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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


For a "Young Adult" novel, this is an incredibly sophisticated story.

The part that sticks with me the most is the complex relationship that develops between Katniss and Peeta. Their choices and actions are so often shaped by outside forces that Katniss doesn't even understand how she feels. Although it seems that Peeta has things figured out, Katniss is a child only on the cusp of becoming adults when she is forced into the most complicated relationship she can imagine.

This is a metaphor for the way I see adolescents maturing. They are so often subjected to outside influences telling them how they should feel and appear that they often become confused about their actual emotions.

You may have heard that the book is violent. And yes, people die but they are not killed coldly nor without reflection on the parts of their killers. The real agent of violence is a harsh regime that inflicts these 'games' as a punishment.

If you can get hold of the movie Battle Royale (Japan, 2010), do take a look at it for a very slightly different view of children being punished through being forced to kill each other. In Battle Royale, the children are punished for their own disrespectful actions, while in The Hunger Games, they are punished for actions by their ancestors.



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