{"id":55,"date":"2010-12-07T10:58:39","date_gmt":"2010-12-07T18:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=55"},"modified":"2015-02-07T21:11:04","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T05:11:04","slug":"mark-reads-the-hunger-games-chapter-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2010\/12\/mark-reads-the-hunger-games-chapter-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe Hunger Games\u00e2\u20ac\u2122: Chapter 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirteenth chapter of The Hunger Games<\/em>, SERIOUSLY THIS IS GETTING UNBEARABLE COULD THERE PLEASE BE A MOMENT WHERE WE CAN JUST REST AND SHIT. Intrigued?\u00c2\u00a0 Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Hunger Games<\/em>.<\/p>\n

NO. REALLY? A WALL OF GODDAMN FIRE? THIS IS JUST ABSURD RIGHT NOW. WHAT IS GOING ON.<\/p>\n

The world has transformed to flame and smoke. Burning branches crack from trees and fall in showers of sparks at my feet. All I can do is follow the others, the rabbits and deer, and I even spot a wild dog pack shooting through the woods. I trust their sense of direction because their instincts are sharper than mine. But they are much faster, flying through the underbrush so gracefully as my boots catch on roots and fallen tree limbs, that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no way I can keep space with them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When I read that there were footsteps before the fire, I assumed that other tributes were trying to burn Katniss alive. But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I guess this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that much better, is it? Again, WALL OF FIRE.<\/p>\n
The heat is horrible, but worse than the heat is the smoke, which threatens to suffocate me at any moment. I pull the top of my shirt up over my nose, grateful to find it soaked in sweat, and it offers a thin veil of protection. And I run, choking, my bag banging against my back, my face cut with branches that materialize from the gray haze without warning, because I know I am supposed to run.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Great. More disaster ahead. If the fire doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t kill Katniss, smoke inhalation will.<\/p>\n
This was no tribute\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campfire gone out of control, no accidental occurrence. The flames that bear down on me have an unnatural height, a uniformity that marks them as human-made, machine-made, Gamemaker-made. Things have been too quiet today. No deaths, perhaps no fights at all. The audience in the Capitol will be getting bored, claiming that these Games are verging on dullness. This is the one thing the Games must not do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I should have thought of this. These Games simultaneously oppress and entertain. (And bigotry sells, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?) Katniss suspected the berries were poisonous (it was never confirmed if they were), but she forgot to consider the deadly weapons that the Gamemakers could use against her.<\/p>\n
I hurdle over a burning log. Not high enough. The tail end of my jacket catches on fire and I have to stop to rip it from my body and stamp out the flames. But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dare leave the jacket, scorched and smoldering as it is, I take the risk of shoving it in my sleeping bag, hoping the lack of air will quell what I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t extinguished. This is all I have, what I carry on my back, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little enough to survive with.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, there goes her jacket but not her dignity<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Discomfort turns to distress until each breath sends a searing pain through my chest. I manage to take cover under a stone outcropping just as the vomiting begins, and I lose my meager supper and whatever water has remained in my stomach.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that Collins is including details like this, showing that the Game can negatively affect a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s health like this. Wait\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6ok, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not actually glad that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vomiting. I mean that this sort of realism is usually ignored in fiction and in film\/TV, but not here. BUT YEAH, I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DERIVE JOY FROM VOMIT. Thanks, guys.<\/p>\n
The thing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so interesting about all this is that any sort of expectations I had for the Games have all been met or topped in the first few chapters. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what else Collins has left to explore anymore! Gamemaker intervention, injury, massive death, dealing with dehydration, betrayal, terror\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all here. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ALL READY HAPPENEND. What on earth could Collins do now? I mean, short of the remaining Tributes killing each other or dying in the wild, how on earth is she going to carry this narrative any further?<\/p>\n
Katniss wonders where the Gamemakers are driving her and presumes it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a few things: back to where she came from, to a new area that is not familiar, or towards the other players. Basically, NOWHERE GOOD AT ALL.<\/p>\n
The fireballs continue to hurl at Katniss and she knows a direct hit is death. But even her quick wits and speed are no match for COLLINS THE AUTHOR.<\/p>\n
My muscles react, only not fast enough this time. The fireball crashes into the ground at my side, but not before it skids across my right calf. Seeing my pants leg on fire sends me over the edge. I twist and scuttle backward on my hands and feet, shrieking, trying to remove myself from the horror. When I finally regain enough sense, I roll the leg back and forth on the ground, which stifles the worst of it. But then, without thinking, I rip away the remaining fabric with my bare hands.<\/p>\n
I sit on the ground, a few yards from the blaze set off by the fireball. My calf is screaming, my hands covered in red welts. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m shaking too hard to move. If the Gamemakers want to finish me off, now is the time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WHAT THE FLYING FUCK IN HEAVEN. Ok, so the first thing I thought of when I read this was that horrible moment in Deathly Hallows<\/em> when Harry realizes his wand is broken. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s senseless and it brings with it a pervading hopelessness. When Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leg and hands are burnt, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153WELL, THIS IS EASY TO GET OUT OF.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Instead, I think, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153JESUS CHRIST BURNS ARE REALLY PAINFUL AND THEN LAST A REALLY, REALLY LONG TIME<\/span><\/strong>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d So what just happened to her is going to affect her performance in the Games for DAYS AFTER THIS. (Assuming they last that long and really now\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6there are 200 pages left. They aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to end any time soon.)<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been pretty hard on Collins so far, but I have to give her an astral plane high five. This is a huge moment in this book because even though Katniss is obviously going to make it out alive, Collins has made us realize that she can still experience so much loss aside from her life.<\/p>\n
Oh, right. We have a name for this moment: SHIT JUST GOT REAL<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
I hear Cinna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice, carrying images of rich fabric and sparkling gems. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Katniss, the girl who was on fire.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d What a good laugh the Gamemakers must be having over that one. Perhaps, Cinna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beautiful costumes have even been brought on this particular torture for me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
FUCK. How terrible. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even think of this. I guess the Gamemakers appreciate violent irony. So they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re like the very worst hipsters of all time or something.<\/p>\n
Guys, HER HANDS ARE BURNED. How is she going to use weapons? Climb trees? Catch food? This ruins pretty much everything. Good lord.<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite understand how she gets there, but Katniss arrives at the pool of water she was at before. Actually\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6is it the same pool or a different one? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really clear, but she takes time to recuperate and check out her leg.<\/p>\n
I almost faint at the sight of my calf. The flesh is a brilliant red covered with blisters. I force myself to take deep, slow breaths, feeling quite certain the cameras are on my face.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
GREAT. GREAT. JUST GREAT. It hurts even thinking about this. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve suffered a few minor burns over the years (BIGGEST KLUTZ IN THE KITCHEN EVER), but nothing like this. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sign how tough Katniss is because I would have been a mess by now.<\/p>\n
Though, admittedly, Katniss is actually not her normal self. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get a move on immediately and chooses to lounge in the area, consumed by drowsiness and hunger, to rest and get some food. She even doses off briefly, but is awakened by the sound of approaching tributes.<\/p>\n
I pick a high tree and begin to climb. If running hurt, climbing is agonizing because it requires not only exertion but direct contact of my hands on the tree bark.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW. NO. NO THANK YOU. But I guess fear can motivate people to look past the pain to survive.<\/p>\n
Up in the tree, she spots the six tributes, Peeta included, and realizes there is a very small chance any of them will be able to climb a tree. So she says hello to them.<\/p>\n
Now I smile. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s everything with you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I call down cheerfully.<\/p>\n
This takes them aback, but I know the crowd will love it.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well enough,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says the boy from District 2. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yourself?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a bit warm for my taste,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I say. I can almost hear the laughter from the Capitol. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The air\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s better up here. Why don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you come on up?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
BLESS YOUR HEART, KATNISS. This is fantastic! But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6oh man, this has to be so awkward for Peeta.<\/p>\n
We learn two more of the tributes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 names: Cato and Glimmer.<\/p>\n
The girl with the arrows, Glimmer I hear someone call her\u00e2\u20ac\u201dugh, the names the people in District 1 give their children are so ridiculous\u00e2\u20ac\u201danyway Glimmer scales the tree until the branches begin to crack under her feet and then has the good sense to stop.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I love the content of this sentence because that name is<\/em> ridiculous, but did the diction of this piece seems strange to anyone else? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far more conversational than anything else we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen up to this point. Just a thought.<\/p>\n
Katniss, confident that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s safe from the tributes below, actually prepares to go to sleep in the tree after Peeta convinces the others that she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going anywhere.<\/p>\n
I stare into the foliage trying to will myself to rest, but the burns forbid it. Birds are settling down for the night, singing lullabies to their young. Night creatures emerge. An owl hoots. The faint scent of a skunk cuts through the smoke. The eyes of some animal peer at me from a neighboring tree\u00e2\u20ac\u201da possum maybe\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcatching the firelight from the Careers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 torches.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pointing this out because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another passage of Collins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that I think works really well in the first person present tense. As I said before, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been pretty harsh on her and I want to make sure I do include what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m enjoying here, and this is one of those times. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a nice rhythm to it.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m up on one elbow. Those are no possum\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes, I know their glassy reflection too well. In fact, those are not animal eyes at all. In the last dim rays of light, I make her out, watching me silently from between the branches.<\/p>\n
Rue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ARE YOU SHITTING ME???? What the fuck is she doing up there? OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK.<\/p>\n
How long has she been here? The whole time probably. Still and unobserved as the action unfolded beneath her. Perhaps she headed up her tree shortly before I did, hearing the pack was so close.<\/p>\n
For a while we hold each other\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gaze. Then, without even rustling a leaf, her little hand slides into the open and points to something above my head.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
YOU HAVE TO STOP ENDING CHAPTERS LIKE THIS<\/strong>. Jesus god in heaven, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to stop now. DAMN IT.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the thirteenth chapter of The Hunger Games, SERIOUSLY THIS IS GETTING UNBEARABLE COULD THERE PLEASE BE A MOMENT WHERE WE CAN JUST REST AND SHIT. Intrigued?\u00c2\u00a0 Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Hunger Games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,488],"tags":[21,28,24,29,27],"class_list":["post-55","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hunger-games","category-the-hunger-games-novel","tag-awful","tag-katniss-everdeen","tag-mark-reads-the-hunger-games","tag-so-fucked-up","tag-suzanne-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55","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=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}