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Health & Fitness

An Introduction by my Daughter

Okay, I admit I never heard of the book, the Hunger Games before the movie came out. I know, you’re thinking ‘how could you be a reader and women’s fiction writer and not know about a best seller?  What can I say...stranger things have happened.  After all, I missed a decade of great television shows and movies when my daughter was younger but can tell you all about what aired on the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon during that time period.

Dystopia just wasn’t a genre I paid attention to.  After all, I read mostly non-fiction books, like Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, or An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek.  So when the movie, The Hunger Games based on the top selling book by Suzanne Collins came out, I didn't know people like my thirteen-year-old daughter had read the book, and were eagerly awaiting the movie release.

When she asked me to take her to see it on opening weekend, I gave her my standard line... ‘we’ll see’ and sent myself off to read the reviews.  And read I did.  How is this for a plot.  Young people killing other young people for entertainment?  A modern gladiator sport?  I was horrified.  How could I take her to see such violence? What kind of mother would I be by subjecting my daughter to this type of behavior?

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Well, I took her to the movie with great reservation. And not only did I see it at the show, I watched it again when it came out on Netflix, and I decided to borrow the paperback from my daughter to read.  Since the book was written from the point of view of the main character, I was able to experience her thoughts.  I remember wondering about her alliance with Rue... “Doesn't she know that if it comes down to them, they'll have to turn on each other?”  How awful!  "How does that make her feel?"  But the book answered a lot of the questions about the backstory.  The things you just can’t see or hear in a two-hour movie.

So, before the next movie comes out, Catching Fire, I'm going to do myself a favor and read the book on which it’s based.  And I'm going to watch the movie with my daughter and we're going to compare notes on how it was or wasn't like the book and I am going to relish every moment of this mother-daughter banter about a genre my daughter introduced me to.

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And by the way, my daughter is still committed to competitive swimming as a sport and not playing a violent gladiator games.  Sometimes entertainment is just entertainment - or something like that.  Right Doctor Freud.

WAIT, WAIT, WAIT...Before you head off to see your next movie, give me a chance to buy you the book first. Enter my giveaway for an Amazon Gift Card.

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And remember for more information on my next book release, Restoration, visit my website.
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