Reviews

    The Hunger Games Book Review

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a dystopian novel written for young adults (YA). Even though the main audience targeted, the book has struck chords with parents as well and has been a best seller since it came out.
North America has been destroyed and is now run by the powerful Capital and is divided into 12 districts (district 13 has been destroyed due to a rebellion). In district 12 ace hunter Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl, carves out a meager existence for herself, her younger sister Prim and their widowed mother. In order to keep the 12 districts aware of who runs the county, the Capital arranges a game to the death each year in an elaborate arena. Each district holds a drawing of one boy and one girl to go as tributes. When her sister is picked, Katniss exercises her option to volunteer for the games. Along with Katniss comes also Peeta, the baker’s son, who grew up with her.
Katniss and Peeta must fend for themselves against natural elements, the Gamemakers and the other contestants whose only option is to kill or be killed.
I’ll admit it, I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins because my wife did and I didn't… we can’t have that now.
Can we?
I can certainly see why the book was such a hit. The novel struck many chords and many themes (teenage anguish, love, work, poverty and more), was an easy and quick read, as well as full of action.
Ms. Collins built a fantastical and believable world where the United States is no more and instead the country is now called Panem which is run from “The Capital” and divided into 12 districts. The story progresses quickly and fluently with well defined characters who have lame names. Don’t tell me that the baker’s son is named Peeta (Pita) by accident.

Catching Fire Book Review

When The Hunger Games ended, there was no question that Katniss Everdeen was in trouble.  She'd defied the oppressive Capitol in as public and inescapable a way as possible, and the ramifications of those actions carry both her and the reader through the second novel in the series, the excellent Catching Fire.
It is a rule of the fantasy trilogy that the second installment is often the trickiest.  It must move the broader saga forward without sacrificing its integrity as a standalone story. Tolkien's The Two Towers and Weis & Hickman's Dragons of Winter Twilight spring to mind as second books that actually surpassed their predecessors (to say nothing of the best sequel ever: The Empire Strikes Back).  Either this has become more difficult or authors have become less adept, because I have found many recent follow-ups tepid and uninspired.  While Collins may not have eclipsed her success with book one, she has certainly not left her fans disappointed either.
The story picks up a few months after Peeta and Katniss return from the Games, not long before they are scheduled to begin their grand Victory Tour of the 12 districts.  At the close of the first book, the reader is left with a strong impression that what's to come will focus on the three-way relationship between the two victors and Katniss's male best friend, Gale.  While there is time and consideration given to that concern, I was surprised the treatment did not arrive closer to the beginning.  After all, the three of them have lived in close proximity for several months, and yet there has apparently been no confrontation.  I suppose my discomfort here could be ascribed to a certain taste when it comes to human reality in fantasy stories.
Broadly speaking, I am not one for actual human drama.  I can get more than my fair share of that in real life.  I would much rather my fictional characters be better or worse than real people.  That said, I have to give Collins credit for creating believable human tensions and reactions in this book.  I was probably looking for some progress on the relationship front so that the story could move on to more adventurous pastures.  But who among us wouldn't avoid personal confrontations, especially when love is involved, even though it might mean months of awkwardness.  Despite the surroundings and the setting, Collins's characters are imbued with real emotion, unlike the stylized human characters we've all been so conditioned to expect.

Mockingjay Book Review

In the future, there is no United States. There is the country of Panem. Panem is divided into twelve districts, each one specializing in one skill, such as mining or electronics. The ruler district, the Capitol, is in command of the other twelve districts. One would think that the Capitol would be a fair ruler and all the districts would enjoy the pleasantries of a futuristic world. In The Hunger Games series (containing three books, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay), that’s not at all how it is.
The Capitol is the cruel, tyrannical ruler of all the other districts, so the other districts have to do the grunt work while the Capitol leads a carefree life. To show who is in control, the Capitol organizes the annual Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death in an arena that is a hostile environment. Before the games, a process called The Reaping picks two children, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district other than the Capitol, who will compete in the games.
Suzanne Collins, the author, describes how the futuristic country works and how the protagonist, Katniss, a 16-year-old, is thrust into the games. Through the three books, Katniss competes twice. Katniss is picked when she volunteers to go in place of her sister, who was picked in The Reaping originally. Katniss goes the second time in a special kind of Hunger Games called the Quarter Quell. The Quarter Quell is the games consisting of all the winning contestants of the games held during the last 25 years.
There are many other characters, each of whom Katniss has a specific liking or disliking for. The plot is complex with each book in the series bringing in a new perspective of the situation Katniss is faced with. Collins manages to write it in a way that can bend your emotions without bias. She doesn’t glamorize one person and show a dislike for another. Writing this way keeps you guessing until the last second about any situation.
What I liked best was that even though the way she writes is unpredictable, the plot conveys the message in a clear way. Panem is a completely different place than America. The way Panem works is pretty much your regular dictatorship. One district wants all the power and oppresses all the other districts. This isn’t the futuristic society we all hope to have. The situation in Panem is just like the Arab governments that are being overthrown.