The Hunger Games Book Review
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is one of the most famous novels on Earth. I read this book once when I was in fifth grade, but I didn’t really understand the content of the book back then. Now that a long time has passed, I have decided to reread the book. Reading this book now gave me a whole new perspective on what the Hunger Games is really about.
In the first chapter of the Hunger Games, we are introduced very quickly to many characters. Katniss, the protagonist. Prim, her sister, and Gale, her hunting friend. It is the day of the reaping, where two people from each District get picked to attend the Hunger Games. Katniss must hunt every day in the forest because her family is in poverty and can’t afford to buy food. This explains how her skill with the bow is incredibly good, which becomes important later in the story. When it is time for the reaping, Prim, her sister, gets picked. In her place, Katniss volunteers to go instead of Prim, saving her in the process. She and Peeta, another person chosen in the reaping, get sent as tribute to the Hunger Games. There is a ton of preparation before the Games start, with interviews, trainings, and feasts. This is all to get sponsors, which can provide gifts for the tributes in the middle of the Hunger Games. These gifts become very important for Katniss’s survival. Katniss desperately struggles to survive, with many plot twists and unforeseen circumstances. At the end though, Katniss and Peeta mange to survive and win the games, the first time in the Hunger Game’s history where there were two winners.
When I read this book in fifth grade, I thought, “What an interesting story,” and just left it at that. Reading the Hunger Games now, I realize it is a story about human nature. How people are desperate to surviving, even making plans that other people will consider crazy. But also, it shows how people will do extreme things to save other people they care for. In Katniss’s case, she volunteers to participate in the Hunger Games instead of her sister, but back then, Katniss would have thought that she was walking into a death sentence. Also, the ending of the Hunger Games, where Katniss and Peeta almost committed suicide with the poison berries before the announcer told them they can both be victors. From my perceptive, it was a very crazy idea. And that idea only worked because Peeta faked a romance between them, making it seem like lovers to increase their appeal to the audience. At the very end of the book though, Peeta reveals he really loves Katniss, but to Katniss, it was all an act.
I don’t like this though, as it complicated the story and sets up the second book in the series. That’s just my opinion though. I think the author has to set up a premise for the second book in the series, as there were too many loose ends in the first book. Overall, I would still recommend you read this book, but for me, this isn’t one of my top choices for books.
