Hunger Games. . .Not

I know it may seem like the popular thing to do, but I cannot help but weigh in on the Hunger Games. My daughter, the middle school teacher, bought the book and began reading it to me on the two hour drive between Jefferson City (where my dad has been newly installed into a nursing home) and our home in Lee's Summit (food for another blog). After about a chapter, I made her stop. I couldn't take it. Children selected at random for "games" that seem nothing short of the days of gladiators. . .a dystopian future, destroyed by nuclear or some other kind of war, where the US is carved into districts and Denver. . .repeat. . .Denver is the capital? Enough already. I hated it. I know. Everyone, including my daughter, and my 50 year old brother, LOVE the book. I did not. I am not much on futuristic fiction anyway. . .the future is scaring enough without authors imagining how it will be. . .I prefer my fiction murderous, cozy, and in the past.