What’s up everyone! I hope you’re all having a fantastic day. (SORRY FOR THE VERY LONG MESSAGE!!!)
So, I started reading Hunger Games just two days ago. For some reasons, I can only manage to read/listen one chapter a day, which I do every night before sleep. I made a post here in this subreddit a while back!
Anyways, I don’t know why, but I really want to share this with someone, and these are the notes I took from ch.1&2 as I found them interesting and might have some questions/observations!
***Notes from Chapter 1:***
**1. “My father knew and he taught me some before he was blown to bits in a mine explosion. There was nothing even to bury. I was eleven then. Five years later, I still wake up screaming for him to run.”**
It’s tragic, and I feel for her. Interesting to know that happened to her! I believe this is where the fun begins.
**2. “District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety,”**
Why does this series remind me so much of Final Fantasy VII?!
**3. “I try to forgive her for my father’s sake. But to be honest, I’m not the forgiving type.”**
Wait, what happened? What did the mom do? It doesn’t explain in it but maybe later on?
**4. “Meat is meat. “Once it’s in the soup, I’ll call it beef,”**
As someone who loves cooking, this is a masterpiece!!
**5. “You become eligible for the reaping the day you turn twelve. That year, your name is entered once. At thirteen, twice. And so on until you reach the age of eighteen, the final year of eligibility when your name goes into the pool seven times. That’s true for every citizen in all twelve districts in the entire country of Panem.”**
I forgot the author’s name, but damn, she’s a great writer and a intellectual one!
**6. “It is both a time for repentance and a time for thanks,” intones the mayor. Then he reads the list of past District 12 victors. In seventyfour years, we have had exactly two. Only one is still alive. Haymitch Abernathy, a paunchy, middle-aged man, who at this moment appears hollering something unintelligible, staggers onto the stage, and falls into the third chair. He’s drunk. Very. The crowd responds with its token applause, but he’s confused and tries to give Effie Trinket a big hug, which she barely manages to fend off.””**
This guy Haymitch saw some things in his time, and now I guess he acts like this, but most importantly, only 2 won the Hunger Games from the 12th after 74 years? Who’s the first one? I don’t know why, but that’s bugging me, and I hope it’s explained in the future!
**Notes from Chapter 2:**
**7. Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don’t expect it because I don’t think of District 12 as a place that cares about me. But a shift has occurred since I stepped up to take Prim’s place, and now it seems I have become someone precious. At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me. It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals. It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love. Now I am truly in danger of crying, but fortunately Haymitch chooses this time to come staggering across the stage to congratulate me.**
Only in Chapter 2 and the Writing Amazed me! The 3 fingers thingy and basically Katniss getting recognition or loved is just great and I have a feeling this won’t be the last time I’ll be hearing Haymitch name but I may not hear about Gale anymore…
**8. “More than you!” he shouts, pointing directly into a camera. Is he addressing the audience, or is he so drunk he might actually be taunting the Capitol?**
This guy is the GOAT! After what Katniss told about the Capitol and him saying these words are just great! Haha,
**9. “Peeta Mellark.”**
First time name mentioned just like Effie Trinket and Hunger Games.
**10. I kept telling myself if I could only hold out until May, just May 8th, I would turn twelve and be able to sign up for the tesserae and get that precious grain and oil to feed us. Only there were still several weeks to go. We could well be dead by then. Starvation’s not an uncommon fate in District 12. Who hasn’t seen the victims? Older people who can’t work. Children from a family with too many to feed. Those injured in the mines. Straggling through the streets. And one day, you come upon them sitting motionless against a wall or lying in the Meadow, you hear the wails from a house, and the Peacekeepers are called in to retrieve the body. Starvation is never the cause of death officially. It’s always the flu, or exposure, or pneumonia. But that fools no one.**
(The More I read this story, the more I get details on how life is in the 12th and how people view/struggle and do their dailys, the more I read the more I want to live there ←(what a stupid thing to say!) And honestly it’s just 2 chapters in)
**11. I kept telling myself if I could only hold out until May, just May 8th, I would turn twelve and be able to sign up for the tesserae and get that precious grain and oil to feed us…**
The more I read, the more details I get on life in the 12th and how people view/struggle and do their daily activities. The more I read, the more I want to live there ←(what a stupid thing to say!) And honestly, it’s just 2 chapters in!
I’m doing a Reading while Listening to the Audiobook, and it’s been amazing, and the voice actor is fantastic! Almost sounds like Jennifer Lawrence. The main thing is… I really want to create a story like this… Like now I really want to become an author or a writer and write stories like this! Why???
I may never know!
**12. The first dandelion of the year. And the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed.**
(These dandelions are somehow connected to this story… Maybe I’m thinking too much, but it still feels like it to be true!
End of Chapter 2)
So yeah, sorry for my rant, but I just had to get it out, and man, I wish my exams were this close when I started reading/listening to this book together! I now wonder why I haven’t read this until yesterday, but then again, I have only read 3 books, and this will be my fourth!
Anyway, thanks in advance for the read!
by TheQuestionable-Guy
1 Comment
I just finished the audiobook myself and was blown away by how good it was, I was able to visualize everything. It also made me realize how good the movie was too because of how closely it followed the book. Just started Catching Fire last night.
3. Katniss talks about it before she leaves for the Games within the next few chapters, but basically after her dad died, her mom fell into a deep depression so Katniss had to step up and provide for the family. She resents her mom for that because she was hurting too but she had to make sure Prim didn’t starve