Thursday Thoughts: The Hunger Games

As promised, I'm reviewing the Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.

Blurb:

COULD YOU SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN, IN THE WILD, WITH EVERYONE FIGHTING AGAINST YOU?

Twenty-four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.
Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.


I actually love this book. I think it's well-written and poses like-able characters. I do think the book is plot-driven, but that is a necessity as part of the games. You see Katniss' consideration and daring from the beginning. I also like how romance is a necessity in the book. It's not a common theme, like in any plain YA romance, but it's a key plot device.
I find the way Haymitch, District 12's drunk mentor, is portrayed is interesting and humorous. He's condescending, genius, drunk, and sober all at the same time.
As for as characters go, I like certain side characters. Gale, Rue and even Haymitch. The way Katniss constantly  compares Peeta to Gale could be irritating, by Suzanne Collins balances it out perfectly.
The book has some basic themes: loyalty, friendship, love, family, faith. I definitely recommend it, and I look forward to book three, Mockingjay. (Book two is Catching Fire.) I hope I don't keel up and die from impatience as I await August 24th. This trilogy is definitely on my wish list!

I may have my sister or a friend of mine guest-write a mini-review for this. Both R (classmate) and T (sis) are reading it.
RR
********8 Stars

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