Folks, we have something different today. After several people asked me if I had read The Hunger Games, I invited the last person who asked to write a guest blog about it. My friend Aaron has just submitted a brief review. By the way, I did actually read the book, finally.

So, here is Aaron.

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Although I was initially hesitant to read Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games because of its theme of teenagers killing teenagers, I was surprised to find it so engaging. Fortunately, the graphic descriptions of violence are kept to a minimum. (The novel is written for young adults, after all.)

The Hunger Games is set in the future, when a repressive government forces each of its twelve member districts to send two young adults to compete in a deadly game of survival by attrition. The winner is awarded food, a new home, and fame for being the sole survivor.

While reading Collins’s novel, I was reminded of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” Stephen King’s book The Running Man, and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Those are all stories worth a second read.

The Hunger Games was difficult to put down once I started. Luckily, the story continues in two more novels. May you find the story as engaging as I did. To quote Effie Trinket, “Happy Hunger Games!”

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Me again with just a little more explication of the plot. The main character is 16-year-old Katniss, who lives in the poorest of the twelve districts and has been helping support her family since her father died. When her younger sister, Prim, is picked for the games, she volunteers to go in her place. Not only must she battle the other contestants, but she must try for the viewer sympathies to get necessary supplies from “sponsors” throughout the games.

I also wanted to point out that in my opinion, the story is a sort of perverse but  logical extension of some of the “reality shows” we have on TV now. And my husband mentioned that the book reminded him of the 70’s sci-fi film Logan’s Run.