io9 
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San Francisco, 8:02 AM
Sun Dec 6
13 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/11/09
09/11/09
09/11/09
I read CATCHING FIRE a couple months ago (I work in publishing, so I got the advance copy a while back), and I thought I’d weigh in on this since I've had a lot of time to think about it.
I certainly understand why someone would prefer the first book to the second book, but I will have to respectfully disagree that HUNGER GAMES is better than CATCHING FIRE. A major complaint I had with the first book is that it is so painfully transparent that Peeta loves Katniss, that to read chapter after chapter in which she hems and haws about his motivations smacked of narrative disingenuousness on Collins’ part, and frustrated my full enjoyment of the story. In order for there to be tension in the relationship, drama was required, so Katniss was made to be completely oblivious to Peeta’s (totally obvious) feelings to such an extent that it seemed Collins was making her purposefully obtuse. I read dozens of manuscripts for young people every year, and I can attest to the fact that this is a major problem in submissions. And I mean this specific issue of obscuring the main character’s understanding of another character’s feelings in order to manufacture drama that wouldn’t be there otherwise. It’s true that the drama is needed, but this formula is so shop worn that it’s become a cliché.
I’m sure Collins felt it was necessary that Katniss and Peeta be at odds (or seem to be at odds), and she’s absolutely right. But her decision to create false dramatic tension using this far-too-common convention is a major weakness in the plotting. In CF, the nature of the relationship between Katniss and Peeta is out in the open, so Collins was able to dispense with the absurd notion that Katniss, who could understand the motivations of other people so clearly with but the smallest hint, couldn’t figure out how Peeta really felt about her.
Two more things briefly. The Muttations no doubt were supposed to be horrifying, but I found them to be utterly silly. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that they were described as though they were dogs with the features of the dead contestants, or as the dead contestants with features of dogs. Either way, these were not scary at all to me, though I’m perfectly willing to admit that another reader could have a different reaction.
Lastly, the final 30 pages of the book read like they were from some other manuscript. The tone was the same, the characters were the same, but suddenly we went from the winning moment in the arena to a medical room to District Twelve. Bing Bam Boom! Believe me, I wouldn’t have wanted the book to go on and on, but this was an abrupt transition without precedent, and so it seemed very out of place to me.
While CF may not have had the benefit of novelty on its side, it did (finally) have a completely believable dynamic in the relationship between Katniss and Peeta, one in which the depth of their deception and the stakes involved in needing to convince everyone they were in love added a dimension to the story missing in the first book.
The one thing I could say about CF that was a tad disappointing is the fact that they end up in an arena again. Didn’t they already do that in the first book? But since the action, pacing, and character development in the arena in the second book was superior to that of the first book, I didn’t mind it so much. Personally, I would rather have seen the first book develop in such a way that the end of the second book could have been used as the end of the first book, with the second book focusing on Katniss trying to find her bearings in the growing rebellion and the third book focusing on her involvement with the overthrow of the Panem government. Now all that stuff has to be crammed into the final book, and the sad fact is something’s got to give.
And as a final note to would-be authors for young people: Can we please get past this obsession with trilogies? I’m not exaggerating when I say that fully two-thirds of all novels published in my house are parts of series. Whatever happened to telling a good story in one book? The fact of the matter is that a lot of what goes into the narrative of multiple-book series is irrelevant fluff included for no more reason than to fill out dead pages. As much as I like HG and CF, and as much as I look forward to the third book in the installment, there’s ten times as much story, meaning, and character development in Nancy Farmer’s HOUSE OF THE SCORPION (read it if you haven’t!), and that’s only one book.
09/10/09
I think that's kind of the point: even Katniss isn't fully on board with being the face of the rebellion. She's very reluctant, and even after deciding that she's going to work against the Capitol, she's still primarily motivated by wanting to save her family. And most of the rebellion happens without her knowledge, planned by the people in various districts, and by Haymitch and the other Tributes.
I think in the third book we'll see Katniss step more into the role of a leader, but a big theme in the books is the lack of choice and unfairness of it all -- Katniss didn't choose any of this, and it's not fair to ask a 16-year-old to do any of it, but that's her world.
09/11/09
She's an unwitting symbol of the rebellion, doesn't mean she can't grow into a leader.
09/10/09
09/10/09
08/07/09
03/19/09
Rapidly aging David Bowie vampire! Lesbian love scenes! Violin students for the sacrifice!
03/18/09
To address your main point of why it won't work directly: could you not just have introspective, slowed down events in the movie where your seeing the action propelled forward, but have a soft voiceover of Katniss' thoughts and perceptions of her actions and emotions?
I think it may not be that difficult ot accomplish, I think that we are maybe just a bit preconditioned into believing that translating any work will result in one which is of lesser quality.
I think it is totally dependent on the director and the vision for the feel of the movie as a whole, and is not neccesarily instantly sujected to the worst case scenario when it comes to movie translations.
Don't know why that was so long for something I have no previous interest in, but thatnks for letting me say my piece!
03/18/09
03/18/09
with a skilled actor and director this kind of deception can be conveyed to the audience.
honestly I can't see this being made into anything more than the 30 other movies with the same basic premise...
03/18/09
The concern should be on whether the scripting process even allows for this. And if it doesn't, then I'd definitely say they missed the point.
03/18/09
03/18/09
03/18/09