The Hunger Games

With all the buzz surrounding the book trilogy, The Hunger Games, espcially with the recent release of the last installment of the triology, Mockingjay, I finally decided to pick up the first book to read.  I am really glad that I did.  I instantly became hooked to this book.  The themes in the story are thought provoking and emotions run strong through out the book.  There was one point that I found my eyes tearing up.  The plot, the issues, the characters, everything really drew me into the book.  The use of imagery allows the reader to be right there with the characters and able to see/imagine from the characters point of view.  I absolutely love this book and I believe gives the Twilight Saga some real competition.   Read more to learn a little more about the book.


The book is being told through a teenage girl named Katniss.  She lives in a country called Panem, which is separated into twelve districts and is dictated by The Capitol.  The district she lives in is full of poverty.  There was once a revolt among the districts against The Capitol.  The Capitol was able to handle the revolting districts, but as a result the Hunger Games were created to remind the people that The Capitol is in control and has all the power.  One male tribute and one female tribute is to be selected from each district each year for the games.  The games are a fight to the death, until only one survives and is crowned the victor.  For the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss' sister is selected as the female tribute, but Katniss volunteers herself take her place.  So we find Katniss and the male tribute, Peeta, entering the games along with twenty-two other tributes.  It is a story of life, love, relationships, survival, and sacrifice.  There is a strong theme of the injustice of the whole thing.  And we see how desperation impacts the choices and actions one makes and how far one is willing to go to win or make a statement.