I first read this book 9 or 10 years ago. Or should I say I "devoured" it. I immediately read Catching Fire and Mockingjay to finish out the trilogy. I absolutely loved it. I consider it my favorite trilogy of all time. When the movies came out, I loved them just as much. Absolutely the best casting decisions were made for all characters. I have seen the movies many, many, many times. This summer I decided I should go back to the original source, but I was nervous about it too, because I didn't want the books to be different than I remembered. Typically, books are much better than the movies made to represent them, but I love the movies so much. This post will be more about the things I forgot because it didn't make it in to the movie - and my different perceptions of the characters.
The one thing I have always remembered is that Primrose did not give Katniss the mockingjay pin. The Mayor's daughter, Madge, gave her the pin. Madge and Katniss were friends in the books, which they definitely cut out of the movies. This is an interesting choice since the mockingjay represents a time when the Capitol tried to control the districts and it backfired on them. So the Mayor's daughter giving this to Katniss to wear in the games relays a significant meaning. The character of Katniss in the book is more friendly and more vulnerable. There are times that she is unsure of what to do. She smiles more readily. That vulnerability doesn't come across in the movie. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen is tough. I had a hard time with this character difference since I adore Jennifer as Katniss!
In the movie, we all know that Peeta genuinely loves Katniss and has since they were young children. But Katniss doesn't necessarily know the depth of his feelings. In the book, she does have a better sense of that. She also kisses him much more freely and more often in the book, during and after the games. But she also struggles with her feelings for Gale. I remember when I first read this trilogy I actually didn't know who she was going to choose in the end. (I was just praying that it was Peeta!) Some of the movie scenes were taken almost verbatim from the book, which I loved. In the book, Gale tells Katniss that he loves her and she stumbles around responding the same way she did in the movie.
I know certain things are cut out of a movie due to time constraints, but one thing I had completely forgotten was how the end of the games played out with Cato. In the book, Cato is being chased by the mutts and runs to the cornucopia to try to escape them. Katniss and Peeta follow him, but Peeta gets severely injured by a mutt who attacks his leg. The mutts are designed to look like/represent the fallen tributes - same eyes/eye color, hair color, size. When Katniss frees Peeta from Cato's grip by shooting Cato with an arrow, Cato does fall to be eaten alive by the mutts, but he suffers for hours and hours! In the book, Cato is wearing a sort of "suit of armor" which protects his body. This makes it more difficult for him to be killed by the mutts. (Ironic, right?) Katniss and Peeta listen to him suffer all night long before they decide that Katniss should relieve him from his misery. Truly gruesome and I absolutely see why they did not put this in the movie. Good decision. It was awful to even read. Peeta ends up with a prosthetic leg! I had completely forgotten that!
There is lot of foreshadowing, which obviously I missed when reading the first time. Katniss' father was musical - and so is she. She stopped singing after her father's death, but now we know from the prequels that her dad was connected to the Covey, the nomadic group that adopted Lucy Gray Baird, Coriolanus Snow's first love. Suzanne Collins must have an amazing story board to keep writing books so different in time and connecting all the pieces. Very impressive. One last thing I loved is Haymitch referring to Katniss as "sweetheart" like he does in the movies. Every single time he called her that in the book, I got a smile on my face because it sounds just like Woody Harrelson as Haymitch in the movie. Great, great casting!
Wendy's Rating: *****
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