The Hunger Games ~ Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games ~ Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games takes place in the future in what was formerly known as North America. There was a great rebellion and widespread hunger and killing throughout the country. A new country, Panem, was formed, and a strict government, The Capitol, now rules over twelve districts. There were thirteen districts but The Capitol obliterated the thirteenth district as an example of what they will do if there is an uprising. As a reminder of how terrible the time of rebellion was, The Capitol hosts The Hunger Games once a year. A boy and a girl who are between the ages of twelve and eighteen are randomly selected from each district to compete. The twenty four young people are placed in an outdoor arena (more the size of a national park than a stadium). The contestants must fight to the death, and the entire competition is televised live. The last contestant alive wins. The winner becomes famous. She and her district are given many rewards. Sixteen year old Katniss is appalled when her twelve year old sister is selected to compete in the games. She quickly volunteers to go in her place. The boy who is selected is named Peeta. He and Katniss have a history. Peeta is the baker’s son. When she was younger, Katniss was starving and looking for food for her family in the trash outside the bakery. Peeta’s abusive mother screamed at her and sent her away. Minutes later Peeta dropped a loaf of bread into the fire “accidentally”. His mother beat him and told him to throw it to the pigs. But Peeta threw the loaves to Katniss instead. Katniss always wondered why Peeta risked the wrath of his mother to give her bread. It wasn’t as if they were friends. Peeta is a merchant’s son and Katniss lives in The Seam, where the coal miners abide. Katniss believes there lives are very, very different.

Katniss knows that eventually she and Peeta will be enemies. After all, only one of them can win The Hunger Games. But as they travel to The Capitol and prepare to compete in the games, she finds herself caring about his well being more and more. Peeta also seems to genuinely care about Katniss, and this confuses her even more. When The Hunger Games begin Katniss has an advantage over some of the competitors. She has been hunting and scavenging for years outside the fence of District Twelve. Her father died in a coal mine explosion, and her mother suffered a paralyzing bout of depression. It was up to Katniss to keep her family alive. Katniss has excellent survival skills, and she does well in the games. Peeta also survives the first few days and makes an unlikely alliance with some of the more elite contestants. Katniss feels betrayed and hurt. She knows Peeta has deceived someone, but she doesn’t know if it’s her or his new allies. Katniss continues to struggle to survive in the arena all the while questioning the practices of The Capitol. She begins to see how truly horrible and unfair the system The Capitol has designed is. Is there anything she can do about it, or will she be forced to fight to the death and become just another pawn in The Hunger Games?

The idea for this story is very original and interesting. The plot definitely kept me reading, but I had heard so much hype about this series that I was expecting much more. First of all, I should have known that a book where teenagers are forced to hunt and kill each other was never going to be a favorite with me. Like the Da Vinci Code, I find it too morbid to really fall in love with the book. The Hunger Games lacks the mental challenges that the Da Vinci Code offers too. It was the romantic tension between Katniss and Peeta that kept me reading this book. Yes, I did want to see if Katniss was going to survive, but I was going to be completely angry if Peeta was killed. Therein lies the beauty of the book, I suppose. You want both Katniss and Peeta to survive, but The Hunger Games are designed so that only one competitor may be left alive. I was hoping that somehow they would bust out of that arena and start a rebellion. You’ll have to read the book if you want to find out what they actually happens though. ;-)

I think this book would be a great one to really hook middle school and high school students into a series. There’s romance. There’s danger. It’s very exciting. I would want to warn parents though that there is quite a bit of violence in the book, and the subject matter is pretty heavy. Some very thought provoking questions arise as you are reading. In some ways Panem is not so different from the state of world today. If you’re a parent, The Hunger Games is a great candidate for reading along with your kids. I can imagine that it would spark some great discussions!

One last note: I went to request the next book, Catching Fire, at the library and found that there is a HUGE waitlist. I am looking into buying the book because I don’t want to wait that long to read it. So perhaps I liked the book a little more than I thought I did. J