{"id":109,"date":"2010-12-29T13:00:35","date_gmt":"2010-12-29T21:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=109"},"modified":"2010-12-29T10:47:52","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T18:47:52","slug":"mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2010\/12\/mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Catching Fire’: Chapter 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifth chapter of Catching Fire<\/em>, everything is rushed. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like it? Anyway, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re intrigued, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Catching Fire<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Man, what happened, Collins? Did anyone else feel the same sort of disappointment as I did as Collins blew through so much of this story in just a few paragraphs?<\/p>\n

First, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about Haymitch. Collins deserves praise for the way she is slowly revealing more about his character and his past. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of strange that I am far more interested in learning about what on earth happened to him than anything that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen in the future. Sure, Haymitch isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t around all that often in the narrative, but when he is, he steals the show.<\/p>\n

At the opening of this chapter, Katniss and Peeta have to deal with the horrifying reality that what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done has caused the death of at least three people. Haymitch and Effie didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see what happened because their feed was killed. When they all hear two more gunshots, Haymitch immediately moves into action.<\/p>\n

His reaction gives us just a tiny bit of insight into who he is and what happened long ago. He immediately has Katpee follow him through a complicated round of stairways and hallways up to a trapdoor hidden below the dome of the Justice Building, a place where the Capitol cannot monitor their conversations. Here, Peeta tells Haymitch what has happened and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when he knows that this is a disaster, too. He tells Katniss to share with Peeta the knowledge of what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done and how they both just completely ruined everything on their very first date.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Then I made things worse, too. By giving the money,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Peeta. Suddenly he strikes out at a lamp that sits precarious on a crate and knocks it across the room, where it shatters against the floor. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This has to stop. Right now. This\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthis\u00e2\u20ac\u201dgame you two lay, where you tell each other secrets but keep them from me like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m too inconsequential or stupid or weak to handle them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
No, I was wrong about this too. I thought it was a good idea to leave him out of the plan, but it clearly wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have people I care about, too, Katniss! Family and friends back in District Twelve who will be just as dead as yours if we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pull this thing off. So, after all we went through in the arena, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t I ever rate the truth from you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Touche. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a good point. He hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gotten the truth from either of them and he even makes it a point to say that Haymitch didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even send him anything during the Games until Katniss showed up. Harsh. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even think of that.<\/p>\n
After they agree to keep Peeta in the loop from then on, he storms out of the room. Haymitch tries to explain to Katniss why he focused only on her during the Games.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But remember, until they changed the rules, I could only hope to get you out of there alive,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I thought since he was determined to protect you, well, between the three of us, we might be able to bring you home.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Capitol sure is good at forcing their citizens to choose between some awful options.<\/p>\n
Katpee do their best to assure the rest of their stay in District 11 is as uneventful as possible. Unfortunately for Effie, even she is feeling the affects of what her two winning tributes did, as she gets a particularly rough treatment from the Peacemakers. (I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean to make light of the fact that District 11 citizens were SHOT TO DEATH, because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obviously worse.) Katniss takes this opportunity to do something nice for Effie.<\/p>\n
Effie looks so distressed that I spontaneously give her a hug. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s awful, Effie. Maybe we shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to dinner at all. At least until they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve apologized.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I know she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never agree to this, but she brightens considerably at the suggestion, at the validation of her complaint.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I think I am starting to understand why so many of you like Effie. I have a feeling she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to end up doing something incredibly for Katniss and Peeta at a later part of this series. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clearly growing attached to them and, in her own weird way, is always looking out for them.<\/p>\n
After this, they head for their entrance to their dinner. Peeta apologizes (again!) for yelling at Katniss and they both agree to work on being honest with each other and Peeta strangely asks if her and Gale only kissed once. She only gets to confirm that they did before it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for their entrance.<\/p>\n
What happens next is pretty upsetting for me. Maybe Collins plans on elaborating more in the future. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a possibility. But I really didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like that she literally runs through every single remaining district and the Capitol in practically two pages. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get to learn much of anything at all about where the districts are, what they do, how they are different than District 12, or what really happens elsewhere. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m being whiny, but I thought the whole book would be about the Victory Tour and it would be a great chance to get to know more about this alternate world. I do understand that it is an attempt to explore the monotony of the entire tour, of how days bleed into each other and take a constant toll on everyone involved. And then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this.<\/p>\n
Peeta, who spends much of the night roaming the train, hears me screaming as I struggle to break out of the haze of drugs that merely prolong the horrible dreams. He manages to wake me and calm me down. Then he climbs into bed to hold me until I fall back to sleep. After that, I refuse the pills. But every night I let him into my bed. We manage the darkness as we did in the arena, wrapped in each other\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arms, guarding against dangers that can descend at any moment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That is going to come back and haunt them. Or, at least I think so. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re able to find comfort in one another, but I see this as becoming a source of conflict in the future.<\/p>\n
The make it to the Capitol, still completely freaked out that what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough to convince Panem. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when Katniss suggests a public marriage proposal as a way to seal the deal.<\/p>\n
Peeta agrees to do it but then disappears to his room for a long time. Haymitch tells me to leave him alone.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I thought he wanted it, anyway,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I say.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Not like this,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Haymitch says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He wanted it to be real.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Endless parade of sad<\/em>.<\/p>\n
The marriage proposal happens that night during their interview with Caesar Flickerman. It appears that what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done worked, too, as the reaction from the audience in the studio and from shots of crowds around the country show people who seem genuinely happy.<\/p>\n
President Snow himself makes a surprise visit to congratulate us. He clasps Peeta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hand and gives him an approving slap on the shoulder. He embraces me, enfolding me in the smell of blood and roses, and plants a puffy kiss on my cheek. When he pulls back, his fingers digging into my arms, his face smiling into mine, I dare to raise my eyebrows. They ask what my lips can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Did I do it? Was it enough? Was giving everything over to you, keeping up the game, promising to marry Peeta enough?<\/em><\/p>\n
In answer, he gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OH WELL OK. I thought he would nod his head in affirmation and this would have been the most quickly-solved conflict of all time. I still don’t like how quick this is, but this is interesting. Marriage doesn’t work??? What else is she going to have to do???<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the fifth chapter of Catching Fire, everything is rushed. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like it? Anyway, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re intrigued, 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-109","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\/109","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=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}