The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a magnificent, thrilling book. It is perhaps my favorite book in the series. At first I didn’t really think much of the Trilogy or the first book of it. There was nothing that really drew me to the book, until I read the summary alone.
The book starts by describing the main character, Katniss or know to her close friend as “catnip.” She happens to be the narrator of this book. Katniss is a brave, strong, caring girl. She cares for her little sister and her mom. Her father had died in a coal mining accident. Katniss has had a very hard life. She has had to fend for her mom because nobody besides her could. Her mother had an illness, some sort of depression. Katniss HAD to take on the parent roll, meaning she earned the food and money for her family. But this all changes through out the book, her mother now has the medicine she needs to be better. Katniss and her family live in district 12 in the country of Panem. And to show that the capitol still owns all of them, the capitol holds a “sporting event” called the Hunger games. The Hunger Games consist of 2 tributes from every district, which are then put it fight till the death until one last tribute is standing. However, the tributes are picked randomly and without any complaining. If someone does complain everyone from that district is destroyed. When Katniss finds out that her sister is picked to fight till the death she steps in and takes Primrose’s place. After this they begin preparing for the games.
I absolutely love this book, but as every book does, it has its cons. First off, I don’t like how the book doesn’t give a clear time set of when this book takes place. My first guess was the 1940s because there is no running water and the living conditions seem horrible. However, as I got further into the series I realized that it takes place in the distant future, when the world is corrupt.
Things I do like about this book include how amazing Collins describes each of her character’s emotions. She describes every tear, every cut, and every problem so well that I feel as if I’m that character in that character’s position. This book allows me to explore Panem without having to go through everything that Katniss has to.
A quote from the book that really caught my attention was, “I was ill. I could have treated myself if Id had the medicine I have now,” says Katniss’s mom. As Katniss says her last goodbyes she tells her mom of how she cant be there anymore for the two of them and how she now has to be fending for Primrose. This really touched my heart. I felt all the remorse of Katniss’s mother. All those years where her mother did nothing to help the family must’ve been hard on Katniss. I chose this quote because I believe is shows how much of a conflicted and tough character Collins made Katniss, which made the book a whole lot better.
Overall, this is truly one amazing book. The emotion in this book is certainly like no other. I hope that everyone enjoys this book as much as I have. This is a fantastic book, and a worthy read. I strongly encourage readers 12 and up to read this book.