The Hunger Games

Thought I would add a little book report in here.

I just got done reading The Hunger Games trilogy and I just had to write about it. I read the trilogy in less than a week. Now that I am done reading them, I have started to read them out loud to my husband. To say the least, these books give you page turning fever! The series started a few years ago, but I had never heard of them until I found them on my Kindle a few weeks ago. If you have a Kindle, you can buy all three books for $18 or something around there.

Anyways, the books are set in a country called Panem, which is actually a country founded after years and years of natural disasters hitting North America, and Panem is all that is left standing. Panem was originally made up of "The Capital" (self explanatory) and 13 Districts, each District specializing in a certain trade to keep the country running (i.e. coal, agriculture, etc.). Although the Capital and the Districts are one country, the society between the two are completely different. The Capital is a wealthy, materialistic, narcissistic society where food is eaten in droves, plastic surgery is the fashion, and everything is about outer appearance (remind you of anything/anyone?). The rest of the Districts are extremely impoverished, children starving, people dying at young ages, etc, etc, etc. District 13 decides they don't like being oppressed, so they rebel and a war occurs between the Districts and the Capital. Obviously, the Capital wins, destroys District 13 and everyone and everything in it, and the war ends. Now that the war is over, the Capital must keep the Districts under control and in line. So to remind the citizens of the Districts that remain that the Capital is in control, they begin what is called the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are a yearly "competition" that takes place, in which 2 children ages 12-18 (1 boy, 1 girl) are chosen at random to compete. The object of the competition is to be the last person standing. How do you become the victor? By killing everyone else! Basically like Gladiator, but with children. Also, they broadcast the "games" on TV and the entire country must watch. It is a reminder that not even parents are in control of their own children, but the Capital is the one in control of everything.

I know, you are thinking OMG, why would anyone want to read something so barbaric?!

I promise you, they are not gory or gross or graphic, but they do show you a picture of how barbaric human beings can be. I think that these books give you a healthy outlook on how societies can end up so warped and twisted that almost anything can be turned into a social norm (like in Rome in the Gladiator days). Also, these books made me think a lot about the U.S. and how we could, one day, easily fall prey into something like this if we do not keep ourselves in check. Anyways, I am going to stop there because I could go all day on that subject.

I do highly recommend reading these books, especially because in March the movie is scheduled to come out! I found this out when I was searching for a picture for this post shown above. Now I am excited! Don't be the one trying to read the book at the last minute so you can go see the movie, or just seeing the movie without reading the book (we ALL know that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie). Read it now and be prepared! You won't regret it!