Hunger Games

I have now finished all 3 books. My over-the-top excitement after reading the first book was largely sustained through all three. Two points stick out, one good and one bad.

(1) The Good.

Point of view. The author wrote this from a first person point of view, and a very limited teenage girl point of view at that. This was brilliant. I'd go so far as to say that this is the reason the books succeeded. Writing this in 3rd person would have been so drastically different a story ... and all of the ugliness of the world would have been very, very hard to digest. It is only through the lens of Katniss that the reader can absorb this story without running away in horror. Katniss's own flat emotional state is critical to our ability to enter into this world.

When Sam described the world to us, we as parents were shocked that a 5th grader was reading something like this. After reading the first book myself, my fears were allayed; the author, after all, used to write for the "Little Bear" tv series, so she must be good. The gore and awfulness of the world is blunted because Katniss only sees some of it, and her own emotional hardness protects the reader to some degree.

(2) The Bad

That said, part of the story, maybe the most important part, is Katniss's journey from being emotionally dead to coming back to life. It is a loooooooong journey. One never fully completed, I would argue, but at least by the very end of the third book she's made progress, and looks to be able to make more.

Without spoiling anything, I will simply say that her "vote" near the end of book 3 struck me as completely and totally wrong and out of her character. Maybe, *maybe*, she was faking it in order to bolster her secret plan, but if so, the author kind of dropped the ball by not indicating this to us somehow. Heaven knows we got inside of Katniss's head for just about everything else, so why not this?

I'll probably have more to say, but there's a start. Still a highly recommended read, almost impossible to put down. If done well, the movies will be HUGE. (I'm still not entirely sure this was appropriate for 5th grade reading, but, well, there are worse ways to learn about how nasty people can be I suppose.)

Draught of Hope

I have not yet been with the Shadow, but rather Keats, who has given me this today. (Last 2 lines of each stanza should be indented but I can't figure out how to make this blogger do that.)

Draught of Hope

by David J. LeLacheur

And what if I were Keats re-born?

Born to witness beauty and truth?

If given sight to live, not mourn,

Could I recite, as did that youth?

Shine light on treasures all around?

Hear elves and nymphs in each song bird?

With drunken mead, the world astound?

And scent of grass imbue each word?

And yet, how can this be --

With my own eyes I see.

It could be so, I dream aloud,

We are all atoms, born from stars.

(Did he know that legacy proud:

We are heirs to Venus and Mars?)

A hallowed mote, dazzling strand,

Borne from far by heavenly flow

A kingly gift from his own hand

Infuse my heart -- but can we know

From whither comes a soul?

Would his loss make mine whole?

Forlorn, adrift, from Faery home,

There is no sense to give me hope.

Without is but an empty tome;

No hand will throw a saving rope.

Through darkling doubt, despair of haze,

Tremors afoot, the world's a-quake.

I stoop; I fall; my eyes then raise --

Does light from yonder window break?

Turmoil'd, I close my view.

Within I'll find my hue.

I cannot take, nor live to break;

We must be all our Selves and full.

How then to live, this thirst to slake?

Is glory's dream but shadow's pull?

One sense remains: to touch, to feel.

The dryad's dance my heart will chase.

Noise and chatter must not steal

From me my nature's own embrace.

Yes, there is another:

Of all these, the mother.

Imagination, draught of hope,

I'll drink thee to the dregs with joy.

With burning brand and worldly scope

I'll march, I'll write, I'll be a boy.

Alive, reborn, recovered sight,

New breath will sing to heavens blue:

"From old to young, from dark to light,

Forever be forever new!"

And with these leaves I'll chance,

Once more to join the dance.

The Shadow

Alright, since this was my choice, I'll get the ball rolling this time.  I've got a lot to say, since I just gave a lecture on The Shadow and The Batman this morning, but I'll try to keep things concise and focused to start us out.

There are a couple of things I absolutely love about this story.  First, there's the propulsive nature of the narrative.  Episode trips on the heel of episode, sending you on a careening thrill-ride of adventure.  Even in the first couple of chapters, if you think about what happens, it's crazy: two mobsters meet to make a criminal plot, which is foiled by zombis, who are interrupted by The Shadow, cue the fist and gunfight, thrilling escape, followed by a car chase, a murder attempt via poison gas at a doctor's office, followed by another car chase!  And that's just the set-up.

I always enjoy The Shadow's notions of justice: searing lead from the twin .45s.  The inherent conflict between law and justice is often at the heart of this particular pulp figure and he always errs on the side of criminal execution.

Notions of identity also play a heavy part here.  The Shadow uses the identity of Lamont Cranston, but he's not really Lamont Cranston.  Who is this figure of dark justice?  I mean, who is he really?

One final thing I'll mention, since it's getting late, is the totally hyperbolic writing style.  No one is just a criminal, he's the blackest-hearted demon-spawn ever to tread the earth's soil.  Etc.  Really fun stuff.  Like prose on steroids.

Trolls and mounds (a test)

In a troll in the mound, there lived a rabbit.

New Reading

Since you left it up to me (fools!), the next reading is one I'm using in my pulp fiction class in a few weeks.  It's called Voodoo Trail and features the iconic pulp hero, The Shadow.  It's written by Walter Gibson, who wrote most of The Shadow stories over the years.  If you want any further background on Gibson or The Shadow, an excellent place to start is:

The Pulp Net

Here We Go

Okay, this is designed to be the communal blog for the reading/viewing/kvetching group.  I think this will be somewhat easier to follow than the e-mail threads.  I lose those in my inbox very easily.  Let's get off and running.  I'll be e-mailing out the first reading later today, so check your inboxes and get cracking.

Also, feel free to use this space for other ideas, queries, etc.