Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book and by extension series left me wanting more yet fulfilled at the same time. So begins my review of the most hard to read book I have enjoyed in a long time.

Beware, thar be spoilers in the following, you have been warned.

The basic plot is a direct continuation of Catching Fire. Katniss has been liberated from the Quarter Quell and is smack in the middle of the head of the rebellion, District 13. In the militaristic environment, she struggles for independence and individuality while attempting to assimilate so she can survive. The plot is the same as the other two: Katniss stumbles around a new environment, is hungry, fights with someone about something, excels at whatever she needs to, then goes into battle and triumphs in a backhanded way. There, I did that without really spoiling anything.

All our favorite characters are back, with the point of view squarely in Katniss’s eye. She hems and haws through most of the story, looking for her place in the world that has been thrust upon her, blah blah blah. Looking at the mechanics as a whole, nothing has really changed about the structure of the story which makes the characters that much more important. And, I have to say it, I’m kinda done with Katniss. Most of the way through this book, I was bored with her. She’s a reactionary character for the majority of the time, having greatness thrust upon her over and over. I was much more interested in the side characters as more was revealed about them, but the novel only gave information as Katniss received it so we got very little and then her projections of that information. This made the reading really frustrating as you were thrust into her mindset so much that I did not feel empathy as much as I wanted to control her as a puppet. Go over there! Talk to that guy! This makes it kinda jarring when she does act, throwing off the dynamic of how much we are actually told about her state of mind versus what she plans to do next. I do not think I have ever had that in a book, a character where I know their thoughts except when he or she is actually thinking.

So this book is at its heart about Katniss’s struggle within the rebellion and her place in it. Is she a figurehead or a leader? A soldier or a vengeful being? In the end, none of this is really answered. Yet, it is. She’s just Katniss. I can get behind that, except that there is no application of that beyond what I stated above: she reacts when we know what she’s thinking and we get jack when she decides on a course of action. Also, key points in her story are placed off screen, fueling the reaction. The rescue of Peeta and the rebels winning the war all happen when she is unconscious. This is bullshit. Realistic, but bullshit. I equate this with Leia getting knocked out and coming to with some random we just met telling her Luke saved the galaxy. As a reader, this is frustrating as hell, yet I do admire Collins’s commitment to follow Katniss’s story, no matter how boring it may be.

At the end of the day, this trilogy I would put on par with The Lovely Bones. A great series that tells an epic journey in a realistic way that defies expectation to a fault. Sometimes realism is great, but I felt fairly disappointed through much of the novel. That being said, I thought it had one of the most touching and perfect endings to a character’s story I have read. I would not have been surprised if Frodo had shown up at the end to take her to the Grey Lands.

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Hunger Games Movie Review

The Hunger Games Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Directed by Gary Ross

If you want to read my full summary and review, check out my book review. It’s really that close to the book. Just to put something here, I’ll give you the notes I took while watching with commentary. 

Because the following does have spoilers, I want to say that I really liked the movie. It stayed true to the character, plot and spirit of the novel. The violence was toned down (not a lot) and some subplots were removed, but nothing casual readers or people who never read the books will miss. 

 I read the book and the movie kicked ass. That never happens to me. Go see this one, you will have fun. Oh, but it is 2hr and 20 min, so don’t get the big soda.

*****Beware, Thar Be Spoilers*****

Opening, well done. I really liked how they set the atmosphere of District 12. They made it feel poor and desperate, almost Great Depression era, but at the same time have hints that this is the future.

Shakey cam. Holy crap, the camera floats like a butterfly, stings like a tracker jacker. Some might need vomit bags.

Gets pin, market A part that deviated from the book, she picks up the trademark mockingjay pin in the black market for some bird meat. It does not hurt the story, but eh..

Good touch, Duck There’s a small moment with Prim at the Reaping that kinda broke my heart.

Casting is awesome Everyone fits the parts well.

This looks like I imagined.

Almost not enough time in the rush to arena I kinda wanted to hang out in District 12 some more and get some character development.

exposition, exposition There’s a lot of talky talky that’s repetitive. But it is over quick and does keep reminding you of stuff that they don’t have time to show. They tell the entire story and give it a great treatment at 2hr 20min.

Took out Avox? Another departure that stuck with me and Katniss in the book but was forgettable enough to leave out.

Careers legal Another departure, apparently the Career Districts have stadiums where the train.

Meeting Peeta The meeting of Peeta and Katniss in flashback is changed slightly... I liked the real way, where he sees her starving then burns the bread and throws it out, but just throwing it out works.

 Scenes with Gamemaker Bigum departure from the book they beef up the role of game maker, taking the POV away from Katniss and into how the games actually are controlled, control room and all. I was a little turned off to be away from our heroine, but this pays off awesomely at the end.

Haymitch not... I never finished the thought, but I always imagined Haymitch as a Falstaff type, a big fat drunk with a sense of humor and a heart marked with tradgedy. Harrelson looks like he could go toe to toe with these kids (and kinda does).

Lenny Kravitz, ernest but likeable I guess he was like Jim Varney... Kravitz is not who I imagined as Cinna, but he works and does a great job. He was not as likeable as I would have wanted that character to be, but filled the role well.

Peeta not very charismatic or big enough. I liked the guy they have doing Peeta, but he is not the leader that is described in the book. He’s the arty guy and won me over but I think there could be better decisions made on how he approaches the character in future movies. Also, you would expect the guy that can throw 100lb sacks of flour to be a little beefier.

Cinna hid pig = book Okay I don’t know what the hell this means. Wait, no, I do. Cinna gives her back the mockingjay pin, not pig, just as she goes in the arena. Again, it tracks for story but there’s not a lot of mention of this item at all to be the symbol of the movie.

Did not set up mutated animals well Every time a new animal came on in the Arena, they cut to Caesar explaining what they were. While this happened a few times in the book, I remember mockingjays, tracker jackers, and nightlock being more Chekhov’s Guns in the narrative.

Cesar and the mines I don’t know what the hell this means. Really.

 

Great Rue POV Um... There’s a moment in the movie where the theatre got really dusty and I couldn’t see because my eyes were watering, but I think this scene was handled with wonderful visual style.

J.L. not singer? Our leading lady does not get the big song and dance number, but that’s okay.

Now Rebellion? There’s a couple of scenes implied in Catching Fire near the end. Spoiler Alert?

She stays pretty. Everyone in this movie has the crap beat out of them, but I guess Jennifer Lawrence was allergic to the dirt makeup or something because she stays fairly clean.)

 

VS

These are from about the same point in the movie.

Game makers omnipotent? The things they can do (forest fires, anmial attacks, etc.) seem to break natural laws. 

  

Action too close. All the fights are Bourne fighting. I was wondering half the time who was winning until everybody calmed down enough to die.

Cato long ass speech. There’s a lot of talking by our bad guys that I must have rushed past in the books.

Katniss meets Snow. The meeting in Catching Fire held some weight. That’s been taken away by this meeting some. Not much, but enough to matter.

So that’s all my notes. Overall, a fun experience. So help me God if any of you start that Team Peeta, Team Gale crap.  I'm Team Katniss and you people better just shut the hell up about your dumbass love triangles before I learn to use a bow and arrow.

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Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary
Our story is about 16-year-old Katniss and her trial through the brutal competition known as the Hunger Games in a post-now society world. Starting from abject poverty in a coal town where she illegally hunts for food to feed her family and progressing into the “there can be only one” nature of the competition, Katniss finds allies and enemies while under the oppressive all seeing eye of the Capitol.

Review
The dystopian future set up in the world of Panem makes for a provocative look into our own future, at least if things go to hades in some kind of basket. After a brutal war, the United States is divided into districts like a Trivial Pursuit wheel with the evil Capitol in control in the center. Our home base of District 12 where Katniss lays her head is a great entry as it shows how a poor mining town can toughen our protaganist up and give her a kick ass attitude.

And toughen her up it does. Katniss is so brash and likeable that I almost want her to be portrayed by 1988 Bruce Willis, spitting catchphrases and taping a bow to her back. The supporting characters are largely unobtrusive, hinting at more but held back as we only see them through Katniss’s eyes. The romance aspect works, but only to the point where you want the girl to get the guy in that “OMG, I’m Team Gale” kinda way. The soap opera is a distraction for the overall story, but one that will draw some readers in.

The story is fairly well told with spare writing that fits the action-centric nature of the book. The book is “show, don’t tell” almost to a fault, sacrificing description for pacing. And boy does it pace. Once our stage is set and everyone gets to killing, the pages seem to turn themselves. We also miss motivation for a lot of the action beyond “everyone wants you dead” and “except the guy that wants to snuggle with you.” I would like to have had a little more insight into why these games exist beyond the teenage version of gladiatorial combat.

Overall, this book a fun read. Those looking for a little bit more depth in their dystopias may want to just re-read 1984, but I see no wonder that teenagers are eating this series up. I am excited to go on to the next one.

Why was it banned?
This book was banned in certain areas for the violence and graphic nature of the deaths. For some reason, people do not like their children reading about dismembering each other. There are also some animals and implied genetic modifications that could bring on the nightmare. I would also not be surprised that some would object to the use of sex (as a weapon and defense) as a factor in helping you live as well as questioning authority and government in general.

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