By the end of the third book, I thought the central theme could be summed up along the same lines as the three rules of thermodynamics:
You can’t win.
You can’t break even.
You can’t get out of the game.
What looked like victories for Katniss turned out to be fleeting. What looked like victories for society were fleeting. The best thing Katniss was eventually able to do was to try to get out of the game entirely, and even then, there’s no avoiding the effects of the government.
My guess about the final government is that it was imperfect in many ways, but, lacking a charismatic leader, wasn’t as effective, and so it didn’t hurt people as much as either of its predecessors.
Just finished the last book and I’m suprised nobody has brought up this point:
Why bother attacking the capital at all? It was a massive loss of lives on the rebels part as well as innocent capital civilians.
They already made the explicit point that the capital’s survival was dependant on all the other districts. Districts for food, a district for energy, a district for weapons and soldiers, etc. etc. All the districts were free at this point. So why not just let the capital implode on itself?
iirc, the one who ran District 13 wanted to rule. so she had to take the Capitol and install herself. they were running propaganda videos even as they were attacking the Capitol to unite the districts to 13.
Well, it is the rare YA book that ends with the main character being deflowered. There’s that at least.
I actually liked the book. Katniss was an emotional wreck, wasn’t an inspiring leader, and spent most of the time at the mercy of greater forces than her. Rather refreshing that she was quite human and not some typical sci-fi superhero who saves the day through their meticulous plotting, amazing ability to forecast people’s reactions, and feats of inhuman physical strength and perseverance.
We sold our copy but I’ll see if I can get the wording later. But, yes - in the end of the book, she settles for Peeta and, the first time they’re doing it, he asks her a question of some sort, whereupon she answers affirmatively (I can’t remember the question, but I had my wife read the passage and she agreed it’s strongly implied that they’re in the midst of love-making during the sequence.)
I looked it up and it was the “do you love me for real?” question. This might not have been the exact end of the book, but it was in the last few pages.
I didn’t care for Katniss thru the entire series - she was too much like Forrest Gump, just pushed along by events or the manipulations of others. The only decent thing about her was her desire to protect her sister and then the author had her fail at that.
