Jule reads: The Hunger Games leave you hungry for more

I am addicted. I bought Suzanne Collins’ novel “The Hunger Games” out of sheer curiosity, as they were being mentioned in a blog that I stumbled upon. I thought they probably belonged into the young adults section for a reason and since they are also immensely popular in the US, I was also more than suspicious. I mean, after all, so is Twilight and every single book that Jonathan Sparks seems to vomit out. However, my misgivings were unfounded as the first of the Hunger Games trilogy glued my fingers to its pages and kept my eyes hastily galloping over the words as I anticipated the next event with bated breath.

We meet the 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen from District Twelve, in a near-post-apocalyptic USA that are now called Panem. While famine and hard labour reign in the outer districts, the Capitol, metropolis of Panem, executes a reign of terror over the districts, invigorating the fear within the population by means of the Hunger Games. This dystopian Battle Royale places two children between the age of 12 and 18 from every district in an Arena to fight till death, until only one survivor is crowned the winner of this bloody façade of a sporting event. Katniss steps in to spare her little sister, who has been picked by the “lucky” draw. Now she must face 23 other contestants, one of which is a distant childhood comrade of hers.

What fascinated me so intensely about this novel was on the one hand, the fast-paced style that allowed the series of shocking events to have far more of an impact on me than any popular Bruce Willis movie, where every other minute a car blows up or someone shoots down a whole gang. Katniss has been made tough by her arduous life in the Seam of District Twelve; she is grown up for her age since she had to take care for her family at an age where kids normally just enter Junior High. She is also torn between her raw instinct of survival and her conscience, as well as her conflicted feelings for Peeta Mellark, the male contestant from her district. On the other hand, there is so much more to worry about than the deadly weapons of the other contestants. The Capitol is Big Brother, watching their every move, steering the game as they please and oppressing every possible act of rebellion against the totalitarian government. The Hunger Games are like the proverbial “Panem et Circenses” that are to keep the population subdued and in fear as well as entertained. It is a measure to ensure that nobody ever feels safe enough to plot against the dictatorship as well as make mischief between the districts which could otherwise easily unite against the Capitol.

The state system presented by Collins is as atrocious as it is realistic. Certainly, the sci-fi elements such as mutated animals that spy on the districts and highly-technological measures of punishment, prosecution and control are highly futuristic and fictional. However, I can’t help but think of states like North Korea, where only Pyongyang has any means of technology and progress and the more rural areas, for the most part, battle with problems like hunger, illiteracy and are completely ignorant of the political ongoing in the capital and believe in absurd Myths about Kim Jong-Il. This adds to the eeriness of the situation in totalitarian Panem, since it is not actually mere fiction, it bears a striking resemblance to the state of affairs in countries in our time.

All these reasons lead me to order the two sequels as soon as I finished the first part. I don’t want to spoil the series for those who might want to pick up the book themselves, but I can safely say that there is more to come. The Hunger Games are not over after the excruciating ordeal of the public exposure in millions of interviews. This over-televised event leaves more than a dent in the lives of the protagonists and I am absolutely certain that Panem will never be the same again.

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