{"id":128,"date":"2011-01-06T07:00:05","date_gmt":"2011-01-06T15:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=128"},"modified":"2011-01-06T00:06:55","modified_gmt":"2011-01-06T08:06:55","slug":"mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/01\/mark-reads-catching-fire-chapter-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Catching Fire’: Chapter 14"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourteenth chapter of Catching Fire<\/em>, the crushing reality of the most terrifying plot twist imaginable weighs heavily on Katpee and Haymitch. In a desire to take the Games as seriously as possible, they spend time watching videos of victors past, where they learn the unbelievable way in which Haymitch Abernathy won the second Quarter Quell. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Catching Fire<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So, after a wonderful conversation with my food-porn friend, I should make it a little more clear that the method in which I am reading this book is entirely fucked up. I need to acknowledge that more often than I do and make it much more clear that what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m saying is representative of the chapter I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reviewing. Looking back, I have been pretty negative and not stating that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hate the book, despite that it seems this way.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to make sure I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m transparent about this process to make sure I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fair to Collins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vision for this book. Despite that it has chapters, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t meant to be read at a snail\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pace.\u00c2\u00a0 Fair enough? Then let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s move on with what is conveniently one of the better chapters in this book.<\/p>\n

I remain at the window long after the woods have swallowed up the last glimpse of my home. This time I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have even the slightest hope of return. Before my first Games, I promised Prim I would do everything I could to win, and now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve sworn to myself to do all I can to keep Peeta alive. I will never reverse this journey again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
My issues with this bizarre \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have to keep the other alive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d plot choice aside, this is about as bleak as it gets. We know Katniss is going to survive BECAUSE DUH THERE IS ANOTHER BOOK DUH<\/strong>, but it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make this situation any less horrific. I think one thing Collins has done particularly well is build this oppressive sense of dread. The Games are obviously going to be worse than before and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think of a way that Collins will manage to keep both Haymitch and Peeta alive. One of them have to die. None of this is going to be pleasant at all.<\/p>\n
Too heartsick to cry, all I want is to curl up on the bed and sleep until we arrive in the Capitol tomorrow morning. But I have a mission. No, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more than a mission. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my dying wish. Keep Peeta alive<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This may make me unpopular, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still not convinced that Peeta and Katniss should love one another. I understand Gale and Katniss, even if Gale is kind of an asshole, and I understand Peeta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crush. But actual, full-on love? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, dudes and dudettes, what reason does Peeta have to love<\/em> her? What reason does she have to make her dying wish<\/em> to keep him alive? Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t your dying wish be better suited as like, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, I wish that the Capitol would dismantle the Games\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or something? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if this is because Collins hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t conveyed this well or if I am truly without hope when it comes to reading about romance. Maybe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just a lost cause. I AM WILLING TO ACCEPT THIS.<\/p>\n
This chapter also converts most things into AWKWARD TOWN, USA, and understandably so. No one, aside from Effie, seems to be into much of a conversational mood, most especially Haymitch, who has been unable to have a single drink in quite a long time. (I assume he hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had a drink since Peeta threw out all his alcohol, right?)<\/p>\n
So what do they do when they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to talk? They rewatch the reapings across Panem. This is a healthy bunch of friends, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/em> But is important to do, since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s their chance to see who they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re competing against much earlier than the last time around. (THAT IS SO WEIRD TO TYPE. I never thought they would ever go back.)<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the classically beautiful brother and sister from District 1 who were victors in consecutive years when I was little. Brutus, a volunteer from District 2, who must be at least forty and apparently can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait to get back in the arena. Finnick, the handsome bronze-haired guy from District 4 who was crowned ten years ago at the age of fourteen. A hysterical young woman with flowing brown hair is also called from 4, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quickly replaced by a volunteer, an eighty-year-old woman who needs a cane to walk to the stage. Then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Johanna Mason, the only living female victor from 7, who won a few years back by pretending she was a weakling. The woman from 8 who Effie calls Cecelia, who looks about thirty, has to detach herself from the three kids who run up to cling to her. Chaff, a man from 11 who I know to be one of Haymitch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s particular friends, is also in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, this is a totally different dynamic. I figured that Collins would have to change a lot of details if she was visiting the Arena a second time because she wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to bore people. Here, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re no longer dealing with tributes who are victors. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all adults, some much older than others. I have a feeling that the tributes themselves won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be as brutal this time around, though. My prediction is that whatever is in the Arena is what is going to be worse.<\/p>\n
I think that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the uncertainty of all this, despite having faced it once before, that might be one of the reasons Katniss can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sleep. Sure, the nightmares are probably triggered in even worse ways, too. But I think about how much terror the idea of a second visit to the Games brings to me and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even begin to imagine what Katniss is experiencing right now. Sleepless after waking from a particularly gruesome nightmare, Katniss orders some warm milk from an attendant and heads out of her room on the train to see if anyone else is having a hard time sleeping. She finds Peeta in the television room, watching old tapes of previous Games. Two things happen here that I do enjoy very much.<\/p>\n
First, Peeta asks Katniss if she wants to talk about her inability to sleep and this happens:<\/p>\n
When Peeta holds out his arms, I walk straight into them. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the first time since they announced the Quarter Quell that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offered me any sort of affection. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been more like a very demanding trainer, always pushing, always insisting Haymitch and I run faster, eat more, know our enemy better. Lover? Forget about that. He abandoned any pretense of even being my friend. I wrap my arms tightly around his neck before he can order me to do push-ups or something. Instead he pulls me in close and buries his face in my hair. Warmth radiates from the spot where his lips just touch my neck, slowly spreading through the rest of me. It feels so good, so impossibly good, that I know I will not be the first to let go.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Given that she says this, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still strange that she has such an intense desire to save him, especially since she states here that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even really have a normal friendship, let alone one based on love. However, this passage doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel awkward or out-of-place. At least for Katniss, the emotions she feels for Peeta seem situational. They come and go, arriving in moments when she feels she needs him. To me, that<\/em> makes sense. That<\/em> is a reason to care about someone the way she does.<\/p>\n
Peeta makes a good point after this, something that had only briefly crossed my mind.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the people in the Capitol are going to be all that happy about our going back in,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Peeta. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Or the other victors. They get attached to their champions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe this specific Quarter Quell was always intended to turn out this way. I have a suspicion that President Snow ordered it. What I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand is how he thinks this will work, even if he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t orchestrate it. I have a sensation that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to backfire against the Capitol. Does he think the rest of Panem is just going to accept the destruction of their only sign of hope?<\/p>\n
Katpee turn their attention to the videos of the past Games and Peeta says he has no real pattern to watching the videos, so he offers to let Katniss pick the next tape they will watch together.<\/p>\n
The tapes are marked with the year of the Games and the name of the victor. I dig around and suddenly find one in my hand that we have not watched. The year of the Games is fifty. That would make it the second Quarter Quell. And the name of the victor is Haymitch Abernathy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
$\"\"$ <\/p>\n
Oh. My. God. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening. Please let it happen. Please don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t skip over this.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You think we ought to watch it?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only Quell we have. We might pick up something valuable about how they work,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I say. But I feel weird. It seems like some major invasion of Haymitch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s privacy. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know why it should, since the whole thing was public. But it does. I have to admit I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also extremely curious.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
RIGHT???? Oh christ, you guys, I have been waiting for this moment SINCE MANY, MANY REVIEWS AGO. oh god I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t breathe oh my god<\/p>\n
Katpee watch the video, which starts with President Snow reading the plan for the second Quarter Quell, then the horrifying reapings, where scores of kids are chosen to be murdered, including one of the only people that Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mom mentioned that she knew from the Games, Maysilee Donner. Standing alongside Maysilee is Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mom and Madge Undersee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mom as well.<\/p>\n
I think of Madge\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother. Mayor Undersee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wife. Who spends half her life in bed immobilized with terrible pain, shutting out the world. I think of how I never realized that she and my mother shared this connection. Of Madge showing up in that snowstorm to bring the painkiller for Gale. Of my mockingjay pin and how it means something completely different now that I know that its former owner was Madge\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aunt, Maysilee Donner, a tribute who was murdered in the arena.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Wow. WOW. Collins, what an evocative and DEPRESSING way to explain so many of the small details you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been dropping since the first book. Holy shit, guys, this is fucking awesome.<\/em><\/p>\n
We learn a bit more about Haymitch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s personality during his interview with Caesar Flickerman before the Games start:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So, Haymitch, what do you think of the Games having one hundred percent more competitors than usual?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d asks Caesar.<\/p>\n
Haymitch shrugs. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see that it makes much difference. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll still be one hundred percent as stupid as usual, so I figure my odds will be roughly the same.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So his wonderful sense of cynicism was not born in the Games. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been there the whole time. So what happened to him?<\/em><\/p>\n
Was I ever prepared for this? Not in a trillion years.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most breathtaking place imaginable. The golden Cornucopia sits in the middle of a green meadow with patches of gorgeous flowers. The sky is azure blue with puffy white clouds. Bright songbirds flutter overhead. By the way some of the tributes are sniffing, it must smell fantastic. An aerial shot shows that the meadow stretches for miles. Far in the distance, in one direction, there seems to be a woods, in the other, a snowcapped mountain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So the Gamemakers decided to go with sheer beauty. Of course, this beauty doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trick Haymitch, who immediately bolts for the Cornucopia to get weapons and supplies.<\/p>\n
Eighteen tributes are killed in the bloodbath that first day. Others begin to die off and it becomes clear that almost everything in this pretty place\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe luscious fruit dangling from the bushes, the water in the crystalline streams, even the scent of the flowers when inhaled too directly\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis deadly poisonous. Only the rainwater and the food provided at the Cornucopia are safe to consume. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a large, well-stocked Career pack of ten tributes scouring the mountain area for victims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The possibilities at this point are endless. Just when you think you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve thought of something super fucked up for the Games, the Gamemakers come up with something worse. This is just awful.<\/p>\n
Haymitch, however difficult he finds the arena (with things like CARNIVOROUS SQUIRRELS or STINGING BUTTERFLIES), seems convinced to head in one direction: away from the mountain. Maysilee, on the other hand, uses a poisonous dart gun to go about murdering to stay alive because she is a clear bad ass forever<\/em>. Then there is a GODDAMN VOLCANO ERUPTION THAT KILLS TWELVE PEOPLE because the Gamemakers are the most sadistic people of all time, so the remaining tributes are forced in the opposite direction. Well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where Haymitch already is and he continues that way until a thick hedge forces him to circle back. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s then that Maysilee saves him from being killed by a Career and they decide to team up. And that is when everything gets unbelievably weird as Haymitch insists on moving further into the woods.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Maysilee keeps asking, and he ignores her until she refuses to move any farther without an answer.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because it has to end somewhere, right?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Haymitch. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The arena can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go on forever.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What do you expect to find?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Maysilee asks.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. But maybe there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something that we can use,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WHAT THE FUCK!!!! This is not even something that I would consider. The edge<\/em> of the arena? It exists? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s real???<\/p>\n
Indeed it is. Using a blowtorch to get past the hedge, they find the end of the arena: a cliff leading to a rocky death below. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when Haymitch tells Maysilee that he is staying behind. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want the game to come down to just him and her, so she leaves. That is when everything gets OUTSTANDING.<\/p>\n
Haymitch skirts along the edge of the cliff as if trying to figure something out. His foot dislodges a pebble and it falls into the abyss, apparently gone forever. But a minute later, as he sits to rest, the pebble shoots back up beside him. Haymitch stares at it, puzzled, and then his face takes on a strange intensity. He lobs a rock the size of his fist over the cliff and waits. When it flies back out and right into his hand, he starts laughing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OH.
\nMY.
\nGOD.<\/p>\n
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY. THIS IS WILD. THIS IS SO AMAZING. Oh my god, can you escape the arena? THERE ARE LIKE A MILLION NEW QUESTIONS AND NONE OF THEM ARE BEING ANSWERED.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Maysilee is murdered by a bunch of pink birds with knives for beaks just after this, so we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get to learn more about the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153edge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the arena just yet. That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen until it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just down to Haymitch and a girl from District 1.<\/p>\n
She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bigger than he is and just as fast, and when the inevitable fight comes, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bloody and awful and both have received what could well be fatal wounds, when Haymitch is finally disarmed. He staggers through the beautiful woods, holding his intestines in, while she stumbles after him, carrying the ax that should deliver his deathblow. Haymitch makes a beeline for his cliff and has just reached the edge when she throws the ax. He collapses on the ground and it flies into the abyss. Now weaponless as well, the girl just stands there, trying to staunch the flow of blood pouring from her eye socket. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thinking perhaps that she can outlast Haymitch, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s starting to convulse on the ground. But what she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, and what he does, is that the ax will return. And when it flies back over the ledge, it buries herself in her head. The cannon sounds, her body is removed, and the trumpets blow to announce Haymitch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s victory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
$\"\"$ <\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even believe this. Haymitch figured out the arena. He figured out what no one else did or even tried to do. My head cannot handle this.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You know they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect that to happen. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t meant to be part of the arena. They never planned on anyone using it as a weapon. It made them look stupid that he figured it out. I bet they had a good time trying to spin that one. Bet that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember seeing it on television. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost as bad as us and the berries!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Haymitch is now my favorite of all time forever and ever until everything ceases to be. I am in awe of this backstory and character development. Holy god.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Almost, but not quite,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Haymitch from behind us. I whip around, afraid he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be angry over us watching his tape, but he just smirks and takes a swig from a bottle of win. So much for sobriety. I guess I should be upset he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drinking again, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m preoccupied with another feeling.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve spent all these weeks getting to know who my competitors are, without thinking about who my teammates are. Now a new confidence is lighting inside of me, because I think I finally know who Haymitch is. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m beginning to know who I am am. And surely, two people who have caused the Capitol so much trouble can think of a way to get Peeta home alive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even begin to describe how excited I am right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the fourteenth chapter of Catching Fire, the crushing reality of the most terrifying plot twist imaginable weighs heavily on Katpee and Haymitch. In a desire to take the Games as seriously as possible, they spend time watching videos of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/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":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catching-fire","category-hunger-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","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=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}