The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, the sequel

The Hunger Games is set in futuristic North America in a country called Panem.  Life in North America is over as we know it.  Panem has a center of operations called The Capitol and twelve outlying districts that are titled merely by number.  Each year the Capitol requires two tributes, or sacrifices, from each district to participate in the Hunger Games.  Every name of every boy and girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen are put into a lottery, and a boy and girl from each District are chosen at random to participate in the annual televised fight to the death that required viewing for all citizens.

The story is told from the perspective of Katniss, a sixteen year old girl living with her mother and twelve-year-old sister in District 12.  Her father was killed in a coal mining accident several years ago, and Katniss is now the sole provider for her family.  She feeds her family by hunting illegally in the woods beyond the wire fence that keeps residents from escaping from the District.  When her sister’s name is drawn in the lottery, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place.

I first heard about this book from a friend who clipped a review by Lev Grossman about The Hunger Games and the sequel book, Catching Fire, from Time Magazine’s September 7, 2009 issue.  The idea that struck me most in that review was the last three lines: “Kids are physical creatures, and they’re not stupid. They know all about violence and power and raw emotions. What’s really scary is when adults pretend that such things don’t exist.”

In this incredible novel, violence and power are central in the lives of all citizens.  The Capitol holds all the power and the citizens of each District live within the prisons of their cities.  People are left to starve to death or are routinely killed for such actions as killing a deer for food or trying to run away.  Medicine is scarce and even the baker’s family eats the stale food that doesn’t sell.  Children in District 12 live in fear of losing a parent in the coal mines, because without a provider they are doomed to starvation.

When Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place in the Hunger Games, she is joined by Peeta, a boy who she barely knows.  Within a few days of the lottery drawing, Peeta declares to the world that he has always loved Katniss, and suddenly the fight to survive the Killing Arena becomes a game of cunning, violence, love, power, and skill.

Suzanne Collins takes us into a world where things are exactly as they seem; corrupt, unfair, destitute and violent.  Nothing is sugar-coated and at least everyone knows where they stand.  Through Katniss, the reader discovers that there is a piece of personal power that can be wielded in a world that seems bent on the destruction of dignity, friendship, compassion, justice, and love.

I wasn’t sure if this story would be difficult to stomach and hesitated to begin reading once I bought it from the bookstore.  After several weeks of psyching myself up, I quickly discovered that I couldn’t put this book down, and read it even during meal times.  The on-screen romance that Peeta and Katniss purport is strangely non-erotic and entirely believable.  They realized that romance was what the viewers in the Capitol wanted, and they conspired to deliver, realizing that their performance bought them good-will and gifts from sponsors.

I hesitate to categorize this book.  Is it Adventure?  Romance?  Suspense?  Young-Adult?  Truthfully, it is all those things, which is what makes this such a good read.  Young adults will love this, but adults will enjoy this as much as they enjoyed the Harry Potter and Twilight series.  Suzanne Collins joins the ranks of J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer in understanding what kids innately know; the world is a scary, violent place, and no amount of reassurance from parents will change that fact.  She dives head-long into this post-Apocalyptic world, and invites the reader to experience the raw human emotions of greed, violence, power and will to survive.  The world is just as it seems; bent on destruction.  The question is; who will be the winner?

Between Me and the River, by Carrie Host

I blogged about the books sitting on my shelf recently.  This is the first book I’ve finished and reviewed.

Between Me and the River, by Carrie Host

This amazing memoir is one of the first non-fiction books published by Harlequin, the publisher that is well-known for churning out steamy romance novels.  I applaud the publisher for recognizing the power and beauty in this story.

I finished this book several days ago and am still reeling from the raw force of this understated memoir.  Ms. Host was diagnosed with carcinoid cancer, a “cockroach of cancers” that doesn’t respond to chemotherapy and can only be surgically removed.  Even then, the cancer will ultimately return.  It’s a cancer that has no happy ending.  I didn’t know this fact going into the book, but as I read further and further, I was comforted to remember that this book is a MEMOIR, which means that Ms. Host lived to tell the tale. 

This is a book about a woman who is diagnosed with cancer.  But it’s much, much more.  It’s a story that spans several years of her dealing with the crushing blows of cancer, surgery, and living the details between those moments.  It’s a story of a woman who wonders about the meaning of life and who ultimately answers it. 

Time and again, she feels like the “River” is claiming her, sweeping her away from her stable life, the husband she loves and the three children she adores above all else.  She learns to swim the emotional current that often appears as black as the unlit sky, and how to get out of it again.  She learns to let go of some things, and to grasp others with an iron grip.  It’s a story of allowing oneself to experience love in all its ferociousness, tenderness, and beauty.

I cried through so many parts of this book.  My emotions were shredded by the incredible honesty Ms. Host expressed.  She doesn’t hide behind irony or cynical humor.  She opens the door to her heart and invites the reader to float with her through the emotional “River”; the vast undercurrents, the rocks that lie beneath, the rapids and shallows that threaten to pull you under at every blind turn.  It’s a ride into the unknown that is utterly worth taking.

I absolutely, 100% recommend this book to anyone who is willing to look beyond the confines of the physical into the deep abyss of the emotional, spiritual, and unknown landscapes that have yet to be explored.  Ms. Host faces her certain death by carcinoid cancer by continuing to live each moment, each month, as if it’s her last.  I feel challenged by her honesty and truth to see if I can live with the same recognition of the gifts and love that I have.

Rating:  Excellent