Now this is a long-time coming as I had enjoyed the movies in middle school but committed the carnal sin of never having read the books. Time to rectify that. Of course, since I saw the movies I have a basic idea of what happens but its been years so it will be sort of new-sort of familiar.

Also, since it was a world-wide phenomena the reviews will be shorter, focusing more on my the reviewing and my thoughts rather than full on summaries and recaps of the events.

In the beginning, there’s more time spent in District 12, fleshing out Katniss and Gale’s friendship. Literally in the beginning as well as flashbacks. It details how they met, how they’re so similar and the one piece of stability and happiness Katniss has in her daily grind of survival.

The book also gives real insight to Katniss’ relationship with her Mom and her subsequent feelings of resentment and abandonment when her mother slipped into depression after her father’s death. While her mother is better now, it has shaped Katniss’ world view as the provider for her family and hesitancy to open herself to others, having to care for them too as well fear of being left behind in death or emotional neglect. It’s a complex relationship and I enjoyed seeing more of it.

The little nicknames Katniss has for her District like The Hob where trading (ncluding black market trades) takes place, the Seam (where she resides with other poorer residents) and so on. It makes the world more lived-in and real.

What also makes the world more real is how the reader gets more time with other denizens of District 12. You get a real sense of community here as Katniss describes their unity in fear and quiet struggle. Plus there are more people in her life like Madge,t he mayor’s daughter and Katniss’ one other friend. Her gift of the mockingjay pin also adds resonance to the the symbol besides the history of the birds themselves.

Of course, the most interesting part is when Katniss volunteers as tribute and gets to go to the Capitol where the protocol and paranoia is rife. You get a great sense of how careful everyone has to act and while the surface is very silly and colorful, the more rules Katniss encounters and the constant pressure of having to perform for an audience that wants you to be killed in a spectacularly gruesome fashion creates a surreal clustraphobic atmosphere.

I also was impressed by Collins’ description of the futuristic yet wild arena but that may have been influenced by seeing the movie so I already have an image in my head.

The Games brings me to Peeta as he becomes Katniss’ ally, and enemy all at once. Peete is so much more likable here. Well not so much likable but interesting as Katniss nor the reader can’t quite get a read on him. His true talent doesn’t lie in icing/camouflage but acting. He is able to read the audience he performs for and so his banter is fun to read and I can see how he breaks Katniss’ walls with their shared home and of course, that debt of bread.

However, it is also a bit creepy how he’s been crushed out on her since first grade. The daughter of the woman his father loved. So history is repeating itself I guess. Well, it’s not like he was going to act on his feelings until this unbelievable circumstances so I guess that makes it less creepy. Either way he is infinetly more interesting than in the movie as he and Katniss talk and fight for their life in the games.

My thoughts on the romance that develops here is that it’s annoying but that may be because I already know how it’s going to end and Gale is such a non-factor despite his best friend/ally angle. They are just too similar. However, I understand why Katniss’ feelings are so confused and why she thinks about Peeta at inopportune time. It’s a distraction I think, during the horrific events of death and murder around her.

Overall, I found Katniss’ POV to be very moving as she goes through the tumult of frustration, hopelessness, fear etc. Collins also does a good job in depicting Katniss’ revelation how the Capitol is truly the enemy. While she has heard of Gales rants about Capitol’s strategy of keeping the districts in competition of each other instead of uniting to rebel. While she listened to his ideas in an abstract way, it’s only after her experience with the games that she becomes to really see the Capitol as the inhuman entity it is creating the circumstances that allow such helplessness and disparity among its denizens.

Katniss’ burgeoning PTSD is also depicted nicely as her constant state of alertness and fear after her victory, ready to kill or be killed, illustrating what she’ll have to deal with for the rest of her life even though she doesn’t bear too many physical scars.

Maybe this nitpicky but there were two errors. Which honestly didn’t bother me, I’m just pointing them out because I was surprised, “[W]e call them the Career Tributes, or just the Careers. And like as not, the winner will be one of them,” (Collins 94) and then there was another one in the next hundred pages but I can’t remember. Either way, just a bit surprised that it’s never be corrected.

Anywya, it was fun to read that helped launch the dystopian genre of the early 2000s. With interesting characters and menacing society, no wonder it became a hit and I can’t wait to see the mockingjay rebellion in the next book.