Thursday, March 31, 2011

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I finished it.

Synopsis from goodreads. Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding.

Well... I felt it was very anti-climatic. She tied up all the loose ends. She ended up with who I wanted her to. And I think I was expecting some big, romantic, lost-love moment, but its a middle grade fiction and not teen fiction...love is not that important but I am a sap. Guilty.

Back to tying it all up. Wow does she cover it all from her mother, to Prim, to Gale, to Coin, to Snow, to Finnick, to Haymitch. Everyone. That was satisfying. How often to do you read the end of a series and not get all your answers. I find it to be super frustrating unless there is going to be another...

Spoiler:
DID NOT SEE PEETA HATING KATNISS! All caps shows my shock for those of you who don't know me. I was super afraid he was going to kill her or she him. And calling her a mutt? Ouch.

I think what was missing from this was the Games. Like the intense, battle it out, combat.

Characterization - Katniss I really feel is unfeeling. She's very, i don't know, but she's not as driven by her emotions as most girls are and I think that's why I like her and why I don't understand her either. Does that make sense? Because I am not sure it does.

I feel really torn between satisfied and not. Did anyone else have this problem? Or was I just shooting to high because of the hype?

Some quick thoughts:
I thought Gale was going to die
I thought Haymitch was going to have this glorious moment of bad ass.
Um..sorry about your life Coin
Vote for the Hunger Games for the capitol... eesh.

15 comments:

  1. I found Katniss to be dull (not that she was boring but that she was sort of numb) to her surroundings because she has already seen so much death and suffering and her senses are cut-off.

    I totally agree with you about the book being anti-climatic and I definitely think it was due to a lack of Games in this book. It was still a good book and well written but nothing can outdo the amazingness of the first book.

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  2. Also I was so upset when *SPOILER* Prim died :(

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  3. Did you feel like Prim's death was underplayed? I mean thats the point of the series (kind of) to keep Prim safe and alive... I thought if she died Katniss would break...

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  4. first of all- I LOVE how you do your reviews; easy to read & always to the point (i might copy you! :) jk!)

    secondly- i agree on many things; i definitely missed the intensity of the hunger games themselves in this book. I did NOT expect Peeta to hate Katniss.... it tore my heart! & YESS! Prim's death was definitely underplayed... i guess I was expecting a bit more... Alas! can't always get the ending we want :\ still an awesome series thought! i recommend them to everyone :)

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  5. I agree with both of you. Prim's death was definitely underplayed. It was like Katniss was watching a movie or everything was in slow motion during Prim's death. Like she had no control and couldn't do anything about what was happening.

    I guess in situations like that you do feel helpless and as if you have no control over what is going on around you.

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  6. I was not pleased with the end. It felt like Collins was saying, "See. No matter how hard you try, you're still going to get screwed." Not my favorite ending. This is one time when I'm hoping the movie WILL change the ending.

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  7. I hadn't even thought of that Becky! You just gave me hope!! :)

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  8. I definitely thought Prim's death was underplayed and I hated that Katniss lost consciousness during the climax of the book! I was also majorly surprised by the Peeta brainwashing. Overall, I still loved the book.

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  9. I still loved it too... Peeta is forever in my heart:)

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  10. Hi! I found your blog from your interview over at The Lovely Getaway! Great interview, by the way.

    It's sad to see the series over, but I thought that Mockingjay was a good ending to it all. I didn't even realize about Prim at first, until Katniss talked about it. That part was so sad, and I couldn't believe that Suzanne Collins would do that to Prim! I see your point though about not having the Games in this one. Great review!

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  11. @TB Welcome to my blog!!! Yeah I really wished Prim had made it... super sad!

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  12. So glad you finished this series.

    I have to say I thought Katniss was very lost from the mental stress of the previous two games and all that happened in the second book. Yeah, Katniss was a little flat emotionally but I felt she was a little on the mentally unstable side too. She was just lost from all that they had done to her and her trying to play the games all the time. And in her mind they where still playing the games with her here. Suzanne really tried to hit home in all the books the mental state of all the winning patriots was very unstable and that leads up to Katniss being in the same boat.

    I did feel satisfied but like there was something missing in the read for me too. I'm just not to sure what that was. And I'm still curious what that is for me.

    But I have to say I found it all ironic that the reason this all started for Katniss was to protect her sister from death, and in the end there still was the same result. Poor Katniss.

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  13. I do feel for the girl... I have to admit I would have died in the first five minutes of the first hunger games ... my heart always breaks or Prim tho... I have this perfect image of her...and I am angry the world didnt change before she died... But a good author leaves you with emotions...

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  14. I think I read that line about Prim about 7 times as I couldn't believe what I was reading. It broke my heart. And infront of Katniss. Sad.

    At times I do wonder if I felt as I was missing something because of the strong feeling the book left with me. And maybe I didn't want to feel so mixed on all different levels. That sounds odd. But I was on such a roller coaster ride with my emotions that I felt all over the board. That might be the missing part for me. Not a bad thing in the end, just left me wowed.

    Oh, and I don't think I would have lasted 5 minutes either. lol.

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  15. I did the same thing when it came to Prims death... I kept thinking "I didn't read that right." Eventually I was like "OK I did read it right. What the-"

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