The Hunger Games

Well, it’s Friday evening and it is just now hitting me that I completely forgot to write about the next chapter in my Mary and Martha book.  I will have to catch up next week because this week I was completely preoccupied with The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  From everything I had heard about this book, I was expecting it to be a futuristic novel like Fahrenheit 451 or Super Sad True Love Story.  I was pleasantly surprised.

The story takes place in the future, but the emphasis is not really on technology.  There are definitely hints of futuristic technology, but Collins doesn’t beat you over the head with it.  There is a corrupt government which is the driving force behind “the games”, but the real focus is on the characters.  The plot sucks you in right away and the characters are convincing. I don’t want to give away too many details for anyone who has not read this book, but I was impressed by some of the plot twists.

This is definitely young adult fiction.  It is an easy and quick read and the main characters are young teenagers, but I think the story still appeals to adults.  It has hints of Romeo and Juliet, but not enough to make me gag.  The biggest let down for me was finishing the book, and then logging into the library catalog to find that book two in the trilogy has a waiting list that is 42 people long.  I may have to buy the trilogy for my kindle this weekend.

I should point out that I loved Fahrenheit 451, but was glad that this book was different.  I hope all of the teenagers who are reading The Hunger Games trilogy are also still reading Fahrenheit 451.   The teacher in me would also like them to write a paper comparing and contrasting the two stories.  :)