Review : The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins + The Official Hunger Games Trailer

Summary (from Goodreads)

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister Primrose, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before — and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Personal Thoughts

When some of my blogger friends found out that I had yet to read The Hunger Games trilogy, they were stupefied. They eventually urged me to read this book that had such raving reviews! With the movie coming out in about a week, I decided to read this book. I’ll be completely honest. The covers of this series never captivated me and because of that I never felt like I wanted to read it because it looked pretty boring. Boy, was I wrong! Now that I think of it, the cover is really good.

This intriguing and captivating story, set in the post apocalyptic world, presents us with Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old teenager living in this country divided into 12 Districts. Katniss belongs to District 12. Each year, the Capitol, the city that controls all the other Districts, hosts a game know as “The Hunger Games”. The whole point of the Games is to remind the citizens of the United States that rebelling against the Capitol isn't such a good idea and it will be met with anger and revenge. During The Hunger Games, 24 people participate and at the end of the games only one person survives. Two youngsters between the ages of 12 and 18 are randomly chosen to participate from each District : One boy and one girl. Unfortunately for Katniss, her sister, Primrose, is selected. Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place. And then the epic adventures of Katniss begin.

 
Katniss was the kind of character that I instantly fell in love with. She is strong, brave, open-minded, independent and extremely caring. Katniss is a very tough girl and seeing everything through her mind was simply fantastic. I really felt in synch with her. After her father’s death, Katniss is the one who looks after her family. She hunts, scavenges and basically takes care of both her mom and her younger sister, whom she loves dearly, although both activities are illegal and are punishable by death. This pretty much highlights how far Katniss is willing to go in order to protect her family and prevent them from dying of hunger.
Throughout the games, you get to see a very different side of Katniss. Her fiery character pleased me so much that I was vouching for her. If I were a sponsor, I would definitely bet in her favor!
Katniss goes through a sort of emotional battle throughout the Games because she pretty much begins to grow a relationship with 2 other players. Conflicted and confused, this made her seem even more realistic proving that she wasn’t a perfect character. She might be an intelligent, smart and witty girl, but this doesn’t mean that she doesn’t commit any mistakes throughout the journey to save her life.
Overall, Katniss was simply a FABULOUS main character and I wish more main characters in books had that positive high spirit and courage that she had in this book.

Now, I cannot talk about The Hunger Games without mentioning the love triangle. I absolutely despise love triangles. I hate them. I just don’t understand why nearly all authors seem to use it, but I was fairly surprised by this one. In a good way of course! There’s Gale, Katniss’ friend from District 12. The reader only gets a few glimpses of his character in the beginning of the book. From what we learn, he is a pretty much great character. Helpful, caring and definitely kick-ass, he’s an okay character. However, as a reader we don’t get to see what his true feelings for Katniss are, but you can feel the budding love triangle. Now Peeta, the boy tribute from District 12, is sweet, caring and adorable. Yet, he is very strong-willed and knows what he wants. The risks and dangers that he takes in order to help Katniss were remarkable! The romantic nature of the relationship between Katniss and Peeta was incredibly sweet. I loved every moment of theirs. Since the author doesn’t dwell overly on the romance aspect and instead concentrate a great deal on the action, I found myself anticipating scenes between Katniss and Peeta and I was not disappointed at all.
For now, I’m definitely on Team Peeta!

The secondary characters were all special and unique in their own way. Each of them brings life to the story and make it seem very real. You have a variety of different characters with their own flaws and I loved each and everyone of them

The Hunger Games is an action-packed , violent and gruesome story. I can definitely see why some people would not like it because it involves a blood-bath of young children, but reading the summary of the book I think you already know what themes you’re going to come across. The society that Collins has built is so harsh and strict that I wondered what I would do if I had to live in such a society.
The entire plot, especially The Games, gave me a rush of adrenaline and was seriously addictive. I had tons of work that had to be done and I only stopped reading to get those done, but all I kept thinking was this book.

Suzanne Collins is, without any doubt, a mind-blowing writer. I praise her imagination and writing skills. She doesn’t waste any time writing about useless things. In fact, she sticks to the plot. Her descriptions are vivid and I could easily imagine every single scene in my head, which is sometimes very tough. The Hunger Games according to me was a master piece and all the praise it keeps receiving is very well earned.

Brilliant characters, fast-paced, intriguing, captivating and with the right dash of romance, The Hunger Games was a read that surpassed all my hopes and gave me a rush. I cannot wait to read the next installment although I wonder how the author could top this amazing book. Honestly, 5 stars is not enough to rate this book!

Rating

Cover : 4/5

Plot : 5/5
Characters : 5/5
Writing : 5/5

   

THE OFFICIAL HUNGER GAMES MOVIE TRAILER 

I cannot help but think that the casting is perfect! All the actors chosen for this movie look more or less like how I imagined them. Jennifer Lawrence seems to have that inner fire that Katniss possesses.
From some pre-release reviews I've read, it seems that the movie does live up to the book. I cannot wait for the movie to come out! I really hope it'll be as awesome as the book !