But the strength that soared through the character in the first two books, the strength that I felt made her a good role model, didn't just die down; it completely disappeared. Add the undercurrents of suicide being the way out and it doesn't sit well with me. Like I said before, the trilogy wasn't awful and it wasn't great... but it could have been. It was on its way to greatness before it fizzled out.
I also think this is why I've never completed and published my novels... because I don't want my own stories to be judged as something so close to awesome that the fact that it never gets there makes it horrible.