Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Originally, when I heard about this book, I had no intention of reading it. I was told it was a teen romance series. After reading Twilight I didn't really feel like going back into the teen lit world. However, a former classmate of mine convinced me to give it a read. I am glad that she gave me the incentive to read this book.

The story starts off with introducing us to Katniss. She is 16 but wise beyond her years with having to take care of her family. She is a little bit on the stereotypical "my life is hard, so I am hard" side of character building. I would also say that our main character is inconsistently bright and dense. She can figure out how to feed her family when needed but can't pick up on the signs of a boy liking her.

I am a Political Science major so the politics of the Capital versus the Districts is fascinating to me. The Capital is a totalitarian state. The Districts 1-12 serve the Capital. Most of the people of the Districts are treated little better than slaves. The name of the book comes from a yearly event the Capital forces on the districts. From each district one male and one female child have to be offered up via lottery drawing to go to the Hunger Games. Once in the games the goal is to be the last one living. So basically 23 children have to die every year to satisfy the Capital and to remind the districts that they don't have the power to question the government.

Katniss is the female going to the games from her district. The teen romance drama which I thought this book would be more about is between Katniss and Peeta, the male selected to go to the games from her district. Their interactions before the Games and during are interesting to me from the stand point of what people will do to survive. I don't know that I would have it in me to fight anywhere near as hard as others to survive. I don't mean that in a self loathing way, I just mean that I don't think I could kill others just so I could live. The implications of your quality of life if you do live are profound, could you live with knowing you killed someone?

The dynamic between the districts and the Capital made me do a lot of thinking. Is this the way things would be if the United States took a nose dive? It was an interesting read and I would recommend it to teens, those with political science tendencies, and anyone looking for an easy read with heavy subject matter. I will say that some of the material can lead to pretty intense imagery if your imagination is at all like mine. I would say that this book is pretty well written, but has some shaky bits to it that have to be over looked to fully enjoy it.