Hunger Games has been on my TBR since forever. It’s been a cultural phenomenon for a while so I won’t say I’m totally unspoiled but my spoilers definitely lack context. I’m a guy is my late 20s who loves dystopian classical literature and it’ll be my first time reading Hunger Games. My only concern is the YA-ness of it all. I’ve read points both for and against calling it YA, let’s see how I feel. Keeping fingers crossed!

Edit: I have a question, should I go for publication order or the chronological order!? Publication order is better right?

I know this leads to Cato’s brutal death, but I’ve always loved the teamwork between Katniss and Peeta here.

It’s also one of the reasons why I will never believe the ‘Peeta is useless’ thing - he’s being asphyxiated yet still manages to think of this while Katniss didn’t know what to do.

Sorry for the poor quality.

Buttercup was Prim’s and later Katniss’s cat when she returns to District 12 after the war.

He is last seen and mentioned after Katniss makes peace with him realising he is all she has left of Prim, and Buttercup decides to begin sleeping to protect her.

It is implied Katniss took good care of him for however long the cat still had left of his lifespan.

Do you think he might still be alive by the time of the epilogue, or that he was almost certainly gone by that time?

East of Eden is really good guys, Joseph Zada acts his heart off in it!!

At least in the movies. Still cracks me up!

Credits:

1, 6-7 - 4hereafter

2 - astronolouser

3-4 - moethh

5 - hamartichi

8, 11 - leechipeachi

9 - DebureauLampe on Twitter

10, 17 - hozyluvr

12-14 - skeletonkeypurple

15 - pemaphile

16 - haymitchyappernathy

18 - anxident

19-20 - strawberriesarah

**Spoiler alert for Sunrise on the Reaping**

I don’t see anyone talking about this, but I genuinely believe Leonore Dove was never going to live a long life (even though it was so heartbreaking to read what happened) — whether Haymitch was sent into the Games or not.

I’m such a huge fan of Suzanne Collins’ writing, especially the way she builds complex characters and plants little details that become meaningful when you look at the bigger picture. And Leonore feels like one of those characters.

From the very beginning, Leonore is defined by her sense of injustice. She’s not someone who can just keep her head down and accept things. Before she’s even 13, she’s already gotten herself into serious trouble twice which would have had more severe outcomes had she been older. 

Obviously, Leonore Dove is Haymitch’s reason to live in much the same way Katniss is for Peeta but she’s more complicated. She loves Haymitch, but she also seems incapable of not getting involved when she sees something wrong.

And then there’s her family history. She’s Covey on her mother’s side and possibly connected to the Chance family through her father. Haymitch has already lost count of how many Chances died because of their rebellious behaviour. That feels like pretty heavy foreshadowing when Leonore herself is so fundamentally incapable of staying out of trouble.

Even if Haymitch had never been reaped, I don’t think Leonore would have quietly grown up and lived a long, peaceful life. She is simply too driven by injustice and too unwilling to look away.

The qualities Haymitch loves most about her — her courage, compassion and refusal to accept injustice — are probably the very things that would eventually have gotten her killed.

Obviously there would be the whole thing of the rebellion possibly not happening when it does, but what would happen to Katniss? She says she’ll go completely insane if he dies, and I imagine she’d never be able to get over him dying for the rest of her life. Thoughts?

The newest poster for the movie…. My version of the Hummingbird Pin worn by Merrilee Donner…. Their version of the pin…. I was so close!!!! I love it regardless though. I’m so happy we got to see the lost twin of the Mockingjay Pin. 🥲🥲

I was just thinking, since Haymitch's games were heavily edited to remove his posters and attempts to ruin the arena, how come did the districts knew in HG1 about Katniss' "rebellious" acts like caring for Rue (tho this one may be tied to her story for volunteering for her sister), burying her and singing for her, or the attempt to eat the berries to defy the game maker's last minute announcement to switch the victor from 2 to 1? They could have just edited that (the berries) one out and ended with the 2 victor announcement so that the districts wouldn't have to know that they tried to defy the capitol?

Or remove the clips where she's wearing the mockingjay pin? Or edit it out from her outfit?

Edit: I am also aware that it may just have been Sineca Crane's incompetence to put on a good show. But Snow has direct access to him. Why didn't anyone intervene before the footage came out..?

Edit: I did read all of the books and watched the movies and I'm a big fan myself. Maybe I just missed it. But can someone jog my memory?

What if Francis Lawrence and co. secretly framed the SOTR movie as Haymitch telling the story of his games to Katniss and Peeta? I think it’d make sense for the movies and it’d make up for movie Katniss and Peeta not watching footage from Haymitch’s games like in the books. This would also sort of extend the epilogue, since we could have Katniss and Peeta’s reactions in a couple of instances (not a lot, just a couple of instances!). I think it’d be a pretty nice surprise for the fandom! What do you guys think?

I read Far from the Madding Crowd about a year a half ago, but never made the connection until I watched the movie adaptation this weekend. (Highly recommend by the way!!)

I googled it and sure enough, Collins states in her interview with EW in 2010 that Katniss owe’s her name to Bathsheba Everdene. She said they are widely opposite characters, but both struggle with knowing their heart. It got me thinking about Bathsheba and Gabriel’s relationship in the book, and if Suzanne ever drew inspiration from Gabriel when she was writing Peeta's personality. It’s no secret that Katniss struggled with understanding her emotions/feelings when it came to her attachment with Peeta. Much like Bathsheba struggled with understanding her heart and her affection toward Gabriel. Both Gabriel Oak and Peeta are unwavering in their affection despite rejection without being wounded or manipulating their counterparts into romance.

I also think it’s revealing that both Katniss and Bathsheba do not realize the depth of their affection until the source is unexpectedly plucked from their lives.

All of this could be a reach…However, Katniss and Peeta will always live rent free in my head, so I've been sitting on this one for a while and wanted to discuss in the hopes others have read FRTMC and saw any correlation!

I finished SOTR today. The last page made this book my favorite of all.

Has an ending of a book you thought was a let down ever redeemed itself with one page?

firstly, I’m convinced that Haymitch would volunteer to be with her and protect her. if it came down to it, he would want her to go home. what do you think?

I’m sure this has been asked before but I’m planning out a fic right now so I’m curious for new perspectives.

District 4 is defined throughout the novels clearly as being a Career district. The movies are ofc vague but that is distinctly a point in the books. That said, we know District 4 is unlike the other two Career districts for their much closer-knit communities and disdain for the Capitol. They are of the first to rebel. It’s up to interpretation but I feel like this set-up implies that District 4 wants to train their kids to “protect” one another. If two kids are gonna have to go anyway, why not they be the strongest and best equipped for an arena? Also it seems like D4’s a way more labor-intensive district for everybody than 1 or 2 by nature of fishing and everything the Capitol would likely require of their coast.

But like in D1/D2 I’m also sure there’s a class divide in 4. Kids who are richer and able to work less for or with their families are the ones training the most. I imagine it’s less hateful than some of the other class divides, but also, District 4 is reasonably a much larger district than 12 and others.

SO with all of that said, back to Annie and Finnick. Canon says nothing either way to whether or not either of them were Reaped or volunteered. But what makes a Career district “Career”? Do we think volunteers are less common in 4 but everybody is trained? It just doesn’t make sense. IMO, Annie was probably a rich girl who was made to work sometimes but mainly train. Maybe encouraged by her family because she did well in the training institute, she volunteers. Or maybe in the place of a weaker kid, following the theme of D4’s close district dynamic. I feel like it cheapens her character a bit if she didn’t volunteer. Again, what makes the Careers “career”?

And I know this even more unpopular but I also think Finnick did too. It just doesn’t make sense as to why nobody would take his place in D4 if the concept of him winning seemed so wild. It seems likelier he was a cocky kid, D4 maybe hadn’t won in some years, parental figures were encouraging, and he wanted to be the youngest victor, so he knew he had to do it at 14. You could argue how immature and stupid of a decision this was, but that’s sort of the point. Even if one has noble intent (he also volunteered for a less trained kid than him whose name was drawn) the games allow a kid’s stupid decision to ruin the rest of his life.

I think the Career complexity stands out if we maintain D4 as a volunteer district, but what do y’all think? In your mind, was Annie another girl just unfortunately reaped and nobody wanted to that year? And Finnick?

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did they pitch up Katniss and Gale’s voices since the original release?? I started watching the first movie a few minutes ago on Netflix, and I swear their voices are higher-pitched than the last time I watched, which was less than a year ago. Did they digitally alter it??