Okay, so there are a couple of standard things to get out of the way before we get going here.
1) This post is covering Mockingjay chapters 1-15. Yes, I want to not be writing and instead finish reading and then talk about the entire book, but that is coming in like a day, and I can wait. Plus, it’s kind of interesting to talk about it in chunks like this, because I can make bold predictions and many of you will know how wrong I am BUT YOU CAN’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT YET.
2) Because we don’t want any spoilers on this thread. We’ll be finishing up the book tomorrow, but for now Erin and I get to talk about chapters 1-15 only. If you’re caught up, keep reading this post. If you’re behind, don’t go past the jump because THERE WILL BE NOTHING BUT SPOILERS.
3) I didn’t pick this as the stopping point; Erin did. To be fair, she chose it before we knew what was going to happen, but Jesus, Erin – you picked a doozy of a sentence for me to walk away from the book on. Don’t worry, that isn’t a spoiler.
BUT EVERYTHING FROM HERE ON OUT WILL BE.
Okay, so first off let me just get this out of the way:
HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT.
Also, let me just say that I really hope they don’t let the Wachowski brothers direct the Hunger Games movies. The deeper underground they go in District 13, the more I keep picturing the shitty sequels to the Matrix against my will. Then I shake my head and squeeze my eyes and make myself picture Brazil (the movie, not the country), and everything seems much more proper. In fact, if they gave this series to Gilliam I think it would be full on art (if it ever got finished).
Anyway.
Things really heated up in the Peeta v. Gale world in this section, and while I’ll *never* admit that Erin’s right about anything other than dance parties, it does seem pretty clear that Suzanne’s moving us toward a conclusion designed to put Katniss in Peeta’s arms and is sort of cruelly trying to turn the audience away from Gale no matter what. Let’s look at the score card:
Gale lied to Katniss about having seen the Peeta announcement : -4 points, until you remember that Peeta spent an entire book lying to Katniss because Haymitch told him to, then -4 points off Katniss for being whiny.
Peeta warns District 13 of imminent attack, thus saving everyone’s favorite character, Buttercup : +15 points
Gale tells Katniss that “he knew she would kiss him because he was in pain” : fucking lame move, -8 points
Gale leaves on the mission to save Peeta, even though he knows he’s the competition : okay, +8 again
But here’s where Gale loses me pretty much entirely – pg. 198, when he tells Katniss that he can’t kiss her because, “it would be like kissing someone who’s drunk.” WTF, Gale? KISSING DRUNK PEOPLE IS AWESOME. Especially if you’re drunk, too. It gets all sloppy and leads to mistakes and everyone knows that mistakes are very valuable learning tools, so kissing drunk people is highly educational even while being super fun. Not wanting to kiss drunk people? Super lame : -75 points.
Oh, and then damn it – wanting to kill everyone just because District 12 got bombed? Also super lame : -50 points.
So yeah, at this point Gale is way behind, and I’m sure Erin is just waiting to hear me talk about how she’s right and Peeta’s awesome and all of that. But here’s the rub:
Peeta has been “hijacked.” Really?!?!? That’s ridiculous. Because OF COURSE NOW KATNISS WILL WANT HIM.
The most obvious rule from the popular, unpublished self-help book for needy boys that I intend to write sometime in my late 40s, How To Escape The Friend Zone And Finally Get Laid, is that the number one thing the Needy Boy needs to do is suddenly and inexplicably stop caring about the girl (or at least pretend to). Seriously.
Of course, by not just having Peeta start liking other girls (which would totally have been enough to get Katniss to start drooling over him all the time anyway) but then having him actually try to kill her, Suzanne is taking a cue from Stephenie and going into the full on Stalker Fantasy genre. That scene along with Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” makes this officially the Summer of Abusive Boyfriends.
And yeah, Peeta’s been drugged and made to do it and blah, blah, blah. But I can’t get past seeing that hijacking as a lazy plot device. There are still many more chapters to go, though, so maybe I’ll come around? I’ll just feel cheated if I don’t get to see what Katniss would have done if Peeta had been Peeta and Gale had been Gale.
And for the record, I think that Peeta still could have won. Gale being a dick now that the revolution is on makes total sense. He was older when the mine accident killed his father than Katniss was, and he was full of testosterone. That made him hate in a manner much, much deeper than Katniss does. I think that Katniss could have cured him of that hatred if they lived in a different world, if they’d been allowed to grow up at a reasonable pace instead of forced into it by the games, and if they had metaphorical President Snows to fight against instead of the actual one. But the fact that they live in a world where that can’t happen is enough of a tragedy on its own. He would have sacrificed himself for the cause no matter what happened with Peeta, and the scene when he describes his selfish thoughts at seeing Peeta in the hospital is pretty amazing…
Ultimately, of course, Snow is an idiot. He tried to break Katniss by sending Peeta after her, and instead he most likely made Peeta the happiest man in Panem.
Anyway, I can’t wait to see how wrong I am about all of my suppositions. I love to write with conviction because it’s so much more fun when I get to come back and eat my words later. But for now I’ve gotta go. Katniss has been shot, and I need to get back into the Games.
I won’t comment on this thread anymore, though, because I’ll be further along. But Erin, I look forward to seeing what you think of this segment. Personally, I’m getting to be more and more Team Finnick after all. My favorite bit of relationship advice comes when Katniss asks him if he loved Annie right away. “No,” he says, “She snuck up on me.”
Even though it’s probably being used to set up the way Katniss feels like Peeta will sneak up on her, it’s pretty badass. Finnick is awesome.
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{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
Gale tells Katniss that “he knew she would kiss him because he was in pain” : fucking lame move, -8 points
Ugh yes! I totally facepalmed when reading that emo shizz. Cry more, Gale.
and YES TEAM FINNICK ALL THE WAY. Screw Gale and Peeta. Finnick looks good in a stringy golden net, can bring you fresh seafood everyday and has a name that isn’t a piece of bread or Oprah’s best friend.
Can’t wait for the review of the rest of the chapters. I finished it last night and I still don’t know what to do with myself with that ending.
thank you, zuleika, for putting it more eloquently than i ever could:
“Ugh yes! I totally facepalmed when reading that emo shizz. Cry more, Gale.”
DUBS TRUE TO THE MAXY MAX.
Ok, so I’m a Gale girl all the way. I actually blame this blog for a large part of that, since ya’ll are the ones who made me picture Ethan Peck and hear his sexy voice whenever Gale is on the page. After the “You’ll kiss me because I’m in pain, that’s the only time I get your attention” My stomach dropped and all I could think was shit*shit*shit* she’s foreshadowing*son of a mutha*he’s going to die in her arms*shit*shit*shit*goddamn* My stomach was in knots for the whole rest of the book- which I won’t talk about here
I HAD THE SAME REACTION AAAAHHHHHHH
The whole wanting to kill everyone because District 12 got bombed? Yeah, that was when I officially renounced my Team Gale membership and decided I was just Team Whoever Doesn’t Piss Me Off for the Rest of the Book.
I think Peeta got a whole lot more interesting once he was “hijacked.” Now at least he isn’t obsessed with an idealized Katniss. It’s a nice change.
Gale tells Katniss that “he knew she would kiss him because he was in pain” : fucking lame move, -8 points
This is the first point in the novel where my previous indifference to Gale (contrasted to a strong preference for Peeta) turned into RAAAAAAGE. What an emotionally manipulative bastard. At first, I put his initial statements about her prep team down to his burning desire for the cause (slightly bigoted, but understandable), but THIS. This proves that he KNOWS Katniss is softhearted AND THEN PREYS ON IT TO HIS ADVANTAGE. EW, EW, EW. I feel violated, Gale. YOU ARE A TOOL.
I was upset about the hijacking, but in some ways, I thought it was brilliant. In CATCHING FIRE, the assumption Katniss (and we as readers) made was that she was safe from going back into the arena. NOT SO! What Collins does is brilliant–in putting Katniss back in the Games, she shows that NOTHING IS SAFE and demonstrates the real despicable nature of the Capitol.
In MOCKINGJAY, the absolute one thing that Katniss (and Haymitch and the readers) took for granted was Peeta’s love for her. It was incorruptible. NOT SO. What a brilliant move on Collins’ part. The one thing you thought safe is not. I also like that we’ve seen Katniss grow to care for Peeta over the course of the books (as opposed to her affection for Gale, which has been taken for granted by both Gale and us) and now SHE HAS TO EARN HIS BACK. And at this point, she’s going to CHOOSE to earn it back.
But yeah. GALE HAWTHORNE. I DO NOT LIKE YOU ANYMORE. The Nut was only a part of it. (That, as you said, makes sense.)
“But here’s where Gale loses me pretty much entirely – pg. 198, when he tells Katniss that he can’t kiss her because, “it would be like kissing someone who’s drunk.” WTF, Gale? KISSING DRUNK PEOPLE IS AWESOME. Especially if you’re drunk, too.”
Wait, what? That’s the point – Gale isn’t discombobulated at that point. Kissing drunk people when you’re sober is bad because their judgement has been impaired and there’s questions of just how much they would consent to if sober. This was one of Gale’s few decent moments in the book.
I know, right? But considering the author of this article seems like a complete dick, this isn’t surprising.
Ha! This is my favorite comment by far.
Excellent point on the taking for granted Peeta’s feelings! I’m going to have to go with Henri. I am a big Finnick fan myself!
Team Finnick all the way!
Henri, thank you, for putting into words why I’m not digging Mockingjay so much right now. I’ll hopefully have a different opinion when I finish.
Sorry that should have gone as its own post not a reply.
Yeah, douche move on gale’s part with the ‘i only get your attention when I’m in pain’, but he totally makes up for it with his ‘it would be like kissing a drunk person’ statement. Although I found his delivery muddled, here’s the thing: if Gale had continued making out with Katniss then, that could have completely turned things in his favor. But he knew she wasn’t thinking clearly, and if he won her heart, he wanted it to be fair. +100 points.
Oh, and team Finnick 4 Eva!!!!!
YESSSSS So with you on the +100 points!
But it’s true, making out with drunk people *is* awesome.
I have to say, my favorite part of this section was when Katniss explains Crazy Cat. Watching a cat chase a flashlight is not adorable; it just shows how gullible cats can be.
Thank you Henri for pointing out that Collins has effectively jumped on the “dangerous=sexy” train. I was hoping she’d go for a milder version of that which would end up making Gale sexy instead of asshole-y, but instead she makes Peeta want to kill Katniss. And she loves him for it?!? Not okay. I can see that Katniss is guilt ridden about EVERYTHING, especially Peeta being f-ed up in the head, but still. She shouldn’t suddenly want Peeta, after years of mostly pretending to want him, because he (a) no longer wants her and (b) is deadly.
But on to Gale’s assholeness. He does go all emo with the “you only kissed me cause I’m in pain,” and it IS a shitty thing to say. But he’s also right. At this point Katniss is just trying to make up for the things that she thinks are her fault, and kissing Gale to keep him from crying is part of that. I actually loved that scene (not in a Team Gale way but in an overall book way).
And Team Finnick. FOREVER!
I love Finnick. While I didn’t have strong feelings for either Gale or Peeta in the first two books, I definitely liked Finnick, and Mockingjay just strengthens it.
Ugh, and yes, I liked the first two books because they were so different from other insane teenage relationship books (we all know what I’m referencing) but I felt like she kind of fell apart (in ideals and writing) in Mockingjay and I started feeling very strongly against some of the agendas she seemed to be promoting. It just makes me so mad to have my hopes up and then she ends up like so many others before her.
I’ve been dying inside for a whole 24 hours now waiting to have someone to rage to, guys! SHE MADE MY FINNICK A SEX SLAVE!!!!!! I thought this whole book was waaaaay violent and crazy and she really spared us nothing on the realism.
Peeta getting hijacked is kind of perfect. I always felt like anything pre-arena he felt for her was based on fantasy and then once they were inside the arena his made-up not-based-on-actually-knowing-her feelings were so strong that they prevented him from growing any real ones. I was pumped they’re BOTH given a chance to actually get to know eachother and decide for themselves (sort of, anyway. Obviously Peeta’s opinion is somewhat biased…).
Also, as much as I love Gale, I feel like BISH PLZ! WHAT R U EVEN MAD ABOUT?! He’s mad his dad died in a mining accident? Okay, fine. But Snow didn’t blow up the mine that killed his dad and even if he didn’t live in Panem and his dad was just a regular miner he could still die in a mining accident! mining is serious business! So what, he’s mad the government didn’t do more for them? I just don’t get why Gale is going all crazy soilder on everybody all of the sudden. It doesn’t make sense to me.
I forgot to mention my TOTAL OUTRAGE AT WHAT THEY DID TO FINNICK – that poor boy. Team Finnick 4evaaaaa
Ahhh I didn’t see your post before writing my post. SEX SLAVE, WTFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!
I totally agree with you about how Gale acted. It kind of came out of nowhere. My friend and I were talking about how he always seemed more clear headed, and he goes off the deep end a little.
Anyways, Finnick as a sex slave?!?!? I wanted to kill President Snow at that point. Seriously pissed me the eff off.
Okay, what is wrong with me? Even after all the stuff you’ve listed, I am still TEAM GALE ALL THE WAY. Does this expose some deep flaw in my character? Make some sort of statement about the kind of men I like?
The “you only kissed me because I’m in pain” thing is a jackass thing to say, yes, but… HE’S IN PAIIIIINNNNN. My precious Gale is in pain! Kiss him, Katniss!
Maybe I am just distracted by how effing MANLY he is. Go ahead, Suzanne Collins, describe Gale the wounded warrior being shirtlessly tended to after volunteering to go save Peeta, the guy loved by the woman he loves.
And yeah, maybe he wants to kill everyone because District 12 got bombed but CAN HE BE SHIRTLESS AGAIN?!
Oh God. I think I need a stiff drink and a cold shower.
I’m still Team Gale too. He’s so tortured, but on the inside and by his own self (not on the inside by crazy people like Peeta). And, yeah, maybe he’s a little violent and a little they-all-deserve-to-die, but that’s why he’s not the one in charge of everything. He needs Katniss to run into a shower of bullets with flowers and unicorns and tell everyone to hug (which was totally dumb Megan, you’re so right) to balance him out. See? They’re perfect for each other.
Yes! Exactly! This is what I am saying. And preferably Gale can be shirtless while he is leading rebels and Katniss is healing his tortured insides.
P.S. How are your TEABS shakes going? Mine subsided eventually, only to find that I woke up three times last night, staring at my ceiling and totally unable to get back to sleep. I need some morphling!
The lack of shirt goes without saying.
As for the TEABS, I feel like I’ve done nothing since I finished reading except comment here on FYA posts, so that helps. In all reality, I’m probably going to reread part 3 while no one is home today so it’s fresh in my mind when Erin and Henri FINALLY get to it.
I’m still Team Gale too, and I feel very isolated! I’m done with the book, and I promise, no spoilers, but with all said and done, I like Gale better than Peeta. He is so much more realistic and like a normal guy (or at least my idea of a normal guy, which is anything BESIDES Peeta). Yeah, he has some problems, but still… I don’t know, just not feeling the Peeta love everyone else seems to have. Just not my type at all.
katiecoops, fear not. We can start a Team Gale support group in this Peeta-loving world.
Don’t get me wrong, Peeta is wonderful. But the hunting! The smoldering rebel shmexiness!
Sign me up for that support group. The more badass Gale got, the more I endeared I was. I just can’t get all heart-melty over Peeta, no matter how hard I try.
So sue me. I heart rebel bad boys.
seriously, WORD on the manliness. After being so relieved that he came back alive that was a nice little treat from Collins to get that little visual
Too true. Gale, be an asshole. It’s cool. Just take your damn shirt off! Plus I seemed to notice more references to his good looks in this book, probably because he was in it so much more. This whole time I’ve been on the fence with both guys, loving things about each one. Now, having seen more of Gale’s character (even his jerky side) I thought he was hotter and he was so devoted to Katniss- a devotion that is hinted at in the other books, but that you witness more openly in Mockingjay. On the other hand, Peeta’s pansy ways kind of bugged in the first two books (even though I still loved him, Gale totally beat him in the manliness catagory) but this new Crazy Peeta is pretty great. I hate that he’s in pain but it’s interesting to see a new dimension of him–even one induced by the Capital’s torture–instead of him always being a guy obsessed with Katniss. And I’m cool if he takes his shirt off too.
Oh my, so much as happened!
Okay, I have to bring this up because I CAN’T BELIEVE NO ONE ELSE HAVE. FREAKING FINNICK WAS HUMAN TRAFFICKED/SEX SLAVED. HOLY CRAP!!??!! Way to go SuCol for making us think he was a total SLUT, only to find out it was against his will. DON’T WE ALL FEEL LIKE JERKS NOW? I promise I won’t slut shame any fictional characters for, like, 5 days now, AT LEAST.
I’m glad that we’re finally getting to see more of Gale’s personality here. And I think it’s awesome that he’s kind of a take no prisoners BAMF. Like, it’s much more realistic given his life and everything that’s happened to him. But yeah, that said, totally not into him.
PEETA! Hijacked?! Bummertown. But HA, take THAT Katniss. Now you’re going to have to WORK to get back his love. WHICH IS WHAT HE DESERVES.
Also, I was SO MAD AT KATNISS when she ran into the fleeing soldiers and was like “whine whine, let’s all hug”. IT WAS SOOOO STUPID. And then she got shot and I LOVED IT. Because honestly, what she did was ridiculous and what’s the consequence of doing stupid shit during a war? YOU GET SHOT.
Okay, now I gotta go READ some more. Chapter 16, here I come!
Actually (trying to not to be spoilery!), I loved it because that what I was arguing from the start, except I felt that at that point, it was moot.
Unless you are talking about the…okay, maybe I do know what you’re talking about. And yeah, I’m pissed too.
YES. I finished the book and said out loud, by myself, “That was not the ending I was looking for.” And that’s all I have to say about that until the ending is being discussed for real here.
Amen.
“I’ll just feel cheated if I don’t get to see what Katniss would have done if Peeta had been Peeta and Gale had been Gale.”
This is the MAJOR problem in the book. What the hell did Collins do…something along the lines of “oh remember that hot, awesome, best friend cute boy you liked, well I just wrote him a 180 and he’s an ass now.” Although that DOES happen in real life a lot. But dammit, not to GALE.
“oh remember that hot, awesome, best friend cute boy you liked, well I just wrote him a 180 and he’s an ass now.”
ok, so yes, THIS, but he was a really sexy ass. Plus, because we only get things from Katniss’s perspective, we saw how dismissive she was about his anti-Capitol rantings when she thought nothing could come of them, I suppose this rage he has isn’t as much of a 180 as it is Katniss finally having to take them seriously and listen because instead of just bitching he’s going to start BLOWING SHIT UP
TOTES.
Yes. I don’t think it’s a complete 180 in Gale’s personality so much as in the way that Katniss sees him. But even that is tempered with still a cute guy from the meadow moments!
Please do not hint towards the ending. We are remaining spoiler free as we write these posts.
Yea, the first 15 chapters made me feel like Suzanne Collins was pretty much on Team Peeta too (which, ya know, fine with me) ’cause Gale seemed like a ginormous a-hole for most of it. He’s totally ruthless, and Suzanne Collins is not into completely ruthless characters. Katniss, at least, feels like crap when she kills someone.
I did not mind the hijacked thing either – nor did I think it was all that lazy plot-wise. It was like the worst PTSD ever, and pretty terrible psychological torture, especially considering that they did it to a 17 year old! War sucks.
And I didn’t mind the ending…I just found it anti-climatic.
I think Collins did the whole hijacked thing, because – had Peeta returned, and he and Katnisshad the beautiful reunion they *deserved* – it would have been too easy to totally dismiss Gale and skip off happily into Peetniss land. And it also would have made everybody too united, maybe. I don’t know. I’ve finished the book and I’m not in a state to speculate yet.
Peetniss land. Awesome.
woof. stopping at the end of chapter 15 to come here and chat was tough. i mean, probably not as tough as running away from muttations or surviving an avalanche in a coal mine, but at least a test of willpower.
president snow is giving me major agita over this whole “winners = child sex slaves” ideology. but at least he has bloody sores in his mouth all the time. must be a lovely dinner companion. also, i’ll never look at roses the same way again.
katniss has, as of late, been spending a lot of time in hospitals/unconscious/hooked up to morphling IVs. suzanne is so good at completely blindsiding me at the end of every chapter, and i not-so-secretly thrill in those moments. i mean, peeta STRANGLED katniss. what the, what the!? stunned.
while i generally found a lot of gale’s actions deplorable (you know, wanting to kill another district’s entire mining population and all), it was endearing that he chose to risk his life to save katniss’s dad’s hunting jacket, etc. but it’s really only endearing because he survived.
finnick and haymitch are definitely in fierce competition for my favorite character so far. dr. prim medicine woman is up there, too.
cannot wait for the rest of the book. but first – a refill!
DR. PRIM MEDICINE WOMAN YES.
I’m glad that we were finally able to actually get to know Gale this time around. In the previous books, Katniss was in the games most of the time, so I felt a little biased/guilty loving Peeta while knowing that there was a dashing HUNTER, of whom is her BFFFFF, waiting for her at home. We only catch glimpses of him, though, so I couldn’t decide who I loved more.
With Peeta out of the way, Gale finally has a chance to win her over. I was dying to know what he would do to try to vie for her love, but he did absolutely NOTHING but make her feel worse about herself! His comments either made me want to feel sorry for him or punch him in the face. How could he justify torture to people who mean so much to her?! RED FLAG. RED FLAG!
I love Finnick –inner turmoils and all. I don’t know why I find that extremely attractive. It shows that he’s not only incredibly sexy (a trident?! cummon!), he has feelings! And this whole entire time I thought he was a slutty douche. I’m sorry Finnick!
True dat. Suzanne Collins systematically wore down Team Gale fans before we even got to see Peeta again, and then especially afterwards. Gale’s turning into such a dick, but in a totally reasonable, understandable, realistic way. AND I LOVE FINNICK SO MUCH JESUS CHRIST. And Buttercup. BUTTERCUP! I’ve taken to calling The Cheat that.
Ok well I’m team peeta. I guess because he just treated her better than Gale ever did. I was sooooo freaking pissed that the author hijacked him. He isn’t the same. I think he goes back to normal later but still. They had so many adorable moments together in the first and second book and the third had barely any peeta at all. It was aggravating and i knew from the very first book that I wanted peeta to be with katniss
Oh and cinna dying was uin the second book but that was bot cool. He was sooo awesome I never wanted him to die. It was hard reading the third book without him. So overall Suzanne Collins made he last book suck. Even killing off her sister prim the one she has been fighting for from the very beginning.
Oh and cinna dying was uin the second book but that was bot cool. He was sooo awesome I never wanted him to die. It was hard reading the third book without him. So overall Suzanne Collins made he last book suck. Even killing off her sister prim the one she has been fighting for from the very beginning.