Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the first ever duo to survive the Hunger Games, have returned home. As promised, their District now has more food, along with more prosperity, and her family has been rehoused. Her troubles are, however, far from over; she foresaw relationship problems, both with Peeta (on whose pronouncements of love their survival hinged) and with Gale (whom she has long loved).
But Katniss and Peeta’s duties are far from over, and their transgressions have not been forgiven. As they are fêted through all the provinces, Katniss and Peeta see increasing signs of civil unrest; when confronted with the stark contrast between starvation in their own District and profligate waste in the Capital they are sickened. And when the 75^th annual Hunger Games are announced, things get even worse – the third Quarter Quell has a twist that is intended to punish Katniss and Peeta for their offence against the state.
It’s difficult to get too far in to the plot without giving away essential and surprising elements of this compelling and really well written centrepiece in a stunning trilogy. Cleverness abounds – the game design concept is startling this time around, and the science of psychology is exquisite. There are influences everywhere, from Ancient Rome to reality television, crafted into a wholly original and spell binding whole. As I mentioned in my review of the first in the series, The Hunger Games, the world building is reminiscent of Westerfeld’s Uglies trilogy, which similarly contrasted youth and rebellion with governmental totalitarianism; The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, though, are darker. There’s also a degree of complexity that’s interesting – not in the twisting plot, for Westerfeld is adept at that, but in the layers of control and suppression, compliance and impotence, that are the shared experience of the general population and depicted in the chief protagonists.
One of the most striking moments, among many, comes at a ball in the Capital – fresh from literal starvation at home, the scenes of wilful gluttony for the sake of conspicuous consumption, are nauseating. That scene manages to encapsulate a lot of what is at the heart of the narrative – a total disconnect between the rulers and the ruled, heartless spectacle mindless of cost, humanised by the presence of the powerless.
This moment is not alone – there are numerous descriptions, opaque and direct, demonstrating the untempered power and disfavour of President Snow and his cohort, and the growing anger of the populace. Katniss is brave and fearless for herself, but not particularly devious, which allows the reader to spot some of the coming action before she does and, fittingly, the importance of a symbol. Her growing sense of targeted anger, her awareness of injustice, is a sped up microcosm of the populace at large, perfectly portrayed.
Collins’ writing is invisible and nuanced, her characters vivid and compelling, and the premise is intriguing. I strongly suspect I’ll be returning to this series in a year or so, and have the third (and sadly final) installment on reserve, a disappointingly long way down a lengthy list. – Alex

Carolyn Parkhurst: Lost and Found

Alex has already reviewed this book twice; see either of those for a more detailed synopsis. To briefly recap-
This story follows the progress of several pairs of game show contestants as they are filmed searching the globe for esoteric items in a bid to win a million dollars. Team loyalties are tested and partnership dynamics irreversibly changed as the show’s creators introduce challenges designed to reveal each contestant’s darkest secrets.
Unlike Alex, I am not a fan of the kind of reality TV show upon which this story is based, but since she thought the book good enough to read twice in such a short space of time when I saw it in my local library I thought I’d give it a try. To my surprise in the end I found that I liked it very much.
At first glance I found the main characters and their conflicts unrealistic, but as their stories progressed and aspects of their personalities were revealed they became more believable. The game show setting worked well, introducing tension and temptation that highlighted the cracks in foundering relationships and allowing the author to explore a number of controversial issues in an accessible way. The (probably) realistic technicalities of filming the show added a layer of realism and interest.
I don’t see myself rereading this book any time soon but it was certainly worth stepping outside my usual area of interest.-Lynn

For Alex's reviews click here (2009) or here (2010).

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Katniss has always been a survivor - after her father died and her mother withdrew almost to the point of catatonia, it was only her daring and ingenuity that put food on the table and kept her and Prim, her little sister, alive. With her closest friend, Gale, Katniss picks, gathers and uses her father's bow and arrows to illegal hunt in the wilderness alongside District 12. Some of their bounty is divided between them, and the rest is bartered, but it's still not enough to do much more than keep starvation at bay. Which is why, along with most of the children of the District, Katniss receives three tessera, meager portions of oil and grain, enough to supplement a diet for a year. But tesserae are not free - in exchange, Katniss's name is added more times to the selection pool for the reaping, the selection process for the annual Hunger Games. As a sixteen-year-old her name would be entered seven times, anyway, but thanks to four years of tesserae the total this year is twenty; Gale, at eighteen and with more dependents, has forty-two entries and Prim, just twelve, has only one.
When Prim's name is drawn, Katniss volunteers to participate in the Hunger Games in her stead. With two participants, a boy and a girl, from each of the Districts, Prim has no chance. For the Hunger Games are an annual, compulsory event combining skill, physical and mental strength, prowess, guile, thousands of cameras, and great reward for the winner and his or her home District. But to get there the winner has to be the sole survivor.
This justifiably renown novel is a triumph - from the set up and characterisation through to the action seasons and the twists, every note is perfect. The star, of course, is Katniss, but all the supporting characters are equally vivid, flawed and realistic.
Realism is, of course, at the heart of the concept, for the Hunger Games are reality TV writ large - voyeurism at a remove, with an audience relating to but removed from the participants, and each series promising something new to keep the viewers hooked. Instead of votes for elimination, supporters can proffer presents - supplies, food, medicine - to favoured contestants, but everything goes through a mentor, a Hunger Games survivor from a previous season. To get supporters contestants have to make a connection with the audience, and each contestant has a styling team prior to entry in the arena.
I was reminded of several other novels while reading The Hunger Games, particularly the Star Trek novel Kobayashi Maru (where a no-win scenario is defeated by a young James T Kirk) and Westerfeld's Uglies series. This was not because The Hunger Games is at all derivative but because there are similar elements, differently handled. Additionally, the premise of a reality program that devolves into a race for survival is similar to that of the 2001 film Series 7; where the Hunger Games differs, apart from the age of its protagonists, is the exploration of a culture where this arrangement could not only be tolerated but state sponsored. Narrated in the first person, Katniss gives the reader background that sites the societal set up for the Hunger Games, and she struggles with the concept throughout. The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy, and I strongly suspect that the manipulation Katniss uses to beat the game will be echoed in a larger form in the sequel. I've reserved a copy at my library, and will find out soon enough. - Alex

Lost and Found - Carolyne Parkhurst

Laura hoped that competing on "Lost & Found," a reality TV show that combines travel, team work and problem solving, would bring her closer to her daughter Cassie. Well aware that she let Cassie down at the time her daughter needed her the most, Laura can see that her very eagerness to be close and to please is counter-productive, but can't seem to stop. And when things are going well with Cassie, she always tries to take advantage of the bond, ruining the moment in the process.
Cassie has secrets her mother knows nothing about - including the fact that the show's producers not only know all about it but that the rift, and its cause, is the reason they're on "Lost & Found" to start with. They're one of half a dozen other couples who have pre-existing relationships - brothers Carl and Jeff, geeks Riley and Trent, formerly gay born again Christian husband and wife Abby and Justin, where-are-they-now childhood TV stars Dallas and Juliet, long-ago high school sweethearts Jason and Betsy - competing for a million dollars. But all the competitors will find, and lose, things they never expected.
This is the first book I've read twice since beginning this blog and, not yet having re-read my initial review, I'm interested to see how my reading has changed in the last year. Although I remembered a lot of the basic plot, including the event that drew attention to, rather than caused, the rift between Cassie and Laura, many of the plot details had faded a little.
Something more of a reality TV watcher than I care to admit in real life, I strongly engaged with the premise, and anticipate my viewing of the latest season of "The Amazing Race" to be a little enhanced by my increased awareness of the production side of reality television, including the use of carnets to facilitate passing through customs. I remember wanting to watch the show on my first reading, and that certainly hasn't changed - I'd love to see "Lost & Found" broadcast!
The characters are beautifully and sparsely drawn - they all have clear motivations and are easily destinguishable, not always the case in a relatively slender, well-populated novel. Although the action is important, relationships are at the heart of this novel, and I really enjoyed the layered, resonant portrayal of these, particularly the mother-daughter relationship.
From Laura's perspective, everything changed when she was woken by Cassie in the middle of the night to find herself a grandmother. Berating herself for not noticing Cassie's pregnancy or her withdrawal, Laura bitterly regrets her first, angry response to the news, and her guilt is still twined with anger. But for Cassie the baby is just part of a growing estrangement - from her oblivious mother, more focused on a post-weight-loss relationship than on her daughter, and from her best friend and now not-so-secret crush.
The mother-daughter dynamic is captured for me here:

I wanted to say something... "I'm having a little trouble with this," I said.
Cassie yawned. "I'm sure you are," she said.
"You could have told me," I said, trying hard not to sound critical.
Cassie looked down... when she spoke, her voice was careful and even.
"You could have noticed," she said.

There are a number of sub-plots running alongside the main relationship development. I was particularly interested in the 'formerly gay' couple, and in the whole behind the scenes production aspect, from host Barbara's deliberate on-air persona construction and need for "Lost & Found" to succeed and rescue her career, to the agendas of the support crew. but there are no wrong notes - from dialogue to character, narrative arc to premise, the whole novel was a delight the second time around. - Alex

For my initial review of Lost & Found click here; for Lynn's review click here.

Lost and Found - Carolyn Parkhurst

Laura and her teen daughter Cassie are taking part in the global scavenger hunt that is reality TV's newest offering, "Lost and Found." As they travel the globe, solving clues and carrying unwieldy souvenirs (including a ski pole and a live parrot) while racing to win the grand prize, Laura has recently lost 100 pounds, and is coming to terms with how this has changed the way other people respond to her. More importantly, she hopes to reconnect with the daughter she's recently become estranged from.
Told from the perspectives of each of the contestants still playing when the novel opens, we learns about a variety of relationships - the middle-aged brothers, the former childhood sweet-hearts, the converted-to-straight Christian couple, the former child stars - and the secrets they're all keeping.
Lost and Found is one of those books I have no recollection of picking up, but there it was in my pile of library books. I picked it up with low expectations, and was captured from the opening line:

By the sixth leg of the game, we have accumulated the following objects: a ski pole, a bishop from a crystal chess set, a sheet of rice paper, a trilobite fossil, an aviator's helmet and a live parrot.

The plot alone was interesting - the event at the centre of Laura and Cassie's estrangement slowly emerges, from both perspectives, discover a secret Laura is unaware of, and see the other relationship change along the way too. While some of these are less surprising than others (the formerly gay couple are still attracted to their own gender), Parkhurst's characterisation and delivery makes their revelations suspenseful and interesting.
The reality TV context added a unique element that I, as a huge fan of The Amazing Race, welcomed. It not only framed the action, creating a situation where contestants couldn't leave or take things at their own pace, and creates external tension and urgency. Not only was there all the behind the scenes stuff the audiences misses (like how the producers avoid relationships developing between cast and crew, and tweaking to add suspense) but the show itself was something I'd love to watch. I particularly liked the deviousness of the clues - TAR is increasingly less clue-oriented and more directive: "go here and do this," and I miss the harder elements present in the earlier seasons. But I digress.
This is Parkhurst's second novel, after Dogs of Babel, which my library has on order, so I don't know if this is typical of her work or a stunning aberration. I will, however, keep a look out and keep you posted. - Alex

I've re-read Lost & Found since this review; for my other review click here. For Lynn's review click here.