The Hunger Games

There is no doubt that this book shows a totally despotic government which even encourages and requires a barbarian practice involving 2 people from each of 12 districts of what was once the United States to compete in the Hunger Games.

The object is simple: be the last one left alive. Anything goes, any form of killing is allowed and it's all broadcast all over the nation as required viewing.

The book deals with two people from District 12, the poorest of the districts. Kaktiss and Peeta represent the district and are given instructions, a drunken helper and costumes for public appearances.

The book covers the barbarity of the killings (just as the movie does) and how Katniss and Peeta team up knowing that only one of them would be allowed to be a winner.

There's a massive divide between the rich (who live in the Capitol) and the poor (everybody else.) The Peacekeepers, the 'police force' used to control the population, are pretty much like the SS Squads from World War II Nazi Germany.

The book is very well written and very realistic. You can 'see' the events taking place in your mind's eye. You can feel that this is a population keep under the heels of the Capitol oppressors who live well while others starve.

What's really scary for me is how I can see that many of the elements of this book already exist and how this type of thing is something that is not at all totally impossible to see in reality in our future.

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