#catching fire reread

[clatoera]

Honestly Finnick reminding Katniss she’s pregnant and then her thinking “fuck how do I act pregnant” is one of their best interactions in the series in this essay I will-

[heavensbeehall]

"Catching Fire", Chapter 25

Part 3: The Enemy

Chapter 25: More bread arrives via parachute. Same as before. Katniss teaches Peeta to swim. Katniss wants to run off and break the alliance but Peeta wants to stay with the others until Brutus and Enobaria are gone. Beetee has a plan to kill the Careers and he explains in a professorly way. They hike to the tree. Then Beetee gives the kids a day off from school. They dive for oyster, which Katniss thinks is fun. Peeta finds a pear and gives it to Katniss, referencing what Effie said last book about pearls and coal. Peeta realizes the locket didn't work and Katniss thinks he is her biggest enemy in the plan to safe his life.

-- Katniss teaching Peeta to swim is such a random cute thing that I wish we got to see more of but I suppose it's not "important to the plot."

-- Beetee sas that force fields are "nothing to play around" with. And since I know he's going to be paralyzed by this is a bit on the nose.

When I wake, I have a brief, delicious feeling of happiness that is somehow connected with Peeta.

I think this is supposed to be about her thoughts of Peeta having a child (which was the end of last chapter) but when you read a chapter a day it sounds sort of like she had a sex dream about Peeta.

For some reason, it's difficult to look at him. Maybe it was all that kissing last night, although the two of us kissing isn't anything new. It might not even have felt any different for him.

LOL, girl. Gale noticed from his couch that it was a different kind of kissing. I am sure Peeta could tell since his lips were involved.

Maybe three, because who knows what Chaff's up to?

Yeah, Suzanne, what is Chaff up to? Where is he hiding? Is he following Peeta and Katniss or does he have a spot in the jungle that just happens to be near where Brutus and Peeta will be (the Lightning Tree wedge, I assume?). The Lightning Tree wedge does seem the safest? I mean you have to avoid the lightning but there's no fog or monkeys that will come get you. And if he's been in the Lightning Wedge all this time did someone tell him that is the place to go? Because that is where the escape will happen.

Finnick looks at Johanna and raises his eyebrows. He will not go forward without her.

Interesting. So he doesn't know Beetee is trying to bring down the forcefield? But he does know the time of the escape from the bread sent. I would like a chart about who knew what and when.

[buggiebite]

I take Peeta's face in my hands. "Don't worry. I’ll see you at midnight”

Catching Fire - Chapter 26

I take Peeta's face in my hands. “Don't worry. I'll see you at midnight.” I give him a kiss and, before he can object any further, I let go and turn to Johanna. “Ready?”

[motherofmabari]

President Snow told Katniss to make the Districts believe the berries were an act of love, not of rebellion.

I think what he failed to understand is they were one and the same.

[beautyofattolia]

I think this is the moment I truly started to dislike Gale.

After reading the first book, I definitely loved Peeta, but I didn't know enough about Gale to either like him or dislike him. He was just there. Katniss's friend and potential love triangle participant. But then Catching Fire starts and in Chapter 2, we get this scene and it really left a bad taste in my mouth that only increases as the series continues.

This really does an incredible job of setting up Gale's entire attitude about Katniss. Their relationship is about him and what he wants. About what he feels like he deserves from her. He kisses her because he wanted to, without any warning or checking in with her to see where she is. He doesn't talk to her about what she's going through or think maybe the best time is not right after she survived an extremely traumatic experience. Gale wants a kiss and he is owed a kiss so by god he's going to have one!

Contrast this with everything we see with Peeta in the first book and even though he too is in love with Katniss and has been for ages, all physical affection is on Katniss's terms. He makes jokes about kissing, but in every kiss, she is the one who initiates and he makes no effort to take that choice or control away from her.

Peeta respects Katniss and her wishes in a way Gale never does and it's never more clear than when comparing the two first kisses.

[tenaciousmoneymuffinzine]

I'm rereading The Hunger Games trilogy with a lot more insight on it and the characters than 14yo me did

Updates and lots of unnecessary commentary to come

[thekayart]

Its always been funny to me how Katniss gets interested in Peeta’s interview only when asked about a girlfriend 🙃

[mizzingyou]

they are literally made for each other wtf

[thegreatmelodrama]

We were robbed of seeing Finnick and Katniss scare Peeta by having their green and scabbed faces be the first thing he sees while waking up.

[heavensbeehall]

"Catching Fire", Chapter 1

Part 1: The Spark

Chapter 1: About six months after the end of the previous book, Katniss sits in the woods outside District 12 and mourns the loss of her old life. She meets Buttercup the Cat at her old house, and then heads to the Hawthornes to drop off game. The reader is introduced to Hazelle. Then Katniss heads to the Hob and talks to some people. She then heads to Haymitch's house in the Victor's Village to wake him. Peeta appears with bread. It's awkward. Then Katniss goes to her house and finds President Snow waiting for her.

Thoughts

-- Gale stuff. Gale won't take money from Katniss and I could understand that if it were just him. But his mother and siblings need money too. I don't hate Gale like much of the fandom does but that kind of shit rubs me the wrong way. I know he liked Katniss but he hadn't said anything to her (I'm not sure she was ready to talk about it) so she didn't do anything wrong. He can be hurt, sure (feel your feelings!), but he's only taking it out on his own family.

-- It took me a long time to realize the neighborhood "the Seam" is named after a coal seam. In my defense, I know nothing about coal.

--This book already feels a bit denser than the previous one. Collins still ends the chapter on a cliffhanger as she often does, but the style is changing slightly. Katniss is becoming a bit more introspective. (Our baby girl is growing up.)

-- Katniss and Peeta are so awkard here. That this has been going on for six months is ridiculous. They need someone to knock their heads together. (Johanna would probably volunteer for this role.)

Quotes:

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't know exactly how much it was, and the price of any gift in the arena was exorbitant.

[...]

"I know," says Greasy Sae. "But you got to go through it to get to the end of it. Better not be late."

A light snow starts to fall as I make my way to the Victor's Village

Any "Greasy Sae is Lucy Gray" believers want to chime in here?

A Peacekeeper named Darius comes up and buys a bowl while I'm eating. As law enforcers go, he's one of my favorites. Never really throwing his weight around, usually good for a joke. He's probably in his twenties, but he doesn't seem much older than I do. Something about his smile, his red hair that sticks out every which way, gives him a boyish quality.

Introduction to Darius. He makes Katniss smile in this scene. That makes me sad.

I'm staring into the snakelike eyes of President Snow.

This fucking guy.

[districtfourmermaid]

I love Gale's shift in the shack by the lake after Katniss spills the beans about the uprising in District 8. When Snow was just threatening him and his and Katniss's families, he was ready to run. But once he hears that the time for revolution is upon them, he can't. People in the mines are talking, and the mines will have solidarity with the textile mills. And the fishing boats. And the tech factories. And the farms. And all the rest. If others in Panem are rising, then so is he.

Because if it isn't just him that's in danger, or people he alone can support, then he must stay. The lives of District people mean less than nothing to the Capitol, and "that's why we have to join the fight!...What about the other families, Katniss? The ones who can't run away?"

[mortifyingordealof]

actually. it's infuriating how the hunger games gets remembered as "one of those" ya love triangle stories. katniss spends the whole first two books resisting the advances of two young men, one representing everything revolutionary and combative, one representing peace within the status quo, while she repeatedly looks at the reader and says "I am just a traumatized kid, I don't know what to do, I should not be forced into this choice" until she is, essentially at gunpoint, forced to choose. There is never a tender moment between katniss or either of her suitors that is not horrendously overshadowed by the fact that she is, to some degree, an unwilling participant just trying to survive moment to moment.

[twilight-zoned-out]

Recap for people who haven't reread the Hunger Games trilogy in a while and intend to read Sunrise on the Reaping (most of this comes from Catching Fire):

Haymitch Abernathy was the winner of the second Quarter Quell

Second Quarter Quell = twice as many tributes

He was 16 and had a girlfriend back home

He used the Games' force field system to win, which the Capitol considered cheating (it made it seem like the Capitol killed the other tribute instead of Haymitch)

He was the first and only District 12 victor until Katniss (EDIT: I completely forgot about Lucy Gray Baird; Haymitch is the first to win under the modern Hunger Games system-to-mentor pipeline)

His family and girlfriend were killed after he was crowned victor

He had the attitude before the Games, but being a mentor definitely made it worse

[katnissandpeetamellark]

I’ve reread the Hunger Games trilogy for the 100000th time now

And god did the last chapter & epilogue get me BAD this time

Katniss’s despair — losing Prim… and in a way losing herself. God it’s so heart wrenching

And then that epilogue. It’s just so full of hope. The final line leaves you with chills.

I’ll never tire of this series

[ifwebefriends]

Damn the more I think about The Hunger Games trilogy the more I regret reading those books for the first time when I was 11 and just a liiittle too naïve to realize some important themes in the books, my thoughts were like:

“Awww that’s sweet that Peeta confessed during his interview ☺️ why is Katniss mad at him?! 🤨”

“Wait, Katniss is pregnant?!?!?!?? How did that happen?!?!? And why is Katniss confused about it?! 😳”

Basically my reaction to the trilogy back then was literally:

[praetorpercy]

maturing is accepting that mockingjay is the best book in the series