This Book Transports us into the future, a world destroyed by a nuclear war and what that is left at the end of it,the nation of Panem. Panem lies in the ruins of a place once called North America . Ruled by a city of extravagance, the Capitol. It is surrounded by twelve districts, each supporting the capitol's economy and resource requirements.We move to District Twelve, a starved district with a population of around 8,000. This district was the coal miner's district. The district was protected by an electrified fence from the woods, indeed protected to starve.
The protagonist Katniss Everdeen lives here,with her sister Primrose aka Prim Everdeen and her mother. Her father had died in a Coal Mine Explosion five years ago. Katniss was 11 then. She is the bread earner of the family now as her mother, broken down from inside after her father's death, does not work.
Katniss,though, has no sympathy for her. She feels that her mother left them when she and her sister needed her most. Now, she goes to the prohibited woods where she hunts and snares and forages for
anything that translates into money and food.
She has a hunting partner with her,Gale Hawthorne. He is just a partner not a boyfriend. Today is Sunday but it is more special(and frightful) than you might imagine. Today is the reaping, a sort of lottery in which the names of all the boys and girls between 12 and 18 of the district is present. From each Gender Pool is selected a kid to participate in the annual, all-district Hunger Games. This was a televised fight until death between children, The Capitol through this competition or even a vulgarity expressed its control over the districts and the Districts' helplessness.
Katniss's name has been entered 13 times ,as she also signs up for free grain every month called tesserae, entering her name again and again. She does not allow Prim to do so. She is thus not worried about her one chit but about Gale's 18. Each child from 12 has to get their name entered once then twice for 13 and so on.
Disaster strikes as host from Capitol Effie Trinket announces Prim's name, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place. This system was available if another child wanted to compete in the Games in someone else's place.
The Boy tribute selected was Peeta Mellark , the son of the baker. He had once saved her life when she was nearing starvation by burning a part of a Bread and throwing the rest to Katniss. He was the Boy with the Bread. How Could she possibly kill him? Will she survive to come back home? If she comes back, at what costs ?
This book gives a lot of thrill to the reader. The reader may not be able to separate himself from such an engaging book. The book though should not spread a kind of terror in the minds of the people that the world as we know it can end. Due to its gory scenes and various other reasons I would recommend it for only children above 13 years of age.
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