Tuesday, 17 April 2012

#223: What Seniors Read


It is always refreshing to have my assumptions about seniors’ reading tastes tossed into the dustbin.

Today, I sat down with one of my retirement home readers, 84 year old “Hetty”, and asked her what she had done over the weekend.  She told me she had been to the movies with her daughter.

And what had she seen?  The Hunger Games.

And did she like it? Oh, YES.  It was so interesting.  But not as good as the book.

I told her I had seen the movie too, along with my husband who hated it!  He loathed the premise and couldn’t stand the thought of children being made to kill one another.

But Hetty had her own arguments in favour of the story.  Didn’t we send adolescents to fight in Afghanistan?  And what about the Romans and they way they dispatched helpless Christians and slaves?  As she marshalled her arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that as a teenager during the war she had experienced District Twelve conditions for herself.

Of course, she assured me, it was so much more clearly explained in the books.  But she can still hardly wait to see Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  She loved those books, too.

Hmmmmm.  I think I should ask Hetty if I can tag along with her next time. 

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