On My Night Table


THE HUNGER GAMES BY SUZANNE COLLINS

Set in the future, in what was once North America, The Hunger Games are a fight-to-the -death TV show where kids between 12 and 18 are chosen by lottery to participate.  The Capitol is in the Rockies and is surrounded by 12 Districts. Each District sends a boy and a girl into an arena and the one who lives becomes a star and rich.

This is the story of Katniss Aberdeen (try not to say this name over and over again) a 16 year old girl from District 12 who is a proficient hunter and the main provider for her widowed Mother and her 12 year old sister, Prim.  During The Reaping, the day the Tributes (contestants) are chosen for The Hunger Games, Prim is chosen and Katniss volunteers to take her place.  She and the Baker’s son, Peeta, are chosen as the two Tributes from District 12. They have scant seconds to say their goodbyes and be on their way to the Capitol for Makeovers (!), Training and TV interviews.  Once this is done, The Hunger Games begin: 24 kids fighting to the death for entertainment.

This book is was an exciting page-turner and shockingly violent for a kid’s book but I really enjoyed it. If I found this on the shelves when I was a kid, this would’ve been one I read over and over again.  Katniss is a great heroine. She is smart, skilled and compassionate given the situation she’s been put in. 

The parallels that can be draw from the Dystopian future and our own present are many and I thought of the films Battle Royale and Series 7 many times while reading this.  I also look forward to the film that is coming down the pike.  This fast-paced thrill ride is fun for adult readers as well as its intended audience and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book in this trilogy.