Well, I'm starting Catching Fire, and, so far, I'm enthralled. Definitely better than the first book. Here is a video my sister made of a song from the third-
What?! My sister wrote the music, and credits Collins for the words. What is the problem here? All the images, except the final one, are also hers. Have you sent the same message to the dozens of others on youtube who put up their own versions of this song, many of them using the same graphic?
I do think it's lucky that Schubert didn't live in this century. He set the texts of others to music, and made some of the most glorious songs ever written. If he'd lived today, I suppose he would not have been allowed to do that.
Thanks! I'll share your comment with her (and sorry I got all defensive here, but really! she did write the song, and sang it, and took the pictures. Suzanne Collins, who seems a nice and intelligent woman, probably wouldn't mind at all.)
So, have you finished Mockingjay yet? I read all three books in a little over a week. It may be the reason I didn't like the last book as much as the first two. I won't say more till I know you've read all three.
Oh, and on your other post you mentioned you didn't like the first person narrative. It's not just you - it bothered me as well. The only thing I did like about it was that it was clear it was Katniss's story. It's probably the reason I ignored the grammar mistakes. That and the whole lay or lie always gave me fits anyway. I do know the difference, but I think I'd been using them incorrectly for so long that neither one sounds right. ;-)
I read them very quickly, too - lost a lot of sleep to them - and found them disturbing. But I agreed with my sister that the books get better as they go on. Katniss's character development is - horrifying, at times. But it is clearly meant to be. Collins has said that the books are about the deforming effects of war on the young, and she gets that across very well. As I said above, I don't see rereading them any time soon. They are not beautiful and not especially comforting, except for the courage and lovingkindness of Peeta and poor little Prim.
I can see the point of the first-person narrative, because we are stuck in Katniss' POV, and of the present tense, because it keeps alive the question of whether she will live or die. It's a considered choice. From that pov, the books are quite well written. But Katniss is not especially reflective or well-educated,and that shows in the voice. In a way, Collins has pulled off quite a trick in telling a subtle and reflective story in the voice of a character who is neither of these things. That Katniss can reflect, and love, however imperfectly, is a triumph of sorts. I LOVED the epilogue, unlike the horrid epilogue of DH. But they are disturbing books. They aren't fun.
And there is one thing that bothered me particularly. I love roses. I really do. I thought, for awhile, that I'd never be able to appreciate a beautifully-scented white rose the same way again. Then I thought, well, The White Rose (Die Weisse Rose) came first, and the flower even before them. I am not going to let Collins destroy my pleasure in real, innocent beauty or in heroism!
Sorry, I'm not ignoring you. I've just been busy putting the house back together after we finished the living room floor and painting. It's been a good time to sort through all the photos before putting them back up.
You and I will likely always disagree about Deathly Hallows - I really liked it and liked the Epilogue in particular. I didn't care for the one at the end of Mockingjay. It was too brief, too disconnected from the rest of the story. It felt very tacked on, like she had to write an ending but didn't want to take the time to really make it complete. It seemed very contrived to me. There has to be a happy medium between the gazillion endings of The Return of the King and Mockingjay.
Beyond that, I'm not really at a point of wanting to explore The Hunger Games trilogy more than that. I agree, there is nothing fun about these books. It's not something I want to keep thinking about, so I've loaned the books to my daughter. Since I've only read them once, and very quickly, it makes it hard to discuss anything.
Thanks for getting back to me at all! No, we will never, never agree about DH. I just wish you, and some of the other members of Professor Granger's board who actually liked the books, would really try to see the POV of those of us who didn't. It seems to me that Suzanne Collins has written a very subtle and powerful book, which actually does a lot of what I thought Rowling was doing. Collins is writing about our world today, and about the deforming effects of war on the human psyche, especially the souls of children and adolescents. And we are not supposed to entirely like Katniss, nor to approve of all that she does. We are, I think, supposed to understand her, and feel compassion for her even when she horrifies us. And I did. By the end of DH, after the total useless anticlimax of Snape's death, I didn't care about Harry at all, and didn't care what happened to him. The book was out of balance, and in some ways, in spite of its length, perfunctory. I got the strong impression Rowling was killing off some of her characters (Snape, Tonks, Lupin) arbitrarily because she didn't want to deal with them any more.
Oh - and, as a long-time Tolkien fan, ROTK doesn't have a gazillion endings! The movie does, but the book doesn't. :)
But, back to Mockingjay, my sister wrote a beautiful and accurate review, which you can find at this link if you're interested.
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Date: 2010-09-15 03:21 am (UTC)I do think it's lucky that Schubert didn't live in this century. He set the texts of others to music, and made some of the most glorious songs ever written. If he'd lived today, I suppose he would not have been allowed to do that.
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Date: 2010-09-28 10:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 10:27 am (UTC)Oh, and on your other post you mentioned you didn't like the first person narrative. It's not just you - it bothered me as well. The only thing I did like about it was that it was clear it was Katniss's story. It's probably the reason I ignored the grammar mistakes. That and the whole lay or lie always gave me fits anyway. I do know the difference, but I think I'd been using them incorrectly for so long that neither one sounds right. ;-)
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Date: 2010-09-28 03:14 pm (UTC)I can see the point of the first-person narrative, because we are stuck in Katniss' POV, and of the present tense, because it keeps alive the question of whether she will live or die. It's a considered choice. From that pov, the books are quite well written. But Katniss is not especially reflective or well-educated,and that shows in the voice. In a way, Collins has pulled off quite a trick in telling a subtle and reflective story in the voice of a character who is neither of these things. That Katniss can reflect, and love, however imperfectly, is a triumph of sorts. I LOVED the epilogue, unlike the horrid epilogue of DH. But they are disturbing books. They aren't fun.
And there is one thing that bothered me particularly. I love roses. I really do. I thought, for awhile, that I'd never be able to appreciate a beautifully-scented white rose the same way again. Then I thought, well, The White Rose (Die Weisse Rose) came first, and the flower even before them. I am not going to let Collins destroy my pleasure in real, innocent beauty or in heroism!
My two cents.
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Date: 2010-10-04 12:34 am (UTC)You and I will likely always disagree about Deathly Hallows - I really liked it and liked the Epilogue in particular. I didn't care for the one at the end of Mockingjay. It was too brief, too disconnected from the rest of the story. It felt very tacked on, like she had to write an ending but didn't want to take the time to really make it complete. It seemed very contrived to me. There has to be a happy medium between the gazillion endings of The Return of the King and Mockingjay.
Beyond that, I'm not really at a point of wanting to explore The Hunger Games trilogy more than that. I agree, there is nothing fun about these books. It's not something I want to keep thinking about, so I've loaned the books to my daughter. Since I've only read them once, and very quickly, it makes it hard to discuss anything.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-04 03:22 am (UTC)Oh - and, as a long-time Tolkien fan, ROTK doesn't have a gazillion endings! The movie does, but the book doesn't. :)
But, back to Mockingjay, my sister wrote a beautiful and accurate review, which you can find at this link if you're interested.
Hope all the renovation is going well!
http://deirdrej.livejournal.com/3144.html