The Hunger Games: part one

I’ve recently been rereading a favorite series of mine…Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games!! You’ve probably heard of these popular books and might have even seen the movies.

Today I’m going to summarize and share some thoughts about this book. This is just the first post about Hunger Games and there will probably be more soon, so stay tuned:)

Let’s go explore the weird, terrifying world of Katniss Everdeen, who is the narrator and heroine of Hunger Games.

Panem

The story takes place in future North America, where the people of the world have been separated into twelve districts and a main city called the Capitol. The whole community is called Panem, and is headed by a cunning and mysterious man named President Snow

The Capitol is rich, colorful, and bizarre, with strange fashions and empty headed people.

Most of the districts are poor, dirty, and sorrowful, oppressed by the Capitol and forced to make them different products–for example, District 4’s industry is fishing, District 8 makes fabric, and District 12 mines coal.

For the Capitol, life is easy and filled with riches. But the districts are, for the most part, malnourished and enslaved.

The Games

The darkest part of Panem is the annual Hunger Games, organized and enjoyed by the Capitol.

Every year, twelve boys and twelve girls are selected to be taken to the Capitol and sent into a glorified fight to the death.

Two children, anywhere from the age of twelve to eighteen, from each district. All sent into an arena to kill each other. The last person standing wins.

The people of the districts have to sit by and watch as their kids, whom are called Tributes, are forced to kill each other on live TV and are cheered on by the Capitol citizens.

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The main characters, Katniss and Peeta, are tributes from District 12. After they are chosen, they are sent to the Capitol to be pampered for the fancy part of the Games.

During the first phase of the Games, the parade and interview, they become popular with the crowd. Peeta explains to them that he’s always had a crush on Katniss. Because the Capitol seems to enjoy this and it could get them sponsors, Katniss must play along and pretend to be in love with Peeta.

She doesn’t start pretending this until during the actual Hunger Games. For the first few days in the arena, Katniss and Peeta are separated and allied with different people.

Katniss then loses her only ally and finds Peeta, who was beat and left behind by his old allies, so the two of them team up. Adding to their hope is the fact that the Game Makers announce that two tributes are allowed to win this year. They continue playing up their love story, Katniss faking every bit of it.

Slowly, the other tributes begin to die off. Some kill each other, some Katniss kills, and some Peeta accidentally poisons. The last tribute is killed by genetically altered wolves that the Game Makers send in.

When it comes down to the last two of them, the Game Makers make a change. Only one tribute can win.

After both of them refuse to kill each other, Katniss takes some poisonous berries and gives a few to Peeta.

The put the berries in their mouth, choosing to both die and than for one to kill the other. But the Capitol can’t have that.

“STOP!” they announce. They hastily announce that the two victors of this year’s Hunger Games are the star-crossed lovers of District 12.

Peeta and Katniss survive and head back to the Capitol for interviews and a recap of the Games.

My Thoughts

Hunger Games is a fast-paced, brutal story that kept me reading for hours straight. I liked the plot and characters, the way it draws you in.

Of course, this doesn’t actually happen until the third book in the series, but the first one starts a fire that you want to watch grow.

Overall, I enjoyed Hunger Games because of the intense plot and action. I admired Katniss’ resilience. Suzanne Collins knows how to keep readers interested, and the movies are actually really good, too.

Hope you found this review helpful and enjoyable to read! Until next time!