Songbirds and Snakes, Part 1: Creative Characters

​The creator of the Hunger Games novels, Suzanne Collins, outdid herself when she wrote the prequel book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Within its lengthy pages (this novel was even longer than its predecessors) we see the infamous President Snow as a young man and follow along with his pivotal choices that lead to the Hunger Games as we see them in the original trilogy.
           
Traditionally, I would have read the actual Hunger Games novels first. But since I already knew the story more or less from the films, I wanted the experience of reading all the books in chronological order and seeing the pieces fall into place as I go, instead of retrospectively. I was thankful I already knew that Snow would turn to the “dark side,” otherwise his losses and choices at the end of the book would have been very depressing indeed!
           
I must say, Suzanne Collins has a real gift for character creation. Within the first few chapters, I was already hooked on Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Grey. They aren’t even the type of characters I relate to, yet they were pleasantly complex and intriguing. Snow is an upper-class Capitol boy with high breeding, but his family is poor and starving, and all of his ambitions stem from his desire to provide for them. Lucy Grey is a backwater tribute from District 12, but she’s also a brilliant singer. Anyone who can give a stage performance immediately after being handed a death sentence deserves my respect!
           
In fact, as the book ended, instead of being angry at these characters for their decisions, I found myself sad for them. I felt that the dark world in which they lived led them to the choices they made, and in reality, there was probably never a chance for any of them to live happily. Their standards were set low, and all of their dreams and desires were born out of the struggle to survive. None of them would have been able to even imagine the kind of “happy ending” we dream about in the here and now, little lone work toward such a goal. Despite all that happened, I am impressed that I don’t hate Coriolanus or Lucy or even Sejanus, idiot though he was (even if it really was Coriolanus who turned him in). It is a tribute to Suzanne Collins’ mastery as a writer that I can feel so attached to these characters even as I disagree with so many of their choices. Often, as characters veer away from the path I’d like to see them take, I lose touch with them and the story, but that’s not the case here.
           
I can only hope that someday I’m able to write such amazing and in-depth characters. A character you continue to root for even after they turn astray is a sign of great writing and indicates a story that will stick with you long after you’ve finished the book. For if we can cheer for someone in a book even as they fail, then perhaps we will be encouraged to love our neighbors and those around us in reality, even as they stumble and fall ;-).

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
Until the next time, keep reading!

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