I've read some terrific books lately, and this week's un-put-downable novel was the third part of the 'Hunger Games' trilogy, by Susanna Collins. I was so sucked in that yesterday, when I was planning to work on marking my kids' books during their French lesson, I found myself cracking open the book and promising myself that I'd just read a few more chapters. And then a few more chapters. And then the chapters after that. And before I knew it, it was home time, and I had to teach Drama Club - so I perched outside the canteen and devoured the final chapters as quickly as I could, finally buckling to the inevitable and trudging into the canteen to collect my Drama Club kids.
An hour later, I waved them all out the door, grabbed the book and didn't move from the carpet until I'd reached the end.
So I thought it would be a good idea to tell you (in as unspoilery a way as possible) why I loved these books.
THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins
The Plot:
This is a trilogy of SciFi novels set in a distopian future (that means pretty much the opposite of a paradise-like future) in a place called Panem. I kind of assumed that it was supposed to represent a future America, but that's never made explicit. Anyway, in this future society, life is pretty hard. Our hero is Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl who's been supporting her mother and her little sister ever since her father died down the mines. They've come very close to starving to death, but between Katniss's hunting skills and a little bit of kindness from some of their neighbours, so far they've survived.
Now, Panem consists of twelve districts know only by their numbers, and one central, powerful district called The Capitol. The people in The Capitol are spoiled rotten, while the people who live in the districts - the people who actually do all the work and produce all the goods and grow all the crops - are living lives of tremendous hardship. This is because the Capitol has all the weapons and the police, and because 75 years ago there was a great rebellion, which the Capitol won. They totally destroyed District 13, and they punished the other 12 districts very harshly. The most horrible thing the Capitol did was to set up 'The Hunger Games'.
Every year, each district has to send two teenagers, a boy and a girl, to compete in The Hunger Games. The competition 'arena' can be anywhere - desert, jungle, forest, island, whatever the game designers can come up with. It will be full of all manner of viciously cruel and deadly surprises - mutant animals, volcanos, poison fog, earthquakes, elaborate booby traps. And the twenty four kids who have been dropped into the middle of this place have to fight to the death. There can be only one survivor. It's a battle of skills and wits and ruthlessness, in which people's humanity is gradually stripped away - all for the amusement of the television audience who are watching every moment, and betting on the results.
This is the first year that Katniss's little sister has had her name put into the lottery. But what are the chances of it being little Prim who gets chosen? Unfortunately she IS, and this is more than Katniss can stand - so she volunteers to take Prim's place, and the next thing she knows, she's being whisked off to the Capitol to be primped and preened and scrubbed and made up, given her own stylist to make her look appealing for the TV audience as she dies - or kills - for their amusement...
The characters:
I really liked Katniss. She's competent and loyal, but she's also pretty ruthless. She's in a horrible situation, but she keeps her head and tries to stay true to herself. I like the fact that she's not shown as being too sweet or perfect - she's very pragmatic and pretty ruthless, but she does still have moments of compassion. She's not looking for a boyfriend, but at the same time she's aware that her friendship with Gale has been changing as they both get older, and she's trying to figure out what to make of Peter, the other kid from District 12 who's been chosen for the Hunger Games. (I wouldn't say that these books are romances, but there is a love triangle. Mostly, Katniss isn't thinking about romance though, because she's got far more important things to worry about - but she DOES have strong feelings for two different characters, both of whom are pretty smitten by her. Can she trust them, though...?)
Katniss is a hero; she's courageous and talented, but only in the ways that normal people can be. She puts herself into danger because she loves her little sister too much to stand by and watch her suffering - it's a gesture of selflessness which makes her stand out from the crowd, but Katniss is no meek little sacrificial victim. She's impulsive, and temperamental, and not particularly sweet or nice; she's not the kindest, or the strongest, or the fastest kid in the arena - but she is kind, and strong, and fast, and she's smart too, and determined. She comes across as being flawed, but basically a good person doing her best in a pretty terrible situation.
The writing:
The story is all written in the first person ("I shot the rabbit" rather than "She shot the rabbit"), and so we only know what Katniss knows. This is pretty effective, because as readers we're not sure whether we can trust people either. Sometimes we are able to figure things out before Katniss from the clues in the text -sometimes we're just as uncertain as she is about what's going on. I really enjoyed the writing style, and I liked the focus on action. It's a thought-provoking story, but it's not a story that wastes a lot of time on standing around talking about ideas. It makes YOU want to stand around talking about ideas intead.
According to her website, Collins was inspired by clicking between TV shows like 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother' and news channels which showed real people enduring actual atrocities and disasters. She was also reminded of the legend of 'Theseus and the Minotaur', which tells of how the Minoan king forced the city of Athens to send a yearly tribute of seven maidens and seven youths to be trapped in the labyrinth and killed by the monster that lived there - until at last Theseus, the Athenian king's son, volunteered. He went along with the other victims, and he turned the tables on the Minoan king - but at a terrible cost.
You can see traces of this classical tradition throughout the book: the kids are basically forced to be gladiators for the entertainment of the masses; the names often recall classical Greek and Roman names; the country itself is named after the phrase 'Bread and Circuses' ("panem et circenses" in Latin) which comes from a satire by a Roman writer - he was saying that the people didn't care about justice or morality or human rights, so long as they had enough to eat and frivolous entertainments.
As well as reminding me of modern TV shows like 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother' (and also the Pepsi Refresh campaign, which makes desperate people compete to try to get funding for charities http://www.refresheverything.com ), this book also reminded me of some other books. The theme of a group of children trapped in a hostile environment and turning on one another reminded me a little bit of a famous book by William Golding called 'The Lord of the Flies'. I know there's also a Japanese book (and manga and movie) called 'Battle Royale' which has a very similar concept to 'The Hunger Games'.
This is a story about a possible future - but it's also a story about how we live our lives today. It makes you think about which is more important - survival at any cost, or maintaining your own beliefs and integrity under pressure. (And it didn't give you saccharine, goody-goody answers either, or try to divide everyone into white hats and black hats.) It made me reflect upon the ways that the media and consumer culture frame disasters and tragedies as entertainment right now, and how the poor are exploited and ignored. It made me think about the ways in which I am part of this system, both directly and indirectly. It made me want to be a better person. It wasn't a comfortable book to read - the subject matter is pretty dark, obviously, and I found myself being shocked and saddened at various points along the way. (Yes, it made me cry. I didn't expect it to, but some really sad things happened to characters I'd grown to care about.) Still, it was a very satisfying story, and I found myself really gripped to see what would happen next all the way along.
