How many people do you know who read The Hunger
Games in a weekend or less? Of the sequel, Catching Fire, my cousin
wrote on her Facebook that she couldn’t “get her eyes out of it.” However, It
took me two and a half weeks, culminating in a four hour marathon reading
session at the local coffee shop, just to get through book one. Reading The Hunger Games was a
chore. I knew a dedicated reading
session in public was the only way I’d ever finish it (also, I’d hoped to use
it to meet women… and at least half of my plan worked).
When I first started the book, I recognized it as
a story with staying power, unlike, say Twilight, which has the shelf
life of a Beanie Baby. No, despite the
lack of a Newberry medal, I think The Hunger Games will be read in
classrooms for discussion and at home for entertainment for many years to
come. Katniss Everdeen’s battle against
herself, her peers and ultimately the government offers up so many topics for
intelligent discussion. In some ways
it’s not so different from The Giver or even Ender’s Game.
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| Pictured: Vicious Killers |
For all you who haven’t read the book or seen the
movie (which is probably none of you), I’ll summarize. In the not-too-distant future all of North
American has been united by a totalitarian government into a single country,
called Panem, which is broken up into 12 districts. At some time in the past the districts tried
to start a revolution. Every year since
then, the government demands that each district offer two children between the
ages of 12 and 18, called tributes, to compete in the Hunger Games as a
reminder of who has the power. The Games are a combination of Survivor, American Idol
and gladiatorial combat. The novel
follows the journey of Katniss Everdeen, tribute from lowly District 12. The Hunger Games novel is 1984
for the Jersey Shore generation.
As I reached the end of the book, however, it
began to remind me of a movie—hillbilly horror film Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil.
