The Hunger Games

THE HUNGER GAMES, that you must know by the movie, is originally a young adult romance written by Suzanne Collins. I read it despite my age group did not permit, as per the book’s ramifications. I could just not let it loose because it’s catching, thrilling and also featuring a love story which by all the means is engaging! Any of the adjectives might not be able to suffice the plot construction which keeps the readers engaged till the end.

A divided and fragmented North America features in the opening scene of the book. It has become a piece which has been broken into 12 districts now and unfortunately, the government of there is utterly oppressive. Democracy is long ago dead. A teenager, 16 years of age, Katniss Everdeen (don’t dream of her being the sister of Bathsheba Everdeen) replaces her sister to be one among the 24 participants in the yearly Hunger Games to be held at the Capitol.

The game at The Hunger Games is brutal! The rules are such gross that the participants (12-18 years of age) are put into an endless fight till the death against each other in an arena which is huge! And to their misfortune, the whole game is telecasted live across the country. Now, Katniss, once put in the game, has to deal with two things at a time – her young romance with another participant in the Hunger Games as well as survive till the end. She is brave and also understands that participants might well be the pawns being operated by the government of the day.

Unfortunately, I was unaware at the beginning of my read that The Hunger Games is the first part of a trilogy. What it did was it made me unprepared for the abrupt ending to the book which seemed later to be a mere fade out effect to serve as the beginning of the next installment in the series. Released in 2008, The Hunger Games was the first of three books. It was followed by two other ones – Catching Fire and Mockingjay. As the genre is young adult, the book was quick to get a happy reception among the readers worldwide. It tool rather lesser time to be enacted into a movie which also garnered claim as well as money.

One a serious reader’s note, the book might reflect some critical ideology as well. It shows us what a real dystopian world with a government as tyrannical might be! What havoc a brutal government can bring to the public being governed is an implicit concept in the book which is overshadowed by the breathtaking action, thrill and the romantic fervour between tribute 12 and Everdeen.

Yes, there are some scenes in the book which are truly supportive only to the members of a certain age group readers. There are scenes of people killing people, wolves eating human flesh and many others which might safely be deemed as ‘gross’ and which make it a true ‘The Hunger Games’. The language and the narrative of the book, and the characters as well, it seems that they have been according to the pattern to build The Hunger Games universally acceptable. It has been according to the plan which will settle the book to be read by a wide younger audience and which happened, have been happening as well!

At last, another of the books in the series which aims at entertaining the readers rather than caring for leaving some eternal landmark on the way to fiction – which the classics use to do… Overall, a fiction which will cater the interests of the readers and will make them interested in ‘more to come’.

Review by – Muskan Singhal