I wish Goodreads let us sort reviews by age!

[Emelie]

You can share your idea at the Goodreads Feedback group: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1

[Haidi]

I agree with you on the point that there can be a huge difference of opinion between younger readers and older (middle) people. But I think that you need to research a book for yourself and not just read a book because of a review you see.

I am of the middle age group and read and loved HG. I have recommended it to about 12 different people ranging from my age to my mums age (62) and they have all loved it also. So what I am trying to say is that people of all ages can all enjoy the exact same book and all give it a good rating.

If the ratings were separated and you only saw ratings of an older group, I think you would still find a huge range of opinions and preferences.

[Deanne]

I am 40, and I loved the whole Hunger Games series. Just a matter of opinion I guess. My dad is 62, and he didn't like the ending, but he overall enjoyed the series as a whole.

[Sara]

I'm neither a young adult nor a teen. I'm 28 (so an adult) and I liked the whole trilogy. It's not even my usual genre and at first I was skeptic, but then I really liked it.
I think everything is subjective. We all have different tastes. And often times ages don't matter. I have many adult friends on GR, some also much older than me, who liked this series and rated it 4-5 stars.
And I saw some young peoples giving a low rating.

[C.D.]

It also depends on how people rate books. I'm 36, but I tend to rate books by how they keep my attention, not necessarily on subject matter. I can hate an ending, or feel certain scenes are lacking, but if a book makes me compulsively read it, even when I'm mad at said book, I still rate it higher than a book that fails to excite me. I figure I'm not here to judge the author's message; I'm reading to be swept away - whether it's a negative sweeping, or positive.

[Deanne]

C.D. wrote: "It also depends on how people rate books. I'm 36, but I tend to rate books by how they keep my attention, not necessarily on subject matter. I can hate an ending, or feel certain scenes are lacking..."

This is exactly how I rate books! Whatever the content, if I don't want to put the book down, it gets a higher rating.

[Marisa]

I'm 17 and I rated The Hunger Games Highly but my 17 year old friends rated it at around a 2 star. It all depends who is reading it and their tastes in books. I only rated it highly because I enjoyed the series. I did not rate it highly because I'm 17.

[Isabelle]

I think that would be a great feature! I'm close in the last twenties and I gave this a 4... If I could, would have given it a 3.5*.. I thought the ending was too rushed and I was disappointed about Katniss' choice about the future Hunger Games.

[Cassondra]

I know different age groups have different opinions. Hey, I look at books I rated years ago and realize that I have a different opinion now than I did then. I think it'd be a useful tool for curiosity's sake if nothing else. I almost never read books based on reviews, unless I know the person personally and ALSO like the plot and characters. For me, if I can't pull for a character and read an interesting plot, I won't read it.

[Margarita]

Im a teen and I'm sure as hell that I did not give it a five star rating, I gave it a 1 or a two. It was the worst book ever out of the hunger games series. Its not as awsome as people make it out to be, so I agree with you women!

[Mandy]

I do not necessarily agree that there should be ratings based on age groups. However, I would like to see some discussion topics that are meant for certain age groups.

Many YA novels have adult fans and sometimes the discussion boards can veer off topic, when the poster is simply looking for intelligent thoughts/opinions about the author's writing style and underlying implications for today's society. For example, The Maze Runner series had a similar discussion topic that was hijacked by teens that were only interested in the (nearly non-existent IMO) love triangle.

Not that I discourage anyone from voicing their joy/frustration over parts of books. But when a topic of dystopia is at play, personally I would prefer posters would stick to that - not Peeta or Gale, Edward or Jacob, Theresa or Brenda etc. That can certainly take away from the "Book Club" feeling that I enjoy from many of the discussion forums on GR.

[Steph]

I don't think I would use this feature very much. There are a lot of stereotypes about both younger and older people, and they might be reinforced by this feature.

I'm 18, but I don't necessarily share the views of others in my age group. I wouldn't want my review to be read less frequently because people are looking for more 'mature' opinions.

[Dee]

Mandy - I am part of a YA-MA group here on goodreads that you might be interested in joining...it is focusd on YA, but we try to act like the adults we are (well, most of the time ;)

[Mandy]

Dee wrote: "Mandy - I am part of a YA-MA group here on goodreads that you might be interested in joining...it is focusd on YA, but we try to act like the adults we are (well, most of the time ;)"

Thanks Dee, how do I go about joining this group?

[Marie-Claude aka MC]

Mandy wrote: "I do not necessarily agree that there should be ratings based on age groups. However, I would like to see some discussion topics that are meant for certain age groups.

Many YA novels have adult..."

Oh gosh I totally agree with you. I'm 28 and I enjoy YA novels but when it comes to discussion groups, I hate that it gets hicjacked by TEAM EDWARD or TEAM PEETA fans. I focus on the story, the writing and the excitement the books give me. I do have preferences for some characters, but my reviews or disccusion post would never be based on the 'team' I'm on... ;)

I'd really like to know of that YA group too Dee.

[Mark]

I personally like reading reviews from people of all ages, I think it is good to mix it all up and get different perspectives.

[Shannon]

Mark wrote: "I personally like reading reviews from people of all ages, I think it is good to mix it all up and get different perspectives."

I completely agree with Mark. Although I do appreciate when a reviewer mentions that a book may not be enjoyable to readers over a particular age.

[Cat]

People's opinion may be linked by age, and yes some similarities can be seen. But there will still be a wide
(very wide by the way, like chasm wide) variety of opinions. A younger person may feel exactly the same as an older person. I think it would be stupid to separate all the reviews up... (just my opinion of course)
If I told you I liked the Hunger Games, found the deaths a little excessive but found Prim's death to be necessary and inevitable.
How old do you think I am?

[Janese]

Haidi wrote: "I agree with you on the point that there can be a huge difference of opinion between younger readers and older (middle) people. But I think that you need to research a book for yourself and not jus..."

I don't think the issue is liking books in the young adult genre, it's trying to have a mature discussion about the books we enjoy.