The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games trilogy. Are you on board yet? You’ve seen it though right? Dismissed it as mere fodder for the Twilight crowd?

Like you didn’t love Twilight yourself.

I’ve been there. I basically make it a rule that anything my younger sisters would read, I’m not touching. Something about taking literary recommendations from 12 and 15 year olds that doesn’t sit well with me. But naturally I will force my superior book taste on them.

Naturally.

So The Hunger Games mania is in full swing. You can’t go into any book or grocery store or even scroll through Twitter without running into it. Lots of Twilightcomparisons for the movie, lots of movie executives gleefully rubbing their hands together, anticipating another ridiculous windfall.

I have to say, they are probably right.

These books, they get to you. They make you obsess and you read them back to back as if they are one giant book, the last chapter of the first feeding seamlessly into the first chapter of the second and so on. My bus rides to and from work are so quick when I’m reading these babies. I have no idea where I am half the time, and I’ve definitely been late to one function because I postponed my getting-ready time in favour of finishing Book 2. Basically, Suzanne Collins is a genius.

So it’s the future and we’ve all basically destroyed ourselves in this crazy bloody civil war and out of the ashes of that comes a new country, Panem. Panem is split into 12 districts, most of which are living hand to mouth. And once a year, to remind everyone about the power of the Capitol, there is a Reaping. One boy and one girl from each district is chosen as a tribute to participate in The Hunger Games. Basically a super twisted Olympics whereby children between the ages of 12 and 18 fight each other to the death. Katniss Everdeen volunteers to protect her little sister Prim and well…there’s a lot more to it but that’s the gist.

Initially, when I heard a description of what exactly these Hunger Games were all about, I was totally put off. The idea of reading about kids killing each other is naturally completely abhorrent. And I can’t really explain why it isn’t except that, aside from the actual Games, the things that happen in the books, have happened in history and I don’t think we should shy away from teaching our kids about it.

That said, if your kid has read it, maybe give it a read yourself so that you can talk about it. When I finally finish Book 3 (Mockingjay), I plan to give my sister a call and ask her just what she thought about these books. Because they are a mindf*ck.

In a good way.

And if you have no kids, give them a read, go see the movies. You’ll enjoy it. Just like you said you wouldn’t love Twilight. And look at you now. Yes, you Team Edward.