I Know All There Is To Know About The Hunger Games...

I've had my share of the hunger games.  This trilogy took me awhile to complete due to, well, life. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  If you like young adult, futuristic, apocalyptic suspense, then this is your trilogy.  It reminded me a bit of Stephen King's The Running Man, but with a broader purpose.  Once again, I was floored by how gruesome these tales for youngsters seem to be, but I'll admit, the gore and suspense certainly does hook you.

I think the first book, The Hunger Games was my favorite.  The final two, Catching Fire and Mockingjay were also riveting, but the first one really had me biting my fingernails.  The premise is fairly simple.  Families in all twelve districts of a futuristic America are forced to offer one male and one female warrior to compete in the annual hunger games.  The players of the games are then filmed as they fight to the death in an arena riddled with danger and horrors.  The last contestant standing wins, and is allowed to go back to her district to live in relative comfort for the rest of her days.

The purpose of the hunger games is to keep citizens in check and prevent an uprising that would threaten the security of the country.  A former war left the country in practical ruin, so the Capitol keeps a tight leash on anyone who might resist its authority.  Any future flare-ups between districts could easily result in the extinction of the entire human race.  So the Capitol rules through fear and withholding.  Most citizens are starving and horribly poor and have no power.  Any resistance is punishable by death.  Very Glenngary Glen Ross.

The writing is so vivid and terrifying and colorful.  I'm amazed this series hasn't made it to the big screen yet.  It would translate very well into film.  Fingers crossed.

These books really make you think about the kind of legacy we're leaving for our descendants.  It makes you question the motives of the government and lays out the disaster that can occur if we don't let cooler heads prevail.  If a bomb dropped tomorrow and most of the country was demolished, how would you want the survivors to re-establish a society that has already failed?  What would you do differently?  What would you keep the same?  They're tough questions, but important ones.  Do you fear that if we were left to our own devices, we'd become all Lord of the Flies?  It's hard to say.  Hopefully we won't ever have to find out.  Read these books, though.  They're pretty compelling.  And don't bother to buy them one by one.  Just do yourself a favor and get the whole trilogy.  I wonder if the series is truly over or if Collins has another installment up her sleeve.  Well.......we're waiting.