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/lit/ - Literature

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2539156 No.2539156 [Reply] [Original]

Why are adults all excited over a kids book? Is this how retarded America has become?

>> No.2539176

People are just getting excited over the idea of the book itself. If they actually read what's inside, they'd realize WOW, IT'S... not much...

>> No.2539190

>>2539176
I'm currently locked in a serious debate with adults trying to tell me this is "wonderful" and "profound social commentary".

>> No.2539194

Stephen King's Long Walk did it first and did it better. Hell watch The Running Man for a better movie.

>> No.2539196

Reading this book is akin to reading a blog post. It's an internet generation. Nobody has time to think anymore. Go media.

>> No.2539204

It grows on you. I picked up the first book thinking the writing was too simplistic and the descriptions non-existent, but it does mature by the end of the series.

>> No.2539208

Why? You suck.

/thread

>> No.2539211

>>2539204
Doesn't it bother you that you get excited or take something that's intended to teach lessons to kids though?

I mean, isn't there better books out there? What's the point?

>> No.2539221

>>2539211
It wasn't a lesson, the last book pretty much shatters the heroine's mind, and it doesn't shy away from the details of war trauma.

It think it's a pretty good take on the meaningless of war. One of the main characters get killed pretty arbitrarily, and then the mission to take the main villain's life turned out to be a complete and unnecessary failure that killed a whole bunch of people. there was no redemption, or glory, petty heroics. In fact that's what most people complained about. Unlike something like Harry Potter, most of the people who died near the end pretty much did it in vain. But I find that a fairly realistic take.

>> No.2539222

>>2539156
>become

>implying you people haven't been masturbating to Mark Twain since forever

>> No.2539224

>>2539222
>implying huck finn and tom sawyer weren't the YA equivalents of Harry Potter when they first came out

>> No.2539229

>>2539224
Dude, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were badass. They were kids who got involved with finding buried loot, cleared a man unjustly charged for murder, and got into plenty of shenanigans. Huck himself was handy with a gun and knife while going down a flatboat in antebellum Mississippi. Harry Potter can't even compare.

Shit, anyone remember The Great Brain series? Tom Fitzgerald is a FAR better protagonist than the last 10 years worth of bile in kid's fiction.

>> No.2539230

>>2539229
>implying anyone of them are more badass than katniss

>> No.2539238

>America
>implying its any better somewhere else

>> No.2539242

There is no such thing as an adult. We are all children, to some degree.

>> No.2539244

Have you actually read all the books? It's about as much of a kid's book as lord of the flies was near the end.

>> No.2539254
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2539254

>>2539242

Between this and the reductionist fucker in the other thread, I'm convinced /lit/ is quiet but also the most radical place around!

Still, I somewhat agree.

>> No.2539269

Most americans read on an 8th grade level.

>> No.2539273

I guess they like it.

>> No.2539277

>>2539269
we read several classics by the eighth grade, that's not much of an insult.

And there are easier reads than hunter games that regularly appear on top 100 novels lists, so don't be so elitist you silly cunt.

>> No.2539287

>>2539277

>hunter games

>> No.2539292
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2539292

>>2539277
>don't be so elitist

>> No.2540239

It might not be written that well, but it has an intriguing story and idea, which is why I found it mildly entertaining.

>> No.2540242

It might not be written well, but it has an intriguing story and idea, which is why I found it mildly entertaining.

>> No.2540244

It might not be written, but it has an intriguing story and idea, which is why I found it mildly entertaining.

>> No.2540245

It might be written, but it has an intriguing story and idea, which is why I found it mildly entertaining.

>> No.2540249

It might be written, but has an intriguing story and idea, which is why I found it mildly entertaining.

>> No.2540253

It might be written, but has an intriguing story and idea, which is why I found it entertaining.

>> No.2540255

It might be written, but has an intriguing story and idea, which is why I found it.

>> No.2540256

COMBO BREAKER

>> No.2540262

>friends keep telling me to read this
Should I?
I saw the movie the other week, it was decent, not as amazing as everyone makes it out to be, but nevertheless it was enjoyable.

>> No.2540277

>>2539190
Oh jesus christ really? The only upside to that is that it's an easy fucking argument to win.

It's stilted social commentary of the worst kind, guised in god-awful prose and a world that seems incredibly fictional. The main messages are conflicted, and in the end, it all boils down to LOL REALITY TV IS BAD MmK?

Also, the references to Roman names are made so ham-fistedly and ineptly that they make me blush.

>hmm what's a roman name
>CEASAR
>naming your commentator after the #1 most known roman of all time

Good luck to you anon.

>> No.2540284

>>2539230
And anuddah thing. Katniss has got to be the dumbest name in all literature. There's something so odious, so repellent, so utterly imbecilic in it. It's impossible to put into words (at least for me). It's a name that seems like it was invented by a middle-schooler.

>> No.2540291

Kids and teens were already excited about this book years ago. I always wondered why I never heard much about the book from anywhere else other than highschool (no I'm not underage b& anymore)

>> No.2540293

>>2540262
DON'T READ BOOKS BECAUSE ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DOING IT
THIS MENTALITY IS WHAT IS SLOWLY LEECHING THE LIFEBLOOD
OF CREATIVITY AND INVENTION OUT OF WESTERN SOCIETY.

Seriously though, I see it like this

>popular movies/games
Created by a lot of people, and they are generally better the more popular they are
>Popular music
Varies. Usually collaborated upon by a large variety of people.
Niche works still exist, and to a great degree.
>Literature
Books cannot be judged based on their popularity. They just can't.
A book is such a solitary endeavor. The space between the author and his craft is hardly larger than the synapses in his own fucking brain!
For this reason, when you read popular literature, you get dumbed down shit, you absolutely have to! No work of significance has ever achieved great public popularity in it's lifetime, because to be popular, you have to appeal to fucking idiots (like your friends).

I welcome argument

>> No.2540295

>>2539204
Same with Harry Potter. A lot of young adult novels tend to be like that while at the same time they can be great reads.

>> No.2540310

>>2540293
>DON'T READ BOOKS BECAUSE ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DOING IT
>THIS MENTALITY IS WHAT IS SLOWLY LEECHING THE LIFEBLOOD
>OF CREATIVITY AND INVENTION OUT OF WESTERN SOCIETY.

So that's why lit sucks so much

>> No.2540318

>>2539156
We just want to see Katniss with no clothes on.

>> No.2540329

>>2540293
Depends what you consider popular. If you're saying works that everyone reads then yes. But if its stuff that everyone has heard of and a large number of people read like cloud atlas or catch 22 or whatever then you can get popular great literature.

I think the second category is more important because in every form of media the most popular stuff appeals to the lowest common denominator where as the familliar yet less popular can be great.

>> No.2540338

Just to point out - there's nothing wrong in adults reading Hunger Games in itself. The problem is if you read noting more serious or legitimate. Reading the Hunger Games is not malum in se.

>> No.2540342

>>2540329
pop·u·lar
adjective
1.
regarded with favor, approval, or affection by people in general


>>2540293 is a fucking retarded angsty teenager. Just like most of lit I guess.

>> No.2540353

>>2540293
The one about video games is becoming more and more untrue, most popular video games are
>HURR DERR SHOOTY SHOOTY BANG BANG GRAFIX
Only indie devs are making games with good content now-a-days.

>> No.2540359

>>2540262
No, it's horrible written. It relies on suspense and a lot of violence. There is no imagery, or interesting plot. It's good if your retarded I guess though.

>> No.2540366

>>2540338

It's malum prohibitum by /lit/ law

>> No.2540368

>>2540366
Certainly, certainly. But we should not castigate people outside of /lit/ who choose to read it just because of doing so.

>> No.2540370

Watched the film, liked it, felt no urge to watch the books

I am guessing

The books are cool and readable

But there is more fantastic stuff than you will ever be able to read so why not go do that

>> No.2540378

>>2540342
What im saying is that popular novels dont have to be shit. Compare say avatar with the godfather.

>> No.2540386

>>2540378

I was agreeing with you pretty much and trying to point out the other guy was an idiot by putting the definition.

>> No.2540395

lmfao literature is dead

>> No.2540435

I think that if Suzanne Collins hadn't written the series pandering to kids and bowing to pressure from publishers she could have made the story a true allegory or at least parable. Instead we got some drivel ripoff of Lord Of The Flies and Battle Royale.

>> No.2540446

I read it and the whole time all I could think was "It's like The Running Man but not as good." Haven't read Battle Royale, which it apparently it borrows more from. Not as bad as Twilight, and not as prone to merchandise-overload as Harry Potter, but I wasn't interested enough to read the rest of the series or see the movie.

>> No.2540449

>>2540395
Literature's been dead since Homer died.

>> No.2540450
File: 1.46 MB, 300x225, 1224447121367.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2540450

It's for children, yet for some reason whenever you point this out to any fucking person, they recoil as if you were the harbinger of oppressive Randian boredom. They're being overvalued.

>> No.2540452

>>2540395


i suggest you read the reader is a dying breed in the new TAR

>> No.2540480

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/top-reading_n_1373680.html

Because "adults" can't understand anything above a fifth grade reading level, OP.

>> No.2540495

>>2539194

This so much

The Long Wal is one of my fvorite Stephen King stories and he wrote it when he was 18. Also the running man was better than the Hunger games in every regard at it took him 72 hours to write

>> No.2540546

Seriously! I thought I was the only one who thought this

>> No.2540551

http://www.theonion.com/video/adults-go-wild-over-latest-in-childrens-picture-bo,14388/

>> No.2540568

>>2540353
It isn't true either about movies, sure if you just want to watch Inception, Fight Club, Lord of the Rings and Pulp Fiction it might work, but there's so much more out there that will never get as praised as those ones.

>> No.2541748

>a kids book

I bet you didn't even read it, you judgemental faggot.

>> No.2542934

Just finished this today, and unlike lots of other people on lit, I'll reply to an existing thread..

I didn't have much problem with it, it's a pretty engaging story.. Why I didn't like it, (and I imagine why lots of others here didnt) is because there wasn't much to chew on, just the narrative and that's all..

I'm sure most here are used to contemplating something after reading it, considering the themes and subtext etc.. I think the hate it gets here is somewhat unjustified, its really not THAT bad..

>> No.2542947

>>2542934
>I didn't have much problem with it, it's a pretty engaging story.. Why I didn't like it, (and I imagine why lots of others here didnt) is because there wasn't much to chew on, just the narrative and that's all..
Sounds like Harry Potter to me. It's fun stuff, but so regretfully shallow.

But it's still a major flaw. Books don't have to be important, but they definitely have to have an air of importance. If the reader feels like they've wasted their time, it's author's fault.

But at least no importance is way better than faux importance of the modern serious lit. I'd rather have Harry Potter than another doorstopper being all necrofiliac about the corpse of existentialism.

>> No.2542949

>implying America was not retarded from the start

>> No.2542952

>>2542947
Good points.. I'd say it's akin to watching a reality show.. I usually only watch good tv, but sometimes I just wanna switch off and watch people getting knocked over..

>> No.2543865

>>2542399
>>2542303
>>2543266
Great job, guys.

>> No.2545118

No.

>> No.2545122

lol my college already has a course on Harry Potter. I surely hope that this does not become one in the future...

>> No.2546114

>>2539204

Are you kidding? If anything, the first book was the best of the three. I mean, by the end it's just 1984 but shittier.

>> No.2546118

>>2539229

>The Great Brain

Damn. My dad read those books to me when I was young. They're god-tier YA lit.