Meggin Reads The Hunger Games

For the past several months, I've seen numerous girls in my high school reading this book, so I assumed it was something of impeccable grandeur, or extreme popularity, or strange addiction. And it wasn't only until last weekend where I found I had no desire to read anything I've already read (a specialty of mine, as it happens), so I decided to read something new. The Hunger Games.

It always makes me happy to read about the future, because everyone has a different view of what will happen. Suzanne Collins destroys the North America that we know today and makes a Capitol rise up from the ruins. This Capitol lies in the centre of everything, and has twelve Districts that branch out from it. There used to be thirteen Districts, but after the Districts revolted against the cruel treatment of the Capitol, the last District was obliterated. The remaining Districts lie in fear of the Capitol's power, therefore doing whatever the Capitol wants them to do. This includes participating in the Hunger Games.

The Games happen yearly; each district must contribute two children, one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight each Tribute (nickname of the Districts' contributions) in a "game" to the death. There can only be one survivor. These Games take place so the Capitol can taunt the Districts, in a way, to let everyone know who really is in charge, thanks to the rebellion ages ago. The Tributes are picked in a "reaping": a child must enter their name in a drawing, but each year, the odds for the child increase because they must enter their name another time, for a grand total six entries on their final year. Then there's this benefit of sorts called tesserae, where a child can enter more times a year and receive a year's supply of grain and oil for one person, because supplies are very slim in the Districts. But here's the catch: the number of entries must double each year. In Katniss Everdeen's, the protagonist, case, she entered three times her first year, so by the time this novel reaches the reaping, she enters twenty times. Tesserae greatly increases one's chances as a Tribute to the Games.

Katniss spends every day breaking the rules. She goes out past the fence containing District Twelve, her home, and hunts with her friend, Gale. She illegally trades her game with other traders in the Hob, a trading centre, and with those of higher authority, so she can help her family get by.

When her younger sister, Prim, gets her name drawn in the reaping, Katniss takes her place in the Hunger Games. Katniss and Peeta Mellark, the boy Tribute, get taken to the Capitol, where they are primped and well-fed before the Games. The Capitol seems like a dream to me when I read about it, and it almost seems ridiculous as to why the Districts dislike it so much.

Katniss and Peeta keep up the illusion that they are in love even as the Hunger Games begin, and it plays a major role in guaranteeing their survival.

I enjoyed reading The Hunger Games, though not enjoy as in relishing the idea of catastrophic and dangerously life-threatening situations. I enjoyed my fear for the Games, how it turns some children into barbarians purely for the sake of survival, how Katniss manages to cope through situations that endanger her life, how it's difficult to find out who one can really trust. I actually am a fairly slow reader, taking more than a week to finish a book consisting of three hundred pages, but because this book is so perfectly paced with the perfect dosage of suspense, I managed to finish in six days. Which is awesome for me, considering I live a somewhat busy life, what with being in theatre and all. If I read a book and it takes me more than a week to actually grasp the concept of the plot, then we have a problem. But The Hunger Games is composed by a brilliantly well-balanced recipe of some highlighted elements of fantastical literature: suspense, adventure, imagination, and danger.This is more than enough to keep me reading into the late hours of the night. I've had to dig out my flashlight and read under the bedsheets for several nights on end because I just couldn't stop.

However, one grammatical flaw I've noticed throughout is the overusage of commas, especially when incorrectly used after some prepositions. Usually I don't think much of the grammar of novels because all I can focus on is the plot, but the commas can get to me. After the first time I noticed it, I paused and reread because the fluency didn't sound right, but it's there, a comma for everyone to see. I just blatantly ignored it and moved on, but the next day I found it again. I noticed it more and more often, and it started to irritate me. I was just about ready to take a bottle of White-Out and mark out the unnecessary commas, but then I stopped myself at the last moment and realised that it actually wasn't my book, but a borrowed copy from a friend.

Grammatical errors aside, I strongly suggest this book to anyone on the lookout for a sense of adventure in a society that used to be our own. I also heard that it's going to be a movie, so I can't wait to point out the flaws in that adaptation.