Hunger, A Gone Novel

Author: Michael Grant
Genre: Sci-Fi, YA
Grade: C, C-

In the first book, Gone, we meet the kids (15 and under) of Perdido Beach, CA. They have a unique problem: in the blink of an eye every person over 15 vanished from their little town. This was big enough but then other problems began -- kids started developing powers like telekinesis, teleportation, hands that shot blasting bolts of light -- and the list went on. Then the animals around them began to mutate -- snakes that could fly (ick!), coyotes much smarter than they should be. . . .

In book two we are about to meet part of what is causing all the problems. It doesn't solve things in the FAYZE, as the kids call their new world, but it will clarify some things for us. Also in this issue we will deal with the troubles kids have with setting up their own government and running things on their own.

It is this second point in which the book really failed for me. I was disturbed at how the kids seemed to arrange themselves. My own son is pretty helpless in a lot of ways (I have to constantly remind him of basics.) But he can cook, he can read, he would have some common sense when it came to taking care of himself. And politics literally bore me and much of the book was about establishing a government not in the form of running things but with an underlying hint of politics (something they did at the end of the last book but felt the need to reiterate.)

One major squabble I had was that the author insisted on two basic ideas: 1) that humans don't work without money 2) that if you don't establish a monetary system the lazy will live off the hardworking. Finally, he went to pains to say being "rich" is more than OK, it is human nature to want the best for ourselves and the best way to deal with humans is to accept the idea that some are going to work to be rich. I had all kinds of problems with this. First, even children know that the rich aren't always the hardest working among us. I am "rich" compared to my ancestors but those people worked ten times harder for what they had. Someone in Africa could work like a fiend and not reach what I have. This is like the idea that bad things only happen to bad people, it's what many people feel should be but it isn't. If it were, CEO's would often live in card board boxes while missionaries handed boxes of food out the front door of their mansion.

But what really got me was that these kids weren't establishing a survival government. They were establishing a government more like a political government that runs a nation than a "we're a group and we're gonna survive this" type government. That second option is what I thought kids would do in this situation. Just my .02 but it didn't seem to me that a 15 yr. old who had suddenly lost every adult in the world who had ever cared for him would be all concerned with how he could earn more but would rather be concerned with how he could survive. I am probably doing a bad job of describing it all but I just felt that there was an underlying tone of propaganda that was inappropriate to the whole issue of survival.

That tone jarred enough that it didn't turn into a great read for me.

Tea: I am all about Celestial Seasonings "Candy Cane Lane" right now. Very Christmassy!