Blog Post #25: Rereading Catching Fire

Now that I finished "Dead to You" by Lisa McMann, I need to start a new book and since no new books are really catching my eye right now, I decided to reread "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins, this book is the sequel to "The Hunger Games."

I wanted to reread this book because I think I didn't understand the book that well the first time I read it. So far in the book nothing has really happened yet, right now Katniss and Peeta are going on the victory tour for the victor or in this case, victors of the hunger games. They are going to each district in Panem to celebrate their victory while the citizens of that district have no choice but to act like they are happy they won. I think as soon as the Quarter Quell starts, I am going to get hooked into this book because that is when all the action and drama really starts. I think since this is the second time I am reading this book I am going to develop more complex and smarter ideas, I think since I already know what is going to happen, I know what I am supposed to pay attention to, rather than just paying attention to every little detail and getting confused all the time. 

I also think another reason why I want to reread this book is because "The Hunger Games" the movie just came out so since they are also going to make a movie out of the next two books, I want to catch up on the books since I forgot a little bit of what happens in the book since I last read it over a year ago. And because of the movie coming out soon, it gives me an opportunity to reread one of my favorite books ever and to reread the book so when the movie comes out I can compare the two easily. 

In conclusion, I am rereading the book "Catching Fire" because I really like the book, no other book catches my eye right now, and I want to just because the movie is coming out soon. I want to see what comes to my mind when I read it the second time. Maybe more ideas would pop up in my head.

Blog Post #24: Finished "Dead to You"

***SPOILER ALERT***


So, I recently finished the book, "Dead to You" by Lisa McMann, it is actually one of my favorite books I ever read. I think that it the plot line of this book really hooks you onto the story and the ending is just so unbelievable that you really hope there is a next book. So when I finished the book I was really confused about how everything happened and why it happened. 


So basically the story is about a boy names Ethan DeWilde who was abducted in front of his house when he was seven years old, and now that he is sixteen years old, he has found his way back to Minnesota where he used to live, but now that he's back, there is a lot of tension in the family. Ethan's little brother Blake hates him deeply, he thinks that everyone only loves Ethan and that Ethan ruined the family when he left. He is basically jealous of all the attention Ethan gets because he believes no one notices him. Gracie is the child in the family that basically replaced Ethan, but even though their relationship starts off a little weird, Ethan eventually starts to adore her. As her big brother, Ethan and Gracie get along very well, it's almost like they have formed an alliance because she doesn't exactly have the perfect relationship with Blake either so she protects Ethan in ways like for example when she told their parents that Blake started a fight between Ethan and Blake one time when they were sledding. 


I really enjoyed the book a lot, and the ending really grabbed me that when the big twist came I literally gasped. So what happened was that Blake suspected Ethan wasn't really him, he thought the boy who they brought home isn't the Ethan that left eleven years ago. The first suspicion he had was because "Ethan" remembered absolutely nothing about his life before he left. He didn't even remember his childhood best friend Cami, who lives across the street, he didn't remember a lot about his past, when he just arrived at the house he found a box of his old pictures but he couldn't remember being in any of them. And as Blake grew more suspicious, he decided to actually look for proof, and he actually found it. At school they were learning about genetics and traits, and the Ethan that just arrived had attached earlobes, but the old, young Ethan in all of the old pictures had earlobes that were not attached. Their parents didn't believe Blake and thought he just made this stuff up or he photo shopped the pictures. But at the end of the book, the jig was up, even though the Ethan that arrived at the house thought he was Ethan, he really wasn't. At the end two cops arrive at the house telling Ethan's mom that the boy in their house is not Ethan because they found the remains of the original Ethan's body near the Canadian border. So after that, the boy in the house who isn't Ethan understood why he couldn't remember everything in the pictures, he usually thought it was because he lived homeless and with his old guardian Ellen who was a drug addict. He thought being in a crack house blinded his memory, or maybe he thought everything he went through was just to much to handle.


When I got to the end of the book I was absolutely confused because I did not understand how any of this can ever happen. I mean the fact that the real Ethan was dead was pretty realistic but I really wanted to know how this random teenager shows up in Minnesota thinking he is someone else, if he isn't Ethan, what I want to know is, who is he? At the very ending "Ethan" runs away when the cops tell the family he isn't Ethan, he feels like he is nothing now, because he created all these amazing relationships with people and started a whole new life just to find out this isn't his life. I really hope there is a sequel because it is one of my favorite books and it kinda ended with just a cliff hanger, so I'm hoping that is gonna happen soon.