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.







Monday, August 23, 2010

Catching Fire Chapter 27!!!

In which an arrow through one chink in the armor does a LOT of damage.  Didn't Katniss see several of these?  That wire must really be something.  And even now, Katniss is missing the point.

Much like at the end of the previous games, Katniss is in a hovercraft, being treated medically, and she's resisting it.  And again, she's thinking of killing Peeta out of mercy.  Beetee, too.  Would anyone still be alive if Katniss saved them all by putting them out of her misery?

"Communications are down in Seven, Ten, and Twelve.  But Eleven has control of transportation now, so there's at least a hope of them getting some food out."

Did you infer that Finnick threatens to kill himself to save Annie?  He's sweet.  I wonder what that story is.

Haymitch lays it all out for us. Or, rather, we hear what Haymitch had to say in an abbreviated Katniss version.  The first time I read this I was annoyed.  I wish we could have seen some of this play out.  And to have it all crammed in at the very end.  Pshh.

Plutarch!  Heavensbee indeed.  Yay!   Full scale rebellion!  But Katniss feels that she was "just a piece" which she totally was.  A pawn.  How do you think this might affect how she behaves in Mockingjay?

Why would Plutarch tip Katniss off about the arena if he didn't know she was going in?  She'd be a mentor, obviously.  Do you think his idea went beyond that?

Peeta never mattered!  How will Katniss feel about him later because of this?  Will Gale be all "I knew he was nothing.  I'm the REAL rebel!"  *swoon*

Johanna is alive (YAY!), meaning Chaff and Brutus didn't make it.


How long are they in this gol-danged hovercraft?  I mean, it took them a half hour to get from the Capitol to the first arena.  Madam Secretary, how long did it take them to get to the second one?  Katniss has been drugged, awake, and drugged again for what must be three days.  And they're going to like, Ohio from Padre Island.  Are they DRIVING the hovercraft?

BUT YAY GALE!  Prim and Mom have survived, but District 12 has not. How did Gale get aboard the 'craft?  Did they stop and pick him up?  Were they keeping him under wraps for a while? 
ENDOFBOOKTWO

I'm busting out the gold eyeliner for tomorrow's midnight release party, and here come some predictions!

3 comments:

  1. I am SO glad I didn’t read THG and CF until this summer. It’s gonna be so crazy hard to just wait 8 days for Mockingjay. I can’t imagine having to wait a whole year. (This was obviously written last week, only one day left!)

    Dammit, the last line was spoiled for me. I read some comment on some message board to the effect of “Gale got Prim and Mrs. Everdeen out before District 12 was bombed”. GRR. But at least the other crazy spoiler I heard wasn’t true, about Katniss stealing a hovercraft to save Peeta. I guess that’s the plot of an AU fanfic. =P

    I wonder how many people got out of District 12, and when they got out. I assume Gale would have gotten his own family out too, and I’m sure the Undersees would have known something was up. I wonder when they decided to leave. Somehow I don’t think anyone could have snuck out after the Games ended, so the full scale rebellion must have already been in place. Perhaps Thread had already been overthrown? Would they have dropped firebombs on Thread and the hundreds of Peacekeepers if they were still in control of the town?

    Katniss’ reaction to finding out about the conspiracy is completely irrational. There are perfectly valid reasons for keeping Katniss and Peeta out of the loop. The ones Haymitch mentioned, of course. But also the fact that as 17-year-old kids who won just last year, they have far less maturity than the others, and little understanding of how the Capitol and the Games worked. They’ve never even mentored. Her fury at her unwitting role as the mockingjay in the rebellion is ridiculous; she daydreamed about martyrdom and having her face on banners, for goodness sake!

    ---

    Plutarch said he was hoping to gain Katniss' trust. She would have been a mentor if not for the QQ card. I think at some point the Symbol of the rebellion will need to recognize who the Leader of the rebellion is and support him.

    I never understood how hovercrafts travel. They're obviously not like real hovercrafts. Katniss always seems to describe that they pop in and out of existence so fast it seems like they teleport.

    I got the impression that the scene between Katniss and Gale didn't happen on the hovercraft, but in District 13. Katniss had totally shut down for several days, she may not even have noticed that they were arriving. But that's just my opinion.

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  2. Hooray for an explanation of the bread code! D3 bread means "escape on day 3" and 24 rolls means "at midnight!" Good thing that same message was sent again and again, meaning no last-minute changes to the break-out plan--your rebel friends will be there to save you from the arena wreckage!

    Interesting to learn the morphlings were in on the break-out plan, because I didn't think they'd be useful in their states. They certainly were useful, and saved P's life!

    Did K attack Haymitch because (A)he didn't save Peeta, and she loves Peeta, or (B)he used her in the rebellion, or (C)all or none of the above?

    Anyone else relieved that wherever P is, he might be with Johanna?

    Off we go to D13 to see K's mom and Prim and Gale's family, and continue the uprising? Or go save Peeta? What'll you choose, K?

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  3. Regarding the bread, WAS there a change in plan?

    The first bread delivery the alliance got was Finnick's single District 4 loaf. Did that mean "day 4 at 1am?" So they moved up the rescue by a hour? Or 25 hours? Or perhaps his bread was just for food?

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