Review Detail

Outside Read Book Critique

The Hunger Games is a book that will grab you and not let go until the last page. It starts off with a girl named Katniss who gets chosen to compete in the countries tradition, The Hunger Games. This is an arena in the wild with a total of 24 kids two from each district. While in the arena the kids fight to the death and the winner is honored for years to come. In some cities children are trained from a very young age to survive these Hunger Games. Katniss knows this and is sure she will die a gruesome death in the arena. She believes this until the rankings of all the competitors comes out and she is ranked highest for her skills with a bow and arrow. She feels some confidence but is nervous about competing with boys who are twice her size and strength. When she hits the arena she runs into the forest as quick as possible to avoid being killed early on by the strong men. She lasts a long time and makes a lot of smart strategic moves to give her the best chances of winning. After many twists and turns she finds herself in an almost winning position until the unthinkable happens. To figure out these twists and turns you must read the book.

The content of this book is heart racing and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The first person narration gives a good perspective for this book. It explains how Katniss has had a hard life because her dad was killed in a mining accident. She had to make the decision of starvation or illegal actions to obtain food for her little sister. This forced her to grow up really quick and weakened her relationship with her mom. The city rules say that if humans go outside the city limits to get food they could be punished by death. Although there are rules in place she occasionally sells her food to the city officials so they dont enforce the rules well. The city officials are corrupt and are only doing their jobs for themselves not the people of the city. This first person perspective foreshadows the actions of Katniss actions in the arena. In the beginning of the book it gives insight to her personal life like the many stories of her childhood which includes helping her family survive food shortages. If this story were told in third person it would answer a lot of questions throughout the book. It would tell us why Peeta confessed his love for Katniss. It would inform us of why the capitol made changes in the middle of the games. It would have given us a different view on everyones thoughts during the game whether they had confidence in themselves or not. We could all see what Haymitch is thinking about when he is helping the two kids and who he thinks has a better chance at winning. It would tell us if president snow likes to see people die during the games.

The information in this book would seem to appeal to readers of all types and ages. If you like an action book with many twists and turns this is the book for you. It is an easy read and although appears long it will grab you and not release until the very end. I highly recommend this book.