{"id":101,"date":"2010-12-24T08:32:43","date_gmt":"2010-12-24T16:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=101"},"modified":"2010-12-24T08:32:43","modified_gmt":"2010-12-24T16:32:43","slug":"mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2010\/12\/mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Catching Fire’: Chapter 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first chapter of Catching Fire<\/em>, we learn the disturbing and unfortunate consequences of Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s victory in The Hunger Games. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Catching Fire<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I am reading Catching Fire<\/em> via an e-book reader, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve not seen any covers or summaries or those slightly irritating quotes that are hyperbolic in nature, about how this is THE BEST BOOK OF THE CENTURY with THE MOST FRIGHTENING PLOT TWISTS SINCE THE DA VINCI CODE<\/em> which generally turn me off from reading a book instantly. I have zero idea what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about to happen. And regardless of how I feel about this series, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always sort of fun to start like this, completely ignorant to how things unfold.<\/p>\n

Shall we?<\/p>\n

By noon they will all be at my new house in the Victor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Village. The reporters, the camera crews, even Effie Trinket, my old escort, will have made their way to District 12 from the Capitol. I wonder if Effie will still be wearing that silly pink wig, or if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be sporting some other unnatural color especially for the Victory Tour. There will be others waiting, too. A staff to cater to my every need on the long train trip. A prep team to beautify me for public appearances. My stylist and friend, Cinna, who designed the gorgeous outfits that first made the audience take notice of me in the Hunger Games.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I already have a feeling this takes place a long while after the Games ended; I think it would have been neat to have Catching Fire<\/em> start at the exact moment that The Hunger Games<\/em> ended. But Collins most likely has a master plan for how this is all going to unfold, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just wait to see what happens.<\/p>\n
If it were up to me, I would try to forget the Hunger Games entirely. Never speak of them. Pretend they were nothing but a bad dream. But the Victory Tour makes that impossible. Strategically placed almost midway between the annual Games, it is the Capitol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s way of keeping the horror fresh and immediate. Not only are we in the ditricts forced to remember the iron grip of the Capitol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s power each year, we are forced to celebrate it. And this year, I am one of the stars of the show. I will have to travel from district to district, to stand before cheering crowds who secretly loathe me, to look down into the faces of the families whose children I have killed\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Eat your heart out, Trelawney. I am the true ~seer~. The truth is that now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m seeing why Collins was inspired by American Idol<\/em> in how she wrote The Hunger Games<\/em>. This reminds me of that tour that they have after the winner is announced and no one goes and sees them. Err\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.at least I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never known anyone who does. Ok, perhaps I have no idea what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m talking about at all. Regardless, like I said in the final review for The Hunger Games<\/em>, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear the main focus of this book is Katpee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experiences on the Victory Tour. What I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out, though, is what the actual conflict is going to be, besides their efforts to maintain their romance.<\/p>\n
But now that Gale has gone to work in the coal mines\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand I have nothing to do all day\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken over the job.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I have most wanted to know what Gale had been up to while Katniss was in the Games. As soon as Katniss revealed that he was working in the mines, my first thought was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153OH, HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S GOING TO BLOW UP IN THEM, JUST LIKE HER FATHER.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Then I thought MARK WHY IS YOUR BRAIN SO EVIL<\/em>. Sorry, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help it. But there is a sort of fucked up symmetry in the idea that Katniss would lose another male figure that she looks up, but this is also probably I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever completed a novel yet. I would do stuff like this for no reason just because I could<\/em>.<\/p>\n
I predicted that Gale would mostly tease Katniss for what she did in the Games, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m proven wrong right here in the first chapter. Katniss still continues to hunt, mostly out of necessity and habit, while Gale works twelve-hour shifts in the mine. She gives what she can to Hazelle, Gale\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother, but her relationship with Gale isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t nearly as cheery as I wanted it to be.<\/p>\n
The only time I really get to see Gale now is on Sundays, when we meet up in the woods to hunt together. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still the best day of the week, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like it used to be before, when we could tell each other anything. The Games have spoiled even that. I keep hoping that as time passes we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll regain the ease between us, but part of me knows it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s futile. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no going back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Their relationship has been irreparably damaged because of the Games. Is it because he had feelings for Katniss this whole time and felt spurned by her act? Did he believe she loved Peeta or was he disgusted that she sold herself short in order to win? With them only hanging out once a week (and with the Victory Tour about to begin), I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m afraid these questions will remain unanswered for much longer than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m happy that Collins trusts her readers enough to do so little summarizing of the events of the last book. Katniss merely references things at times; mostly she reflects on how things are changed and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m beginning to have a sense for where her characterization might head during Catching Fire<\/em>. Even though it was of no real concern to Katniss before the Games started, she now has a distinct existential crisis brewing in her mind. In short, she feels she has lost her identity. Her final act in the Games was one of dignity and a proud, boisterous display of independence from the Capitol. Now, though, thrust into a life where she has a new house, no need for money, and no chance to ever go hungry again, she is realizing her life is falling apart. Her poverty was<\/em> her identity, in a way. Her life revolved around hunger, essentially, and she built her identity on her success at keeping her family alive.<\/p>\n
So what does she do now that she has what she needs?<\/p>\n
Although the time is ticking away, I allow myself a few minutes to sit in the kitchen. It has an abandoned quality with no fire on the hearth, no cloth on the table. I mourn my old life here. We barely scraped by, but I knew where I fit in, I knew what my place was in the tightly interwoven fabric that was our life. I wish I could go back to it because, in retrospect, it seems so secure compared with now, when I am so rich and so famous and so hated by the authorities in the Capitol.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I bet she wishes she could go back for more reasons besides this, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a particularly depressing thought. Having money or status or notoriety gave Katniss nothing<\/em> of value in her life. It appears to have taken away everything that made her feel whole, safe, and herself.<\/p>\n
The Capitol most likely knows this and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m betting that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the real<\/em> point of the Games, at least on a personal level. Katniss will forever have to live with what she did over the course of those weeks in the arena. And the Capitol is betting that most people, when faced with that, will do anything to get that sense of security back, even if it means working against their own interests and subjugating themselves to a tyrannical government.<\/p>\n
I like Hazelle. Respect her. The explosion that killed my father took out her husband as well, leaving her with three boys and a baby due any day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Wait, really??? Was this mentioned in The Hunger Games<\/em>? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recall knowing this before now; that seems like a big detail to avoid sharing at all in the first book. Anyway, Katniss and Hazelle share a mutual respect for each other and Hazelle appreciates the food that she gets from Katniss. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also one of the few people who is also aware of the connection between her son and Katniss.<\/p>\n
Hardly anybody knows me better than Hazelle. Knows the bond I share with Gale. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure plenty of people assumed that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d eventually get married even if I never gave it any thought. But that was before the Games. Before my fellow Tribute, Peeta Mellark, announced he was madly in love with me. Our romance became a key strategy for our survival in the arena. Only it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just a strategy for Peeta. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure what it was for me. But I know now it was nothing but painful for Gale. My chest tightens as I think about how, on the Victory Tour, Peeta and I will have to present ourselves as lovers again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6maybe this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t <\/em>really a love triangle at all. It sounds like Gale is distant from Katniss and, if the final scene of The Hunger Games<\/em> is any indication, Peeta isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t too happy with her anyway.<\/p>\n
Katniss is all alone in this. Huh.<\/p>\n
Although they never mention it, I owe the people who frequent the Hob. Gale told me that Greasy Sae, the old woman who serves up soup, started a collection to sponsor Peeta and me during the Games. It was supposed to be just a Hob thing, but a lot of other people heard about it and chipped in. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know exactly how much it was, and the price of any gift in the arena was exorbitant. But for all I know, it made the difference between my life and death.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever get any light shed on the mechanisms behind the Game, but now we know that pretty much anyone could give money to sponsor people. I aways thought only designated people were allowed to. This is pretty awesome of Greasy Sae, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in this chapter so briefly that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll play a bigger part in the rest of this story.<\/p>\n
At the Hob, we learn to more crucial details about Collins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world. First of all, Haymitch hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stopped being an alcoholic.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting the white liquor because a few weeks ago he ran out and there was none for sale and he had a withdrawal, shaking and screaming at terrifying things only he could see. He scared Prim to death and, frankly, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much fun for me to see him like that, either. Ever since then I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been sort of stockpiling the stuff just in case there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shortage again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious to know why Haymitch is in this cycle. I thought maybe Katpee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s win in the Games would change things, but he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to have changed at all? Is he drinking for another reason? (Not that you need to drink for a REASON, but Collins seems to be setting him up for some big reveal regarding his past.)<\/p>\n
We also learn that in District Twelve, they have Peacekeepers. I swear I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember this being mentioned in The Hunger Games<\/em>, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s version of police. Is this the namesake pattern for a lot of things in this alternate future? Gamemakers, Peacekeepers, Cakebakers, Treecutters\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.sorry. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where my mind is going.<\/p>\n
The most important thing we learn here is that while Katniss was in the Games, reporters concocted a story about Gale and his family: they were actually her cousins.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just one more port of the lie the Capitol has concocted. When Peeta and I made it into the final eight in the Hunger Games, they sent reporters to do personal stories about us. When they asked about my friends, everyone directed them to Gale. But it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do, what with the romance I was playing out in the arena, to have my friend be Gale. He was too handsome, too male, and not the least bit willing to smile and place nice for the cameras.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So now they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re cousins. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m expecting some sort of Arrested Development<\/em> caper to pan out in the future. Maeby!<\/p>\n
We finally get to see the Victor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Village after Katniss leaves the Hob. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s located outside of town and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll let Katniss describe it.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a separate community build around a beautiful, green, dotted with flowering bushes. There are twelve houses, each large enough to hold ten of the one I was raised in. Nine stand empty, as they always have. The three in use belong to Haymitch, Peeta, and me.<\/p>\n
The house inhabited by my family and Peeta give off a warm glow of life. Lit windows, smoke from the chimneys, bunches of brightly colored corn affixed to the front doors as decoration for the upcoming Harvest Festival. However, Haymitch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s house, despite the care taken by the grounds-keeper, exudes an air of abandonment and neglect. I brace myself at his front door, knowing it will be foul, then push inside.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Before we talk about Haymitch, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious to know what else the winners\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 families get after the Games. Katniss has mentioned being rich, so did the Capitol pay her after she won? Do they provide them with food? What else do these houses have inside them that might be different from where they used to live? I know these questions will be answered soon, but I wanted to vocalize them now while they popped into my head.<\/p>\n
On to Haymitch: the Games have ended and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s resorted to being constantly drunk and messy. Disgustingly messy. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I have the slightest idea where his story is going at all and I was kind of disappointed to see that all he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing is drinking post-Hunger Games.<\/p>\n
Peeta, on the other hand, is not the same person he ever was.<\/p>\n
I watch as Peeta crosses to the table, the sunlight from the window picking up the glint of fresh snow in his blond hair. He looks strong and healthy, so different from the sick, starving boy I knew in the arena, and you can barely even notice his limp now. He sets a loaf of fresh-baked bread on the table and holds his hand to Haymitch.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Get it because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the bread boy.<\/em> Also, in the comments of the final Hunger Games<\/em> review, someone pointed out that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the bread boy and his name is Peeta. Dip that boy in some hummus, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hungry!<\/p>\n
Ok, moving on. As expected, Katpee are barely on speaking terms and this is NOT GOOD AT ALL.<\/p>\n
Haymitch tosses his shirt somewhere into the mess. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brrr. You two have got a lot of warming up to do before showtime.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right, of course. The audience will be expecting the pair of lovebirds who won the Hunger Games. Not two people who can barely look each other in the eye.<\/p>\n
And how on earth are they going to pull that off? We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all seen Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s complete lack of improvisational skills and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far too socially awkward to do this on her own, day after day, as she travels to the various districts.<\/p>\n
Hmmm. This does not bode well for Katniss.<\/p>\n
Neither does what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s waiting for her at her house. Her mother stops her at the doorway and acts strangely; Katniss notices that a man in a suit, clearly from the Capitol, is waiting inside the house. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hinted that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s there earlier than he should be and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a good sign. The man leads her through her own house to the closed door of the study.<\/p>\n
I twist the polished brass knob and step inside. My nose registers the conflicting smell of roses and blood. A small, white-haired man who seems vaguely familiar is reading a book. He holds up a finger as if to say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Give me a moment.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Then he turns and my heart skips a beat.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m staring into the snakelike eyes of President Snow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING THERE<\/strong> also I am a genius.<\/p>\n
This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t good. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad things are already picking up so early into this book. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to a (hopefully) fun ride!<\/p>\n
NOTE: There will be no review tomorrow because Jesus was born or something. Chapter 2 will go up on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the first chapter of Catching Fire, we learn the disturbing and unfortunate consequences of Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s victory in The Hunger Games. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Catching Fire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,5],"tags":[32,28,33,24,27],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catching-fire","category-hunger-games","tag-catching-fire-2","tag-katniss-everdeen","tag-mark-reads-catching-fire","tag-mark-reads-the-hunger-games","tag-suzanne-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}