Imagine if you were sixteen, on the cusp of adult life and your name was drawn out of the hat…to fight until death.
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is not something I would usually read but I was assured it was a thrilling book and not too much B.A.G.*. It is after all a young adults’ story.
I’m now reading the trilogy, The Mocking Jay, and think this is one of the most thought provoking series I have read.
I don’t want to give away the The Hunger Games' plot, so will skim over the story. It is about reality TV in the future and like Marsden’s Tomorrow series, tackles the what if’s?
Society has broken down, as we know it and is ruled by the Capitol. They create this spectacle called The Hunger Games to entertain their own district. The conscripted 24 children must fight to death. The last person alive gets immunity.
There is inevitable death and destruction, but underlying this corrupt and controlling world is a story of love and family and fighting to win to be in their arms again.
“Someone’s screaming, a long high-pitched scream that never breaks for breath. I have a vague idea it might be me.”
There is a beautiful friendship created in this adverse situation between the main character Katniss and a younger girl Rue
“Rue has decided to trust me wholeheartedly. I know this because as soon as we stop talking, she snuggles up against me and falls asleep.”
I would think twice about letting my teenager read it because it is confronting and the protagonist is their own age having to kill other children. For an adult, is makes us think about how hungry we are to see and read about violence. The makeup, lights and costumes just emphasise how much we think life is a spectacle. Sometimes this can be at any cost.
Rating: 10 all the way
Rating: 10 all the way
*B.A.G. – blood and guts
No comments:
Post a Comment