Book Analysis: The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games Trilogy Box set (The Hunger Games #1-3) by Suzanne Collins
Book #1  The Hunger Games
Book #2  Catching Fire
Book #3 Mockingjay

Hardcover
Published August 24th 2010 by Scholastic Press (first published 2010)
ISBN0545265355 (ISBN13: 9780545265355) .


The extraordinary, ground breaking New York Times bestsellers The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, along with the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy  by Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, are available in a beautiful box set edition. The story is stunning, gripping, and powerful. 

(blurb, image, courtesy goodreads)


My thoughts:

*warning: spoilers*

My children read this series a couple of years ago--but I decided to hold out until all three books were available. I do hate the waiting period in between book releases. I'm glad I did because this series moved so quickly that I read all three books from start to finish in a weeks’ time. And I loved it.

I had seen a lot of reviews around about these books and they consistently reported that the story was based on a dystopian society, so the first thing I did was look up the word "dystopia" to clarify the term in my mind.

Dystopia: a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.

as compared to:

Utopia: any visionary system of political or social perfection.

I've read several books that deal with a dystopian society based on the fall of our current governmental system. They are all somewhat disturbing as the author gives way to imagining the very worst society possible as the government reinvents itself.

Many years ago while still a teenager I read a book (sad to say I can’t recall its name) that was about a dystopian society in post-nuclear USA that was pretty similar to “The Hunger Games”. The cities were fenced in but the creepiest part is that each citizen had a chip implanted in the back of their neck so that the government could track their every move thus making escape impossible.

Another book with a similar theme was “Invitation to the Game” by Monica Hughes. Contestants were invited to play a “video game”. The object of the game was to survive in a new world. (Is it real or is it not)

And of course there is “Ender’s game” a futuristic story of gene manipulation to create the ultimate warrior and save the society.

The thing about these kinds of stories is that they tend to affect the psyche of a person. Freedoms I take for granted on a daily basis all of a sudden become clear and I appreciate them more. None of us wants to live in a society dominated by tyranny.

And that’s what Ms. Collins does so well in “The Hunger Games Trilogy”. She creates a world that is set far into the future, but still references to the destruction of the society by nuclear weapons. For those of us who remember the cold war and the arms race and the fear that at any time a power hungry national leader could touch a button and nuke us, this book is not unrealistic. I particularly liked how in this story that Ms. Collins has 13 districts and a capitol, exactly as the United States had in the beginning.

At the beginning of the book Ms. Collins introduced me to her world, Panem, a recovering and broken United States of America 75 years in the making. Katniss Everdeen narrates the story in the first person as it unfolds. First I meet her family, her friend and hunting partner Gale, and then her community—District 12. Ms. Collins does a superb job of integrating the reader into the time and life patterns of her story. I quickly formed attachments to Katniss and her community. This is a description of her sister: “Prim’s face is as fresh as a raindrop, as lovely as the primrose for which she was named.” This simple introduction and way of writing helps the story flow and move quickly.

District 12 is a coal-mining town. The peace-keepers placed there by the “Capitol” are lax in enforcing the laws and the electric fence that surrounds the district is off more than it is on. This allows the citizens a little more freedom than in some of the other districts. As a result of this feeling of security and freedom Katniss develops a strong and independent character.

The story really begins on the day of reaping. “The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins. Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch—this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. Whatever words they use, the real message is clear. Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do.”

At the moment I read this passage I understood the title of the book and could guess where the story was headed. I was shocked when Prim’s name was called however and totally understood Katniss volunteering to take her spot in the hunger games.

The story is horrific as 16 year old Katniss is plunged into a world of political manipulation and violence along with her tribute counterpart Peeta Mellark. I can’t even imagine being in a game that required me to kill a person so that I could survive. At the end of the Hunger Games Katniss wins and pulls off a coup by refusing to kill Peeta and threatening to commit suicide. The Capitol concedes and declares co-winners.

But the games do not end for Katniss and Peeta. In Book 2 “Catching Fire” the capitol retaliates by informing the citizens of Panem that the tributes for this year’s Hunger Games will be selected from among the living tributes and so Peeta and Katniss are headed back to the arena. Things are different this time around. The population has started to organize itself to rebel against the capitol and Katniss-code named the Mockingjay-becomes the visual symbol of the rebellion. I think the most important thing to remember as the reader embarks on their journey into the story is that Katniss is only 16, and even though she won the hunger games--at what cost did she win? This second volume explores that question and Katniss's reaction to all that she lost in the name of victory.

The rebellion gains strength in this second novel and as Katniss and Peeta return to the capitol for the games they catch glimpses of this. I thought it very interesting that all of the surviving tributes have issues such as drug and alcohol addiction. Not one of them ever became “normal” after experiencing the horror of the arena. The games begin and Katniss and Peeta find themselves in an unlikely alliance in a very well thought out arena. Katniss finds herself barely surviving and at the conclusion of the story finds that instead of being manipulated and used by the capitol she is being used and manipulated by the rebellion.

Mockingjay, the final novel is all about the rebellion, the hunger games in reality. War has broken out between the capitol and its citizens. The Rebellion is backed by District 13 that was kept secret from the other 12 and was never under the Capitol’s influence.

Katniss has endured so much trauma that she breaks down and for much of the book is out of it mentally and physically. I liked that. Anyone that has dealt with intense trauma in their life knows that recovery is slow and painful. I liked the edge of madness that became a part of Katniss’s character. But despite her mental and physical disabilities Katniss realizes she has no choice and steps up to be the Mockingjay. ". I thought the story followed its natural evolution and was pleased with the twists and turns in the plot as well as its conclusion. It is a story that is at one time hugely fantastical but remotely possible--and therein lies the disturbing nugget of fear that plagues me as the reader. I especially appreciated the fact that the author was true to the story thread and brought it full circle in a chilling way.

“I find myself sent into a room where six people sit around a table. Peeta, Johanna, Beetee, Haymitch, Anie, and Enobaria. They all wear the gray rebel uniforms from 13. No one looks particularly well. ‘What’s this?’ I say. ‘We’re not sure,’ Haymitch answers. ‘It appears to be a gathering of the remaining victors.’ ‘We’re all that’s left?’ I ask. ‘The price of celebrity,’ says Beetee. ‘We were targeted from both sides. The Capitol killed the victors they suspected of being rebels. The rebels killed those thought to be allied with the Capitol.’”

President Coin (of the rebellion) enters the room and after some discussion about the dissension that still exists between the opposing sides she proposes, “we have a final, symbolic Hunger Games, using the children directly related to those who held the most power [in the Capitol].’ All of us turn to her. ‘What?’ says Johanna. ‘We hold another Hunger Games using Capitol children,’ says Coin. “Are you joking?’ asks Peeta. “


“Was it like this then? Seventy-five years or so ago? Did a group of people sit around and cast their votes on initiating the Hunger Games? Was there dissent? Did someone make a case for mercy that was beaten down by the calls for the deaths of the districts’ children? All those people I loved, dead, and we are discussing the next Hunger Games in an attempt to avoid wasting life. Nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change.”


I liked that the book continued following the execution of the Presidents at the end of the war. It could have ended there but it was satisfying for me to see Katniss return to district 12. How comforting that Greasy Sae was there cooking her meals, providing something real and concrete for her to hold on to. And how about the cat showing up--wasn't that the greatest? It is in this place where the broken and damaged Katniss starts over that I realized that she lost all she loved to the Capitol. She lost her dad who was killed in the coal mine. Her childhood because she was forced to care for her family at a young age. Gale, her best friend was also lost to her because of his role in Prim's death. Prim is dead and her mother cannot bring herself to come back to district 12 and face the pain. But not all is lost for Katniss, I think it ironic that the Capitol took all she loved but also gave back to her the only person who could ever love her and that she in turn could love as well. Damaged people have a hard time living with and relating to people who are relatively unscathed by misfortune. Shared experiences do a lot to mend broken lives. I enjoyed the end of this novel because after all the horror it ended with some hope. There is hope for Katniss and Peeta to make some kind of life for themselves and their children. And if their is hope for them, their is hope for all that fought and lost during the rebellion.

I found this work, although told first person by the principal character Katniss Aberdeen was not a story about Katniss. It was a book about political corruption, how it affects its citizens, and the power of one person to have their say. Kudo's to Ms. Collins for spinning an intriguing tale. This is the kind of story, for me that will linger in the mind for a long time. I hope only to read such things and never experience them.

"What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again."

I'll never look at a dandelion in the same way again

This book is being made into a movie, here is a trailer





What do you think? The end part of the trailer when the tributes take off running gave me c.hills

Book #3, 4, 5