In the beginning, Katniss Everdeen, is not exactly the most likeable protagonist one could want. But, then again, her world is not exactly the best of all possible worlds either. It is a future in which the world in general, and North America in particular, has been dramatically altered by a series of disasters.The new world is made up of Twelve Districts. It used to be thirteen, but a revolt led to the cataclysmic world of “The Hunger Games.” Every year, for the past 75 years, the surviving districts are required to offer up two tributes – children: one boy, one girl -- to play in the nationally broadcast to-the-death gladiatorial games, which are held in the Capitol.
This is a world in which reality TV meets the life and death struggle of the Roman coliseum. But it’s also an updated version of the story of the minotaur. Suzanne Collins has done a lot of homework on survival and hunting which makes Katniss’ skills quite convincing. Collins also has a sense for the distinct separation of her protagonist’s experience of the games and that of her audience, which becomes terribly clear at the end of the book. Collins’ use of Roman names for capital residents also lends the book a quality that is distant from our experience, which helps make us relate to Katniss when she arrives at the capital.
The book was originally published in 2008, but was recently released in hardback with its sequel, “Catching Fire.” The book does have its weaknesses. The first of which is the contrivance that brings Katniss and her fellow tribute, Peeta, together during the games, only to be withdrawn at the end. Bringing the characters together naturally, without the MacGuffin would have made their act at the end of the Games stronger and more poignant. The second problem is her use of mutants. Genetic engineering seems to have come a long way in Panem. There are a lot of mutant animals running around, and one sometimes gets the sense that like the Gamemasters, Collins has used the mutants to push the action along when maybe other options might have been considered. And while the book certainly doesn’t eschew violence, the horror at the heart of this exercise seems to be missing.
But these faults are not fatal. The Hunger Games are a strong exercise in speculative fiction that draw together the strands of what currently exists in our popular culture and blends them with a mythological narrative. The ending leads directly to the sequel, Catching Fire. And while Katniss may start out as unlikeable, you can’t help but hope she’ll bring the whole thing down, taking the Capitol and President Snow with her.
