The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins came highly recommended to me. I’m a sucker for action, adventure, sci-fi and fantasy so I figured why not give it a shot. In the 2008 young adult novel Collins weaves a interesting world which rises from the ashes of North America reminiscent of ancient Rome crossed with an infusion of science fiction.
In the future natural disasters, wars, and famine have destroyed the world we know. In its place the the totalitarian nation of Panem has risen. North America, or what’s left of it has been divided into 13 districts all under the service to the Capital. Seventy four years prior to the novel district 13 tried to rise up and declare it’s independence only to be obliterated. To assert its dominance the capital demands the each of the 12 remain districts provide one male and one female “tribute”each. These tributes range from 12-18 years old and are forced into battling to the death in a gladiatorial arena for the nation’s entertainment, the titular Hunger Games. Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen, a resident of the smallest and poorest district, District 12, was forced to grow up at a young age when where father died, and her mother shut down emotionally. Her life has become centered around keeping her mother and and younger sister Prim alive. However when Prim is selected via lottery for the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss has no choice but to volunteer to take her place. She will be taken to the Capital where she will be showcased for the nation’s amusement and ultimately forced into a death match with 23 other children. Katniss and her fellow tribute Peeta have to band together to survive.
Starting with chapter 1 one of the things that jumped off the page the most for me was the tone of the novel. As the narrator, Katniss tells us volumes about her personality, when she talks about how she tried to drown her sister’s cat. The heroine isn’t a sociopath but a realist. The cat, a worm invested stray, is a suffering innocent for Prim to save. To Katniss it’s just another mouth the feed that will most likely die anyway. Katniss is forged by her hard life, strong, pragmatic, but distant and cold. She is jaded, and understandably so. She lives in abject poverty, struggling to survive in a world which requires human sacrifices on a yearly basis. Many protagonists in young adult fiction are brooding, dark, and angry without any reason to be. Sure, it appeals to immature melodramatic teenagers but it creates shallow character development. In the case of the Hunger Games, Katniss’s darkness and hard edges are completely justified. In the brief instances where she lets her guard down and true human compassion can come through, its all the more heart wrenching. I like Katniss as a character and heroine. If I were to meet her in real life I’d probably have a hard time getting along with her, but she makes for an interesting protagonist.
The romance in Hunger Games, is a nice twist on standard teenage romance. It’s not idealized, so despite the ridiculous setting it comes off quite believe, and realistic. Peeta is a kind honest polite boy. He’s loved Katniss, since he was a child. Katniss is largely oblivious to this crush, and has a hard time understanding Peeta’s overall kindness, and his affection for her. To complicate matters further she may harbor emotions for someone else. Placed in the arena and pitted against each other renders the two characters as star crossed lovers. Katniss falsely reciprocates, Peeta’s love to garner support from the audience. Though this could frame Katniss as cold and manipulative, it makes her more of a sympathetic character. She is so emotionally damaged that she can’t understand genuine love, until she becomes confused about her own feelings. She starts to understand Peeta. This confusion gives hope to Katniss. Despite the horrors and hardships she experiences, despite her scars she might be able to heal.
The world of Panem is an intriguing distopia full of contrasts. The capital is a Huxleyian Brave New World where the excessive opulence renders the populace is blissfully desensitized to the horror of sending children to kill each other for entertainment. Extravagant food is in abundance. Citizens die their hair and skin strange colors, and receive odd body modification. They can’t see the Big Brother style oppression to the districsts around them. District 12 is out dated, and riddled with poverty. The people of District 12 have to suffer through subsistence and famine. Their medicine is limited to holistic remedies. Other districts kept under the tight grip of peace keepers. Each is forced to manufacture a product to maintain the capital. I would like to see more of this world. Maybe in the sequels…
The Hunger Games is raw, gritty, and brutally violent. Suzanne Collins resists idealizing or glorifying the story. It’s one of the most mature and undeniably bad ass pieces of young adult fictions I’ve come across. I find myself very excited that it’s being made into a movie. Now on to read its sequel Catching Fire.
On a scale of one to Epic (Epic=10) Hunger Games gets an 8.2.