The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games takes place in a future time period after the destruction of North America, in Panem. Panem consists of a rich Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, every year one boy and one girl from each district are selected by lottery and forced to participate in The Hunger Games, a televised event where the participants must fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena until only one remains. The story follows fatherless 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th Games in place of her younger sister, Prim. Also participating from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a boy whom Katniss knows from school and who once saved Katniss's life by giving her bread when her family was starving.

Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where they meet the other tributes and are publicly displayed to the Capitol audience. During this time, Peeta reveals on-air his long-time unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss believes this to be a ploy to gain audience support for the Games, which can be crucial for survival, as audience members are permitted to send gifts to favored tributes during the Games. The Games begin with 11 of the 24 tributes dying in the first day, while Katniss relies on her well-practiced hunting and outdoors skills to survive. As the Games continue, the tribute death toll increases, but both Katniss and Peeta are able to evade death.

Supposedly due to Katniss and Peeta's beloved image to the audience as "star-crossed lovers", a rule change is announced midway through the Games, stating that two tributes from the same district can win the Hunger Games as a pair. Upon hearing this, Katniss searches for Peeta and finds him wounded. She nurses him back to health and acts the part of a young girl falling in love to gain more favor with the audience and, consequently, gifts from her sponsors. When the couple manages to outlast all the other tributes the Gamemakers suddenly reverse the rule change and try to force them into a dramatic finale where one must kill the other to win. Instead, they both threaten suicide and are subsequently both declared winners.

Though she survives the ordeal in the arena and is treated to a hero's welcome in the Capitol, Katniss worries that she has now become a political target after having defied her society's authoritarian leaders so publicly. Her on-screen romance with Peeta also comes to a halt when he is heartbroken to learn that their relationship was at least partially a calculated ploy to garner sympathy from the audience, although Katniss herself remains unsure of her own feelings.

READ the Hunger Games! Very unique

OMG READ THIS!

I picked it up when I found out it is currently Stephenie Meyer's (author of "Twilight" series) favorite read. (She loved it so much she reccomends it to complete strangers while out shopping...)

It is written in first-person present-tense (which at first I found weird reading) from the point of veiw of a 16-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen who takes care of her mother and 12-year-old sister after their father dies in a mine explosion. When her 12-year-old sister gets chosen in a lottery to participate in the Hunger Games (a "Survivor" to the death) Katniss volunteers to take her place. The book them follows her preperation for the games and her fight for survival once the games begin. At one point durring interviews before the games Katniss learns the boy from her district that was also chosen to participate is in love with her. That knowledge adds a dynamic to the games that has never been known in their world, knowing that their will only be one winner.

Reading "The Hunger Games" was kind of like watching a season of a twisted version of "Survivor" where the opponents aren't voted out, but killed. Twenty-four kids (aged 12-18), one wide open space filled with booby-traps and wild animals, one winner. Luckily it wasn't overly gory. The deaths are mentioned, but only 2-4 are really slighly detailed. The story has moments of hard truths and raw emotions that actually brought tears to my eyes on a number of occasions. Overall I would reccomend this book to a LOT of people.

Great read from cover to cover.

Bought this book on a recomendation from a girl at work. Great read from cover to cover. The action takes place in a not so far away future setting. North America has collapsed and people are desperate to live. Killing for food becomes a problem and a new totalitarian government intervenes. To remind the people of the time prior to their reign they hold a yearly event called the hunger games. Fasten your seat belts and get ready.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008, Reinforced H

One of my favorite young adult books I've read- and I'm not a young adult! It is a quick read that holds your attention from cover to cover. Suspensful, intriguing, and exciting with just a hint of romance amongst all the action and violence. Would recommend to anyone (and have recommened to many already). Would rate this book up with Twilight saga and Fablehaven series in the young-adult world. Excellently written by Suzanne Collins. I'm starting on the second book "Catching Fire" and looking forward to it.

Great Read

I purchased this book because a friend recommended it to me. I blindly followed her suggestion, and then when I started to read it discovered that it wasn't my typical genre of book to read - but I kept on reading because it was interesting to me. I loved the book, and would've easily read it one day but I wanted to savor the story and pace myself (it's hard for me to find books this good). I can't wait to read the next installment, and I've been lending my copy out to friends to read. I loved the cunning way the characters interacted and plotted their way through the game, it kept me on my toes and interested as to what could happen next.

**Spoiler Alert - don't read on!**
The only thing I didn't like about the book was towards the end there was a surprize in the form of an animal fight, and I felt the animals were too far-fetched, but the futuristic, imaginative premise of the rest of the book felt achievable and believable.