Mrs. Rebecca Ippel enjoyed reading The Hunger Games. Photo by: Jake Lenburg
By Jake Lenburg
The Hunger Games is the first part of a trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. The book takes place in a post-nuclear war North America ,known in the book as Panem. The Hunger Games revolves around the main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. Told from her point of view, she lives with her sister, Primrose , and her widowed mother in District 12. The Hunger Games, themselves, are punishment for the 12 Districts who revolted against the Capitol (the government). The rule of the Games are simple: Two tributes (the contestants) , a boy and a girl, from each of the 12 Districts are picked at random,that day called the Day of Reaping. Next,the 24 tributes are imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena.The tributes fight to the death until one remains. Also,the event is televised and all Districts citizens are required to watch.
Though the book takes a while to set up, it makes up for it with suspense on every page. The book is a mix between Lord of the Flies and 1984 in the way of themes. With the themes of “Big Brother” and savagery included ,survival is one of the the most obvious themes in this book.It is not surprising that The Hunger Games is one of the most popular book series today. Our very own media specialist, Mr Waymouth, says that the reason for the book being so popular is because of the competitive nature of the story, the connection to reality TV, the strong female protagonist, and the love triangle similarity to other recently popular stories like Twilight. Mrs. Ippel remarks, “The premise is creative, it combines sci-fi with a good action story, and the element of danger for the contestants drives the plot really well. I was definitely never bored with this book.” The Hunger Games is one of those books that are hard to put down. Mrs. Ippel said that she has already recommended the book to her friends. Mr. Waymouth says that he would recommend to his friends and states, “when the movie comes out I’ll be the ‘told ya so’ person! I’ve been touting it for months as a great read.” For individuals who don’t like reading, this book is for them to start reading other books.