The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

2008, 374 pages.
Another dystopia describing a gloomy future of North America. Sometimes it seems like the authors are competing on who will create the worse future for this area.
Katniss is a 14 years old girl living in district 12 of what used to be North America and now called Panem. This country is ruled by the Capitol that makes sure no district dares to rebel in a harsh and cruel way. After the last unsuccessful rebellion, the Capitol starts a yearly event called “The Hunger Game”. Every district has to send one boy and one girl to the game, and the winner is the one that stays alive. The game is broadcasts by TV to the whole nation, the Capitol and the districts, and the game makers make sure they have plenty to watch, with lots of blood and violence. Katniss finds herself as a contestant in the game, and the story, told by her, follows her along the game.
The hunger game is influenced by all the reality shows that are so popular today, and it is not hard to see the resemblance. Though theoretically the safety of the contestants is kept in our reality, unlike the one in the book, whenever something happens or almost happens to a contestant, that is all is shown in the teaser to the next chapter, making it very clear that this is what draws the kind of audience that watches these shows and make the rating.
The book is a young adult book. It has a non-complicated plot told in a straight-forward fashion. There is no need for too much concentration to follow this book. Though the characters do not have too much depth, to say the least, it is told in a very captivating way and it is very hard to put the book down, I always felt that I just have to know what happened next.
Usually in these kind of futuristic books there are two kinds of realities, the technologically advanced one with lots of inventions and a primitive one where people are stripped of the privileges we are used of today. This book has both of them. The districts, kept primitive and starved by the capitol, where people spend most of their time in search for food, may times illegally while risking their lives, and the Capitol, rich and advanced, where people look for momentary thrilling pleasure, like fixing their bodies, and following death and violence on the TV. I liked the futuristic description, though a little simplistic, and I could definitely see the present western society turning into the Capitol society of the book.
All in all a nice book, captivating and easy to read, good for a time when needing a book that draws the reader in easily. This is the first book of a trilogy, two were published already and the third and final coming out next month. I will definitely try the second one too.