The Hunger Games, By Suzanne Collins

About the Author
Suzanne Collins started her writing career as a screenwriter for such Nickelodeon TV shows as Clarissa Explains It All and The Mystery of Shelby Woo. She credits Jim Promios, a children’s writer she met while working for the WB show Generation O! with inspiring her to write children’s books. Her first book, Gregor the Overlander, was the resulting novel, the first in her five-part series, The Underland Chronicles. The Hunger Games is the first novel in her most recent book series. It remained on the New York Times Best Seller List for 92 consecutive weeks.

Review
It’s the future and the country of Panem is divided into districts with District One, the location of the Capitol, being in charge. Many years before, the districts rebelled against the Capitol, but the Capitol overthrew the rebellion and to serve as a reminder, they created the Hunger Games. Once per year, two people are chosen to represent their district in a nationally televised competition to the death. The final survivor claims victory and enough food to allow their district to live in comfort and ease for a year.

Katniss Everdeen has already lost her father to a mine explosion. As a result, she has learned to provide for her younger sister, Prim, and her mother, who did not cope well with her husband’s death. With the help of her friend, Gale, they hunt, fish, and gather food from the forbidden section of forest beyond their homes. Katniss is skillful with her bow and arrow, and her grit has rescued her from touchy situations in the past, but when she hears her sister’s name is called to represent District Twelve in the Hunger Games, it is more than she can bear. She strides forward and immediately volunteers to take her sister’s place.

The mandatory primping and preparation required for the games is almost more than Katniss can stand, especially since she is joined in this competition by Peeta, the baker’s son to whom Katniss feels obligated thanks a past kindness. She is thankful for the kindness he once showed her, but the games are about survival and she did promise Prim that she’d return. Katniss soon learns the game of managing the Capitol’s needs while maintaining a resistant stand. She leaves an impression on Hunger Games viewers which wows the citizens of the Capitol and astounds the Hunger Games council.

When she is finally thrown into the games, quick thinking and prior skills help her to get through each day, but not without the duty of fulfilling her obligation to Peeta in a surprising way. Is this performance all for the Games, or is there something more to the relationship between Katniss and Peeta? You’ll have to read to find out.

This Reader’s Opinion
Suzanne Collins leaves the reader hanging on every page. Katniss is a self-empowered character in a tumultuous world. She’s intelligent, athletic, and tough, but as the story continues, her soft side is revealed in her compassion for Peeta and other competitors in the Hunger Games.

The story line is also intricately layered with one complication after the next, which makes the reader feel that at any moment all hope will be lost. This is what makes Katniss such an intriguing character. She’s lost her father, her sponsor is a drunk, and her best friend is left behind in the Seam, her home. She must be an independent young woman who relies on nothing except her wits and talents because no one else is available to help. That’s where Peeta comes into the picture. At her lowest moment, during her darkest hour when hunger gnawed at her gut, Peeta offered her sustenance and suffered blows at the hands of his own mother as a result. This is her only obligation. It offers marvelous internal conflict during the Games and keeps the reader flipping through the chapters like there’s a mad race to the end. With a delectable twist of fate for Katniss, the reader is thrown even deeper into each chapter, making this novel an irresistible read.