North America called Panem. She lives with her mother and younger sister, Prim, as they

struggle to find food and survive in such tough conditions.

Each year, as part of a punishment for a previous rebellion, each of the districts select a

boy and girl as tributes to compete in the Hunger Games, a battle royale with one survivor.

Prim gets selected, but Katniss quickly volunteers to take her place, becoming one of the tributes

for District 12, along with Peeta, the baker’s son.

Katniss and Peeta are transported to the Capitol to be trained by their coach, Haymitch, a

drunkard. But Haymitch is clever and proposes a strategy to fake a romantic relationship

between Katniss and Peeta.

Katniss and Peeta are dressed by their stylist, Cinna, who adorns them with flames for the

opening ceremony. As they are paraded around the arena, the audience cheers.

Over the next few days, each of the tributes train with specialized trainers, learning

survival and combat skills. At the end of the training, each tribute is given a rating

to help potential sponsors and betting. Peeta earns an 8, while Katniss earns an 11.

As they prepare to enter the arena, Haymitch tells them that their best chance at surviving

is to immediately run away when the game starts.

All of the contestants are then transported to the arena and the gong signals that the

Hunger Games have begun. Immediately, Katniss is engulfed in a scene of killing, as several

of the contestants are attacked by the stronger tributes.

Katniss reaches for a backpack and then runs towards the woods to hide. She is fortunate

that the backpack has some basic survival supplies, but she lacks water.

As tributes are killed, a cannon is fired to indicate their death. Katniss continues

to search for water and it looks like she will die of dehydration. She eventually finds

water, but sees a group of strong tributes working together, which she calls the Careers.

With them is Peeta.

The Careers, led by a boy named Cato, trap Katniss in a tree, but she decides to drop

a nest of tracker jackers, an insect with powerful venom, on the group. She swarm kills

two girls, scares away the rest of the group, and allows Katniss to escape, though she is

stung a few times.

Katniss decides to take a bow and arrow set from one of the dead girls. Peeta helps her

escape Cato, but she is confused. She walks away, but succumbs to the venom of the tracker

jackers and falls asleep.

When she wakes up, she collects herself and meets Rue, a small girl with acrobatic skills

in the trees. They decide to work together against the Careers by destroying their supplies

and food.

As Rue lights a series of fires in the distance, Katniss destroys the supplies by setting off

the surrounding landmines. However, she loses hearing in one ear. She tries to meet up with

Rue, but Rue is killed by one of the Careers. Katniss avenges her, but it is too late.

An announcement is made that will allow two victors of the Hunger Games if they come from

the same district, which means that both Peeta and Katniss can win. This drives Katniss to

find Peeta, who is injured badly with a leg wound.

Katniss takes care of Peeta’s wounds in a nearby cave and the two of them begin to

get romantic with each other. The audience watching loves it and expresses their approval

with a gift of food.

As Peeta recovers, another announcement is made that each district will be given supplies

at the Cornucopia, a centerplace in the arena. Since it’s dangerous, Peeta doesn’t want

Katniss to go, but she drugs him and goes alone.

She tries to recover her supplies at the Cornucopia, but is attacked by one of the Careers. Just

as Katniss is about to be killed, another tribute saves her, repaying her for helping

Rue. Katniss goes back to the cave and uses the newly acquired serum in her supply pouch

to save Peeta.

Peeta recovers and the two decide to leave the cave. As they are gathering and hunting

food, one of the other tributes, a girl Katniss names Foxface, unknowingly eats poisonous

berries that Peeta was gathering. That leaves only three remaining: Katniss, Peeta, and

Cato.

Katniss and Peeta go to the Cornucopia to find Cato and he shows up, but is being chased

by mutated dogs. Katniss realizes that the dogs are actually the tributes that were previously

in the Hunger Games.

They leave Cato to the dogs and he is killed. Katniss and Peeta are the last two tributes

alive. However, an announcement is made that there can only be one winner, but the decision

is then reversed when Katniss and Peeta try to poison themselves.

Katniss and Peeta are declared the winners and are taken back to the Capitol. Haymitch

warns Katniss that their suicide stunt was not appreciated by the Hunger Game officials.

Katniss and Peeta are interviewed and eventually get to go home.

In the end, Peeta discovers that Katniss was being coached to pretend to like him, while

he truly felt those feelings.

As always, a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is

the idea of illusion and what this story says about our society’s willingness to cover

up the truth with images that aren’t real.

As soon as Katniss enters the Capitol, she notices all of the “fake” people covering

up themselves, such as the women with dyed hair and makeup. Everything seems artificial

and setup. No one seems comfortable and natural, unlike her conditions in District 12, where

she hunts freely and can be herself.

As Katniss prepares for the Hunger Games, she soon realizes that her prep team is changing

her by waxing her hair and fitting her in costumes and outfits that she wouldn’t necessarily

wear. Interestingly, Katniss resists at first, but then sees herself in the arena and likes

what she sees. In fact, her survival during the games relies on a clever illusion of a

romantic relationship with Peeta.

So while I’m not yet convinced that Katniss hasn’t entirely bought into the paradigm

of the Capitol - that she hasn’t gone all Hollywood - she is willing to play the game,

so to speak. Not only does she win the Hunger Games, but also manages to fool the audience

into believing that she loves Peeta.

However, as I’m sure the other books pursue, a person can’t stay with one foot in both

the illusion and what they conceive as real. Eventually Katniss will have to choose to

either reject the illusion and stand up for truth as she sees it, or allow the illusion

that she is delving into become her new truth.

So, let me know what you think of the story in the comments below.

Don’t forget to subscribe for more Minute Book Reports and thanks for watching.