Novels Now

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Young Adult Fiction
2008 Scholastic Press
Finished on 4/15/09
Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)

Product Description:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games.” The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat’s sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve read such a good teen novel. While not quite as good as The Book Thief, it sure comes a lot closer than Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight series. It may even be as good as theHarry Potter books.

The Hunger Games was my book club’s choice for this month’s discussion. We had a fantastic meeting, and yes, we all loved it. I’ve gotten to where I don’t read any reviews or even the dust cover blurbs prior to reading a book, as I prefer to go in completely unaware of what might take place between the covers. And since this was a book club choice, I just assumed I’d give it a try without really knowing what it was about. As I began reading, I immediately wondered what I was getting into. I’d heard very good comments about the book, but wasn’t aware of the premise of the “games.” I had an uneasy feeling that it would be a bleak, depressing story about killing and death, but I continued on and quickly became engrossed in the characters and story. I think the author did a very good job of keeping the story interesting and suspenseful without resorting to gratuitous violence and gore. There was no lingering detailed description of the actual killings and I never felt uneasy or disturbed by the acts of violence.

On life in Panem:

When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually I understood this would only lead us to more trouble. So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts. Do my work quietly in school. Make only polite small talk in the public market. Discuss little more than trades in the Hob, which is the black market where I make most of my money. Even at home, where I am less pleasant, I avoid discussing tricky topics. Like the reaping, or food shortages, or the Hunger Games. Prim might begin to repeat my words and then where would we be?

On the Hunger Games:

The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins.

Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch — this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. Whatever words they use, the real message is clear. “Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen.”

To make it humiliating as well as torturous, the Capitol requires us to treat the Hunger Games as a festivity, a sporting event pitting every district against the other. The last tribute alive receives a life of ease back home, and their district will be showered with prizes, largely consisting of food. All year, the Capitol will show the winning district gifts of grain and oil and even delicacies like sugar while the rest of us battle starvation.

Fans of The Giver (Lois Lowry), Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card),Lord of the Flies (William Golding), The Most Dangerous Game (short story by Richard Connell) and, yes, the Twilight series (Stephenie Meyers) will not be disappointed. I know I’m not alone when I say I’m anxiously awaiting the release of Catching Fire, the second in the trilogy, which is due out on September 1st. Until then, I may have to check out the first in Collins’ young reader series, Gregor The Overlander (Underland Chronicles).

Final words: Highly addictive!!

Jars line my cellar shelves. Some are filled with fists of yellow-veined tomatoes. Others hold small onions and chopped leeks, white pearls floating in an opaque sea. Sometimes the light falls on a jar of boiled quail or the slick, dark meat of a rabbit. There are unexpected moments when I see the slit of an infant’s mouth, or the curl of a tiny fist behind the glass, and I run up the steps, back into the open light of sky. I gasp for air and tell myself the past is a distant thing, no longer able to reach me or hurt me. And yet, at times, it seems the past will always send its long thin fingers toward me, reminding me of all I want to forget. -From Tomato Girl, prologue-

Jayne Pupek’s debut novel, Tomato Girl, is not a story for the faint of heart…nor is it one which the reader will likely soon forget.

Set in the South, the book is narrated from the innocent point of view of eleven year old Ellie Sanders who is forced to grow up far too early. Ellie has learned to depend upon her father Rupert to guide her through the confusing maze of her mother’s mental illness. But when Ellie’s mother has an accident and Rupert introduces Tess (a girl who delivers tomatoes to the general store where Rupert works) to “help out” at home … everything changes.

Through Ellie’s eyes the reader meets the memorable characters who people the novel: Mary Roberts (Ellie’s precocious and practical best friend), Clara and Jericho (the black couple with love to spare), Sheriff Rhodes,  Miss Wilder (Ella’s lesbian teacher who tries to help), the frightening Mason Reed, young Tess (who threatens the security of Ellie’s family), Rupert (who flounders in his ability to provide emotionally to Ellie), Julia (Ellie’s very ill mother), and Baby Tom. Through Ellie the reader experiences the pain of loss, and the terror of living with a mentally ill parent.

This is a tough book to read. It is raw and far too real. But it is also beautifully written. Pupek has captured Ellie’s character perfectly - a young girl on the cusp of becoming a woman, but who is still wrapped in the innocence of childhood. Pupek never veers from Ellie’s point of view, skillfully revealing the workings of adult motivation through the eyes of a child.

There will be readers who will find this book too disturbing to read. Some scenes are graphic, disheartening, and completely unforgettable. Tomato Girl is a novel which will not go away once the final page has been turned. Pupek has created a character who like Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird and Ruth Ann in Bastard Out of Carolina will tug on the reader’s heart and demand to be heard.

Recommended.

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