My reading experience of "The Hunger Games"

Since my workload for the semester seemed to slow, I started to read The Hunger Games trilogy. It was very interesting to read these novels after seeing the film interpretation of the story. Right from the beginning, I noticed the scenes and details that the movie did not include. Second, the way in which the movie was filmed seemed to soften the blow of the violence. The camera took on a misty, disoriented quality whenever tributes were killed, hardly showing any blood. In the book, the descriptions of the murders were blunt, gory, and full of painful detail. I would cringe when reading the graphic descriptions of Katniss's injuries or the way in which the Capitol tortured their victims. Before getting into the popular novels, I had come to assume that they were kids' books/young adult fiction. However, despite the fact that the heroine is a young teenage girl, the material is rather mature. There is the political component to consider with the Capitol, which is a controlling, abusive government torturing its constituents so there is not a mass rebellion. 


I read an article on TIME.com, in which a reviewer wrote, "Nearly two dozen kids aged 12 to 18 die by machete, sword, blows with a brick, a spear to the chest, arrows, having their necks snapped. All damage inflicted by each other." I agree with her that elementary school aged children should not be reading these books. The themes are dark, somber and permeated with violence and a constant feeling of mourning.