REVIEW | The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Absolutely addictive! When it came to Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, I had to force myself to stop reading and missed reading it when I couldn’t.

Set in the future, the novel is the first in a trilogy and centers around two main characters, Katniss and Peeta, teenagers who live in the land mass that once constituted the continental United States. The new kingdom is Panem, a portrait of a society dominated by unfettered Socialism: Individuals become pawns and tools. Life is held without value, traded or ended at the will of a government authority. In Panem, we see a ruling class and an underclass, where the ruling class dominates by fear and oppression. Government controls the food supply, and thus controls the existence of its people.

The lack of hope in the citizens’ lives breaks your heart. It’s a dark existence, the type of Socialist society we knew about before the fall of Communism began in 1989, only much worse.

Once a year, to tamp down dreams of rebellion, the Panem government forces each of its districts to sacrifice two teenaged citizens to compete in The Hunger Games, where participants fight to the death, and the winner—the last man or woman standing—is rewarded with a year’s food supply for the district. And it is broadcast live on television, from participant selection to preparation to the competition itself.

Enter District 12. Enter Katniss and Peeta.

Picture Lord of the Flies meets reality TV. I’ve always loved the concept behind Lord of the Flies and have wanted to create something akin to it for today. Well, Suzanne Collins beat me to the punch and served up a TKO. The Hunger Games is one of those books I wish I’d written myself. Highly recommended. I’ve already started reading the second book.

Never give up!

John Herrick
www.johnherrick.net
johnherricknet.blogspot.com