The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I did it. A 4-day marathon to finish the Hunger Games trilogy.

Picture a bloody video game of violent death after violent death, only one in which you are interested in the lives and development of many of the characters.

This is the modern version of a Roman coliseum, and in case you don’t know… (I assume nothing in a culture that believes Dan Brown conducted meticulous research), the Romans also constructed elaborate and diverse scenes for their coliseum “games” where non-Romans fought to the death and Christians were slaughtered for sport.

This future time features a North American world where the Capitol exercises its control over the districts (different regions of the former U.S.) by keeping them near-starvation, and subjecting their children to a lottery in which the chosen, two per district, must fight in an elaborate annual (Coliseum) game where the victor emerges by killing the rest. These Games are the punishment for descendants of those who originally rebelled against the Capitol.

It is a bleak and stark view of human nature, warfare, and man’s inhumanity to man. The main character, Katniss, gets caught up in it when she volunteers to take her younger sister’s place in the Games.

The story is both gripping and emotionally exhausting with its unrelenting violence.

Katniss “wins” the Hunger Game but defies the Capitol by forcing them to allow her fellow competitor, friend, and loving admirer, Peeta, to “win” as well. This earns them both a twisted attention from the bread-and circus crowd at the capitol. Her defiance is punished by an announcement of the 25-yr. “Special” Hunger Games … where all the old “winners” must play again.

Meanwhile, a rebel force has been building, and Katniss becomes, by virtue of circumstance rather than conviction, a symbol of the rebellion known as “Mockingjay.”
Turns out, the rebel’s President is not much better, morally-speaking, than the Capitol President she seeks to dispose, and this moral conundrum is addressed by Katniss when she realizes this and takes out the President of the rebel force.

There are three things to consider when evaluating the reading potential for your tween: consistent blood and violence are a major theme. You’ll get to vicariously visit the Coliseums. That disturbs me as do the proliferation of modern violent video games.

Two other things make this a reading experience one that I would consider for adults/mature teens with parental guidance. First, one of the peacekeepers in Kat’s village/district uses his position to lure starving young women to vie with one another to sleep with him. He also turns out to be a kind-hearted Peacekeeper, relatively speaking.

Second, the character, Finnick, is a winner of one of the Games. He is then sold out as a sex-slave to the highest bidders in the Capitol, one after another. This fate would have likely awaited Kat as well. During the rebellion, Finnick broadcasts secrets about the upper echelons in the Capitol. They aren’t detailed, but the betrayal, incest, and ugliness alluded to are a heavy load.

Kat is Catholic and never realizes it. There is no overt religion here, other than a defiance of the Capitol by Kat when she lines a victim’s body with flowers.

But, Catholic parents, what makes Kat sympathetic and appealing is that her thinking, which is undeveloped in the book, is grounded in Catholic theology. And you can take the hint and develop it to teach your children the hope that answers evil: God’s grace and salvation.
She defended the weak.

She understood “something” made it wrong to kill. (As in…humans are made in the image of God.)

Kat understood that while self-defense and defense of one’s home may be necessary, there were limits. (The Church’s Just War Theory.)

It was, of course, the growing influence of Christianity that ended the Roman games. That doesn't happen here. The stories are a good reminder of the necessity of the gospel and the fullness of the Catholic Faith in order to hope to understand the redemptive power of suffering and the answer to evil. Your child will need your help here; the book only reflects this.

Kat's experience of love with Peeta was a beautiful story of self-sacrifice and love's healing power. It kept me reading to the end. Even Kat, scarred by a difficult childhood, learned through this love to hope, a fulfillment found in having children.

She ultimately chooses the love of Peeta over Gale, though her interest in Gale came first. Gale helped turn her away by doing things like developing a weapon that targeted unsuspecting bystanders, something that he felt justified doing in his hate for the Capitol. This is a direct violation of Catholic teaching as well.

I’d be cautious about this book except for mature tweens with parental guidance: relentless violence, mature sexual themes ensure it is NOT for the sensitive.

SAFETY RATING: 1 Vatican Flag

See Catechism of the Catholic Church: Earthly Peace: 2305; Just War Theory:2309