I agree with Michele and Tina on this one. Gale is the best friend (he really is the Jacob on Twilight) I understand that they had a bond but if you really think about it Gale came in the picture what a few years ago, as of Peeta he was always there, from a distance but there. He has loved this girl since he was 5, come on people How sweet is that? he said the birds stop singing when she sang, he confronted his mother for her, he risked his life to save her, im sorry but a boy can not love a girl more than that.

How much do we know about gale anyway? and yes Im sure that in the end there is going to be a love triangle, but Ill pretty much DIE if she doesnt end up with Peeta. Like many of you said Gale and Katniss are just the same but remember the saying opposites attract. And honestly K/P make a beautiful couple. I am also all up for happy endings so like Jacob I can only hope that Gale finds his soul mate at the end of the book, after all katniss does metion that a lot of girls are into him.

I began reading it becasue Stephanie Meyer recomended it on her website and I had just finished the Twilght Saga. No wonder Meyer enjoyed it: Katniss IS Bella. Strong, self depricating, feircely protactive of her family, and completely oblivious to just how much she is loved. Oblivious to such a point that is almost hard to read from her perspective. HELLO HE’S NOT PUTTING ON A SHOW!

Sorry, that drove me a little nuts.

Then there is the love triangle. How do you choose between someone who has risked his life with everyday for years, and one who has saved your life over and over? I still can’t decide. Gale had the history, but Peeta has the blunt honesty.

Knowing that there are two more books to come says that there is going to be some sort of uprising. Something big has to be comming. I am a sucker for a happy ending though so I think in the end Katniss and Peeta and Gale will all come out in a better situation than life as usual in Panem. (And all of them will be ALIVE, people!)

And what about that pin? Why so much bild up and presentation of it? Hmmmmm….

Okay, again I say I just finshed this book last night so my mind is still swirling with thoughts about it. I will stop rambling now.

As for a similar book, this one reminded me from the get go of The Long Walk by Stephen King. Its a lot more greusome and harsh, Definatley not YA. But very similar in story line and a plus=its only one book, you don’t have to wait for the resolution!

I don’t know how “easy” either Katniss or Peeta got off. They were so close, so many times, to death. I wish Collins had kept Katniss’s deafness, at the end, because then you realize that these scars don’t just vanish. (Like Peeta’s leg). She does kill — Glimmer and the other girl (and believes her wasp actions will kill more, like Peeta — throwing down that wasp nest is no different than setting a mine field or throwing a bomb!), the boy from District One, and Cato — and though when she does kill him is an “act of mercy” she would have shot him if she could have, if Peeta wasn’t in the way. She tries to kill him when he’s running, and she tries to kill Clove, too, when getting the medicine, but misses. So that’s four people she actively kills, and a few more times that she TRIES to kill them and fails.

I think that the fact she doesn’t kill any more is a matter of luck — she is shown over and over to be cold blooded enough to do so — even at the end, she draws her arrow against Peeta, who is throwing his knife away. If she were a perfect killing machine, how much more boring would the story be?

As for “It’s YA, they can’t have a rebellion” — that’s hilarious. That’s pretty much standard fare — take on the evil villain even the adults can’t rescue people from, bring down teh evil dystopia from within… read more YA. It’s a running theme. Who kills Voldemort? Right, Harry Potter. The UGLIES trilogy is all about teenagers who bring down their futuristic dystopian society.

“I call him my friend, but in the last year it’s seemed to casual a word for what Gale is to me”

maybe i am going to far into it, but i am connvinced they secretly love eachother, whether they each know it yet or not….and lastly i am convinced that when (on page 40) Gale was forced out of the room inside the justice building he was about to confess his undying love for her:

“Katniss, remember I-” (and then sadly he gets yanked out of the room…but you all know that i guess lol) however this could just be what any great friend would do, so maybe it was nothing….but i hope it was something…..i’m all about love triangles…but these two guys are SO hard to choose from!

so i am very excited to see what happens between them, if something happens between them that is…….i wonder how Gale is going to be when she gets back with all the stuff he has seen between Peeta and Katniss on tv…..poor Gale….how do you think he will react?

As for Haymitch i think he could become an ally and hates the capitol just as much. remember him yelling at the camera in contempt when he first appears drunk on stage?

Also I think we are in for a surprise that Katniss’s family has fared very well in her absence. Katniss showed more respect for her mother’s abilities while she was trying to nurse Peeta. That won’t go unnoticed at home. Plus despite their fears, they have a lot to be proud of with her.

I think the YA rating does affect the book. I kind of wondered if that was why Katniss kind of ‘got off easy’ in a few places and she didn’t really have to kill anyone directly herself - it was always done for her or she lucked into it.

Actually, Katniss did kill the boy who killed Rue. IIRC, she shot him with an arrow. And she was responsible for the deaths of the tributes who died from the killer wasp attack. She was more than ready to kill to defend herself on several other occasions. She was not aggressively trying to murder the other tributes like the Careers were, but she was doing what she needed to in order to survive. I don’t really think that she got off that “easy.” She seemed very true to her character to me.

When I said “honor,” I meant it in the prestige, wealth, and reputation sense. Still, for the Career Tributes to dedicate their lives to the sole purpose of winning the Games, they have to undergo some rigorous training in their home districts. But a system that encourages such a mindset has a fundamentally screwed up foundation because the chance of winning the Games doesn’t change the fact that it’s far more likely they’ll die instead. The Career Tributes are aware of this on some level.

I see what you are saying here. But the Career Tributes have a much better chance of winning than any of the kids from the poorer districts. In fact, I believe it said in the book that one of them almost *always* wins the Games. So I suppose they figure that it is worth the gamble for fame, wealth and glory. But, of course, I agree that the whole system is screwed up and monstrous.

Why do the inner Districts, which are better off than the outer Districts, have Career Tributes who consider it an honor to be drawn in the lottery while Tributes from the outer Districts view it as synonymous to being declared dead? There’s something causing that difference in perspective. Why is it a pampered child from a more affluent region would want to take part in a bloodsport — after all, aren’t they comfortable processing the gems and making the pretty fabrics? — and why would a starving child from a poor region not want to take the chance that maybe, just maybe, they’ll luck out and get the food, money, and nice house for life?

But the kids from the poorer districts nearly *always* end up dead, since luck is only part of the game. They start out at a disadvantage due to their baseline poorer nutritional state. They have fewer sponsors because their districts are poorer.

Good question as to why the parents of the richer districts would want to sacrifice their children to the Game. Perhaps it is for the bragging rights of being the parent of a winner of the Games (and thus responsible in part for the prosperity of the district.) Perhaps the Axov girl and her boyfriend were trying to escape training as tributes from their areas.

In terms of a romantic interest, I don’t like either the K/P or K/G pairing. Didn’t Katniss say something along the lines of how she didn’t want to fall in love and have kids because she didn’t want to bring a child into the world? So I’d love to see a solitary Katniss, with Peeta and/or Gale as frinds. Just friends. Of course, if all goes as expected and a rebellion eventually brings down the Capital, I wouldn’t be surprised if she changes her mind. But for now I agree with Jane about Katniss’ lack of respect for Peeta. And, even though I think Katniss didn’t have to sacrifice enough to win the Hunger Games, like Steph, I can see how the experience would change her. Because Gale was only an observer (whose perspective of what Katniss did has surely been influenced by the cinematic decisions of the Gamemakers and how they wanted to portray Katniss) for most of the book, I think the K/G relationship will change, and I’m not sure it’ll be able to give rise to a romantic relationship. If I had to pick a guy, though, right now I have a soft spot for Cinna.

Yeah, definitely about Katniss’s luck. I’m kind of wondering what her post-Games self will be like. She can’t seriously have no internal drama after watching 22 other people die brutally as it was. Especially with what happened to Cato at the end.