AIBU to think hunger games is shit, derivative + not worth the angst?

[alistron1]

My DD's are into this, have read the books and TBH it's not a patch on Stephen King/Margaret Atwood etc in terms of dystopic fiction. The only worry I have about it is that like Harry Potter, Twilight etc young people are being marketed substandard fiction.

BeerChicksPotter - no not you :) The OP in originating this thread!

And yes, Spare. Oh god, thinking about it now makes my heart pound!

Spares!

I would be horrified if my children read the Sweet Valley High books. Genuinely, I would burn them and I know that's heresy to say such a thing!

But just - who cares if the book itself is heavily marketed as the Next Big Thing or some random little thing picked up because the back sounded good?

And that's my whole argument here - to write something off as derivative is an idiotic thing to do. To write something off because it's the Next Big Thing is stupid, as is writing something off because it's not. It's snobbery and near-sighted and promotes a culture of narrow thinking.

BeerChicksPotter - forgot to say, I too also was all at the plaudits Never Let Me Go got. And equally so when the stupid film The Island came out. But you know - NLMG was good in its own right, within its own parameters. It's sad Spares is so unknown, but it keeps it special too. Such is the nature of trends and "cool" bandwagons.

I agree Betty - christ, before we know it, we'll all be competing over whose kids have read the most acceptably non commercial literature next!

"We don't have a telly and my kids have never heard of Harry Potter"

Have a chocolate medal!

I would also like to echo the question of why "derivative" is such a bad thing?

There are only 7 stories in the world, or so they say.

What's wrong with taking a concept that already exists and using it to tell a different story? Or taking a well-trodden storyline but transplanting it to a different setting?

I hate literature snobs. Books are a form of enjoyment (or education) generally. You like what you like.

I had to read huge tomes of "classic" books for my Eng Lit degree, but would much rather sit down and read HP. It's the tv equivalent to Corrie for me - relaxing and I don't really have to concentrate.

Anything that gets kids reading is a good thing as far as I am concerned, and yy to the poster who said about Shakespeare rehashing old stories, as did Chaucer, who got many of his stories from the travelling minstrels. Although most of those bear similarities to biblical stories, which in turn share many of their moral messages with ancient greek literature.

Ds has just told me that if they made a film of the book it would be too scary and he wouldn't want to see it as it would spoil the images he has in his head ( he didn't realise there is a film out.)

Again, how can that be a bad thing?

Oh and far from THG leading kids on to reading Twighlight, ds's next book in his 'pile' in The Hobbit.

I read and read as a kid, and I hope I've passed on that love to my children. It surely doesn't matter what other people think of a book - if you enjoyed it that's all that matters.
As a younger child I read all the Narnia books and read just about all Enid Blyton's books!! I used to read Stephen King, James Herbert,Dean Koontz as a teenager. I read The Exorcist (book so much better than the film , in my opinion). And I read all the Harry Potter books, Northern Lights,the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass ,Lord of the Rings,and the first Twilight book as an adult .
I loved them all. But my main love is Historical Novels. (Sansom,Cornwell,Mantel,Peters,Gregory,etc). The book I am reading and loving at the moment is P.D.James' Death comes to Pemberley. My favourite book of all time is Pride and Predjudice, and this 'sequel' is fantastic.

What I am trying to say is: read for pleasure! Make up your own mind whether you like something or not!

kids love Harry potter why are some people so snobby about books ? My eldest daughter cried when she finished deadly hallows and went with her 18 yr old boy and girl friends to see the final part and they all cried as it was an end of an era , now if that isnt appreciation then i dont know what is ,

who are we as adults to say what a child should enjoy reading and then dismiss it as rubbish ,
DD2 has learning difficulties and the first book she read was david walliams book , not exactly a classic and probably a bit young for her as its aimed at pre teens , but it switched her on to reading , she went on to read more and more , and now cant put a book down

bettybat "As for being derivative - again, why is this cast as such an enemy? I don't get it. There is a science fiction book that I absolutely covet, that had me in tears because it is just so sad and lonely. It's about farms of people who are made for the rich for spare parts, and the man who tries to free them. A few years later, Never Let Me Go was published. Almost identical premise, with a few difference in the sci-fi element. I didn't go on some half-bent diatribe about how NLMG is a rip off of a much loved earlier book. "

Spares - Micheal Marshall Smith?
I'm stil gutted he ditched sci-fi writing in favour of being Michael Marshall. His Sci-fi was amazing.

If you have girls who like scifi, get them to try Sheri Tepper. Strong female leads - really positive messages but really good stories as well.

I never liked LOTR. Thought a lot of the "derivatives" were considerably better.

Clytaemnestra I will be having girls who will like sci-fi, hahaa Yay, so many MMS/Spares fans! And totally agree, his horror/thriller/whatever wasn't a patch on his sci-fi. Oh god, Only Forward had me like Niagra falls. Niagra, I tell ya!

my daughter likes sci fi and zombie books she also lloves the book about mythology and loved the Eldest series , a book is something to be enjoyed and shouldnt be a chore , and tolstoy is shit war and peace meh its a school book

It is said that there isn't a single original plot in Shakespeare, but you can go on to study that as a postgraduate several 100 years later

oh maybe in 100s of years shakespear will have been forgotten and replaced with jk rowling

HP got my kids reading Alan Garner and Guy Gavriel Kaye. There's different!
The Hunger Games are good books for starting discussions, you need to have read all of them for wider discussions and reading.
As for the Atwood/Oryx and Crake thing, Aspie genocidal maniacs? Didn't see any of that in the Hunger Games. Personal opinion, Oryx and Crake and it's companion are the two worst books Atwood has written, bandwagon jumping and lazy.

you know not all high school children read shakespeare not all are at that ability when exam time comes , my eldest didnt read him in her Highers (scottish Alevels ) the only time my dds were interested is when they heard David tennant was doing Hamlet and begged me to take them all this hath and hath nots Baffled and bored me at school ,

What I am trying to say is: read for pleasure! Make up your own mind whether you like something or not!

Quite!