Book Review - The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is a popular Young Adult novel written by Susanne Collins and the first in a trilogy. Set in the post-apocalyptic future, the United States has fallen and is replaced by the nation of Paneem. After a bloody civil war ended the winners, The Capitol –decided that every year a competition called The Hunger Games; where a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18 will be selected at a ceremony called ‘The Reaping’ to become tributes for each of the 12 districts and will be put in an arena to fight to the death until a lone victor remains. It is held to remind the Districts of the war that they lost and how they are at the mercy of the Capitol.

The story’s protagonist is 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, the sole provider for her family, which lives in the poorest area of the poorest district, otherwise known as The Seam of District 12. Forced by poverty and desperation, she illegally hunts game outside the district boundaries to feed her family. After her 12-year-old sister is reaped for The Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place and is seen by some to have a chance of winning.

Katniss’ personal opinions allow the reader to be drawn into seeing the opulence and wastage undertaken by the ignorant Capitol citizens and how the televised Games are seen as entertainment.  She is shaped by a prep team to win the hearts of Capitol citizens and encourage them to sponsor her, is given an image and a backstory of being star crossed lovers with the male tribute from her district as the audience is told that this will give her the best chance of surviving the Hunger Games. 

While there is a ‘love triangle’ in the novel, this is not the main focus of the book as the key themes are to fight for what is right and facing your fears to overcome obstacles and to beat the odds. 

The Hunger Games shines a light on some of the issues – class (how poorer kids put their name in multiple times to get more food), conscription (as those who volunteer are very rare), media control (attendance to watch the Games in public places in mandatory in the districts) and dictatorship (the President holds all the power and is not accountable to anyone) these are considered to be heavy topics within society that is rarely given to young people to analyse.

Also many parallels are able to be drawn to the real world – while most of the world goes hungry the small minority known as the West wastes millions of dollars in food every year and North Korea does not allow it’s citizens or leave the country or see anything other than state approved propaganda.

It’s a relatively easy read and the characters are realistic and relatable in many respects. Susanne Collins paints a vivid world that is easy to travel through with Katniss.