The Hunger Games : Book Review

The Background :

What if the country that you live in, is the only one that exists? This is exactly how Katniss Everdeen's world is. The place once known as North America is in complete ruins and what lies in place of it is the nation of Panem with a Capitol surrounded by 12 districts. The country of Panem is democratic but their ways of keeping the citizens in perfect order are cruel and gruesome. This includes The Hunger Games which are held annually. All the 12 districts are forced to send one boy and girl from the respective districts to participate in this fight to be alive which is broadcasted on live TV. All the participants aged 12 to 18, have to fight against death. By killing the other participants, the last one to remain standing is declared the winner. Katniss, even though indirectly , becomes a contender in the Games to protect her sister. She is sure that she will be ending up in a meeting with the Grim Reaper. But little does she know, that her hunting and survival skills are the ones which will help her throughout the games. But winning won't come easy to her either. She will have to make choices : survival or humanity? life or love?

The Review :

The Hunger Games authored by Suzanne Collins is one of those books which leaves you feeling excited, thrilled and sets the gears in your brain in motion. As Anthony Horowitz said and I quote " One of the best written and thought provoking books I have read in a long time." Suzanne Collins, with this book, has put the spotlight on various issues we face today, and if not solved now, might lead to grave situations in the coming years. One such issue addressed is the huge difference between the rich and the poor people. In the book, the conditions of all 12 districts are in stark contrast with each other. Each district has a specific task and all the people in that particular district have to perform that job, no matter waht they are personally interested in. District 12 is coal mining, District 11 is agriculture, District 4 is fishing, District 3 is factories and so on.This division of the country on the basis of jobs, sets all the districts apart even on the grounds of houses, salary, health and their physiques. The people living in the district with agriculture as thier job, are more plump and healthy than those in the coal mining district. What further increases the gap between the rich and poor is the Capitol. The Capitol is provided with all the latest technologies and the best of everything. The people that live here are the politicians, the scientists, and all people required to keep the Games on track. All these people of Capitol are used to the comfortable and easy life and know little to absolutely nothing of poverty that exists in their country. Even the schools in all the districts teach the students about how much owe to the Capitol. The second such issue which I feel is important but not given enough thought is the demerits of political system. Even if the Capitol is keen on convincing the districts that the Games are for their own benefits but the reality of the situation is not lost on Katniss. She understands that these Games are held to instill fears in the minds of people, it is to protect the Capitol from any further revolts, it is to prevent the citizens from rebelling against the political system. If such predicaments arise in the present countries, then soon enough there will be uprisings and we will be on the brink of destruction. The democracies won't be true anymore and dictatorship will be predominant under the pseudonym of democracy. Of course not all countries are in this situation but there are countries like North Korea, Afghanistan, Iran and many more.

These two issues, I think, are so common that even if we know about them, there's a need to be constantly reminded about them to apprehend the seriousness of the situation. And Suzanne Collins has done an amazing job in reminding us of our current state through this book. Hats off to her for this enjoyable and worthwhile book!

Thank you for reading this review! Hope it helped! : )