Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Book review of The Hunger Games – Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.
I enjoyed this book as it kept me reading on and wanting to know what’s going to happen next ecause the story line and the descriptive detail on each page. I didn’t really dislike any parts of the book as it kept me reading on and I wanted to read more of what going to happen. Katniss Everdeen – is Just trying to get her life back to normal. But people of District 12 look at her differently now, and she’s always on the radar in the Capitol. Now that she’s won the Hunger Games, Katniss’ family gets to live in a nice house and will never go hungry.
Her role as the family’s breadwinner is no longer needed. The others in her district also get more food and will be better off for at least a year, hanks to Katniss and Peeta’s win in the arena. To them, she’s a hero, but to herself, she’s anything but. It seems pretty obvious what the most dangerous option of these is. It’s harder to tell what was really going on in her mind, though. Most of the time, Katniss is full of self-loathing, especially when she must decide whether to run away or stick it out in District 12 and try to fght the Capitol.
She wants her old life back as she knew where she stood in life; ‘l 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 hat 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. ‘ Peeta Mellark – Throughout the book, Katniss admires Peeta’s ability to make speeches: and then I think of it, what Peeta can do much better than the rest of us.
He can use words. He obliterated the rest of the field at both interviews. And maybe it’s because of that underlying goodness that he can move a crowd – no, a country – to his side with the turn of a simple sentence. ‘ Peeta speaks as naturally as Katniss hunts, but his skill isn’t called for in the arena like hers is. It’s the luck of the draw that she ends up as the face of the revolution, all the while thinking that Peeta would be much better suited for the task.
Peeta is a bit of a contradiction: he’s one of the kindest and least selfish characters in the book, but he’s also one of the best liars. When the tributes have their final televised interviews before the Quarter Quell, Peeta steals the show by producing not Just one but two excellent lies. These lies, pregnant, are so effective that the audience seems likely to explode. Gale Hawthorne – He and Katniss understand each other because they’re both from the poorest part of town. He’s a great hunter and a responsible provider for his family.
And he and Katniss have a long history together. Gale and Peeta are also very different guys. Where Peeta is selfless, Gale is selfish. He wants Katniss all to himself; while Peeta is prepared to let her go if it will save her life. Consider how Katniss approaches both guys with her plan of running away. Gale is all into it until he learns that Katniss expects Peeta to go, too. In contrast, Peeta expects that Katniss would ant to bring Gale along, and he’s still willing to follow her. But Just because Gale is selfish doesn’t mean he’s bad.
It’s kind of flattering to Katniss that he wants her all to himself, although she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if they left Peeta behind. Even though Gale hasn’t suffered like Katniss has at the hands of the Capitol, he’s more than ready to rebel. Whereas Katniss is usually wishy-washy and cautious about the opposing the Capitol, Gale is certain. He’s sick of the rules, sick of watching his family go hungry, and sick of having no choice about his future. He’s so firmly against the Capitol that he won’t even accept a gift Katniss brings him from the region.
Gale has always been one for breaking the law. Like Katniss, he’s had to poach to find food for his family, so obeying the law wasn’t really an option. Unlike Katniss, though, Gale gets caught and is whipped within an inch of his life. Rather than scare him into submission, though, Gale Just becomes even more anti-Capitol. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action and romance books as this has both, action from the games and rebellion and the romance from Peeta and Katniss.
