The Hunger Games - Jalen Bolden-Douglas

Bolden-Douglas, Jalen

English, Period 2

November 14, 2008

The Hunger Games

The name of the book I will be reviewing is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I chose this book because I had seen it on a 'books to read' list on the website of one of my favorite authors Stephenie Meyer. While there was not much of a synopsis there the cover intrigued me. When it came to selecting a book I automatically thought of it as something to add to my list of books to look at. At the bookstore I looked for it specifically and after reading the synopsis on the inside cover I was sure this was the book I wanted to read.

The Hunger Games is set in Panem, a glorious capitol encircled by twelve districts that has risen from the ashes of what was once North America. Since an uprising by what was once District Thirteen the cruel Capitol came up with the Hunger Games. Each district must send one boy and one girl-chosen at random-from age twelve to eighteen to compete to the death in the Games. With twenty-four contestants all set to kill you and only one winner in the end, how could one possibly win? Enter Katniss Everdeen. A sixteen year old who lives alone with and provides for her mother and younger sister. It is a rare occurrence for someone to volunteer to take someone else's place in the games but Katniss does so to protect her younger sister who was called to compete as the girl for District Twelve. Now, competing against someone she owes her very life to and twenty-three other competitors Katniss shines without trying and becomes the competitor to beat. To ever have a prayer of wining she must put her survival above her humanity and her life against love.

"Here's some advice. Stay Alive." [P. 56] of all the quotes I could have chosen from The Hunger Games I chose this one because in my opinion it sums up the book perfectly. The whole point of the Hunger Games is to stay alive and arise victorious, and more than anything that is what Katniss needs to do. It is important for that exact reason, to win the Games you need to stay alive, a dead person cannot win, and realty, that is the best advice to give. Plus, any other advice all leads back to staying alive.

= Terrible! Don't read it unless you want to lose brain cells

= Bearable, barely readable but better than a picture book

= Good book! Not the best literary work ever but worth a skim at least

= Awesome! Most definitely read this!

= You must read this book! Your life cannot be complete without it!

I give this book five bow and arrows! This-in my opinion-is a fantastic literary work, both in plot and execution. The rating system is based on five because I find it the easiest to understand and the symbols of bow and arrows I think means a lot. The bow and arrow is the weapon the main character Katniss is best with and therefore I figured this would be most meaningful.

I recommend this book to anyone thirteen and over, I truly believe even adults would love to read about Katniss and her struggles. Reasons to read The Hunger Games? Katniss is a character that people can easily relate to; someone who experiences the emotions most people would if they were put in her situation. The story in itself is something that is very much unique and has some strange and somewhat scary connections to our world today. The way that the author wrote the book is easy to understand and not overly wordy and gets straight to the point, making for a page turner that will keep you up late into the wee hours of the morning.

I believe though that women would prefer this book to men, at least in adults. In teenage boys I think that they would enjoy parts as well but all in all it is more of a book that girls would enjoy. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE UNDER THIRTEEN. While there is not a lot of strong sexual content there is a lot of violence—of course, the Games is about rising victorious after killing everyone else—as well as blood, though not a lot of gore. There are insinuations to gore but nothing particularly described, and a lot of brutal murder throughout the book. I would say anyone especially ten and under most definitely SHOULD NOT read this book, as even to me some of the acts of murder made me shudder somewhat.

Anyone who has read this book I think will agree with me, The Hunger Games is an amazing piece of literary work and I eagerly await the next installation in the series.