Very disappointed in Hunger Games (top, written, buy book, series)

[Georgianbelle]

Originally Posted by jgooding125

I'm glad that the people who actually enjoyed the books are calling them for what they are: cheap, shallow fiction. Entertaing? not to me, though i can see why some people would enjoy it. I am a literature fanatic and these books are a true insult, mostly because of the hype surrounding it. Most people are saying that because the books are popular that they';re good but that's almost never the case. Novels that actually make you think aren't popular because heaven forbid anybody actually take the time to think. Books like twilight and The Hunger Games are poorly-constructed nonsense and all any literature geek could ask is that fans stop calling these books good literature because its the most aggravating thing.

As a "literature geek" I am sure that you realize that writing can be great and be popular too. Charles Dickens's works were serialized for the masses and extremely popular. Shakespeare kept the theaters of his time full. Surely, you would call their writing good. I can give you many more examples, if you would like. Walt Whitman and Robert Frost were popular poets in their time. Of course, I am not comparing the Hunger Games trilogy to Dickens, Shakespeare, Whitman, or Frost, but they are not bad. They are entertaining, and that is what they were written to be.

[pandaundercover]

Agreed. I was excited to read them because of all the hype around them. Having that many fans, you'd think it'd be amazing. But ya know... meh... it was like reading the Twilight series. I expected more. They weren't horrible, just not awesome.

[Mark S.]

I've only read the first.

I thought the story was great. Original? No. But there's really no such thing as an original story. The last storyteller to spin an original tale probably died 10,000 years before Homer.

My biggest complain was the first person present tense style of the narrative, which I found so off-putting as to detract from the story. First person rarely works for me in adventure fiction, because I'm always left wondering: Why is this character suddenly getting all pensive in the middle of an action scene? And present tense is just silly.

But as a plain adventure story with some genuinely touching moments, I thought it was great.

[CA4Now]

I'm on the third book. This one moves more slowly than the first two but I've found all of them interesting.

[Amber18]

Im about to start the second book, I liked the first it was quite intriguing so im excited to start the next one!

[TiltheEndofTime]

I haven't started the third book. The first was meh but the second was a fantastic page turner! I loved the twist and the arena...very original.

Mark S, you are the second person I've heard say that the last original storyteller probably died 10,000 yrs before Homer, lol.

[Amber18]

the twist in the second book was awesome! Cant wait to read the third

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by mommabear2

I've read all three Hunger Games and I agree with you - the last book was absolutely terrible IMO. It was like Suzanne Collins was tired of writing the book and just randomly threw stuff together.

I completely disagree. I'm in the middle of the third book and it has a much more intricate plot than the first two.

[Newdaawn]

Thanks for the thread. I'll be sure to skip this series.

[ThinkBeforeYouVote]

Originally Posted by Voebe

I was really looking forward to reading The Hunger Games, hearing that it was a teen dystopia kind of book. But really disappointed.

First, it's very contrived/derivative. Second, it's predictable in some of the basics - that the girl's boy partner will survive, that the girl won't have to do much killing since her good image has to be preserved, that she'll end up breaking rules. Third, that it's overall kind of shallow, mostly just spectacle. Fourth, that it cheats with the plot, like haven't these saving items miraculously zapped to them. Fifth, which maybe is worst for me, the language is about on the level of a smart 9 year old. That would be all right, except why are so many adults gravitating to a book on a 9 year old level? And not only simple language, but not very interesting language.

It left me with no interest in reading any sequel.

I watched the movie and while it was rather enjoyable, it had to have been the most predictable movie I'd ever seen. I mean every single death was so easy to predict and the way it ended was painfully obvious from the very first moment.

I borrowed the book on my Kindle (you never need to buy books on a Kindle, you can borrow from other Kindle users) and read the first couple chapters and was struck by how juvenile the writing was. It's not bad, just immature. It's clearly written for teenagers, and almost feels as though it was written by one.

The thing I don't get is why young girls are so into it. It's not like girls were into other dystopic battle royale works of fiction, so why did this one strike a chord with them?