Book Review: "The Hunger Games"

Review by: Austin Pulliam

Through the past school year, I have overheard many people talking about the new action book, “The Hunger Games.” At first just thinking about the title, I really did not think this book sounded good or would really grab my attention like some books do. With me being a sports fanatic, I usually only like to read about sports, so I didn’t think anything of this novel. But after months of hearing great things about it, I finally decided to give it a chance and to be honest… I’m glad I did.

This story is told from the point of view of Katniss, a teenage girl who is selected to complete in the Hunger Games. During the Reaping her little sister’s name is drawn and she steps in to replace and save her. Throughout the book you learn that Katniss is a very reliable narrator who tells everything exactly the way she sees it. She has many fears brought on her by the conditions she lives in. Even though she is thrown into this arena and could be killed, this is the least of her worries. She is more worried with the fact that her family could be starving back at home. While Katniss, has always hunted and provided for her family, now that she is not there she worries that her mom and sister will not be taken care of.

The Hunger Games is set in an unspecified future time when things have gone really bad for humanity. The world, or the bit of it we can see, is dominated by a ruling group of people who live in luxury in a city called the Capitol. The rest of the inhabitants live like peasants in 12 districts that are strictly cordoned off from the Capitol and one another. Life in the districts is awful: it's mostly hard labor, mining coal and farming, and working in factories, in dismal conditions.

To make things even worse for the people in the districts, once a year they hold a town meeting called the reaping. In this special meeting two candidates, a boy and girl are chosen from each district through a process called the lottery. From all the districts a total of 24 kids, aged 12-18 are trained and thrown into an arena in which they are unfamiliar, and are made to fight until there is only one person remaining.

Like I said earlier, when I first heard of this book I didn’t think it sounded very good. It didn’t sound like my type of book. But finally when I gave in and gave it a try, I realized that this book is great and is appealing to the large majority of readers. Everyone I have asked has loved this book. Ranging from teens to older adults, everyone seems to be attracted to Suzanne Collins, and all the adventures that go on inside this fictional story.

Suzanne Collins makes this book interesting to all readers in many ways. She tries to tie in girls, mostly teenage, by writing about love and all that Katniss goes through. She also relates to guy readers by making Katniss seem as almost a “female Rambo,” fighting and hunting all through the book to overcome all obstacles. Also this book produces lots of controversy, by talking about the Capital, and all the horror that the kids face in the arena. This keeps readers tuned in the whole time and keeps the suspense going. I can promise you this book never gets to a boring spot. Another great way that Collins keeps the book moving along is her sense of humor. For example every time there is a need in the novel it is taken care of in some miraculous way.

After all the hype about this novel, I am very glad that I decided to read it. It was a great book that kept me totally tuned in the whole time. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a great book to read, or if you just want a few A.R. points. This is a book that will have you on the edge of your seat the whole way. With this book being the lead way for a trilogy, I can’t wait to pick up the next two books. The “Hunger Games” definitely left me with a hunger for more of Suzanne Collin’s novels.