mrv3000 | (no subject)

I went and read The Hunger Games.

The first thing I noticed was obviously the writing. I mean, first person present tense is a tough enough thing to read, but then add the sentence fragments... Fortunately I think it wound up numbing my brain around chapter 3, so I did enjoy the book in spite of the writing. (Something I'm sure every author loves to hear.)

Katniss was fairly different in the book - she was bitter, cynical and even quite shrewd. They probably thought that type of personality wouldn't play that well, so it was incredibly toned down for the movie. In watching the movie the only impression I really got from Katniss was someone who was stoic and a bit jaded. She seemed mostly bewildered by the games, where in the book Katniss was extremely familiar with them. In the book she's much more harsh, and probably a much more accurate product of her environment.

Peeta was another difference, and mainly because they chose to slightly alter the pivotal scene in their past: the whole bread in the rain thing. In the movie he came across to me as basically a dick, while in the book he seemed like a pretty good guy. I'm not sure why in the movie they showed him chucking the bread in the mud while in the book he tossed the bread to Katniss, at peril of a beating by his mother. Maybe it was all a part of trying to soften Katniss' character? If Peeta's a dick, then Katniss won't look bad for faking a relationship? Not that I think she came off badly in the book, but maybe it wouldn't quite translate in a movie? I dunno.

To me the book had a much better ending than the movie, even though they both stopped in the same place. It was the pacing of and extra insight into the ceremony and interview that I was missing in the movie. (Without knowing at the time what it was missing.) That was exactly what was needed to keep away that "oh, that's it?" feeling. Plus it got in that critical concept of the Game not really being over, which...I guess was in the movie? But it didn't really register with me when I watched it.

Anyway, I did enjoy the book and will probably get the next 2 as well. :)

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Oh, interesting. I bought all three books after seeing the movie. I don't know if I'll have time to read them before fall quarter but I wondered how different they'd be. This is good to know. I hope the writing doesn't get to me because that sounds a little annoying.

I was hating the style at first, but then I really think I went numb to it.

A lot of people hate the writing style, but it worked really well for the story, I think. Like for me the series is fundamentally about Katniss as a character so it's important that we're in her head.

I'm getting more used to it now.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that Peeta was throwing her the bread in the movie like he did in the book? But maybe that scene only worked if you'd read the book first and knew he was trying to help her lol. Like because I had read the book first, I knew the whole way through the movie that Peeta's secret agenda was to help Katniss because he loooooooved her so I never remember thinking he was a dick.*

*AND I SAY THAT AS SOMEONE WHO HAS NO SIDES IN THIS TRIANGLE. REALLY.

Yeah, I didn't get that at all when I watched the movie. And there was even a scene later in the cave where Peeta said something like "I'm sorry I threw it in the mud. I should have walked out to you." or something. It came off as this old wound between them where he had looked down on her previously - treated her not even as well as his pigs - and then later regretted it.

At least that's the way it came off to me. I had no clue about him being secretly in love with her all along.

I had the same reaction as you. I thought Peeta was a dick re: the bread thing. Also, his initial framing/introduction made me think we were supposed to hate him. Going into the movie unspoiled, I assumed only Katniss could win (after all, it could hardly be a trilogy if the heroine died in the first book, right?) so I deliberately made myself dislike him while watching the first time.

After reading the book, I loved him the most.

I'm glad I'm not the only one!

I think the movie made a bit of a misstep there.

Yeah, I shipped Peeta/Katniss a million times more in the book, but I couldn't remember specific reasons because it had been too long since I read it, I think.

:D It's much easier for me to see in the book, mainly because of how Peeta's character is differing for me.

I mean I thought the movie was good for an adaptation, but a lot of the character beats didn't really translate well to the screen. So yeah, IA with your character assessments in the book vs movie.

I wish they had just done a bit better with the characters, especially with Peeta since I went in the wrong direction with him practically from the start.

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I did like that whole unspoken communication thing they had going. It was pretty clever of them to both figure it out.

And the movie did do a great job of getting that dystopian feel. Everything comes across really well as dark and twisted.

See? Told you you get more out of the book by being the characters' heads. Go read Book 2 and then if you like it, I've got some incredible Finnick fic to rec you (you'll probably even like the writing better).

:D Finished book 2! On to book 3! But I can't say I'm overly interested in Finnick. Maybe that will come later.

I wasn't overly interested in Finnick either, but this author changed that. She's brought all the extra characters to life in a really in-depth way. Come to think of it though, you should probably wait till you read book 3 because, while the story basically retells book 2 from Finnick's POV, it involves stuff you don't learn until book 3.

Here's the link -- Treading Water by

sabaceanbabe. It's a WIP, but I have total faith it will be finished.

Interesting! Thanks!

I can't say I'm overly interested in Finnick by himself either, but I'm fascinated by District 4 as a whole! I love Annie and Madge much more, Finnick just ends up getting more screentime.

I did honestly like reading Katniss PoV once I got used to how the book was written. Idk she's so jaded and cynical and sorta stoic and broken that she made a lot of sense to me. Although I did want her to stfu about the bread thing, ngl. XD

But I read most of the book first, so I sorta saw the movie through the PoV of book!Katniss, so I didn't notice as much of a difference between the two.

In this case I think it would have helped to read the book before watching the movie. I can easily see how people can fill in the character blanks if they have that information, but I had to take everything at face value.

I really loved the movie and thought it was a pretty great adaptation. Sure, it has it's flaws, but I think they did just about as good as they could have translating a novel written with a first person pov into a film. But to be fair, I already knew what Katniss was supposed to be thinking and feeling at any given moment since I'd already read the book, so that really added to the actor's performances.

Also, I'm totally NOT a purist when it comes to literary adaptations. Don't get me wrong, I want a good, faithful adaptation, but I'm not at all opposed to tweaking and altering events for the sake of tightening up the script. Like, I know a lot of fans were upset about how they changed the way Katniss got the Mockingjay pin. Not me, though. It made sense to change that. It made sense to make that about Katniss and Prim, to reinforce the importance of that relationship. That being said, as much as I like the movie and love the cast, there is one change that I don't think I'll ever forgive them for. At the end of the book, whenever it's announced that their can only be one winner after all, Katniss drew her bow on Peeta when she mistakenly thought he was going to attack her and I LOVED her for it. And I loved how her instinctual reaction shamed her. It was such a character affirming moment for me, and I hate that the movie didn't give it to us.