Why I liked The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins has been the first book I have read completely on my kindle. Therefore, it has been the first English book in which I have looked up every single word I didn’t know in a dictionary because it was so easy. This has made my reading even more enjoyable.

I liked the Hunger Games because the protagonist is a victim and a survivor. Because she loves people in this world and she loves people who are dead, but she believes she is alone in her fight to survive as an individual. I liked her because she is strong in her defence of those she loves, and she hates showing she is vulnerable, too. 

At a young age, she is confused and she finds it hard to define her feelings for people who are around her and love her. She hates the thought of getting attached to anyone because she hates the idea of bringing children into a world she doesn’t feel is fair for lots of people or suitable to them. She dislikes using violence except to hunt or to protect herself. She says the wrong things and she feels guilty sometimes. She doesn’t believe her elders can help her cope with her lot.

I like the character because I don’t feel I am a victim or a survivor, and I haven’t been put to such tests, but I have sometimes felt very much like Soldier Everdeen.

I like the story because the cruel idea of holding yearly Hunger Games is not as distant or unthinkable as some people imagine or comment, unless you are unaware that there are tourist agencies that specialize in taking bunches of people to areaswhere wars are being fought, or you don't know about TV reality shows like Big Brother or 16 and pregnant, in which a camera follows a teenager through pregnancy and the birth of her child. Aren’t the Hunger Games just another turn of the screw?

I also like the description of obnoxious luxury and waste in the Capitol, the 8% of the richest in the world that is left (district one out of twelve). Does a similar distribution of riches sound familiar to you? Finally I like the love story. While some people seem to love unconditionally, for others love creeps up, as Finnick puts it.

I am obviously not going to disclose the end. I just want to add that the author keeps the reader thrilled about what is going to happen as far as the last page, and recommend that you read the trilogy, too.