Katniss....not so smart

This is difficult....how do I say I "like" a book, CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins, where children are killing each other?  And it's SANCTIONED?!  Yet, I found myself anxious to get to each page....I just couldn't put the book down.  And I've already started the final book in the Trilogy.  I have so much else I need to be doing, but all I want to do is sit down and read MOCKINGJAY!!!!

Of course, it is a little annoying that Katniss can't seem to figure out whether she loves Gale or Peeta, but I keep trying to remember that she's just 17 years old.  Even adults, though, often have a hard time figuring out their feelings.  Just look at Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler!!!

First read:  March 1-3, 2012

I can't help noticing how not-so-smart Katniss is during this 2nd reading.  Sure, she figures out certain things based on the gifts Haymitch sends--or doesn't send--to her in the arena.  But she doesn't realize that there are quite a few people doing everything in their power to keep her and Peeta alive during the Quarter Quell.  She tends to act first and think second.

She becomes the symbol of revolution, the mockingjay, without doing anything but serve her purposes.  Even in the first book, eating the berries wasn't so much a defiant act against the capital as it was a chance to keep Peeta alive because it benefits HER--even though she has no idea how she really feels about Peeta--yet she can't seem to live without him.

I realize that she's just 16/17 years old in these books, but even a young woman at her age isn't always THIS confused....or are teenagers at that age almost always THAT confused???  Maybe I've been "old" for longer than I think.....????