Hunger Games...still on the fence

I just finished reading the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy, and thought I should take a moment to share my thoughts. 
Now, admittedly this is a piece of contemporary young adult fiction.  It is not Dickens or one of the Bronte sisters by any stretch of the imagination.  While these days I am more often drawn to the work of authors like, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, or Christopher Moore, I do on occasion delve into the teen format for some lighter fare.  Harry Potter, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson, The Eregon Series, The Immortal Nicholas Flemmel, all have proven to be decent reads over the years.
Suzanne Colin's Hunger Games leaves an odd taste in my mouth.  The story itself is a a thinly veiled clone of the Richard Bachmann (Stephen King) short story The Running Man, which most will remember more for the, barely connected in content, movie featuring Arnold Swartzenegger.  This is really a teen retelling of the movie version, but with a female protagonist, and a more fleshed out back story of why the gladiatorial games take place.
My issue with the novel stems from the fact that it is trying to be youth fiction.  ADD 5-10 years to any of the characters and it would still be an interesting story, but the level of detachment and violence that it suggests that these teenagers are capable of doesn't sit real well with me.  In the other young adult fiction I have read and enjoyed, actions have consequences.  Hunger games goes a step beyond that and basicially says "it doesn't matter how you treat the people around you, as long as you survive".  With this detachment from the social mores that our sociery promotes so clearly evident from such an early point in the novel, its really hard to develop any kind of attachment to the protagonist.  She basically comes across as an ice cold teen version of John Rambo, killing anyone who gets in her way in her attempt to protect her young sister. 
I am hoping the remaining books in the series flesh out the characters a little more, and maybe even gets into the history of the post apocalypse America setting.
In the books defense, I will say that I was relieved that there were no vampires...

I think I broke my blog...

Obviously it has been a while since I have had a chance to update this little experiment of mine.
Life gets busy.
I think we can all appreciate and understand this sentiment, but to be honest, it sounds really false and dishonest to me right now.
A more truthful sentiment would be that I have been working an incredible amount of ridiculous hours recently as part of my latest project.
But that's enough about that.
So yes, the blog has been neglected, but not nearly as much as some way more important factors in my life.  The first obviously being my Family.  I have seen my beautiful daughter exactly one day out of the last 21.  And that sucks.  These are important, formative hours of her young life, and I'm not around. It breaks my heart.  Ultimately it is important to remember that the whole reason behind all of these long hours at work is to better provide for her and to give her an even better head start in life than the one I was lucky enough to receive.  Even with this in mind, it is really hard to miss all of this time, even though we are sleeping under the same roof.
Oh well,
Hopefully next week I can get a portion of my life back...