2011 Bookshelf: Hunger Games Trilogy

I recently finished the "The Hunger Games" trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins (the books are The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay). These books are as addictive as Thin Mints. I think I read the first one in about 3 days.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic America (although the country is now called "Panem"). The country is divided into 13 districts, and are ruled by brutal, authoritarian leaders from The Capitol. Each year, the districts must choose two of their teenaged children (a boy and a girl) to fight in the "Hunger Games", which is basically a gladitorial contest - all the kids are thrown in an arena together, and must fight to the death, until only one is left alive. During the contest, they are confronted with all sorts of diabolical devices from The Capitol to keep the games "entertaining" for the rest of the country who watch on television.

The story is told from the view of the lead character, a 16-year old girl named Katniss. She goes to the arena for the Hunger Games. The first book focuses on her fight in the arena. Obviously, she survives, because she's in the other two books. The other books tell of how she helps to lead a rebellion (unwillingly at first) to help free the districts from the rule of The Capitol.

What I really appreciated about these books was the way the author wrote the lead character. This young woman is not perfect - she makes plenty of mistakes - but throughout the books we get to see her grow, struggle with her mistakes and failures and feelings, and we see her come to a greater realization of who she is and what she is meant to do. All good "coming of age stuff" when you live in a post-apocalyptic world where you are forced to kill others just to survive.

These books are technically written for young adults, even though they deal with some pretty gruesome stuff (like kids killing kids). As a funny side note: The Detroit Public Library has a "kids only" section where these books are kept - no one over 18 is allowed into that section, as it's meant to be a place just for young people. So I had to ask the librarian to get the books for me, because I was too old to get them myself!

Despite the darkness of the books, I couldn't put them down. They're fast-paced, engaging, and the world that Collins imagines is so creative, yet sad at the same time.