Book Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games causes a conundrum in my brain. It is riveting. I read the first book of the series in less than 24 hours, and that’s with a full time job, three kids and a wife. Suzanne Collins does an amazing job of weaving an enthralling tale. A friend at work asked me at lunch what I was reading that was so interesting that I couldn’t even put it down as I ate. I started to tell him about the book.

It’s post-apocalyptic, when all known countries no longer exist and one central government has taken over what remains. The Capital controls everything, and has divided the citizens into 12 districts. Each district is completely isolated, is starving for food, and provides a necessary resource to the Capital, like District 12 provides Coal.
There was once a rebellion from District 13, which no longer exists because it was bombed into oblivion by the Capital for rebellion. To convince the rest of the districts to obey, they hold the annual “Hunger Games” They select 2 teenagers from each district in a lottery, and then put them in a huge arena where they kill each other until only one kid is left alive. That kid is the winner, and their district gets additional food and a slightly easier life for the next year.

At this point my friend said “That actually sounds rather vicious and gruesome…I’m not sure I want to read something like that.”

Our conversation ended there, but I wanted to tell him how that’s not how it’s portrayed at all. The author fascinates you with the back story of the “tributes” which are the kids selected to fight in the Hunger Games. After learning about their families we learn about their trip to the Capital and how they are dressed up and presented as Gladiators. We learn their skills, the amazing clothes they wear, their fighting gear. We learn who has made secret alliances, who the crowd is cheering for and why. There is a “Head Gamemaker” who designs the battle arena each year. He designs it with advantages, challenges, and ways to make the tributes come closer together to make them fight, so there will be more action for the viewers at home. The arena is different every year, and when I finished the book I was anxious to see what next year’s arena would look like. The author didn't disappoint. The second arena is AMAZING! The different weapons, and traps and the entire set-up is genius.

That’s when it hit me. I’m a citizen of the Capital. Suzanne Collins (the author) is the Head Gamemaker. She is taking something horrific and terrible, and presenting it in such a way that I can’t turn away. She makes me like some tributes and cheer for them, while hating others. I find myself cheering for some to win…to kill the others. It’s like the movie “The Running Man” with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I am cheering because the games are fun and interesting, even though people are dying. I’ve become a Roman citizen at the Colosseum watching the Gladiators fight to the death.
The sad part is, I’ve read the second book, and I am actively reading the third. I can’t put them down. It’s like watching all the seasons of “24.” Each is bloodier, and more tragic than the last, but because of the way they are portrayed, it’s hard not to watch. Suzanne Collins has proven she is the ultimate Head Gamemaker, and she is making millions doing it.