Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

 

Every culture has beliefs and rituals surrounding the dead: some are buried, some cremated, other entombed. In Panem, home to the novel's protagonist Katniss Everdeen, death is woven into the very fabric of life. Her home, District 12, is no stranger to mining accidents and starvation, a gloomy cloud over the heads of her fellow citizens. What's more is that every child between the ages of twelve and seventeen are required to have their names in a macabre lottery, along with those from the other eleven districts, to send off one boy and one girl to the Hunger Games, a fight to the death on television for the viewing pleasure of the citizens of the Capital, where the winner gets glory and fame and the losers have their remains sent home.

Katniss never expected her younger sister, Prim, a sweet but naive girl, to have her name drawn for the Games, nor is that something that she'll allow to happen. So, in what many see as both a noble and foolish act, Katniss takes her place, essentially signing her own death warrant. But Katniss won't give up without a fight; she's been in the woods, day in and day out since her father died, putting food on the table with her deadly bow and arrow and even more lethal wits and senses. She's been a survivor all this time, and is prepared to fight for her life no matter what the cost, though it doesn't help that her male counterpart is the very boy who saved her from the brink of death all those years ago...

There's a reason for the immense popularity of the Hunger Games: quick paced, with no small amount of violence, or romance for that matter, with each character’s heartbeat ringing in your ears as though you are with Katniss as she makes her way through the grueling weeks of the Games. The book reads much like a movie plays, with each quick action and terse word flowing into one another right up to the shocking ending that leaves the story open for a sequel, which, to no surprise, became a blockbuster literary hit as well.

The Hunger Games has become one of those books that you are almost expected to read, and for a good reason. Cold, hard and fast, this book builds a world that draws the readers in, though they would never want to be a part of. The only question left for the readers is, what do you do, and who do you trust, when you’re all you have left?

5/5
(Amazon - Goodreads)