The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW. Okay. So I admit, I was a little skeptical about reading this book, but WOW. I read pretty much non-stop from a Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon, and I would have probably read it all in one day had I begun in the morning.

This is technically a young adult book, but it will hook ANYONE of any age. A dystopian novel, The Hunger Games is set in the country of Panem, which used to be the US. The country is divided into districts of varying levels of prosperity, from the well-off to the poverty-stricken, but all districts are under the absolute authority of the Capitol. In punishment for past rebellions, each of the districts must send two young people to compete in the annual Hunger Games--a sadistic Survivor-type competition that ends only when one victor remains and the others have killed each other off or died from exposure, starvation, and so on.

The novel has echos of Brave New World, Roman gladiator culture, reality television, and The Road. It's a brilliant reflection on power and privilege, human fascination with violence as entertainment, voyeurism and privacy, rebellion, and of course, teenage romance (written in a smart, non-cheesy, complex manner). The sequel comes out September 1...not sure how I am going to make it till then! Better than most so-called adult literature I've read in the last year, hands down.

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