The Hunger Games

fire+book+whole evening to read=amazingness

READ THIS FIRST!!!! If you haven’t read the first hunger games book and want to, you may not want to read this post. There will be some spoilers, although not any serious plot revelations.  If you have read the second and third books in the series (Catching Fire and Mockingjay) PLEASE  BE CAREFUL in the comments, as I have not yet read them.

    So I’m waaaay behind the times, as per usual, and just read “The Hunger Games” last weekend while I was in the mountains with my family.  If you don’t live under a rock, you know that these books are one of the most popular on the market right now.  My friends’ facebook statuses  didn’t let me down, it was a pageturner.   If I was going to make a scale, it would be somewhere on the level of the Sookie Stackhouse (TruBlood) novels, but not a “Harry Potter”. 

Although the books were captivating and the characters likable, I was immediately disturbed by the level of violence in the book.  The book starts dark from the very first chapter and doesn’t let up, even at the end.  I was disturbed by the premise (24 children fighting to the death, while the entire country watches on television), and disgusted at myself for being unable to put the book down. 

As a reader, I was disgusted with the citizens of “the capitol” who are crazy with bloodlust, yet I refused to set the book aside as I read pages and pages of a boy being tortured to death by a pack of wild dogs.  All this in a book that is being read by children.  

Now, I’m notoriously a wimp. During “The Immortals” I sat outside the theater for 10 minute stretches with my hands over my ears and kept my eyes covered for half of “The Dark Knight”, but I have to wonder if it’s a good thing that most people are desensitized to this kind of violence.  Halfway through the book, while urging Katniss to go ahead and kill one of the tributes, I stopped and thought 

good grief, these are children!

I’ve been debating whether I should read the next two. I want to, of course, but I wonder if it’s really the best thing. 

I did some research and was surprised by the mild reviews. Focus on the Family, a notoriously conservative Christian organization said:

“Despite the many alarming images, readers find little if any gratuitous gore.”

And commonsensemedia gave it a 3/5 for violence. Really? I wonder what book got a 5/5? 

What do you guys think? Am I being too hard on “The Hunger Games”? Too old-fashioned?  I love reading and believe in teaching children the difference between fantasy and reality, but I also believe in protecting our minds from excessive..."bad stuff". (Philipians 4:8).

I’m not saying this to condemn anyone, really, it’s just food for thought, and I’d love to know your opinions.

On a lighter note, I’m loving this new t-swizzle/civil wars song for the movie soundtrack! How perfectly does it go with the theme of the book?