Welcome to the Hunger Games read-along! Beginning July 1st, 2010, we will be reading and chatting about one chapter a day of both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins in anticipation of the release of Mockingjay on August 24th.

In the unlikely event that this is your first read of these amazing books, welcome! And more importantly, beware of spoilers! There will be spoilers.







Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Catching Fire Chapter 21

OH MY GOD, RUN!  Wait, why would the Capitol blow things up when they have this nerve gas?  Jeebus!  The only place it wouldn't work is District 12, unless you can make a saline solution to soak it out.  Holy hell!

My favorite line in this chapter:  "It's not Mags's fault when I begin falling.  She's doing everything she can to be an easy passenger."  But when she goes running off, see guys?  Self-sacrifice!  No questions, no nothing, just turns and runs into the gas so Katniss can run faster.  Sniff.  Wonderful lady.  I wonder how she won in the what, 7th Annual Hunger Games...

Katniss and Peeta work hard to save Finnick.  What does it mean?  Does it mean Katniss trusts Finnick?  Does it mean she trusts Haymitch?  <---yes.

And as if Satan's nerve gas wasn't bad enough, now we have a million scary ass golden monkeys!  Eep!  Spoiler alert!  Can you imagine an hour of that?  And just when Peeta's about to get it, here comes Ms. Morphling.  SC, you have a knack for a page turn! 

So, in the midst of all this action, lives are inexplicably being sacrificed and saved in the name of, what, exactly?  You tell me, my little morphlings.  Is Katniss remembering who the enemy is, like Haymitch told her?

Guys, also:  In a week, I'll be waking up (early!) to stay home from work and read MOCKINGJAY.  I'm going to load up the couch with extra pillows, get my earplugs out (my apartment is v. loud), run outside for coffee, put on a pot of lamb stew (the one with dried plums?  <---yes.) and read all day.  Well, for 5 hours or so.  And then I'll read it again.

5 comments:

  1. My immediate post-chapter 21 thoughts:


    Okay, so I guess Mags didn’t have an ulterior motive. She just wanted to help K&P. And we’ll never find out if she was a Career or not. But Finnick! Chose. Peeta. Again. Why???

    Nerve toxin the gas that can be drawn out by salt water? Capitol technology is pretty amazing. Too bad it seems like they only ever bother to use technology for the Games.

    Now scary monkeys! What the heck? This year seems to be more “Tributes vs the Arena” rather than “tributes vs tributes”.

    And.

    Now District 6 is saving Peeta? WHAAAAA? What is it with Peeta????

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    Now responding to Heather's post...

    I'm confused as to why you think it wouldn't work in district 12. They don't exactly have an abundant supply of salt water. Or am I missing something and the coal dust would be protective?

    Mags would have been 12 in HG7 I think, so it was more likely HG10-12 that she was involved in. Would they have had Careers that early on?

    Oh, one thing I didn't think about before. Was Mags' stunt with the nerve gas legal? Several fanfics I read had tributes contemplating suicide but realizing that their families and friends would probably be punished if they did it too obviously. Because even that is an act of rebellion, refusing to play the Games as the Gamemakers intended.

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  2. Uh, because it was early and I meant District 4. :)

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  3. Um, Two things. The A of it: I'm soooo glad you thought of that scary Golden Compass daemon monkey too! *shudders* I'm sort of terrified that Mrs. Coulter is going to pop up and try to cut people apart...

    The B of it: I can't believe in a week we'll have Mockingjay. I have a nice 12 hour car ride to enjoy it. It's a good thing I don't have to drive...

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  4. Chloe, will the audio be available simultaneously? Maybe you can subject whomever IS driving to the book you've been waiting for.

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  5. 2 people sacrifice their lives for Peeta in one chapter? You'd think he was the one who wore that daring mockingjay pin all along. What do you think about that, K? You're not the only one willing to sacrifice herself for the rebellion.

    PK9, I think you hit the nail on the head, this Game is definitely “Tributes vs the Arena” rather than “tributes vs tributes." Wonder if the Gamemakers intended that? Perhaps because the Capitol didn't want to give the victors, old friends in many cases, a chance to organize and fight the Game? And, **SPOILER ALERT** maybe even escape the Game?

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