#13: Catching Fire
- Behind The Read
Here I am, around five months after I read the first book of The Hunger Games series.
Why the gap?
Busy. The classic excuse of adapting to university life and such.
It’s true, though. I did not get that many opportunities to visit my campus library. When I did visit, it was to work on assignments or get some shut eye. It was only in the second semester I finally have time and motivation to continue reading.
With that, I am back to the series, when Katniss and Peeta came back from The Hunger Game as victors.
- My Personal Blurb
Coming back as victors of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta must go on a Victor’s Tour around the districts and the Capitol.
After a threat from President Snow, Katniss will do everything that she can to protect her loved ones, even if it meant going along with the Capitol’s whims.
Or at least that was the plan.
- My Thoughts (includes spoilers from the first book, just so you know.)
The way The Hunger Games ended left this feeling of tense, on edge feeling.
Catching Fire picks up that uneasiness when it begins, and it basically stays for the whole story.
Katniss’s actions in the finale of the 74th Hunger Games did not please President Snow. When the Gamemakers tried to give drama between Katniss and Peeta, trying to make them kill each other, Katniss decided to have both of them eat poisonous berries. That action forced a rule change and allowed both tributes crowned as victors.
Even though it was painted as an act of love, to some it was seen as an act of resistance, challenging the authorities.
We’d-rather-die-than-follow-your-orders type of situation.
What did our main character get for doing that?
A visit from the oh-so-supreme President Snow, of course.
Right before the Victor’s Tour, President Snow visited Katniss to warn (more like threaten) her to convince the public that what she did was not resistance to the Capitol. Because what she did in the Games kind of inspired some talks about uprisings in other districts, and the government not too happy about that.
I will say, President Snow directly visiting Katniss just to say all that seemed a bit of an overkill. Sure, seeing the supreme leader of Panem my house is definitely more than enough for a threat. But I thought he would be the type that sends the message through other people. Was it that important that he himself had to come? Someone’s got a lot of time.
Also, if it’s so important to keep up appearances to prevent the districts of Panem from rebelling, why the Victor’s Tour? Now that I think about it, Parading victors through districts where they likely killed the tributes from those very districts is just… not a good idea.
(A reminder that everyone in the Games were aged 12–18. So, seeing victors who killed their children would not make a good memory, at all)
Was it to instill fear? Maybe. But surely it would seed resentment.
That resentment is bound to pile up and eventually, turn into a ticking bomb. Perhaps, that is what President Snow is trying to avoid: the spark that can set it all off. In that case, maybe visiting Katniss directly is not that much of an “over” thing to do.
Well, that’s just a thought.
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Back to Katniss. Was she scared? She’s definitely freaked out on the inside, her family and everyone she cared for is on the line here. She must do what she was ordered.
Until the first stop of the Tour, that is.
District 11 holds a place in both Katniss and my heart.
Not the district itself, but because of Rue, the girl tribute from District 11 for the 74th Hunger Games.
I did say earlier that “showing off” victors is going to gather resentment. In this tour, though, District 11 is a bit different. She did not kill Rue, in fact, she showed proper respect when Rue dies in the Games. Along with Peeta giving his share of winning rations to the family of the fallen, and Katniss’s speech (which she internally debated herself whether to give or not), a show of respect was given by District 11 for Katniss and Peeta.
At this point, Katniss had become a symbol. Her mockingjay pin became symbol of resistance, spreading wild across the districts.
… I suppose this is not the effect President Snow is looking for, huh?
Perhaps it’s time for another surprise.
One would think once they won the Games, their life is more or less… safe.
Ha. Jokes on them. The 75th Hunger Games pull the tributes from an already existing pool of previous victors.
My first thought when I read this part is,
Wow, how convenient. Also, someone’s petty, alright.
(I’m talking about Snow, if you didn’t notice)
I mean, Katniss is the only female victor from District 12.
Coincidence? I think not. If it is, what a plot.
I will say, as the book reaches its end, the pace started to pick up like really, really fast. It’s so chaotic that I’m not sure what actually happened, which I’m quite sure that is what Katniss felt too in those moments. It’s a first person POV, if there are plans Katniss didn’t know, neither did I.
It was as if the story got shut down with that ending.
Though with what happened at the end, I’m ready for an outburst in the next book.
- Conclusion
While there are some tense moments in Games itself, this book came off more as an emotional and psychological battle rather than physical to me.
From the way Katniss is thinking of the worst what if situations, I can feel her panic and helplessness. The Capitol is wrong, everything is wrong, but she had to put her closest people first. The dilemma? The stress?
The lack of information and not knowing who to trust also doesn’t really help her.
Some say this book is better than the first, while some say Catching Fire is just a bridge between the first and the third book. I kind of agree with the latter, not that it’s just a bridge, but there are still questions yet to be answered and the cliffhanger… really left things hanging.
Time to read Mockingjay, I guess.
- Information
Title: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2)
Creator: Suzanne Collins
Cover Artist: Tim O’Brien
Language: English
Publisher: Scholastic Press
First Published in September 2009
Pages: 391
- Blurb (from the back cover)
Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol — a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.
Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.
