The Hunger Games: Chapter 2

Chapter one introduced the entire world as our protagonist knows it, moving from her home to her town to the forests outside of her town and back. It began with Katniss waking up on the morning of reaping day, went through her daily life, provided exposition for the history of her world, and ended with the lynchpin that will move the entire plot forward from thereon out.

Chapter two is little more than half the length of chapter one, but it’s not lacking in purpose; it just has a narrower scope that is explored more deeply. There is some more world-building, but now we’re really getting into character development. Beginning where the last chapter left off and ending with the closing ceremonies for the reaping, the main focuses are on the effects of Katniss’ actions, her past with her family, and her past with the boy who is chosen to be her counterpart in the Games.

Trigger warnings: This review includes mentions and/or discussion about survivor’s guilt, parental neglect, and parental abuse.

The Hunger Games: Chapter 1

My favorite English teacher back in high school taught me something very important about literature: First impressions matter. A good book will get the most bang for its buck out of the first chapter, the first paragraph, the first sentence.

Just consider how many things need to happen here: We, the audience, are introduced to someone we don’t know and yet on whose shoulders the entire story rests. She lives in a world that none of us are familiar with, which has a unique history and culture that we’re unaware of. Collins has the colossal responsibility of hooking us into that world, teaching us all about it, fleshing out her main and minor characters, making us care about those characters, and establishing a plot that interests us enough to make us want to know more. All in the span of twenty pages.

Let’s see how she fairs.