The Hunger Games [Kindle Edition] review

Starred Review. Reviewed by Megan Whalen Turner
If there really are just seven original plots inside world, it's odd that boy meets girl is always mentioned, and society goes bad and attacks the nice guy never is. Yet we now have Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, the House with the Scorpion—and now, following a lengthy tradition of Brave New Worlds, The Hunger Games. Collins hasn't tied her future to your specific date, or weighted it down with a lot of finger wagging. Rather less 1984 and rather more Death Race 2000, hers is a gripping story set in a postapocalyptic world the place where a replacement for the United states of america demands a tribute from each of the company's territories: two children to get used as gladiators inside a televised fight to the death.Katniss, from the proven fact that was once Appalachia, offers to look at the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, but after this ultimate sacrifice, she's entirely dedicated to survival at any cost. It is her teammate, Peeta, who recognizes the value of holding to one's humanity in such inhuman circumstances. It's a credit to Collins's skill at characterization that Katniss, like a brand new Theseus, is cold, calculating yet still likable. She gets the attributes being a winner, where Peeta has got the grace to become an excellent loser.It's no accident why these games are presented as pop culture. Every generation projects its fear: runaway science, communism, overpopulation, nuclear wars and, now, reality TV. Hawaii of Panem—which needs to maintain its tributaries subdued and its particular citizens complacent—may have come up with Games, but mindless television could be the real danger, the means in which society pacifies its citizens and punishes people who don't conform. Will its connection to reality TV, ubiquitous today, date the book? It might, but for now, celebrate this the correct book in the right time. What happens if we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins's world, we'll be obsessive about grooming, we'll talk funny, and all our sentences will end with the same rise as questions. When Katniss is sent to stylists to be made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked before them, strangely unembarrassed. They're so unlike people that we're no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet, she thinks. In order to never hate these creatures who're sending her to her death, she imagines them as pets. It's not exactly the contestants who risk the loss of these humanity. It is all who watch. Katniss struggles to win not exactly the Games but the inherent contest for audience approval. Because that is the first book in the series, not it is all totally resolved, and what exactly is left unanswered is the central question. Has she sacrificed too much? We know what she's given up to survive, and not whether the price was too high. Readers will wait eagerly to find out more.
Megan Whalen Turner may be the author with the Newbery Honor book The Thief and its sequels, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia. The following book within the series will be published by Greenwillow in 2010.
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Grade 7 Up -In a not-too-distant future, the United states of america of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to become replaced by Panem, a country divided in to the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to be involved in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation from the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens needed to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to look at her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son from the town baker who seems to own all of the fighting skills of your lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who've trained for this their whole lives. Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships inside the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate while using generation raised on reality shows like 'Survivor' and 'American Gladiator.' Book among a planned trilogy.Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.