Bone in the Throat

At this point in Bone in the Throat, every character's life is more complicated than ever. 
Tommy is being considered an actual suspect in Freddy's murder and the FBI have sent their agent, Al, out to start questioning all his friends and other mob members.
Tommy has been so stressed out by this, along with the fact that he knows he is being watched, that he gets really drunk one night and cheats on Cheryl (his new girlfriend) while she's gone for a week.  He ends up telling her and, rightly, gets punched in the eye and has a lot of apologizing and explaining to do.
Along with Cheryl, Tommy has also confided in the Chef. 
We find out that the Chef has finally started his treatment program and has been making a lot of progress. When leaving the building one day, though, he finds Al sitting on a bench waiting for him. Al puts pressure on him to convince Tommy to come in and tell his side of the story of what happened to Freddy. 
The Chef ends up talking to Tommy, which is why he confides in him. Coincidentally, though, right before they had this conversation of going and talking to the FBI, Tommy had just gotten picked up by two of the mob members. Danny (mob member) and Skinny took Tommy out by the river. The whole conversation was basically Danny making sure that Tommy did not have any grudges against the mob or his uncle, and that he did not plan on talking to the authorities. He even gave Tommy the name of a lawyer to call in case the authorities forced Tommy to come in. 
Now Tommy is stuck with a difficult decision: either tell the FBI what happened and get his uncle (his "mom's brother") in trouble, or stay silent and risk getting himself and the Chef sent to jail. Keeping silent is a family tradition, but will Tommy break tradition?

105 Pages of Bone in the Throat

The first 50 pages that I read ended with us knowing that Sally Wig (Tommy's mob connected uncle) has asked Tommy to do him a favor. Tommy is really resistant to help his uncle because he wants nothing to do with the mobs dirty business. We catch a glimpse of why this might be in the first chapter of the next 50 pages that I read, with Tommy describing his time with Diane.

Diane was Tommys girlfriend in high school. She mocked the mob openly to Tommy and thought of them as not scary, but irrelevant. This got to the point where Tommy was embarrassed to even be related to anyone connected to the mob. Her thoughts rubbed off on him and stuck, even after she moved to Boston for college.

Tommy thinks that he owes his uncle, for helping out his mom and him so much after his dad died, and decides to help him by letting Sally and a few of his friends into the restaurant. Terrible idea.
Sally, and his friend Skinny, end up gruesomely killing and chopping up a man they brought with them who had "made some people mad."

(If you think that this is the mysterious man who I mentioned in my first blog about this book, notice that I said he was chopped up. The actual mysterious man was found floating... whole.)

After that we kind of get turned in a different direction for the moment. An entire chapter was spent talking about how the head chef has a heroin addiction. In the first 50 pages (I think I forgot to mention this) Michael (that's his name) was stopped during a drug deal by undercover agents who thought he was Tommy. They took him into the station and, after figuring out who he really was, asked him to get close to Tommy and keep them informed. The chef also seems to be realizing that he has a drug addiction, since an entire chapter, like I said before, was spent talking about him going and trying to join a treatment program.

Lots of things can happen in just 50 pages. There were plenty of other smaller things that happened, other than what I have discussed, but I think I will wait to mention them until they play a bigger role in the story.

50 Pages of Bone in the Throat

The book I chose to read is called Bone in the Throat and it is written by Anthony Bourdain.

From the prologue to 53 pages later (because I just had to read a little more), Bourdain had me hooked. The prologue begins with a disturbing description of a mysterious body being pulled out of the river. I already have my prediction as to who this John Doe is.

Let's see if you can figure it out too.

So, after the John Doe is pulled out of the river, the person whose job it is to inspect the body (who is the narrator in the prologue) notices that this is not just a regular "floater." FBI agents and guys from the U.S Attorney's office were flocking around the scene, all looking very serious. Some of them even got into a fight. The narrator described their expressions as looking "...well, guilty."

I bet you think you know who the killers are now, but hang on...
Sally Wig, Tommy, and Harvey are all introduced. Tommy is just a young sous chef trying to move on past his father's mob history, but his uncle is not letting that happen. Tommy works at Harvey's restaurant. We get our first glimpse of what kind of trouble Harvey has gotten himself into when Tommy's sweat suit wearing uncle, Sally Wig, comes to ask for the "weekly payment." Harvey has apparently skipped payment the past 3 weeks on account of the fact that he is putting all "his money" into his restaurant (the questionable quotes around him actually being the owner of the money will be explained momentarily). Sally Wig lets it slide this time but makes sure to bruise Harvey up a little bit before he leaves.

Harvey leans on a man named Al to help him figure out what to do. Al is actually an FBI agent, and Harvey is actually a snitch. The money that Harvey has been incorrectly spending on his restaurant is money that the feds gave him to give to the mob. This is their attempt at getting dirt on them.

Are the pieces starting to fall together for you too yet? If not, then I guess you will just have to wait in anticipation for my next blog.

The Hunger Games: The End?

27 chapters later and The Hunger Games is over for our heroes... or is it?
I think everyone knows that there is more than one book in the trilogy so obviously this is not the end of Katniss's "adventure" (if that's what you would like to call it). 
Thinking back on what she and the other characters went through throughout the last couple chapters, though, one wonders how any person could handle any more of the Capital's antics. 

After it is announced that there could be more than one winner from the same district, where we left off, Katniss goes in search of Peeta and finds him injured. The "star crossed lovers" act is officially back. But it seems to be an act for only one of them, which leaves the reader aching a little bit for Peeta since he his feelings for Katniss appear to be so real...
Anyways, Katniss helps Peeta heal up in a cave, and even risks her life in order to get him medicine from the Cornucopia (another Capital trick to force everyone together by presenting them something they need). The only reason she is not killed is because Thresh, the guy who came from the same district as Rue, felt a small amount of respect for her for being so kind to Rue.

Another big moment in the final chapters occurred after Peeta was finally well enough to walk around. He is scavenging for berries while Katniss hunts. She starts freaking out when he doesn't respond to her signal (whistle) and when he finds him, scolds him for moving too far away. Peeta tries to soothe her by offering her strange berries and as she is looking at them and realizing that they are nightlock berries (very deadly), they hear a canon. Foxface had apparently been sneaking their food and died after she unknowingly ate the poisonous berries. Katniss keeps some of the berries just in case she finds a way to use them against Cato - her keeping the berries foreshadows the way the games abruptly end.

Fast forward to Katniss, Peeta, and Cato being forced together onto the Cornucopia by the Capital's mutant mutts (which disturbingly resemble the other fallen tributes). A brief struggle leads to Cato falling and landing among the mutts. Katniss is swayed with pity by his screams and shoots him with an arrow from her safe height to put him out of his misery.

When the mutts finally leave, Peeta and Katniss are the only ones left. They won. They're the last two victors and they're from the same district. It should have been over. But the Capital does not play fair and announces that the rules have changed, again, and there can only be one winner. 

Neither of them wants to kill the other. As Peeta is telling Katniss all the reasons he should be the one to die, she realizes that if they both died "the whole thing would blow up in the Gamemakers' faces.."
So, making it look like a real 'Romeo & Juliet' moment, Katniss hands Peeta some of the nightlock berries and, right as they are both about to eat them, the Games are ended and they are pulled out. 

It's over! Oh Joy! They survived! Or so it seems... President Snow does not like to be outsmarted and he holds grudges. He should really learn to compromise.

The Hunger Games: Chapters 6 - 18

Reading chapters 6 - 18 of The Hunger Games was more review for me. I had almost the exact same thoughts reading it through the second time, though, and here they are chapter by chapter...

Chapter 6: This chapter begins with Effie Trinket bragging about her attempts at getting Katniss and Peeta sponsors. Their chances of having sponsors went up after their stylists job well done at helping them make a grand first appearance (Having sponsors is very important for the tributes in case they need water or medicine or anything else that is not in the arena). As she's telling them this, they are being taken up in a glass elevator to their rooms which are filled with every kind of luxury. "Spoil them before you kill them"
seems to be the Capital's motto. 
Chapter 7: In this chapter Peeta and Katniss get into a little argument at breakfast, which begins as just an argument over their abilities, but then turns onto a topic that really pulls your heart strings for Peeta. We begin seeing signs of who people think the winner might be, and this really comes through when Peeta lets it slip that his mother told him that,"She's a survivor, that one" and that district 12 might finally have a winner. The fact that Peeta's own parents aren't expecting him to come out the winner (which means he would be dead) is just a really upsetting thing to know.
This chapter also includes the first training session for the tributes, where they all begin sizing up their opponents. Even more important than the training session, though, is the private session with the Gamemakers. This is the time for each tribute to show their skills. Katniss definitely shows that her ability to shoot an arrow is up to par when she shoots one, in an act of rage, and it hits the apple (in the mouth of the pig the Gamemakers were eating) spot on.  "Thank you for you consideration"
Chapter 8: After her sassy-ness towards the Gamemakers, Katniss is understandably worried about what they might do to her or her family, etc. The Gamemakers end up giving her a very high score of 11, though. It's disturbing to think that they most likely gave her that high score because they think her temper will make her more entertaining in the games. 
Chapters 9 & 10: Katniss's "spirit" and the power she has by just being herself is shown during the interview that the tributes have to do in this chapter. Whereas, Peeta shows makes himself seem very likeable, at least to everyone except Katniss, when he reveals his crush on her to the entire audience. This is when the "star crossed lovers" plan of survival is revealed to Katniss, which she isn't exactly happy about at first.
The most important moment out of these 3 chapters is the night before the games. Neither Katniss nor Peeta can fall asleep (understandably - knowing you will have to fight to survive not long after you wake makes it a tad difficult to close your eyes) and are up talking. Peeta plants the idea in Katniss's head that whether they die or not, he wants to prove that he's more than just a "piece in their (the Gamemakers) game."
Chapter 11 & 12: The Cornucopia. Blood bath zone. Either get supplies and risk being killed, or run as fast as you can away from it and have no supplies. Katniss manages to get a backpack, but the evidence of how deadly the Cornucopia is is shown with 11 canon shots that night, each signifying another dead tribute. 
Katniss is given a shock when she discovers that same night that Peeta has seemingly teamed up with the "Careers" (arrogant, aggressive, strong tributes). The cameras are everyone, catching all of their movements and reactions to everything. Never forget that these teens being killed is seen as great entertainment.
Chapter 13 & 14: When tributes have been apart for too long (or there hasn't been enough excitement - death - for a while) the Gamemakers force the tributes together. In this chapter, they decide to use fire and fire balls. While running away from this danger, Katniss gets hit in the calf but is proven to have sponsors when she is sent medicine. However, the Careers find her hiding in the tree (I'm sure the Gamemakers are very pleased with themselves). That night when they're sleeping under her tree (on account of the fact that they can't reach her), Rue - the little girl who reminds Katniss of Prim - finds her in the trees & points out a way to get rid of the Careers. Tracker Jackers. 
She manages to kill one of the Careers by dropping the Tracker Jacker nest near them, but injures herself and everyone else with their stings as well. For all this, though, Katniss has earned a bow & arrow (taken from the fallen Career) and a partner. 
Chapters 15 & 16: Katniss and her new friend, Rue, have to decided to hit the Careers where it will hurt them the most. None of them know how to hunt or get food like Katniss does, so getting rid of their supplies (Katniss & Rue decide) is the new plan. Rue's job is to distract the Careers, and Katniss takes out the supplies. Katniss manages to blow it all up by triggering the bombs they had set up to protect it all. 
Chapters 17 & 18: After the explosion, Katniss is temporarily disoriented and a little deaf in one ear from the blast. But they did it. They evened the playing field. They should be celebrating and figuring out their next step. But where is Rue? This is the chapter that killed me. 
Katniss hears Rue screaming and finds her entangled in a net one of the other tributes had thrown on her. Right as Katniss reaches her, the boy from District 1 hits Rue with a spear. Katniss immediately shoots him with an arrow and races over to Rue. 
As Rue slowly dies, Katniss sings to her in an attempt to comfort her in her last moments. 
We all know whose fault her death really is. Not Katniss's late timing. Not the boy from District 1. The Capital. They are the enemy, and Katniss realizes this. So, in another act of defiance, she surrounds Rue's body with flowers and kisses 3 fingers before holding them up to the sky for all the districts, who are being forced to watch this, to see. District 11 (where Rue was from), in return, sends Katniss a gift of bread from their district. Katniss has shown (whether she realizes it or not), for the first time, that the districts are in this together, not alone.