Let’s Play a Game, Shall We? by Deb Joelle

Okay, everyone, in recognition of the release of Deb Sarah’s book, The Opposite of Me, we’re going to play a little game. You’ll need a piece of paper and a pen (or the ability to live with yourself if you would rather cheat). Now, what I want you to do, is read each word (or group of words) below, and write down the opposite.

For example:

Sample word: Hate Opposite: Love

I mean, well, if you want to get all black and white about it then love is the opposite of hate. Of course, Freud would probably say that hate and love are actually the same thing in some ways and perhaps we all love those we hate and vice versa, but hey, are we studying psychology here, or are we playing a game? Okay, that’s what I thought. Let’s just get back to it. Focus people!

So, here is the list. Write down the opposites. Okay. Go.

• Brother
• One’s own apartment
• Working at Walmart
• Wet n’ Wild Cosmetics
• Humourless
• Seasoned (as in “been around the block” not as in well-seasoned vegetables)
• Hate (this is an easy one)
• Same
• You
• Well-adjusted and reserved
  
• Slob
• Brains

Okay, so you’ve got your list? What? You’re not sure if we’re on the same page? Okay, fine. I’ll give you the answers. I tried to put them upside down like in a magazine, but I couldn’t find the right button on the computer, so you’re just going to have to turn your laptop upside down yourself and read them that way.

The opposite of:

• Brother is sister
• One’s own apartment is moving home with your parents
• Working at Walmart is being on TV
• Wet n’ Wild Cosmetics is the Mac counter (duh!)
• Humourless is laugh-out-loud
• Seasoned is debut
• Hate is love (I really hope y’all got this one)
• Same is opposite
• You is me
• Well-adjusted and reserved is totally hilarious and somewhat crazy
• Slob is obsessively clean
• Brains is beauty

And now for the fun part of the game. Use all of the bold words (the opposites – are you sensing a theme here?) in a paragraph. Oh, okay, I’ll go first!

In Sarah Pekkanen’s debut novel, The Opposite of Me, readers are treated to a fun narrative about an obsessively clean protagonist, Lindsey Rose whose whole life is falling apart. It’s bad enough that for reasons I won’t divulge, she finds herself moving home to live with her parents, who, by the way are totally hilarious and somewhat crazy, but her gorgeous sister who makes her living by being on TV, is showing off her perfect life for everyone to see too. Lindsey fights back by hitting the MAC counter hard in search of her own beauty. Get your copy of this laugh-out-loud novel and I’m sure you will find that you love it as much as I did!

Disclaimer: Yeah, I know…some of my opposites might not be the obvious choice. Heck, they might not even technically be opposites. But give me a break! I’m the Friday Deb here! I’m doing the best I can!

Congratulations, Sarah on a job well-done!