The Hunger Games

The book I'm blogging about this week is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This book takes place in the future, in the land of what used to be America. It is now called Panem, and it is no democracy. Panem is split into twelve districts, which are all watched over by the Capitol. The people of the Capitol live luxurious lives and never starve. They have absolute power over all the districts. To remind the districts that they are powerless and must follow the rule of the Capitol, they host an annual Hunger Games. One boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts are randomly chosen to take part. The Hunger Games is a televised competition where each boy and girl are put in one, huge arena that is setup to destroy them. With little food and little supplies, they must fight each other for survival. The last one alive is the winner, who will win a life of wealth.
The main character, Katniss Everdeen, lives in district twelve with her mother and little sister. Ever since the death of her father, Katniss is the one to support her family. Then she is entered in the Hunger Games. While the people of the Capitol place bets and cheer for their favorites, the people of the districts are forced to watch their beloved sons and daughters be killed off on live television.
Though this book is fiction, you can see a lot of problems that are happening in our world today. Many countries today have small groups of people or even dictators who seize power. They care nothing for the people, just themselves, and strive to gain more power. There are huge gaps between the rich and poor, and the poor have no say in anything. This book also relates to modern day America by it's harsh idea of a reality TV show. Our TV's today are filled with reality shows on every channel. Though no show is even close to being as extreme as the Hunger Games, it's horrific to see what things can lead to.
I think a lot of people would love this book. It's one of those you can't put down. I wasn't sure about it at first because I usually don't like science fiction books, but it was an amazing surprise. After you finish this book, you'll be hungry for the sequel which comes out later this year.