Hunger Games is the first of three books in the Hunger Games Trilogy all written by Suzanne Collins, who is also the author of the Underland Chronicles.
I first heard about this book through a classmate. I've known him ever since we were in first grade and his mother was my teacher. He always knew that I was a bookworm and he told me he had recently finished this novel. I asked him what kind it was and who wrote it. He said it was titled hunger games and that he would just bring it to school for me to take a look for myself on the next day.
The next day, He didn't only bring the Hunger Games, but he also brought the sequel, Catching Fire, and both in hardbound. I immediately noticed how cool the cover was. It was simple yet stunning, even though I had no idea of the relevance of the bird. He gave me the books and told me that I should get a copy and get reading. He told me it wasn't like any other book. I was about teenagers that were killing each other and the way the world was during that time: the future. It wasn't the future that was projected it sci-fi movies (robotic, advanced, and full of reflective clothing), but a future that was degraded. The world had not moved forward, but backwards.
The book opens with the introduction of the main character, Katniss Everdeen, and the situation of where she lives. A country called Panem which is divided into thirteen districts, the thirteenth of which has been destroyed. She lives in the twelfth and poorest district where coal is the main product. She lives with her little sister, Prim, and her mother which she seems to be taking care of instead of the other way around ever since her father died from a mining explosion.
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| Paperback Cover |
Panem is place where the government or the Capitol, as they call it, controls everything and there really sems to be no escape. The Capitol controls everything through the fear of the people. Yearly, they remind the people of Panem that they powerless through what they call "The Hunger Games" in which two (one boy and one girl) teenagers are selected from each district to be put inside the arena and fight the hunger games while all people, especially the people in the Capitol watch it on live television. It is treated as if it is just a siple reality show, except for the fact that lives are taken. The last one standing receives fame, fortune, and and supplies like food and shelter. Inside the arena, it's either kill or be killed.
Katniss was never really even chosen to go into the arena. She had taken the place of her sister during the drawing of names. Her journey starts of with training and strategic plans on how the winner would come from their district. Katniss and her fellow tribute, Peeta Mellark are guided and coached by previous Hunger Games winner of their district, Haymitch Abernathy, a drunkard, clever man who seems to care about nothing. As Katniss always thought, the odds were never in her favor.
"Winning means fame and fortune.
Losing means certain death.
The Hunger Games have begun...."
I will admit that the book had surprised me and I wasn't expecting that I would like it as much as I do. Suzanne Collins was able to fit in the book an assortment of characters and their different personalities. She was also able to portray the kind of government that no one would want, unless you were one of those who were fortunate and had no real idea of how the districts were. She was also able to show that she was quite adept in the field of media in the way that she was able to write about the way the television in the book was manipulated and how the truth was stretched in many ways.
This book was such an experience to me. It made me think and also, it kind of gave me butterflies, as the book gives Katniss quite a love story. Even though this book is rated or in the category for young adults, anyone would be blessed with the pleasure of reading it.
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