"The Hunger Games" book review

The Hunger Games is an amazing story about survival and control. American author Suzanne Collins’ first young adult novel is full of suspense and hardship as the protagonist “Katniss Everdeen” makes her way through a bloody battle of life and death.

The story is about a 16-year-old girl who lives with her mother and younger sister in a place of poverty called district 12. Its watched by the all-powerful capitol that runs the Hunger Games. The hunger games is where two tributes from each district go to the city of Panem where they fight to the death in an artificial arena for a reward for them and their district. One day when the tributes for the next Hunger Games are called, Katniss Everdeen volunteers as tribute in place of her younger sister to prevent her from going. She and another tribute from her district head off to the city Panem where they train for the final battle and learn about how to entertain the rich while not losing each other’s lives.

The genre of this book would be dystopic. The setting takes place in a post apocalyptic future where society is divided into districts that are controlled by the government called the capitol. The people live in the nation of Panem and are restricted of where they can go. They cannot leave their district or go where its not monitored to find more materials for what they need, otherwise they would be punished by torture or executed. Katniss however, goes beyond those rules to provide for her family and herself. After her father died in a coal mining accident, her mother became ill and hopeless and couldn’t move on to care for Katniss and her 12 year old daughter prim. So Katniss takes the affirmative to help sustain her family.

She’s strict on herself to be brave and strong to survive and get what she needs. Her thoughts are filled with what could happen next and she should do next. In the capitol she had to put on a different face to please the viewers that were watching her from every angle. Especially with her other tribute Peeta Mellark who she doesn’t really trust.

Peeta Mellark is the other tribute that goes with Katniss to the hunger games. He’s a broad and strong boy that works in a bakery with his family. His attitudes toward the hunger games is resistant as he says he doesn’t want to feel like he’s being owned by the capitol, like a piece of their games. Though, when he’s around the other tributes of the games, he acts unconfident in himself and doesn’t have any motivation to show his strength. Katniss is usually one of his main motivators to be strong in the area because of his interests in her.

During the games there’s a small love affair between Katniss and Peeta. Peeta is the one who started it, which Katniss doesn’t like, but it helps their survival since the viewers love being entertained from the games. So Katniss “plays” along with it. The two get sponsors that will give them gifts or aid when they’re in battle. Particularly, the spotlight is on Katniss because of her presentation in strength back at the training centre. Katniss gives in to this little act for the good of their survival, but later she realizes that Peeta meant this affair for real.

Throughout the book, my favourite character would have to be Katniss because I like how she thinks about every situation, whether its life threating or not. She speculates what she sees and makes sure that it doesn’t change he way of thinking so she can be true to herself and strong. Though there are times when she overthinks things too much to the point where she cant trust anyone, but eventually she does because she knows they’re just helping her.

When I read the book, I enjoyed most of it, except for the longer dialogue parts. Like when Katniss was in the arena and there was action going on, there were at least two pages of her just thinking and planning which made the situation seem longer or slow. But I overall liked the 1^st person perspective because I knew Katniss’ reasoning for what she did next. For the characters, i cant exactly relate to any of them, but I guess being brave, hard working, and determined to succeed would be a relatable thing. That is something a lot of the characters show because their life is on the line, and they want to make it back home.

Okay, enough about the content, but how about how a reader would like to start reading it. I would say you would need some patience to read all the things Katniss has to say or think. Whether it be a flashback or story, you should read all of it to understand her character more. But its interesting to see the parts of her life in district 12 that you didn’t read at the beginning of the book. Parts of her past come together such as characters that would help you know more about how hard their life was. The book always puts you on a hard cliff hanger making you want to know more in the next chapter. The characters’ reactions are strong and lots of emotion is carried out with them. It makes you question why they are like that or maybe if they must be like that.

This book is very enjoyable and strong to read. Its hard to forget a story like this one be cause it puts in perspective of what life could be like if everything you do is being monitored with no freedom. This is why I would give it 5 stars. I would recommend this to almost anyone who is bored and don’t know what to read to pass the time. A definite read.