Book Review - "The Hunger Games"

"The Hunger Games" takes place in Panem, the United States of America of the future, ruled by the Capitol, hundreds of years from now, as the date is not clear but you can get a few hints about it during the book.

Suzanne Collins tells the story of Katniss Everdeen, a 16 years old girl who lives in District 12, having to hunt to provide for her family and we see all the story from her perspective. Katniss does not agree with the rules imposed by the Capitol and she definitely does not agree with the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are the way the Capitol controls everything in the country, by sending a boy and a girl from each one of the 12 districts to kill each other every year in an arena, to remind the people they can do worse, like they did when they vanished the 13th District. But Katniss sees herself in a terrible position: her sister, Primrose, is chosen to be in the Hunger Games, and she is forced to volunteer in order to stop Primrose to go.

While it has some romance involved, it also has a lot of other things going on, Katniss does not want to have her children in a world like this one, with so much fear and misery, so she does not permit herself to fall in love, either for Gale, who is her partner for all those years hunting, or Peeta, who is in love with her since he was a little boy and is also chosen to go to the Hunger Games. But, again, she sees herself in a terrible position, as she has to pretend, for the audience, she is in love with Peeta. And even if she is not really in love with Gale, she worries about what he would think back home.

The Hunger Games starts like every year, with a lot of blood. Katniss has always to make decisions and take care of Peeta in the arena and most of the time, hunt for the both of them. She ends up in a really difficult situation at the end of the game, which will change everything.

I believe the author writes for people of all ages, telling and warning in a subtle way that this could be our future if we still keep destroying the planet the way we are. I would definitely recommend the book as it can open our minds for some reflections about the problems happening right now: the media taking control of us, the hunger, the political issues happening, not only in USA, but also all over the world. We have to accept this can hugely affect our lives and the author is saying that we can and we have to do something to stop this before it goes any worse.