Hunger Games is a dystopian young adult novel by the American writer Suzanne Collins. This book, I can say, has the power of dragging us from reality and throwing us into the world of imagination.

The Book is written in the perspective of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen who lives in the future, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. The book drives us to the future where THE CAPITOL has the whole control and power over the nation. It tells us how an older sister protects her little sister and keeps the promise of trying hard to win the game. The story grips us and forces us to keep turning the pages. 

Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, the poorest of them all. Her father has died mining in the Seam years ago. Survival then becomes difficult for Katniss, her mother and her younger sister. The significant theme of Hunger Games is “Survival.”

Katniss is no doubt, tough and resourceful, but kind and sentimental as well.  We see her step forward to take her younger sister, Prim’s place in the games, which is nothing but a death sentence. But as the games begin, Katniss’s intelligence and accumulated knowledge about edible plants and hunting become an advantage. She uses them skillfully for her survival. Suzzane Collins describes everything in such great detail, that it almost seems like watching a movie.

The author through her story thus emphasizes how survival is not solely dependent on physical strength but also mental agility and adaptability. Main characters of the book  like Katniss rely on their instincts, intelligence, and skills honed from years of living in poverty-stricken districts.

The book makes an exhilarating narrative and a future we can fear and believe in, but it also allows us to see the similarities between Katniss’s world and ours. Luxury, after all, depends on someone else’s poverty. 

Suzzane Collins’s Hunger Games is thus a must read for all of us who like lot of action and suspense packed in a book. This one certainly keeps the readers glued.

✍️©️Sheetal Pradhan Deshpande