{"id":9397,"date":"2012-01-24T07:00:28","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=9397"},"modified":"2012-03-23T17:04:51","modified_gmt":"2012-03-23T22:04:51","slug":"review-catching-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/01\/review-catching-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"The Heat Is On (Review: “Catching Fire”)"},"content":{"rendered":"

While I was home for Christmas, I saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows<\/em> with my mom and sister. I loved it. It was one of the best sequels I’ve ever seen, because it didn’t strictly require knowledge of the first movie, but it built beautifully on what had been established. Reading Catching Fire<\/em><\/a>, the second book of the Hunger Games<\/em> trilogy<\/a> by Suzanne Collins, was a similar experience. It built beautifully on the first book (see my review of The Hunger Games<\/em> here<\/a>), but it is its own story as well.<\/p>\n

It ought to go without saying that this review will contain spoilers for The Hunger Games<\/em> (the first book only), but just in case:
\nHERE BE SPOILERS.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You have been warned.<\/p>\n

Having made history by surviving the Games, Katniss returns to District 12 with a new mission. The whole country believes she only tried to subvert the Games by nightlock suicide because she was insanely in love with Peeta. Now, she has to keep them convinced of that love in order to save her life and the lives of everyone she loves: Prim. Her mother. Gale—what about Gale?<\/p>\n

As victors, Peeta and Katniss don’t get much of a rest before visiting all twelve districts, plus the Capitol, on the Victory Tour. Even after the Victory Tour, they will have to return to the Games as mentors for the next set of District 12 tributes, as Haymitch has done for many years. As Katniss notes, the Hunger Games never really go away. Oh, and remember which number the Games were in the first book? Seventy-four. That’s no coincidence. Katniss’s first challenge is to keep up her pretend (or maybe not pretend) romance with Peeta. Her next big challenge rocks her whole world and beyond.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

photo by<\/p><\/div>\n

In The Hunger Games<\/em>, Collins demonstrated her ability to tell a gripping, well-paced, action-packed story. Catching Fire<\/em> is her opportunity for character development (well, at least before the action picks up again). We get to know Gale and his family. We get to see District 12, the Capitol, and all our familiar characters on a new level. Best of all, we get real about what’s going on inside Katniss’s head. Her role as primary provider for her family made her too self-important. She is still just a teenage girl. In this book, Collins makes it clear that Katniss is not as important as she thinks she is. Things are happening in her world that are bigger than she is and that would move right on along without her. The world is playing grown-up games where she’s just a pawn, a figurehead. This point of view is unheard of in YA (young adult literature). Standard YA requires that your teenage protagonist be the center and driving force of the world. Catching Fire<\/em> shows us that Katniss is important, but she’s not everything.<\/p>\n

With the end of Katniss’s story in sight, I have a better understanding of just what I enjoy about these books. I’m not ashamed to read books written for fifteen-year-olds, but the ones that stick with me the most are those that go beyond their basic categorization. Harry Potter<\/em> is a coming-of-age story, but the action and classical legend surrounding that story make it richer and more appealing to adults. The Hunger Games<\/em> is also about growing up, but the action and political thrills keep you entertained even if you couldn’t care less whether Katniss chooses Gale or Peeta. What is so captivating is that, in the Information Age, when so much about us is exposed to so many, these characters come to understand the world around them through great trials. I’m headed into Mockingjay<\/em><\/a> next, and I can’t wait to see how this world turns out.<\/p>\n

—–
\nNext time: Mockingjay<\/em>, the final book of the Hunger Games trilogy<\/p>\n

Part I: Review of The Hunger Games<\/em><\/a>
\nPart III: Review of Mockingjay<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While I was home for Christmas, I saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows with my mom and sister. I loved it. It was one of the best sequels I’ve ever seen, because it didn’t strictly require knowledge of the first movie, but it built beautifully on what had been established. Reading Catching Fire, the… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,87],"tags":[163,166,506,66,508,507],"class_list":["post-9397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","category-reviews","tag-books","tag-dystopia","tag-hunger-games","tag-pop-culture","tag-violence","tag-war","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10954,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/02\/flying-high-and-falling-fast-review-mockingjay\/","url_meta":{"origin":9397,"position":0},"title":"Flying High and Falling Fast (Review: “Mockingjay”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"February 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear readers, the end has arrived. That is, the end of this series of reviews has arrived. I dove back into the Hunger Games trilogy at the beginning of this calendar year, and I shared that journey with you all in my reviews of The Hunger Games and of Catching\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/5352714093_1b38eb8dd8-292x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9017,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/01\/review-the-hunger-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":9397,"position":1},"title":"Playing with the Girl Who Was on Fire (Review: “The Hunger Games”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"January 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This may be the hardest review I've written for ACNM. This is not because I didn't read the book. I did; I've read it twice now, and I would never try to review a book I hadn't finished reading. This is not because I didn't like the book; it was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/5049588146_870582587c-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":45276,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/review-unwholly\/","url_meta":{"origin":9397,"position":2},"title":"Playing Dr. Frankenstein Again (Review: “UnWholly”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"April 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I was in middle school when I discovered Harry Potter. I got into it because I heard it was popular in the U.S. (Living in Europe, I didn't really know much about its actual popularity at the time.) It only took a few chapters before I was hooked. Occasionally I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"shatteredglassacnm","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/shatteredglassacnm-630x420.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17124,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/book-review-wool\/","url_meta":{"origin":9397,"position":3},"title":"Book Review: Wool","author":"Chris Williston","date":"May 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Summer is upon us and we\u2019re all looking for the next great read. \u00a0So, what\u2019s on your reading list? For those looking for recommendations, I suggest you look no further than Wool. Wool, like The Hunger Games, \u00a0takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, but that\u2019s where the comparison between the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/wool1-e1338385285714.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":43461,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/review-end-of-the-affair\/","url_meta":{"origin":9397,"position":4},"title":"A Book That Changed My Mind (Review: “The End of the Affair”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"January 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't stand cheaters\u2014the romantic kind, not the board game kind. (Okay, both kinds.) Trust in relationships is so important that I shudder when anything that purports to be entertaining makes infidelity seem okay. That's why I don't like The Notebook, and that's why I regret seeing Something Borrowed, although\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"endoftheaffair-handhold","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/endoftheaffair-249x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13507,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/03\/review-the-westing-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":9397,"position":5},"title":"Beware the Players, Beware the Game (Review: “The Westing Game”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"March 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"And now for something completely different. Although I have used my other two reviews this Lent to recommend good spiritual reading (Theology for Beginners and No Man Is an Island), not all of my ACNM reviews are of specifically Catholic or Christian books. I genuinely believe that, although it's important\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/2315505179_77981d1eaa-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}