The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

#seriessunday


Hardcover, 374 pages
Published October 31st 2008 by Scholastic Press (first published 2008)
ISBN 0439023483 (ISBN13: 9780439023481)


From Kobobooks:
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen who lives alone with her mother and younger sister regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival for her is second nature. Without really meaning to she becomes a contender. But if she is to win she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. Acclaimed writer Suzanne Collins author of the New York Times bestselling The Underland Chronicles delivers equal parts suspense and philosophy adventure and romance in this searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present.

My Review:
Okay, so I saw the movie before I read the book. I must say that it did make a difference in the experience of this book. I applaud Katniss for having enough love to take her sisters place. The world in which Katniss lived in isn't as relate able as other books I have read but the way it is describe and the characters made it believable. The Hunger Games is cruel and sadden. It's a fight to the death while everyone in the districts are required to watch. The people behind the games can manipulate situations to make things more interesting which usually means more dangerous.
So the part that got to me the most (because of the movie) was anything that had to do with little Rue. The girl in the movie resemblance my nieces so much that I cried when she died (both when I saw the movie and again when I read the book). I was not surprised that she died for two reasons. One, she was the youngest. I mean what chance does a twelve year old have against eighteen year old, especially eighteen year old males. Sorry to the feminist out there but you have to admit a twelve year old female against and sixteen to eighteen year old male will lose every time (in a physical fight). Second reason I knew she was going to die, she's black. We usually don't make it to the end of the movie. (Not a racist comment, not a race card [though I could give some examples of a couple things in the book that rubbed me the wrong way]...just many years of observation. Check out any thriller or horror movie if you want proof.)
The love story in the book didn't interest me at all. I honestly didn't care who she ended up with. I will read the second book as I am interested in what the Capitol has planned since I am sure that they will try to make her pay for the stunt she pulled at the end of the games.

Challenges:
2012 Support Your Local Library
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge
Dystopia