The Hunger Games, Chapters 1-3

Obviously, this is going to be spoiler heavy since I’m taking notes on each chapter as I go along.

Chapter 1
Katniss is pretty tough and says the only person she’s sure she loves is her little sister.  Ok.  So that’s how we’re starting off.  I kind of see her point about her mom though; her mom (as far as I can tell so far) abandoned the girls when her husband died, leaving all the responsibility on eleven year old Katniss.  There’s something really terrible about parents abdicating responsibility, even when you’re an adult.
The reaping… Well, that’s terrible.
I haven’t seen the movies, but it’s impossible not to have visuals from the previews and adds in my head.  Katniss doesn’t really look like Jennifer Lawrence in my head, except in her reaping dress.  That one image is stuck.  And Effie is definitely Elizabeth Banks.  Strangely, I have no idea what the actress playing Prim looks like, so she’s a sort of  watercolor of a girl, which is how most characters in books are for me.

Chapter 2
More on Mom.  It seems like she sank into a deep depression when her husband died and couldn’t come out of it.  Ok.  On one level, I agree with Katniss’s rage, but I’ve faced down depression.  Not getting out of bed isn’t about not caring.  It’s about the weight that’s settled on your chest, crushing the life, and the air, and the hope right out of you.  So, I get the mother’s side of things too.
The salute is moving.
Peeta.  So, there’s a quiet strength there at first glance.  He was brave enough to take a beating for a girl he’d never met, but then never brought it up to her later.  Ok, this could be interesting.

Chapter 3
“I know velvet because my mother has a dress with a collar made of the stuff.”  – I don’t know why that’s hitting me, but it is.
The mockingjay pin has shown up.  I knew it was a thing, but not where it came from.  For some reason, I thought it would be introduced much later and by someone older.  The history of the mockingjays, while scientifically unlikely, is interesting.  I’m curious to see how they develop into something important enough to name book 2 after.
The dinner on the train is almost a slap in the face, isn’t it?
Haymitch…  Well, that’s about all to say about him right now.

So, day one, three chapters down.  I think I’m going to keep myself to three chapters a day, if only because it’s rather a lot to write everyday otherwise.