Hunger Games Review
Suzanne Collins’s signature work rips the bandages off every wound and psychological dysfunction known to humanity in its relentless portrayal of a young woman’s steadfast determination to survive. And by survive, I don’t simply mean in the arena of death that takes up much of the book’s page count – this is a character study wrapped in an action/adventure tale which dredges up every emotion protagonist Katniss Everdeen struggles with, whether it be anger or love or – most importantly – her ingrained need to protect those she loves.
By this point the tale is a familiar one. Katniss, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks in a dystopian post-apocalyptic America, volunteers in place of her younger sister to participate in the titular contest, a brutal mix of Survivor and to-the-death gladiatorial struggle. In the course of this adventure, she makes allies even while wondering whether those allies can be trusted. She battles not only to win the games but along the way also takes what digs she can against the oppressive system that has forced her into this predicament. By the end of the book, her ultimate triumph is hardly assured – that resolution is put off for another volume in the series.
As an author I’m a huge fan of Collins’s prose – Katniss’s story is lean and cut close to the bone, with not a sentence nor plot point wasted. And the heroine herself is someone worth rooting for. Nothing is handed to this young woman, neither in battle nor in love.
And it’s Katniss’s confusion over her obvious crush on childhood friend Gale that causes perhaps the greatest conflict in her mind and heart when over the course of the Hunger Games she meets and befriends Peeta, another Hunger Games contestant who has carried a torch for her since they were kids. Which of these young men does she really resonate with? Both? Neither? Katniss’s struggle in the one area of her life she can’t resolve with a well-placed arrow shot is palpable and at times truly heart-wrenching.
I seldom run across a book I simply can’t put down; the Hunger Games was one of those rare times. And I seldom do a five-star review but this book is one that everybody ought to read. I give it my highest recommendation.
