Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Chandler Jarrels

    Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is about a young girl named Katniss surviving the cold, gloomy coal town she lives in known as District Twelve.  The futuristic world that Katniss lives in is now divided into twelve districts.  All these districts are run by the strict Capitol District that lives off the industries of the other capitols.  As if running all the districts was not enough, every year the Capitol puts on the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a game of survival of the fittest.  Each district is expected to come up with two contestants, a boy and a girl, who are supposed to fight to the death while killing off the other contestants.  The last one standing wins the games and is set for life with anything that could be imagined.  These contestants are chosen every year through what is known as a Reaping.  A Reaping is like a city wide raffle for ages twelve to eighteen.  As a citizen of any district your name is put in every year.  This year Katniss little sister, Prim, is picked for the Hunger Games.  Since Prim is barley twelve years old she is assured death. Katniss is in shock, for Prim to be chosen out of the thousands of teens in District Twelve chances were so slim but still possible.  Katniss steps in front of her and volunteers to save her sisters life in turn of her own.  She is scared and sad at the same time, Katniss can barley keep from crying as Prim holds on to her, remembering that the reapings of each district are televised she keeps her compsure. After she is picked, the contestants are put into a controlled forest and sent to fight to the death to win the Hunger Games. The games take many twists and turns, through romantic love scenes to bloody battles.
    Hunger Games is more than just a girl fighting for her life. It has deeper meanings and themes that run in through the book. One such theme being that adults cannot control kids so effortlessly as they think. This theme means that kids do have a choice in not only their future but their present time as well.Today parents play a huge role in the lives of kids. Having good parental influence is a great thing in a maturing child, but sometimes parents can become over controlling not letting a kid have a stress free childhood.In some scenarios kids end up having not respect for there parents but either fear or discouraging feelings around there parents. Parents or authority figures are supposed to be someone your not afraid of but respect them them for their caring and affectionate attitudes to a child. An example of this is how Katniss and Peeta are able to outsmart the Capitol and fake their suicides in an attempt to both survive the games.  Another deeper meaning in the book is Katniss lack of confidence in herself.  She believes she is going to die.  As she trains, however, she becomes more aware of her talents. One great tool she discovers is her talent with a bow and arrow.  Like Katniss, so do many kids too often underestimate themselves in certain aspects of their life. Katniss learns to let go and allow herself to believe in her skills to potentially survive the Hunger Games. Underestimating ones self creates many downfalls. People need to be confident in themselves, if confidents is not there then success can not happen. Also when people underestimate themselves it does not let them reach there fullest potential to rise above and succeed.
    This book has definitely targeted teenagers between the ages of fourteen to eighteen years old. It has dramatic violence, illusionary romance and a theatrical storyline thats grabs and keeps the interest of the reader. The twisted love triangle between Peeta and Katniss creates drama and tension in the games and the violence is enough to keep any action junky satisfied.  Hunger Games is well deserving of the highest five star rating and highly recommended for any fortunate reader.