Saturday, May 8, 2010

Book Review: The Hunger Games

"You don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope."

Wow. WOW! I read this book within a 24 hour time period! I started last night when Hannah went to sleep, then woke up early to read it, read it all through her nap time and haven't put it down since she went to sleep again.

The last time I read a book straight through was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The premise of this book is a little hard to stomach. In fact, about the first 30 pages of the book I didn't know how much I could handle.

Basically the story revolves around Katniss Everdeen, a poor girl from the poorest section of District 12. The world has been ravaged by natural disaster which has basically destroyed everything (as far as we can tell) and all that is left is a chunk of North America. Years before our story began the country (Panem) was split into thirteen districts which were treated poorly, after an uprising (and the destruction of district 13) the Capitol declared The Hunger Games to serve as a reminder to what happens to rebels. Once a year a boy and a girl from each district are chosen at random to participate in the "games" where the 24 contestants are sent to an arena to battle to the death. There can be only one survivor.

I have been wanting to read this book for a few months now but decided it better wait until the third book came out on August 20th. I bought the books (The Hunger Games and the sequel Catching Fire) last month, planning on waiting, but Adam read the first book and has been begging me to read so we could talk about it.

The characters are easy to love, easy to root for, the situations are dire, yet you feel hope. You feel hate for the Capitol, you wonder how it is all going to end and already I'm dying for August when the third and final installment (Mockingjay) will be released. I'm dying to start Catching Fire but I think I will make myself wait just a little bit...if I can stand it!

Amazingly written, compelling, a literary feast! I loved The Hunger Games. It is what Lord of the Flies SHOULD HAVE BEEN (gosh I hated that book).

1 comment:

Melinda said...

Thanks for the review! I have been contemplating reading it, but didn't really know what it was all about. I definitely have to wait for summer break, and it looks like I should wait until late summer. I remember reading Harry Potter the EXACT way you described reading Hunger Games when Sammi was really little! I'm currently reading through the 3rd book that a distant cousin wrote (I haven't read the first two, but she writes well enough that I don't feel out of the loop despite the story being a continuation of the same character's lives).