The great big finale...
Chapter 25 - The muttations, Kat's mercy killing, and the almost-double-suicide
Chapter 26 - "Victory" and its aftermath; the recovery cycle (really- they were going to give Katniss a boob job??) and interviews
Chapter 27 - the train ride home
Forgive the chapter highlights if they are a little off. I don't have my book with me.
The muttations (muttations vs mutations??) were horrifying. Taking their dead competitors and breeding them into a fierce new creature. I can't think of anything worse. OK- I thought of something worse: slowly being eaten alive by your former-competitor-turned-chimera-mutant. The whole last scene of the arena I think we really get a glimpse that all of Katniss's interest (or at least 90% of it) has been to survive the game. First she leaves Peeta when the muttations come after them. Then she pulls her last arrow on Peeta when the anouncement comes that they have to kill each other and Peeta pulls out his knife (only to throw it into the water). Then again with the double suicide.
For her, I think she realy did feel that she could never go back to her District after kililng Peeta. And that she couldn't live without him back in the District. BUT... I think her feeling is more out of a mutual "we did this together" and that she would probably be shunned in District 12 if she killed him. Peeta, on the other hand, would be heartbroken. I think that the Gamemakers assumed that Katniss would be the one to win. They hadn't counted on her really risky suggestion of the double suicide. (The word "suicide" didn't even cross my mind until Haymitch brought it up.)
The last thing I want to say before you all get your comments in (and I expect some talk about the ending!) is that I was really disappointed that all of her scars are gone. Happy that her hearing is back, but I would have liked for her to keep the scar on her forehead, the scars from the burns. I suppose that I understand that they want her to look perfect, innocent, and girlish...but they were her battle scars. Something that marked her time in the arena. I almost feel heartless saying that they would be reminders she would always carry with her. You almost would want to forget all those things she went through, you know? What do you girls think about that?
And here is where I'm a terrible person. I was not the least bit upset by the way Cato died. If anyone deserved it...
ReplyDeleteBUT! Holy cow, those muttations!! Did you guys even imagine they would do something like that? I was horrified!!! To have taken the other Tributes, who had already been killed by your terrible game, and turn them into ANIMALS?!?! Inhuman. I was totally snookered...
I'm hopelessly romantic, so I've still got hopes for Peeta and Katniss, and I can forgive her for having her head completely in the game up to know. But if she doesn't shape up and start sorting out her feelings quick, I'm going to want to smack her. Peeta is so sweet and smitten, give the poor man a break!
I was happy to read that they'd healed her. I can see what you're saying, Sarah, about battle scars. And I've got a couple of scars I'm real proud of. But I got one at the beginning of the year over my left eye, and ever since, I've had my eyesbrows shaped differently to cover it. Some things are better forgotten, I think.
BUT, having said that, I might have wanted to keep my Hunger Games scars to really shove in the face of the Capitol. "Look what you people did to me!" And I'll just bet that's why they removed them. "It's ok to have these games, look how perfect she looks." I'm mad at the Capitol all over again. But I cheered and hollered all over the place when they caved and let them both live. (In my incredibly mature state, I believe I even let out a "Nah-nah nah-nah boo boo!" or two.. Haha! But ooooh, couldn't y'all just feel the anger of the higher ups? The whole point of the Game was to show the Districts who's in charge. And now we know. It's Kat!! ; ) Haha. They're going to try to kill her, no doubt in my mind.
I can't wait for the next book!!!
Horrified is nearly an understatement! Am I the only one that nearly dropped the book when Kat recognized the creatures eyes?! The Gamemakers are SICK! What a grotesque thing to do... view people slaughtering each other as entertainment then mutate them into new beings?! I never saw that coming. I was appalled and terrified.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree. I was mortified that they healed her! First she's thrown into a game where she's been microchipped and left to fight for her life and then, without her consent whatsoever, they shove a needle in her neck, strap her to a bed and perform countless procedures on her?! I thought that was crossing the line. And as if that's not bad enough, they were going to surgically alter her breasts while they were at it? Damn. Why not just look me in the eye and tell me how disgusting I look? I feel like this is the Capitol's way of betraying the people, by making them feel there are "incentives" to the Hunger Games. Oh, volunteer and you get a full blown makeover!!!! I'm pretty sure I'd go on a "killing the Capitol members rage." Haha.
Oh, thank God I've learned to copy and paste this crap. My iMac just flipped pages and all my ranting would have been LOST!!!!!
But I loved that they were going to eat the berries and die together. Yes, it was a sick, yet romantic twist and I would have been satisfied with the book ending there. Now I feel like Kat is going to go back to District 12 and want nothing to do with Peeta. I'm terrified the Capitol may come after her and try to destroy her, like you said Nat. Scares me! :/
I was really happy with the ending overall, though. I couldn't think of a better way to fight than to decide to go together, against the "rules", in a blaze of poisoned glory. Beautiful and heartwrenching.
ReplyDeleteAlso, who else breathed a sigh of relief at finally being sure Cinna was on the up and up?? Haha. I worried the whole book about the point where they'd tear us up with revealing he'd been against her, after all. Haha.
No, a boob job would definitley have been waaaaay over the line, but I do think I'd rather they fix the damage they caused me.
And yes! I almost dropped the book, and my coffee, when they realized what those muttations were. Poor, sweet Rue. Used that way against her fellow Tributes. : (
Look out, Katniss, something bad is surely coming.
Before the next book, have y'all chosen a side? Peeta or Gale? Is there any way to really choose? Haha
I am worried about what the Capitol is going to do to Katniss. The possibilities seem endless considering that there are two more books to go. ;)
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for Gale, and for Peeta, and even for Katniss to. Gale for having to watch that. You know that he and Kat had a special bond. And I think we all know it must have been something more than just best friends. I am sure that when Gale said that they could run away and live in the woods, he was really also thinking about living with and loving Katniss. Beyond their time hunting together, they also have the bond of losing their fathers in the same mining acciident. That they both had to be the heads of their household and take care of their families. They were alread working together as a team. And then to see Katniss surviving in the arena with Peeta, nursing him back to health, loving all over him. It must have been equally heartbreaking and enraging for Gale.
Then there is Peeta. Who really is desparately, madly in love with Kat. Add in the extme Game that they just survived. For him it was a real, true bond. I wonder what he thought when Katniss started running for her life. When she pulled her lat arrow on him at the very end. Do you think he just supposed it was her tough exterior, her survivor instinct? I truly feel bad for him because he has loved her for ages. He has always been protecting her (I am a sucker for the protective, romantic, older man). And protecting her at his own risk.
And then there is Katniss. Poor, confused Katniss. Still trying to work out the trauma from the games, the real. Feelings that she has for Gale and for Peeta. Plus combatting all the normal stuff that we go through as teenagers. Good lord I never want to go through that again.
Love triangles bite. Being between two men who both love you (on some level) and who you care for (on some level)....possibly having to choose and know that you will hurt one. Or like Katniss want to never marr and perhaps hurt both. That's a lot of weight for a 16 year old.
I'm not sure why, but I've been favoring Gale for a while now. I suppose I tend to fall for the "out-doorsy, we have a lot in common, let's run away together" type (I DID elope, ladies!) as opposed to the "safe, baker's son, I'm professing my love on national television" type. But who knows? Anything is possible at this point!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've got it bad for Peeta. I can't help it, I don't know why, but I'm definitely rooting for him.
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