The Hunger Games

Now, not every post will be a review of books I've read or am reading but this book series has been a particular interest for me  and several of my friends in the past weeks. I don't really know how to explain it without giving too much away but the basic story line is this: Set in the future, the country of Panem has been created out of the rubble that was once America. After the great rebellion that threatened to destroy the new nation, the government has forced the children of the country into an annual lottery of sorts that chooses a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts to fight to the death in a televised arena that the nation is obligated to watch- similar to the slaves fighting gladiators during the reign of the Roman empire. The first book of the trilogy follows one girl, Katnis Everdeen, who by a turn of events goes into the arena representing her district and fights to stay alive. Though her single motivation in the games is the desire to stay alive, she finds later that her actions are the embers that start a fire of rebellions throughout Panem.

Out of all the books I remember ever reading, this book was the most intense, most nerve wracking story I have ever encountered. Every chapter ends with such an unexpected cliffhanger that no matter when you said you were going to stop and go to bed, your interest always gets the better of you. You HAVE to know what's going to happen. But it's not only Suzanne Collins amazing ability to constantly keep you begging for more that drew me to this series but her ability to draw parallels to our world in a way that make you question and think about our government and our society. While reading and even after reading this trilogy watching the news became very confusing for me. there were so many similarities and so many triggers to thoughts about the book that I wasn't sure if the news was real life or just my imagination playing with me.

I know that it's a book loosely based on current international wars combined with America's bizarre love for reality TV but I can't help wonder if Collins is right in thinking our desire to be entertained is much greater than our desire to know truth or to be involved in the world around us.