The Hunger Games: Do you have an appetite to enter a new world?

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the first story on this blog to feature a female protagonist, but it was well worth the wait. The Hunger Games is a smart, brutal, and challenging book that would satisfy many age groups, but is particularly pertinent for young adults (especially girls). The novel is written with first person narration from the point of view of Katniss Everdeen, our heroine. Katniss is from a place called District 12. In this futuristic setting, North America (now called Panem) has been divided into 12 districts (or is it 13? Hmm…) and a central governing location called the Capital. The Capital is constantly in fear of a rebellious uprising from its districts, so to maintain control they hold an annual competition called The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games consists of one male and one female contestant from each district participating in a gladiator-like competition broadcast on national television. The scary part is that there can only be one survivor. Now there are many rules and political tricks involved in the selection process for this game that I won’t go into much detail about, but I will say that economically challenged teens are prime targets for selection for these games. For this particular year of the games, Katniss becomes the female representative for District 12. She performs the rebellious act of volunteering herself to go in her younger sister’s place. Thus, we the readers begin our journey with Katniss through the Hunger Games.

Now, I was beginning to be concerned that most cross-over appeal books from the YA genre had only male protagonists, but Katniss from The Hunger Games was worth the wait for a female protagonist (though I still wish there were more!). Katniss is a survivor, in the best sense of the term. Being a child from a single-parent household, she has already had to take care of herself and others for most of her life and had more than her fair share of struggle. She is strong, smart, and at times even cunning, but also maintains a care-taker type role that connects her to her humanity. She is a fascinating amalgamation of street smart savvy and youthful naivety about the world outside of her district.

The Hunger Games has a totally awesome (very flawed, yet relatable) narrator in Katniss. The girl is going to make some mistakes. She is going to do some things that make the reader frustrated. That is what makes her more realistic and refreshing particularly since she could have easily been a stereotypical, put-on-a-pedestal female protagonist. Aside from the cool narrator, The Hunger Games is an exciting book in many other facets. It’s plot moves very quickly and the descriptions, particularly during the opening ceremonies and the game itself make this dystopian world very easy to imagine. It has very fun characters like Katniss’s advisor Haymitch and very loveable ones as well, such as her co-competitors Rue and Peeta. ***Possible Spoilers***There is a bit of a love story/triangle, but it is very complicated and it shows how relationships are affected by much more than just feelings. The novel also brings up many discussions about class, the role/power of the government, the manipulation of media and image on an audience [the scenes with Katniss and her fashion design team who construct the “audience version of Katniss” creep me out almost as much as the idea of a reality show in which people actual fight to the death. Both are very disturbing concepts to think about], political control, and morality in terms of survival tactics. Though it may not be as literary as some people would like, the ability to embed those kinds of debates and issues into a fast-paced narrative is a talent within itself and should be worthy of literary merit and praise.

Parent/Teacher Advisory: The Hunger Games invokes strong discussions about politics, the government, and morality. In some ways, it is a brutal book. It is not overly graphic, but I would compare to the film Jaws in that even when you don’t see the shark, the frightening effect is there. You may not see all the killings in the games, but they happen. Over 20 people are murdered (either by the players of the game or the gamekeepers---people from the government who control the game) and murder is still chilling regardless of whether it is witnessed or not. The violence in this book may be alarming for some younger readers. I would argue, however, that this should not discourage people from reading or even teaching this book. You would just need to be sure to address the violence and its effects.

Overall recommendation: The Hunger Games is a great book from young adults (especially girls with its strong female protagonist!). The writing is simple and though the story is not completely original (The Hunger Games invokes Horatio Alger rags-to-riches through hard work myths and is similar to several other dystopian stories like Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”), it takes a common narrative and adds modern vision to it. It brings up discussions in the areas of gender, social class and politics that are very prevalent in our world today and it is well worth a reader’s time not only to read the novel, but to ponder the issues it raises afterword. Its sequel Catching Fire is equally as engrossing and adopts even more difficult questions into its narrative (hopefully a review of this will come up later). I loved The Hunger Games! I was not ready to leave that world and I hope you will not be either.