Read This!: The Hunger Games

By Suzanne Collins

Book challenge: Science fiction

It is funny because no matter who I told I was reading The Hunger Games, their reaction was always “That doesn’t sound like a book you would read.” To which I replied “It’s for the challenge” and they would give an “Ah! Makes sense!”

 If it weren’t for the Book Challenge, I would never have picked up The Hunger Games because its:

1. Science Fiction
2. Set in a dystopian America
3. About a group of kids fighting to the death
4. Young adult

None of these things is my genre of choice but people have been proclaiming the awesomeness that is The Hunger Games forever and I figured it was a sly way to get sci fi over with. If I haven’t mentioned this fact, I absolutely hate sci fi. That is why it is on the book challenge.

Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12 of Panem, the country that used to be America. Every year two children (one boy and one girl) between the ages 12 and 18 are selected to fight to the death in The Hunger Games, an event put on by the government of Panem. These 24 kids are thrown into an arena and are there until everyone but one is dead while the entire country is made to watch. This year, Katniss goes to The Hunger Games taking the place of (semi-spoiler) her younger sister who was selected in the drawing.

I must confess this was a pretty good book and I intend to read the next book, Catching Fire. I liked that Katniss was strong and didn’t need some man to come and save her. She was shooting arrows and taking names. The sci-fi’y bits got some eye rolls from me but again, I hate sci fi, so no surprise there.

My only complaint is that I thought it was slow to get into the story of the games and there was a lot of focus on the prep.

I don’t know why Suzanne Collins wrote this book but is this some kind of commentary on reality TV and where it will end up? Perhaps. I kept thinking this is such an odd thing for people to watch and for them to even have. How the lives of these children don’t mean anything if they are killed for entertainment.

I also think it is strange that is a young adult book. The subject matter is so dark and vicious. It’s seems a bit much for kids.