The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games presents a story of oppression and survival to the backdrop of a future dystopian society. Sixteen year-old Katniss Everdeen has been the breadwinner of her family since her father died. To combat starvation, she risks the punishment of government authorities every day by hunting and gathering in the forbidden woods outside the desolate and destitute District 12. But her hard life becomes an advantage overnight when she is picked to represent her District in the annual Hunger Games.

The novel is categorized as Young Adult, but like most book in its genre, the storytelling and subject matter help it to appeal to a broader range of readers - think Lois Lowry’s The Giver or Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series. Books in this vein typically take a mildly unsettling aspect of modern American society and re-imagine it in the extreme as a form of social commentary. Suzanne Collins’ focus is on voyeurism (or, in more pop-culture terms, our obsession with reality television).

Take the barbarism of the Roman Gladiator events, combine it with reality television and a rich imagination of futuristic technology, and you have the Hunger Games. Collin’s description of the games is 100% action packed, with Katniss fighting for survival at every step. And if the idea of teenagers fighting to the death isn’t disturbing enough, add in the fact that the deaths are broadcast on live national television, and you’ve a got plenty of food for thought. Collins never lets the reader forget the perverse notion that the games are presented, to at least some extent, for entertainment value. Katniss and the other participants are cleaned, primped and paraded in front of society like paper dolls, then forced to slaughter one another. The whole preparation sequence was eerily familiar; by the end of the book I was almost ashamed at my obsession with the Biggest Loser.

The Hunger Games is a quick read, completely engrossing from start to finish. Collins concludes the plotline but leaves the book on a semi-cliffhanger, leaving me completely ravenous for more. I’ve got book 2 in the series, Catching Fire, on hold at the library.

My Rating: 4 Stars

Re-readability Rating: 3 Stars