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Originally Posted by slex
I have no problems with adults reading YA literature. After all, I myself read such titles occasionally (and sometimes like them). What I don't like is the mania and obsession surrounding some of these titles and the reaction towards those who don't. Just take a look at the negative reviews for the Hunger Games at goodreads and the following backlash.
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Well, many modern artists say the purpose of art is to evoke a reaction from the viewer. In that way, I would guess that the Hunger Games has succeeded brilliantly.
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It is one thing to say "I read the Hunger Games and enjoyed it", it is a totally different claim that the Hunger Games is a literature of the highest quality, with an original plot and complex characters. And there are people who make such claims. In my opinion they either don't read much, or have fallen for the craze. This is not something that goes only with YA bestsellers - I remember something similar with the Da Vinci's Code (I can see how someone can enjoy it for its entertainment value, but there were people who touted it as philosophical and thought-provoking), though it never reached such proportions.
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Or perhaps you are missing something that they see. Katniss actually is fairly complex as far as characters in popular novels go. The series (as a whole) is also an interesting meditation on whether the cost of violence is ever offset by what is achieved through it.
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It is also a related, but a somewhat different question of whether the much hyped titles from the YA genre in the latter years are really that good when compared to other titles from the same genre which only get a fraction of the attention. I think not. But the reasons why some get all the attention, and others not, are beyond me. It's not always the quality of the writing, this I can tell.
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I agree that sometimes the quality of the writing is not what attracts people. I think it might be that these books tap into primal elements that many (though probably not all) people feel. With the Hunger Games, it is the horrors of childhood. Modern Highschool may not be as vicious as the Hunger Games, but to a teenager who is not in the right clique, it might feel that way (And many adults, from their younger years can still relate to that).
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Bill