Book #31: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

[grav_ity]

Girl power, post-apocalyptic, really not like Survivor, so good it kind of hurts, brilliance in concept and in execution, sequel that more than lives up to the hype.

I can't really be coherent (and trust me, it's been nearly an hour since I finished the book during which time I filled the car with gas, went grocery shopping and drove 30 kilometres) because this book just blew my mind on about 18 levels. I can't even make a list of things I like, because it would be EVERY THING THAT HAPPENED. I read it in the Starbucks at Chapters, and made myself go home before I started reading "Mockingjay". Fortunately, I've learned to read without shrieking and hyperventilating whilst in public, but I can't stop myself from rocking back and forth and looking like I want to.

How awesome is an author that can pretty much do the same thing TWO BOOKS IN A ROW and have it leave me feeling totally gutted and speechless both times? BECAUSE, REALLY. My mother once told me that watching me read is like watching someone play a full contact sport. I don't think this is always true. But there are certainly books where it's pretty darn close. So close, in fact, that once I finish "Mockingjay", I'm probably going to have to read Shakespeare for a week to calm down again.

I can't stop thinking about Rob and Amber. And how much I loved them the year Amber won Survivor. And imagining what the world would be like if Survivor was The Hunger Games, and Amber didn't really love Rob, but had to pretend to in order to still be alive. And had to keep doing all of those reality shows to keep their families safe. And then I feel like vomiting, because I cheered for them, and I cheered when he proposed, and I cheered again when they were on The Amazing Race.

I can't stop thinking about love and how screwed up it can be. I know, I know that Katniss loves Peeta, and I've always known that she loves Gale. And there are parts of her life that one or the other of them can never, ever get close to. And I hope like HECK that the two of them are smart enough to figure that out, to be content with what they have. Katniss and Peeta have what I like to call The Hobbit Effect, wherein you go through something so unimaginably difficult with someone that you can't ever get them out of your head. Which would be fine, except that Katniss and Gale also have The Hobbit Effect (to a lesser degree, maybe). This is why I loved Rosie Cotton so darn much once I was old enough to really appreciate what she went through.

I'm kind of in love with all of them. All of them. And I can't explain it. Just...go read the books.

9.75 out of 10. Because, like with figure skating, I'm saving the perfect score for the ending.

Okay, I can't start Mockingjay until after dinner, which isn't until six, or I won't go. I am sort of wishing I had rj_anderson's phone number so I could call and yell at her for recommending these books just as I was exiling myself to Thunder Bay where there is NO ONE TO TALK TO ABOUT THEM! ;)

Comments

[hiddencait.livejournal.com]

I know!!! This is possibly the only series I've seen where the first 2 books basically have the same plot but totally ups the anty from one to the other. The whole tone changes some how.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I am pretty much the only person in the WORLD who loves Catching Fire the best. ;) Just before Peeta announced the "pregnancy", I said to myself "He's going to do it again", AND THEN HE DID, and UGH, these people! Fighting with whatever they have. It kills me.

[hiddencait.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think Catching Fire just didn't feel like a complete story for me. It really felt like Catching Fire and Mockingjay were only one book that got too long. Where as Hunger Games felt whole.