The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I once wrote a research paper in English 102 about the rise of reality television, its depiction of relationships, and America's growing openness to voyeurism. That was in 2003.

Six years later, I'm writing this in the in-between time of getting home from work and watching this week's American Idol kick off show. Tonight, the competition will be down to two, and I have to know who those two will be. Maybe it's American Idol's fault that I haven't yet published my reaction to a book that I finished reading over a week and a half ago…

The Hunger Games, for which the book is named, is a reality show that the government of Panem (a post-democratic United States) uses to keep its citizens under control. Each year, the citizens of all twelve districts watch as two "tributes" (one male, one female) from each of the districts are thrust into a dangerous landscape designed by the Gamemakers, government officials who control the elements and manipulate the tributes into killing one another. Twenty-four tributes, all between the ages of twelve and eighteen, enter the arena, but only one is to be released back into his or her home district, carrying the weight of the district's glory. Not to mention the personal guilt of having aided in – or at least survived – the death of twenty-three teenage countrymen.

There are no friends in the arena. At least there aren't supposed to be. But Katniss Everdeen, the tribute from District 12 who volunteers to take the place of her 12-year-old sister Prim whose name was drawn, finds more than one. In the fight to save herself (and her self), Katniss gets to know Peeta, her male counterpart from her district, and Rue, a girl from another district who reminds her too much of her little sister Prim. Having promised her sister that she really would try to win (ie, return home to continue supporting her small family), Katniss attempts to keep her word, even though it means playing the game – kill or be killed. Her conflicts are as numerous and complex as they should be.

Meanwhile, the citizens of Panem cannot take their eyes from their television sets. I could not take mine from the book, even though I was reading about the nearly two-dozen televised deaths of characters who met their end only because their names were drawn from a hat. It makes me wonder, what atrocity would I willingly watch each day if only it were broadcast on TV? This question alone disturbs me.

It also makes me ask, how might the U. S. government be controlling me via American Idol? I might explore the question, except they're about to announce the finalists. Gotta go.

Suzanne Collins's sequel Catching Fire is set for publication on September 1, 2009.

Coming soon: A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle