Nigel’s goals this year is to read five books, get a source of income and finish that novel draft. I’ve finished two books so far which is an improvement on the total amount I read last year, which was two 😦
The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins
A young teenager called Katniss must take her sisters place in a competition called the Hunger Games where every year 24 teenagers are chosen from the 12 Districts of Panem to fight to the death for the entertainment of others.
The plot: Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian, set in the future in a country called Panem. Each of the 12 Districts must sacrifice two teenagers to a Reality TV show, The Hunger Games as punishment for rising up against the Capitol. It reminds me of TV shows like Survivor, (which I never watch because I find reading books like the Hunger Games much more entertaining). It’s like a commentary on violence and the media. In the back of the book are some questions answered by Collins, who says she was inspired to write the book after watching a reality TV show and then seeing news footage of a war on another channel. The result is the violent Hunger Games where teenagers must kill each other to win.
I’ve seen too many spoilers before reading this since I had no idea if I would like it, but I still couldn’t put it down!
Characters: My favorite is Katniss Everdeen. She’s the main character, she’s female, she’s kick ass, and a survivor. She’s from the coal mining district, which is probably the poorest, where she has to be the sole breadwinner for her family. Because of her class, naturally she must already learn to survive or die, which would give her a big advantage in the games.
Peeta is her male counterpart, also from the coal mining district and also chosen for the Hunger Games. It was interesting to see what kind of relationship would develop between Katniss and Peeta and how it affected the plot.
Some people have said that the Winners of the Hunger Games could have been more traumatized over the violence, and I do agree a bit, there is room for it and it would be a good way of developing a character. But since the Hunger Games is so ingrained into the culture, maybe its people are probably desensitized to violence in different ways than we are.
There wasn’t really a villain in the story. I suppose the Antagonist was the Capitol. So in this story, instead of one person as the villain, it was a ‘system’. Though there would probably be more of this in the next book.
Writing: The style of writing is first person present tense from the point of view of Katniss, which I liked because it works very well for this kind of story. It’s like you get to see The Hunger Games through the eyes of someone experiencing it, instead of just watching it. And it was also a good way to sympathize with Katniss.
Conclusion: I enjoyed the Hunger Games. Katniss is an awesome character. I have no idea if this was Collins intention, but the plot makes me think about what I see in the media.
It will be very interesting to see where the next book goes!
5/5 !
The Bogan Artist 