The Hunger Games -- Take 2

I picked up The Hunger Games for a number of reasons:

(1) I've been having trouble doing recreational reading lately, because I've been so busy.  I wanted a book that would be easy to read, entertaining, and that I didn't want to put down.  This is the same reason I started reading the Twilight books, but Suzanne Collins, while still clearly writing for a teenage audience, is superior to Stephanie Meyer as a wordsmith.  Don't get me wrong, Suzanne's no Bill Shakespeare, but at least she knows how to put a sentence together.

(2) I've been selling a gazillion copies of the books in the trilogy at my bookstore, and was wondering what the fuss was about.
 
(3) As I said in my first post about the book, Jennifer Lawrence has been cast to play Katniss Everdeen in the movie.  It's a totally different role than her breakout as Ree Dolly in Winter's Bone, but I want to see the movie just to see how she does.

In the novel, Katniss lives in some future version of the United States, but there has clearly been massive political and social meltdown.  The oppressive government rules from the Capitol, and the remainder of the country has been divided into twelve districts.  A few of the districts are wealthy; most have been exploited for resources.  Katniss hails from District 12, the coal mining district.  Every district must select two children by lottery, one boy and one girl, to send to the Hunger Games each year.

Katniss is sixteen; her younger sister Prim, to whom she is fiercely devoted, is twelve.  It's Prim's first year of eligibility for the Games, and her name is chosen.  Katniss, a skilled bow hunter who can move silently through the woods outside their district boundary, volunteers to go in Prim's stead.  She and Peeta, the boy from her district, are whisked off to the Capitol for a week of preparation before the Games begin.

The Hunger Games is a fight to the death.  The last contender - called a Tribute - still living is the victor.  The whole spectacle is filmed and broadcast live through the Capitol and all the districts.  The Gamemakers control every aspect of life in the arena - the landscape, the weather, the rules, the sneaky tricks.

Collins' description of the gruesome, violent Hunger Games is oddly compelling where it should be revolting.  I just couldn't stop reading.  And to complicate matters for Katniss while she's fighting for her life, Peeta - on live television during preparation for the Games - declared his love for her.  But she's confused: is it a trick to mess with her head?  Part of the show he's putting on to entertain the Gamemakers?  Does he mean it?  When they find themselves needing each other in order to survive, she starts to fall for him too.  Or does she?

I compared this book to Twilight because I read them for the same reasons: escapism and curiosity.  Although a lot of other people compare it to Twilight, and I can't quite figure out why; there are teen books with far more similar plots that would probably make for a better comparison.  Maybe it's just because they're both so popular.  But in addition to being better written (although there are some spots that could use editing work; I think Katniss says at about four different times during the Games that it's the first time she feels like she might really win), The Hunger Games is more thought-provoking, with its less-than-subtle political commentary, and is just a better story.  Most of reading Twilight consisted of trying not to gag while Bella whined on and on about how her life would end without Edward.  Katniss is just the opposite: she doesn't need Peeta, and isn't even sure she wants him.  She's strong and brave and capable, but also tender, if the time is right.  She's a far better role model for teenage girls, if they can stomach the subject matter.