I received The Hunger Games as a gift (thanks, Miss E.) and dove right into this book. I have been hearing so much about it for the past few months but mostly from the movie trailers and the hype surrounding it. I’d never heard of it before then which some would find strange since I read so much. I’ll try and write the premise without ruining too much of the story for those who, like me, are late as hell when it comes to popular culture.
The story takes place in the future where North America got wrecked and got split into 13 different colonies. Each of these colonies specialize in something. The main character, Katniss Everdeen, live in District 12 who handles the coal mining for the nation of Panem. That’s what America is called now. She hunts for food for her mother and sister as her father died years ago in a coal mining accident. Her partner in crime is Gale who dreams of one day taking down the system for the way they treat everyone.
The Capitol, which is where the rich folks live, has an annual event called The Hunger Games. Its pretty much a honked up event where kids ages 12 to 18 have their name placed in a lottery and each District has a boy and girl entered. It’s a televised show where they murder each other until one is left. Katniss’ younger sister, Prim, is called to participate but Katniss chooses to replace her. Another kid named Peeta, the son of a baker, is chosen as well.
They arrive at The Capitol and are overwhelmed by how clean and enormous everything is. They are groomed and restyled and presented for the nation to see. After interviews and some training they are released into a zone where The Hunger Games will take place. Immediately kids are slaughtered as Katniss makes her way into the woods.
There is more but you’ll have to read this book or see the movie in a couple weeks. It’s a good and easy read but I do have some complaints. The pacing, once the games begin, is strange. There isn’t enough character development of many of the “tributes” aka contestants, so when some are killed it has no real impact.
Also, as interesting as it is for some readers, likely females, the love triangle that is attempted feels forced. Girl likes boy but not really. Boy loves girl. Other boy has never given love for girl who thinks she may love both boys but not quite sure. My brain started to play the theme to Dawson’s Creek whenever Katniss started pining. “I don’t wanna wait for our lives to be over…”
The ending gave me the same feeling as some of Stephen King’s later books in the 90’s. Here is a sample of my reaction while reading stuff like The Cell. “Wow, this is good. Okay, what was that for? Cool, good again. Better wrap this up. Huh? The hell was that?!” There were several points where the book should’ve ended but it kept going. And going. And going. By the time it was done such outlandish things happened that I could only wonder how the filmmakers were gonna handle it. Especially the fact that the main character does not talk much. She internalizes everything. Though this is a book for youths it is very violent and very bloody.
I’m still gonna watch the movie, don’t get me wrong. But this book just let me down towards the last 30% or so of it. A very strong start that had an ending that obviously built towards another book I’m not sure if I want to read. Lots of comparisons are being made between The Hunger Games and Battle Royale. They’re similar in that kids far from home are fighting to survive. So I guess its just like Lord Of The Flies.
There’s a whole theme that is a social commentary on war and reality television which is funny since for two years I have worked in reality television. As a reader you are told how messed up The Capitol is and how a revolt against them failed years ago. But then you wonder “Why not do it again instead of fighting to the death for people’s entertainment?” The whole point is to show the poor “This is to remind you not to step out of line!”
If the tournament is boring The Gamemasters, producers, will throw things in to make the game more interesting. You know the game is rigged and bets are placed. You earn sponsors by being entertaining. You wonder why it took so long for someone to use this to their advantage the way Katniss does.
I give The Hunger Games a 3 out of 5.
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