I read the hunger games and enjoyed it. The idea is intriguing, the characters solid, and the story extremely exciting. But after finishing the entire novel I sighed heavily with relief. I would like to save the next reader my pain. For all though the story may be enjoyable at first, in hindsight I would not read it again, and as a human being that advocates peace and morality in society I could not recommend it to others.

I spent some time sitting on my bed after finishing the hunger games thinking about it. I presume you have all experienced this same after-novel “Now what?” ritual. Did I enjoy it? What does it all mean? Would I want to read the sequel? I tried hard to justify myself. I was searching for a reason to continue reading the series, I was searching for a warrant to jump on the all-to-crowded band wagon of fans. But the more I thought about it the worse it became.
The fact that the book ends with the capitol reigning strong, the main protagonist in danger and the potential love story hanging on a thread is obviously an attempt by the author to leave readers hungry ( no pun intended ) for more. But after finishing this story and considering it for two minutes, I decided I was done. I needed to move on, no matter what the rest of the universe did.
Everyone agrees that George Orwells famed “1984” presents a vividly awful picture of what our world could become if we are not careful. It uses an awful story full of tragedy and torture to send a moral message of warning. The hunger games presents the same kind of dystopia - although you could say that in a humane sense the obscenities filling The Hunger Games are far more evil then even Orwell could have imagined. And yet there is no moral. There is no message. This world was created for maximum excitement, maximum adventure - in other words it was created solely for the readers pleasure.
We’ve all studied Ancient Greece; didn’t we all feel repulsed when our teachers explained to us the concept of gladiator games? How could humans accept such a morbid pastime? And yet now with the recent hype over this book series, I am beginning to question wether culture has really advanced much since the days when killing was an acceptable form of amusement.

You might say “ Oh, well the Hunger games does not justify the evil. The capitol is bad...” Yes. Poor people forced to watch innocent children kill each other: sad. The government watches innocent children kill each other for fun: vulgar. You call it vulgar, the author calls it vulgar. And yet who is buying a movie ticket, paying the price, and choosing to go the theatre to watch a simulation of the very same game you all had despised the capitol for enjoying? Why? Do you think you will feel pleasure when a young girl gets a spear thrown right through her?
You are the capitol choosing to watch the gladiator game.
This seems like the kind of movie Adolf Hitler would have thorougly enjoyed - and the kind of band wagon I will gladly jump off.