Better Late Than Never: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay

So, yes. I'm a little behind the times. By the time I read the Hunger Games trilogy last month, I was pretty sure that every person in this country who had any inclination to read said trilogy had already done so. That being said, it was actually a wonderful time to read the books: they were all already out, so I got to devour all 1200 pages of Hunger Games/Catching Fire/Mockingjay goodness in only four days, and I got to see the movie a mere three days after finishing the series. That week was a Hunger Games whirlwind for me, and all my coworkers teased me as I would exclaim things like 'It's just like the reaping!' or 'Arrie, you have the same personality as Haymitch!' (Sidenote: They loved all of this. We took 'Which Hunger Games Character Are You?' quizzes together, and we all went to see the Hunger Games movie at midnight, despite having to work the next day)

So, if you didn't catch this already, I really enjoyed the series. Before reading it, it was one of those super popular books that I felt really unconnected to, as if I was on the outside of a phenomenon and just couldn't get into it. One of my very good friends from college, Maggie, actually wrote her whole thesis about the Hunger Games and the fan community that surrounded the novels. Despite the fact that Maggie and I love a lot of the same books (Portrait of a Lady! Harry Potter! Northanger Abbey!), even her love of the series didn't get me to read them (to be fair, she never asked me to). So what did? Two words: book club. My book club has the power to make me start any book, regardless of how petulantly I have been refusing to read it (although it cannot make me like or finish a book - the bratty woman in this book made me stop after 15 pages). So, when my book club picked all three Hunger Games books as the March selection, I swallowed any misplaced refusal I'd had over reading these uber-popular books.*

And... I'm really glad I did. I read these books directly after finishing Wuthering Heights, and it was quite refreshing. Wuthering Heights was enjoyable, but it took some slogging through at times, and I just flew through the whole Hunger Games trilogy. It felt so good after the slow march of Emily Bronte to read a book that was so easy to read, so exciting, and so plot driven. Although the writing was uneven at times (especially in the first book), and the characters weren't the best developed ones in the world, I still found the narrative really compelling (for most YA novels I generally judge them and enjoy them based on the plot rather than writing or character development). For the four days I was reading the books, I found myself wanting to do nothing but find out what happens to Katniss & Co, to the extent that I would sneak in pages at work because it is too hard to focus on menial tasks when the fate of Panem is at stake!

The Hunger Games series has been so throughly analyzed all over the place that I'm not sure there's much for me to say. Besides, you've probably already read them and have your opinions anyway. I guess I'll say that I liked the first book the best, followed by the second, and liked the third book least. I didn't find the ending of the series to be inappropriate or not fitting to the rest of the series, but I did have very conflicted feelings about it. So much so that I had to call Maggie after finishing and sort through my feelings about it.** In simplest terms, here is my opinion: the ending fits, and Suzanne Collins obviously achieved what she was looking to achieve, but I didn't enjoy reading the last book as much as the first two. To me there are two axes upon which you can judge a piece of literature: how well the author executed what they set out to do, and how much you enjoyed the thing that they produced. In the case of these books, I think Collins did a great job of doing what she set out to do (and ultimately I can't really imagine the books ending a different way). As for my enjoyment of it... It's still kind of up in the air. I liked Mockingjay and its ending intellectually, but in terms of my actual enjoyment of it as a book... It's still hard for me to pin down how I feel. But maybe that's a big part of what makes this series so compelling? That it's not so simple of a situation that you can sort out your feelings about it? Any thoughts?

* To read a bit about Maggie's thoughts on reading a book after it's been popular for a long time, and my thoughts (pre-reading Hunger Games) about why I hadn't yet read The Hunger Games, see Maggie's post here (my thoughts are in the comments section).

** To read Maggie's thoughts about talking to me after I read the series, and some expansion on my thoughts about Hunger Games and enjoying vs. appreciating literature (as well some thoughts on the next book I'll be posting about), see Maggie's other post here (again, my thoughts are in the comments section).