This is a transcript of my latest podcast episode – you can listen to the episode here.
Hello and welcome to Resurrected Reviews Revisited, part of the Will You Still Love It Tomorrow podcast. I’m Annie and, in each Reviews episode, I pick something I’ve reviewed sometime since 2005, reread or rewatch it, and then compare my reactions. Fair warning: there will be spoilers.
This month, my pick is YA dystopian classic – The Hunger Games.
The first book in the series came out in 2008, telling the story of a future world, where each of twelve districts has to offer up a boy and a girl to take part in the annual Hunger Games, where the 24 youngsters fight to the death in an arena until one is declared victor. Our protagonist is Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers as tribute to save her younger sister from being in the Games.
Before revisiting it, my recollections of my original experience of encountering it are as follows:
I’m fairly certain my friend, Katie, recommended The Hunger Games to me, around the time the film came out or shortly before. I think I went to see it in the cinema with her and her husband, Dave – and that I read the book fairly rapidly beforehand because I wanted to experience the original before watching the adaptation. So that would likely have been sometime around 2012?
I know I enjoyed the books enough to read the whole trilogy, watch all three films in the cinema, listen to the books on audio as a second read-through, and buy the whole trilogy on DVD. Not to mention buying a Mockingjay pin and putting together a Katniss cosplay outfit. So, I don’t see how my previous reviews could possibly refute the fact that I was a big fan of the series for quite a while. I don’t think I’ve read the books or watched the films for five or six years and my relationship to YA has changed quite a bit since then. I’ve written two YA fantasy novels myself since then (and am still in the process of revising the second one) but my interests are shifting more towards adult fantasy now, and the last few YA books I’ve read have left me cold. And I haven’t had much luck with revisiting YA with this resurrected podcast series either.
So, I’m a bit apprehensive about whether or not I’ll still like The Hunger Games – though I do know I have read some YA I’ve really enjoyed in the last few years, so I’m hoping this will still hold up, even though I’m planning to listen to the audiobook again, which hasn’t been a great format for revisiting books so far. I know I remember it all pretty well, too, which may have an impact on whether I enjoy it or not.
I’m also planning to rewatch the first film and compare my reactions between the book and its adaptation, as well as between my old reviews and this revisit. But that will depend on how many notes I take along the way and whether the episode ends up getting way too long!
So, here’s what I thought on revisiting The Hunger Games this year.
It’s pretty grim and hard-hitting right from the start, talking about Katniss trying to drown the cat and then later feeding him entrails from her kills. She is tough and practical and can hunt!
It’s very matter-of-fact and quite ‘tell-y’ with a lot of exposition at the very start, explaining the world, the dangers and the history of Katniss’ family.
It picks up very quickly with Gale’s introduction – they have a good dynamic and the prose gets a lot of great sensory detail in terms of smells and tastes.
It’s all very well worked out in terms of how the world works, with the reaping system, the inequality not just between the Capitol and the districts, but also with the option to put names in more times in exchange for food, and with the tributes who get training in the richer districts. It’s one of those books where you have to just go with the central concept but, if you do that, everything else holds together pretty well because the author’s clearly put a lot of effort into the worldbuilding.
But the history of Panem and the rules for the Hunger Games is presented in quite a clunky way, with just a block of exposition again.
Haymitch and Effie are presented as rather cartoonish, over the top in different directions in a way that makes the whole thing seem less realistic (even given how ridiculous the whole setup is if you think about it too much).
We get through the reaping and Katniss volunteering as tribute pretty quickly – it’s a pacy book. But I’m not sure if there’s enough setup for the reaping itself to have as much impact as is intended, because we haven’t anything of Prim prior to the ceremony or much in the way of insight into her relationship with Katniss up to that point.
Katniss volunteering to take Prim’s place does have an impact, as does the district response of offering up their three-finger salute.
Then we get our first introduction of Peeta as the boy tribute, dismissing him as a bad choice in Katniss’ eyes. But the subsequent flashback shows that’s because she feels indebted to him for his kindness in giving her burnt bread from the bakery, despite his mother’s abuse.
So he’s established as someone who is willing to risk injury to help someone in need, because it’s fairly clear he knocks the loaves into the fire deliberately to ruin them so he can throw them where Katniss can get them.
She’s so very practical and matter-of-fact. She says:
“There’ll be 24 of us so the odds are someone else will kill him before I have to.”
It’s an indication of the world she’s grown up in and her low status within it, as well as her need to start caring for her sister and mother from the age of 11, after her father died in a mine explosion. But it reduces the impact of the emotional side of the story because she’s so remote, and it makes it hard to connect to her as a character.
She’s so relentlessly practical, even when saying goodbye to Prim and her mother, but I felt the emotion when Peeta’s father gave her the cookies and said he’d make sure Prim gets enough food. And then the mayor’s daughter comes in and makes Katniss promise to wear her pin during the games – which is a really significant moment when you’ve read it before because then you know it’s the Mockingjay symbol of the Rebellion.
The stark contrast between the deprivations of District 12, the sumptuous luxury of the Capitol train and the horror of what’s to come in the games is done very well.
I like the odd moments of teenage behaviour from Katniss, particularly in solidarity with Peeta, despite her early vow to have nothing to do with him. It’s nice to see them enjoying the amazing food and sharing jokes every now and then, even though they’re being faced with imminent death.
I love Cinna, Katniss’ stylist for the Games, but I think that has more to do with his film portrayal than the book.
I know Katniss’ memory of seeing the boy and girl running in the woods and getting captured by Capitol forces is a hint that District 13 is still there but hidden and the centre of the rebellion – but, given everything else that’s going on at that point of the book, it’s a pretty subtle way to point in that direction, so I don’t know if many readers would pick up on it if they haven’t read the book before.
The training sequence where Katniss shoots the arrow into the roast pig the Gamemakers are eating is pretty iconic – it shows a streak of rebellion that’s reinforced by her earlier illegal activities of hunting outside the district boundary (though those are more rooted in survival than going against the Capitol’s rules).
And then her collapse afterwards and uncontrolled crying is the most credible emotional reaction she’s shown up to that point, as it’s a release of all the pent-up feelings around everything that’s happened, particularly since she thinks she might have caused trouble for her family by disrespecting the Gamemakers.
Haymitch and Effie became slightly more real as the training period progresses, but not really. I can’t seem to connect to them in the audiobook, even though I remember them being great characters in the film. They’re not really in the book all that much, though – nobody really is except Katniss. It’s so completely in her head, her perspective, her experience – and yet it’s also quite hard to connect to her, because she’s so closed down. Her few moments of emotional outburst do ring true and have an impact, but there aren’t many of them.
When the tribute interviews take place, we get our introduction to Caesar Flickerman – another favourite of mine from the film – but again, because of Stanley Tucci’s fantastic performance, since he doesn’t get much page time at all in the book and most of it’s telling us about what he’s like, rather than showing his character.
Katniss really isn’t very good at strategic thinking – she doesn’t like any of the suggestions people make to present her in a good light for the Games, she over-reacts to everything and always makes assumptions that people are attacking her or trying to undermine her – though that’s all very understandable, given the circumstances in which she’s lived up till now.
I love the fact that all the previous Hunger Games arenas are preserved as historic sites where Capitol citizens can go for tours, holidays and re-enactments – it’s a very realistic aspect of a world where this kind of event would take place.
I remember Cinna being with Katniss in the preparation room just before she’s sent into the arena. The fact that he magically produces her Mockingjay pin and gives it back to her to wear identifies him as part of the Rebellion.
The first few minutes in the arena are very well done – Katniss seeing the bow and arrows and thinking about trying to get them, Peeta perhaps trying to communicate that she shouldn’t, her hesitation meaning she fails to, her managing to grab a random pack that contains some really useful stuff, the death of one of the other tributes right in front of her. It’s tense, it’s action-packed and it launches the Games in an exciting way.
The number of characters is cut dramatically in the opening battle at the Cornucopia, with 11 out of the 24 tributes killed almost immediately. I can’t remember if we see much of what’s going on away from Katniss in the film, but one strength of the first-person perspective in the book is the tension of not knowing how anyone else is faring.
At this point, we only know the names of two of the other tributes – Thresh and Rue from District 11, though it seems unlikely to me that Katniss wouldn’t have been paying attention to her opponents closely enough throughout the training and interviews to have learned as much about them as she could, including their names.
I do like the fact that the arena in this first book is entirely mundane – just a normal forest – especially given how weird and wonderful the arena is in the second book. It allows you to focus more on Katniss’ internal experiences, rather than being distracted by external factors.
I’d forgotten that Peeta allies himself with the career pack at the start. But I guess, since the career pack is hunting the other tributes, it’s the only way he’d be involved in the story once they’re in the arena, as otherwise Katniss wouldn’t have any contact with him.
Cato and Glimmer, the two main career tributes, don’t get named until quite a way into the Games. And then Glimmer is Katniss’ first kill – sort of indirectly, since Katniss drops a nest of poisonous wasps on the career pack from a tree, and two of the girls die from the stings. Katniss does seem at least a bit affected by becoming a murderer, though she still manages to remember Glimmer had a bow and goes back to get it.
That’s when we get the first scene of real horror, since Katniss also gets stung and experiences unpleasant hallucinations from the poison. But it’s horror from an external psychological agent, rather than horror at her actual circumstances and what being in the Games has forced her to do.
Katniss’ alliance with Rue, the little girl from District 11, is really well done. It’s based on an equal exchange of skills and resources – Katniss provides meat and burn medicine, while Rue provides vegetables and plants to help with the wasp stings.
Their conversation largely serves the purpose of giving the reader more information about the world of Panem, with the two girls exchanging stories about their respective districts. It also emphasises the brutality of the Capitol, and the political aspect, with Katniss reflecting that the Gamemakers might block out their conversation from the public broadcast because they don’t like people finding out about the different districts or telling stories about the Capitol killing children.
Katniss’ first two kills could be argued as defensive, since she dropped the wasps to get the careers away from the tree she was hiding in. When she destroys the supplies at the lake and sees the girl she calls Foxface out in the open, though, she thinks it would be a good opportunity to kill her outright with an arrow. The only thing that stops her is that Foxface hears something and runs away. Katniss also chooses a place to wait for Rue for its qualities as a good spot to shoot the careers if they turn up. Admittedly, she does have to get rid of all the other tributes in order to survive herself, so all kills could be considered defensive, but it’s still a shift in attitude and presentation.
It’s obvious from the start that Rue isn’t going to survive, but that doesn’t take any impact away from her death when it happens, since she’s the only tribute other than Peeta who’s been given any page time or turned into a real character. Plus, she’s only twelve. The connection to her little sister makes it all the more traumatic for Katniss, of course.
Katniss kills the boy from District One without even a thought, after he throws the spear at Rue, and the narrative doesn’t even pause to consider it at all. And then we switch immediately to the sadness of Katniss singing as Rue dies. But afterwards, the narrative says, “To hate the boy from District One, who also appears so vulnerable in death, seems inadequate. It’s the Capitol I hate, for doing this to all of us.” So there’s nuance in the violence and a lot of build-up for what happens much later in the series.
After Katniss covers Rue in the flowers, though, it says:
“My feet wander this way and that till sunset. I’m not afraid, not even watchful, which makes me an easy target. Except I’d kill anyone I met, on sight, without emotion or the slightest tremor in my hands. My hatred of the Capitol has not lessened my hatred of my competitors in the least, especially the Careers. They, at least, can be made to pay for Rue’s death.”
Which demonstrates a definite shift in Katniss’ own attitude towards her place in the Games, though also basically contradicting what she just thought about the boy from District One, who’s the one who killed Rue directly. Later, she does experience flashbacks to killing him and reflects that he is her first direct kill, and that, while the act of killing a person is exactly the same as killing an animal in the moment, it’s very different in the aftermath. So, I think the presentation of her emotions relating to the killing is pretty good overall.
The gift of bread from District Eleven, which obviously comes from a large number of ordinary people, has real impact and also contributes to the build-up for the rebellion in the third book. So, the arc of the trilogy has clearly been planned out right from the start, even though the narrative in this first instalment has a very tight focus.
Then we get the rules change, which says two tributes can be declared the winners if they’re both from the same District, which is clearly a Gamemaker design to bring Katniss and Peeta together for ratings, and create a more intense rivalry, since the District Two team are the only other pair left.
The showdown at the feast, where the Gamemakers tempt the tributes out with the promise of providing things they desperately need, is pretty exciting, after there hasn’t really been any action for quite a while. I love the fact that Katniss’ alliance with Rue and the Careers’ disregard for her are what bring Thresh to Katniss’ rescue when she’s at Clove’s mercy. Thresh hasn’t been in it at all up to this point, but this scene has a lot of impact. He lets Katniss go, saying it’s a one-off to make them even for her trying to help Rue and it’s very effective. It’s a shame we don’t get to find out what the other tributes needed enough to bring them to the feast, though.
Haymitch suddenly comes into focus as a real person once Katniss considers what he’s had to go through – managing to win the Hunger Games in his year and then having to mentor all the subsequent kids from District Twelve and watch them die. It puts his drunkenness into perspective and provides some emotional context to his character. Katniss then also considers how she’ll have to mentor the girls from District Twelve from now on if she makes it out – though, of course, this never actually happens, as there aren’t any more after her.
At the final showdown, I like how Katniss and Peeta work together to defeat Cato, but Cato’s incredibly prolonged suffering at the teeth of the muttations is really disturbing and horrible. The tension is already ramped up when the Gamemakers attempt to change the rules again, and the dilemma faced by Katniss and Peeta is really affecting. When it’s clear one of them has to die, and Peeta raises his knife, Katniss thinks he’s actually going to try and kill her, but he throws it away and tries to persuade her to kill him. She points out that surviving would be the worse option, and thinks, if Peeta dies, she’ll be trapped in the arena forever in her head, trying to find a way out. The trick where they pretend they’re both going to kill themselves with the poisonous berries is really clever in the way it forces the Gamemakers to reverse position again and let them both win.
It’s really insidious that they erase all indications that Katniss has suffered anything – at least physically – by wiping away all her scars from the Games and even any she had before, so she will be pristine for the press events she has to do as victor.
Then, when the prep team are chattering away while they’re making Katniss up for the victors’ ceremony, they talk about where they were or what they were doing during various notable moments of the Games – comparing notes with each other, rather than talking to Katniss directly.
She notes: “Everything is about them, not the dying boys and girls in the arena.”
So, even those Capitol citizens who have been directly connected with one of the tributes largely see the Games as entertainment and don’t think about what’s actually happening to real children in the arena. To a certain extent, reading the book and particularly watching the film for entertainment makes us Capitol citizens, though of course, we know it’s not actually real.
Then, inevitably, even though it’s over, it’s not over, since nobody can be safe in this kind of regime, even if they’re a Hunger Games victor. But there’s a very flat, quite tedious section where there’s a three-hour highlights reel of the Games at the victors’ ceremony, which doesn’t add much to the story and drops the tension entirely.
But describing President Snow as ‘cold as a snake’ introduces him as the antagonist for the rest of the series, though it’s a bit odd for him not to have been in it before. I guess the Games themselves are the antagonist in this first instalment, but further conflict needs to be introduced to lead into the other books.
I’ve separated out all the romance aspects of the book, since that’s a throughline I’m particularly interested in tracking. Katniss has two love interests in the books – her hunting partner, Gale, and her tribute partner, Peeta – and a large part of book three is her having to decide between them.
It says clearly in the first few pages: “There’s never been anything romantic between Gale and me.”
But Gale suggests on reaping day that they run off together somewhere and talks about them having kids.
Then, when Peeta is introduced, it’s mentioned that Katniss catches him watching her at school sometimes but she doesn’t attach any particular meaning to it and it says she has no idea why he would have given her the burnt bread.
Gale is interrupted when he clearly intends to declare himself in the farewell scene after the reaping, but Katniss has no clue what he was going to say.
So, for those paying more attention than Katniss, the love triangle is set up quite clearly very near the start – only it’s not a triangle because Katniss isn’t part of it. She has no interest in either of them romantically and even thinks such a concept is very unsettling and incomprehensible. I initially wondered if she’s meant to be presenting as asexual, or if it’s just that she’s been so focused on survival for herself and her family that there’s no room in her psyche for normal teenage impulses.
She does experience a rush of warmth when Peeta smiles at her after the entry parade but quickly reminds herself that he’s probably trying to think of ways to kill her. So, the situation isn’t exactly conducive to romance. But there are indications that she’s not completely immune to Peeta’s charms. She decides, though, that she’ll pretend to be friendly to keep him off guard, which leads to some blurred lines in their relationship, since he takes it at face value.
When Katniss recognises one of the indentured criminal servers at the Capitol, she wants to talk to someone about where she knows her from. The narrative says: “Gale would be my first choice,” which is an interesting statement you can put some meaning behind, especially since her only other choice is Peeta – it could be the author further setting the two boys up as rivals for Katniss’ attention, though Katniss certainly isn’t thinking about them in those terms yet.
When they’re talking about strategy with Haymitch, Peeta says of Katniss, “She has no idea what kind of effect she has.” And she assumes he’s insulting her by suggesting she seems weak and vulnerable.
When Katniss thinks about her first meeting and subsequent hunting partnership with Gale, she says, “Friend seems too casual a word for what he means to me.”
Then, almost immediately afterwards, Haymitch tells her Peeta has asked to be coached separately for the rest of the training time and she feels a sense of betrayal, which she dismisses as ridiculous, since trust has never been part of their deal. But she runs through all the nice things he’s done for her since they became tributes and can’t help wondering how sincere he’s been thus far.
So, again, the choice between the two is clearly presented from pretty near the start, even if it’s not something Katniss is considering consciously at this point.
The Games are actually a really interesting setup for a romance, with all the potential layers of mistrust and uncertainty. Stripping it down to its tropes, you’ve got ‘rivals to lovers’, you’ve got ‘forced proximity’, there’s obviously a ‘love triangle’ but I think that’s the least interesting aspect to it, because I never considered Gale a real option.
And then Peeta declares himself in his tribute interview, saying he’s had a crush on Katniss for as long as he can remember, but that he doesn’t think she knew he was alive until the reaping. But we don’t get an immediate reaction from Katniss because the narrative just describes the scene, rather than giving her thoughts and emotions. We’ve also had Peeta’s sincerity called into doubt by Katniss’ suspicion of it – and he was coached separately for the interviews, so we have no way of knowing whether or not it’s true or if he’s just presenting a lovelorn persona to get sympathy from the audience.
Katniss’ reaction when we get it is anger at Peeta dropping her in it and making her look weak – everyone talks about how it improves her chances of getting sponsors by presenting her as part of a tragic romance, but it takes her a while to come round to it as a benefit. She actually shoves Peeta and causes him to cut up his hands, before she’s convinced the whole thing is good for her too, and then she feels guilty about her over-reaction. In the narrative, she says: “Will I ever stop owing him?”
So, her attitude to Peeta is wholly transactional at this point, which isn’t a good basis for anything real, especially given their enforced rivalry in the arena. She has conflicting emotions once the Games actually start, tensely waiting through the list of dead tributes at the end of the first day to find out if Peeta has survived – gratitude at him giving her an edge in the interview, anger at his superiority in their conversation on the roof, and dread that they might come face to face in the arena at any time. It says she explains this away by thinking his victory would benefit her family most if she doesn’t win herself, but it’s starting to feel like she’s trying just a bit too hard to persuade herself she doesn’t feel anything for him.
And then we get several reversals, when Katniss sees Peeta working with the career tributes and starts really hating him. But then he lets her go when he has her entirely at his mercy, thus saving her from being killed by the returning careers, and she gets all confused about his motives again. It’s not helped by the fact that she knows they’re all being watched by the Capitol spectators, so anything Peeta does has to be viewed through the potential lens of wanting to curry support with the audience. Again, it makes for a very interesting dynamic, where Katniss feels she can’t take anything at face value.
There’s an interesting quote at this point:
“I drag myself over to the honeysuckle bush and pluck a flower. I gently pull the stamen from the blossom and set the drop of nectar on my tongue. The sweetness spreads through my mouth, down my throat, warming my veins with memories of summer, and my home woods and Gale’s presence beside me. For some reason, our discussion from that last morning comes back to me:
“We could do it, you know.”
“What?”
“Leave the District. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I. We could make it.”
And suddenly, I’m not thinking of Gale, but of Peeta, and… Peeta. He saved my life – I think.”
So, at this point in time, Gale represents home and relative safety. But when she thinks about making a life and having a future, Peeta comes to mind instead. But she’s still very confused about how she feels.
And then, very shortly afterwards, we get this:
“I wonder what Gale made of the incident for a moment, and then I push the whole thing out of my mind, because, for some reason, Gale and Peeta do not co-exist well together in my thoughts.”
Which is a bit clunky.
Then Rue tells Katniss she doesn’t think Peeta expressing his love for her was an act, which Katniss denies as ridiculous, but perhaps it plants the idea in her mind.
When Katniss and Peeta come together as allies, Peeta plays up the ‘star-crossed lovers’ angle, saying Katniss is free to kiss him at any time – though Katniss still assumes it’s just an act. She starts playing into it too, and they do actually do quite a lot of kissing, but it’s very stilted and uncomfortable for her, and there’s never any emotional reaction from her when it happens.
She does think about the fact that she’s made herself much more vulnerable by coming to find Peeta when she knew he was injured, rather than just letting him die. But, on the other hand, she did also consider the negative reaction a single tribute would receive on ignoring their partner and winning alone after the rules change. So it’s still all very complicated, which is really well done!
When Katniss thinks about the people she knows in District Twelve watching her in the Games, she thinks, “Gale’s not my boyfriend, but would he be, if I opened that door? He talked about us running away together. Was that just a practical calculation of our chances of survival away from the District, or something more? I wonder what he makes of all this kissing.”
She’s so dense! And there’s also no consideration of whether or not she’d actually want Gale to be her boyfriend. It’s all very clinical.
When Katniss tells Peeta about what happened at the feast with Clove and Thresh, he seems confused about Thresh not wanting to owe her anything, and then she talks about how she feels the same about the bread he gave her when they were both much younger. She asks why he did it and he says, “You know why!” but she’s still confused and then he says, “Haymitch said you’d take some convincing,” and she still doesn’t understand.
She’s so completely detached from any sense that she might be desirable to others – which is what made me think she might be asexual, since she can’t seem to comprehend any hint of romantic feelings being genuine.
But then they kiss properly for the first time when both of them are reasonably healthy – and it says it gives her a warm feeling in her chest and it’s the first kiss that makes her want another one. She realises she doesn’t want Peeta to die – but then that’s quite a long way from wanting to be with him romantically.
Peeta tells her the story of when he first took a liking to her and it has a ring of truth – because it is! – and it makes Katniss really happy for a moment before she gets confused again about whether or not he’s playing for the crowd or being genuine. So, by this point, she’s definitely warming up to him.
Another aspect of Katniss’ attitude to romance comes up toward the end of the Games – she says she’ll never get married and bring a child into the world, since being a victor wouldn’t prevent her children’s names going into the lottery for the reaping.
Then there’s Katniss’ emotional reaction at the very end, when she clutches Peeta’s jacket so hard, it rips when the authorities try to separate them and then pounds on the door behind which they’re trying to save Peeta’s life. This has been used to suggest she loves him by this point. But I think it’s just a reaction to the incredible trauma they’ve been through together that’s suddenly come to an end. He’s the only person she can cling to, who can understand what’s happened before and share what happens next.
And even after the Games are over, the pretence of Katniss and Peeta being madly in love can’t end, because they have to justify their actions as being desperate to save each other, rather than trying to show up and manipulate the Capitol.
When Haymitch tells Katniss she has to keep up this strategy, she asks if he’s told Peeta the same thing and Haymitch says, “Don’t have to – he’s already there.” But Katniss still can’t accept that Peeta’s feelings are genuine and is still very confused about her own, which is understandable, given what she and Peeta have just been through together. It’s bound to create a mixture of emotions that are difficult to be sure or clear about.
The book ends with Katniss feeling weird about seeing Gale again, and Peeta realising Katniss has just been pretending the whole time and being really upset about it. Katniss is also upset, because the whole situation is such a mess and she can’t work out how she really feels. So the romance aspect is the main focus going into the second book, even eclipsing the continuing danger from the Capitol.
In terms of diversity, Prim is mentioned as standing out in District 12 because of her fair skin and hair.
I’m not sure skin tone is discussed specifically for anyone else other than Rue and Thresh, so most of the characters could be envisaged as any ethnicity.
When Rue is first introduced, she’s described as having ‘silky brown skin’, so certain people’s objections to the casting of black actors for the District 11 tributes is unwarranted.
There were contrasting objections to Jennifer Lawrence being cast as Katniss because she’s white – but her mother and sister are definitely described as white in colouring. Katniss has dark hair and it says she favours her father’s darker colouring, but it doesn’t specify if he’s white or not.
In the film, there’s a lot of diversity in the crowd scenes at the Capitol and at least two of the tributes are Asian, as well as Rue and Thresh being black, but it’s still pretty white overall.
Overall thoughts:
In this first book, Katniss is so repressed and closed-up, the whole thing feels a bit remote and too matter-of-fact. It’s a credible way for her to be, given her background and what she experiences in the book, but it makes for an unemotive read, at least for most of the story.
It definitely ramps up in the second half, once the Games actually begin. But I think my main enjoyment of rereading the book was in watching it play out in my head with the cast and setting of the film – because this is one of those rare cases where I think the film is better than the book.
Brief notes from watching the film:
It’s still so good!
The reason it’s better than the book, in my opinion, is because we get perspectives other than Katniss’ – so we see more of the world and what’s going on that she doesn’t know about, so it feels richer and has more depth.
The film actually starts with Caesar Flickerman interviewing Seneca Crane, the head Gamemaker (who isn’t named in the book and doesn’t feature as an actual character).
Katniss actually buys the Mockingjay pin from a black market stall herself – which she would never do, and which also destroys its significance. The design of it also doesn’t make any sense within the film, since the combination of the Mockingjay and the arrow represents Katniss’ skill with a bow and being the eventual face of the rebellion – which makes it great merch for fans of the film, but having the arrow on it *in* the film doesn’t track.
Effie and Haymitch come across as much more like actual people in the film and President Snow features from quite near the start, rather than just turning up in the last few pages.
I love that we get to see the Gamemakers in their control room and how it all works from their point of view. It’s done so well and it gives a much broader understanding of the world of the Games.
You also get to see other people’s reactions to watching the Games, as well as Haymitch cultivating sponsors, which adds a lot too.
Katniss gives the three-finger salute to the sky not to Rue. And while Rue’s death got me a bit choked up, it was the subsequent riot in District 11 that actually made me cry.
And then we get Haymitch going to Seneca to persuade him not to use the arena to kill Katniss and it’s Haymitch who comes up with the idea of creating the love story narrative for the Games, which is somewhat suggested in the book, but not fully confirmed.
All the injuries are more numerous, much worse and more gruesome in the book, I guess since it’s a film aimed at teenagers – though the book is too.
When Katniss first kisses Peeta properly in the cave, it cuts to Gale looking upset – but there’s zero chemistry between Katniss and Peeta at this point and I don’t believe the kiss for a second! Though Katniss’ warmth towards him does improve quite dramatically as time goes on.
It’s annoying that we don’t find out what the other tributes so desperately need from the feast, even in the film – Foxface, Clove and Thresh are fit and healthy enough to sprint around and fight each other, so I can’t think what they’d need so much they’re prepared to risk the confrontation.
Foxface dies from eating the nightlock berries like in the book – but the training scene in the film shows her expertise is in flora and fauna so it doesn’t make any sense.
Cato’s death is much less prolonged, which I appreciated.
My only real criticism of the film is that, because Peeta’s not on the brink of death when they’re both declared victors, we don’t get Katniss’ incredibly overwrought reaction to them being separated when the hovercraft comes to take them back to the Capitol. It’s my favourite moment in the book and it’s just not there in the film.
Peeta doesn’t lose his leg, which I guess makes sense because it would have made filming the other two movies a lot harder, but it’s another diminishment of impact.
But instead, we get Seneca being escorted to a room in President Snow’s residence, where there’s a bowl of nightlock berries laid out for him, which is extremely effective in showing that even the people of the Capitol aren’t safe.
Looking back to my original reviews, I first read the book in February 2012, then first saw the film April 2012.
Here’s what those reviews say:
Book review:
“I was intrigued by the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of this book, and decided to read it first to see whether or not I wanted to see the film. It’s fast-paced and suspenseful, with a mostly likeable protagonist, and an opening section that sets the scene well before leaping into the main action. There isn’t much depth in terms of narrative style and descriptive content – I was definitely reading it to find out what happened rather than to appreciate the writing, which made it hard not to skim in places. It’s quite sanitised in terms of the violence – but I really don’t see how it would be possible to make it into a 12-rated film, which is the main reason why I do plan to go and see it in the cinema.
My main problem with the book was the restrictive nature of the first person, present tense narrative. The world and its history were quite interesting and I wanted to know much more than 16 year-old Katniss would be able to tell me. I would have liked different points of view – to see what was shown of the Games to the populace and how they reacted to it, particularly her friends and family back home. I would have liked a lot more detail about the history of the revolution and the people now running the show. I would even have liked more information about how the technology worked (odd for me, but the terraforming and manipulation of the arena interested me, plus the omniscient cameras and audio receivers seemed implausible). Basically, this book would have appealed to me much more if it had been written on more of a Game of Thrones scale! It probably wouldn’t have done so well in the teenage market, though!
I’m not sure where the next in the series is going to go – the only thing I do know about it is that it’s going to involve a very annoying teenage love triangle, which I find quite disappointing, though I guess it was inevitable. I will be reading on – but only because I already know there are only three books and they conclude the story, so it won’t take me long to find out how it all turns out.”
First film review:
“On Friday night, I went to the cinema to see The Hunger Games film. After reading the book, and enjoying it to a certain extent, I really just wanted to see how they could make a film of it that got a 12A rating. To my surprise, it turned out to be excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were obviously some changes from the book, but mostly I thought they were improvements, and the film also contained something I felt was very lacking in the book – the wider perspective. The book is entirely from Katniss’ point of view, so you only get to see, hear and know what she does. The film, on the other hand, had much greater scope, and was much more affecting because of it – the scenes of the Gamemakers manipulating the arena were very chilling, there was fantastic political intrigue between the President and the head Gamemaker (whose beard was awesome), the presentation of the games from the outside (with the commentators and audience reactions) made it that much more horrifying, and the views of the reactions in the outer districts added extra pathos. The casting was superb (especially Stanley Tucci and, of course, Jennifer Lawrence), the pacing was good, and it had oodles of depth to it. The only drawback for me was the shaky camera style in the action sequences (understandably used to blur the violence), which always makes me feel seasick, but it didn’t detract too much from what was a really good film. I’d actually quite like to see it again!”
So, it turns out I didn’t originally like the first book as much as I assumed, and it was definitely watching the films that made me a big fan of the series. Otherwise, fairly similar reactions to my revisit.
And that’s it for this episode of Reviews Revisited, for which I’m sure everyone is truly grateful!
I was planning to intercut my revisits of the rest of the Hunger Games series with other stuff, but I’m actually really keen to carry on with it, so next month, I’m going straight into Catching Fire.
Many thanks to Cambo for our theme music. And thank you so much for listening. If you like the show, please rate and review it wherever you get your podcasts.
And if you have any comments, or if you want to tell me about a time you revisited some media, and whether or not you still loved it afterwards, you can email me at willyoustillloveit@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you.
Lastly, please join us for the next main episode of Will You Still Love It Tomorrow in two weeks to hear what happens when Dave gets me to read To Kill A Mockingbird. Will I like it at all? And will Dave still love it after our discussion? I’m looking forward to finding out!
Bye for now!