A Book Review- The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins is a story of a Utopia, where the people are divided into twelve districts based on the natural resources found where they live at. All together they are called Panem, the nation that uprised after North America fell a part. In order to show what the people of Panem have overcome, each year two tributes between the ages of twelve and eighteen, one boy and one girl, from each district are selected to battle twenty-two other tributes to fight to the death. This type of "game" is called the Hunger Games. The whole Panem is forced to watch.It is ment to show how privaleged the people of Panem are to have the lives they have and where Panem has been and where they will end up.

Suzanne Collins vived vocabulary made the novel come to life, making the novel hard to put down. People may find themselves relating Panem to today's society because people in any country are always paying the consequences of the descisions others have made before them. An example in Panem's society of people being punished is the reaping, when the tributes are chosen. The tributes have no choice in being selected and it's a part of reminding the people of the mistakes made and to not repeat those mistakes.And everyone in Panem much watch to remember what the capitol wants to them to remember. In the novel, the main character Kanis says "Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch-this is the Capitol's way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion.Whatever words they use, the real message is clear. 'Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there's nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did District Thirteen.'"(19) (There were orginally thirteen districts but the thirteen district fought back and lost to the capitol, so there are only twelve  remaining and are constantly reminder of the mistake thirteen made).
An other example of the unfairness and inequality of Panem is the mantority to put your name into the reaping at the age of twelve but your name may be enter more than once if you decide to do a tessarie. A tesserae occures when you are sick or ill and are in need of medicine or food, so in order to get that you must put your name into the reaping again. This is appealing that such a country would do that to its people. It's like your sick or starving you have to pay the price for it by putting your name into the reaping each time you get medicine or food from the government. And the older you get the more times your name is enter. So say you are fourteen years old, your name is entered three times that year, increasing your chances of being selects. Collins says "You become eligible for the reaping the day you turn twelve. That year, your name is entered once. At thirteen twice, and so on and on until you reach the age of eighteen, the final year of eligibility, when your name goes into the pool seven times. That's true for every citizen in all twelve districts of Panem. But here's the catch. Say you are poor and starving as we were. You can opt to add your name more times in exchange for tesserae. Each tessera is worth a meager year's supply of grain and oil for one person." (13).

The Hunger Games is a great novel to read if you want to escape into a world unlike our own and this book could bring realization to the readers that we are fortunate enough to have a country that only punishes with a jail system rather than seading our children to fight till their death, as part of a sick game to entertain people and to punish and remind them of the past. It may also bring realization of how lucky we are to have a country who tries to help its people without punishing them for asking for help. So if you want a book that will change your view on life and make you appreciate what you have or if you want a book that has a lot of action then The Hungar Games is for you.