The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: Dystopian fiction, YA Fiction

Year of Release: 2008

Review: I’ll be the first to admit that I discriminate. I have a prejudice against books that come with a big hype. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be some sort of book hipster. I read a lot of famous books, after all, they have that reputation for a reason. But I steer clear of fad books, ones that attract a cult following by people who claim insert title here has changed their lives.

I do have reasons for this aversion. When people exaggerate how inspiring/tragic/hilarious/romantic the latest craze is, you’re always going to be set up for disappointment. And they tend to be poor quality gush cleverly packaged to suggest a ground-breaking book wildly different from anything you’ve ever read, which just isn’t true.

All that said, I must admit that I misjudged The Hunger Games. I expected a pale imitation of so many other dystopias, a sort of mass produced novel screaming, “won’t anyone think of the children?!” at passers-by. But it’s not that. It’s something fuller, the edges of the story have been filled in. It’s thought out.

Briefly, x amount of years in the future, society is divided between 12 districts, and the Capitol. The Capitol controls all, and as a demonstration of its power, every year each of the districts must send two children to fight to the death on tv. Clearly, it’s a bit messed up. So one year Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist and general badass mofo, volunteers to save her sister. Cue descent into hell.

The writing is simple but generally enjoyable, but it’s the subtle attacks on capitalism, consumerism and desensitising of violence that impressed me. There’s some substance beneath the awkward love triangle and bickering. Light fiction but not fluff.

Rating: 6 and a half stars
Quote: “I enter a nightmare from which I wake repeatedly, only to find a greater terror awaiting me. All the things I dread most, all the things I dread for others manifest in such vivid detail I can’t help but believe they’re real. Each time I wake, I think, At last, this is over, but it isn’t. It’s only the beginning of a new chapter of torture.”

We Need New Names

Title: We Need New Names

Author: NoViolet Bulawayo

Genre: YA Fiction

Year of Release: 2014

Review: Darling dreams of moving to America with her aunt where she will have dolls and she’ll never be hungry. But she’s a world away, in Zimbabwe where she lives in a shack and her best friend is pregnant at age 11. Yet in these circumstances, she still has a mostly happy and safe childhood.

That doesn’t mean, however, that when the opportunity to move halfway across the world is offered, that she will pass it up. Once there she begins to discover that the American Dream may be harder to reach than she had anticipated.

I really loved this book. It doesn’t sugar coat the reality of moving to the USA and the disillusionment felt by many immigrants. At the same time, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Especially in the first half of the book, it can be pretty funny. It feels real, because it is. Bulawayo grew up in Zimbabwe and then moved to the States, so I think it’s safe to say at least some of the story comes from her own life.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; progression is key. This is a spot on example of how to transition from a child’s point of view to a young adult’s.

A wonderfully different perspective, and a completely fascinating book.

Rating: 7 and a half stars

Quote: “Then Maneru’s grandfather comes sprinting down Freedom Street without his walking stick, shouting, They are coming, Jesus Christ, they are coming! Everyone is standing on the street, neck craned, waiting to see. Then Mother shouts, Darling – comeintothehousenow! but then the bulldozers are already near, big and yellow and terrible and metal teeth and spinning dust.”