Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) in CLCSC Pasadena Area Book Group

Dec 05, 2009 A rated it it was amazing

Ten out of five stars :D

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Dec 03, 2009 Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-a-day, ya, dystopian

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This contains major spoilers....This is less of a review and more of a summary of my thoughts.

My initial reaction to MJ was that it was amazing. I think the anticipation and the excitement of reading it may have clouded things for me. Now that I have had some time to think about it I do have a cuuple of issues with the book and how Collins chose to wrap up the series. And as I said this is more my processing what I read rather than a real review and I actually expect my thoughts to change on a d This contains major spoilers....This is less of a review and more of a summary of my thoughts.

My initial reaction to MJ was that it was amazing. I think the anticipation and the excitement of reading it may have clouded things for me. Now that I have had some time to think about it I do have a cuuple of issues with the book and how Collins chose to wrap up the series. And as I said this is more my processing what I read rather than a real review and I actually expect my thoughts to change on a daily basis. So don't be surprised if this changes too.

First, I was disappointed in what Katniss had become - in how SC writes her. Katniss is a survivor and I know she has been through a whole lot but to keep hiding in closets, etc. bugged me. It didn't seem right. And she kept suffering from way too many injuries...it is one thing to have her get a few minor things but these were major stuff...so she was incoherent for most of the book. This seemed a waste of a wonderful character. I think SC could have still showed the results without resorting to so many injuries...just saying.

Second, Katniss knew she was a pawn...so do something...she never really asserts herself but in some ways continues to be used by everyone. And when she does it seems half-hearted. I wanted her to really stick with the spark after she threatens Snow. That was the old Katniss seemed to do more of but she just disappears. (Alex Bracken has a beautiful response to some of this in her blog post. Link coming later. And I might change my thoughts on this one.)

Third, - I am Team Gale. I know Team Peeta folks think he was perfect for her. However, I think relationships forged on extreme situations are really not true. In many ways, I would have preferred that she end up with no one if she really made that decision. However, she really never made any real decision in my opinion. I realized pretty quickly that SC was Team Peeta by the way she seemed to make Gale into something so different than he had been (I know we only saw him for a short time in previous books but I had a different feeling about him). I think Gale and Peeta's conversation that Katniss overheard is SC's explanation for Peeta but it stinks. Gale ending up in District 2 with some job?! WTH!! I still think in many ways there is a connection and an equality between Gale and Katniss that she and Peeta never had. You see this early on in MJ when they are hunting. Katniss has always tried to protect Peeta out of a sense of loyalty (and maybe more?). I am not saying she didn't have feelings for Peeta but I think the whole Games messed with her ability to make that decision. And to just disregard Gale or to blame him for everhting - killing Prim in a way - over the top. I would have been fine in the end with her choice of Peeta if she really claimed...said "I chose you because I can't live with you" or something in a way that seemed like it had some fire. And Peeta still seems like a bit of a wimp with Katniss...he just comes back in the end and kind of lets her tolerate him until she gives in or something. Frankly, if I were Team Peeta I would be peeved....there didn't seem any real passion there. (Again, if anyone can convince me that Peeta was her choice and she made the right decision - Bracken's post can do it...)

I loved Haymitch and his relationship with Katniss - it was the most real and true thing in the book.

I hated that District 13 was nearly a mirror image (albeit a Spartan one) of the Capital. I wanted hope. If you are going to drag readers through 1200 pages of war (thanks Daisy W.), find a way to be more hopeful to have some kind of sense of the new beginning and give readers a glimpse of that.

I thought Finnick and Bogg didn't have to die. I hated losing Prim; however, if she had to kill her - why not earlier and get Katniss so pissed that she became alive and not a shell of a human. Though I am afraid that how SC was writing it, Prim's death earlier would have made Katniss completely catatonic.

I don't blame Katniss for being so flawed...I loved that she wasn't perfect that she made mistakes, that her feelings, words and actions weren't always spot on, but something seemed off in that portrayal this time. I still can't put my finger on it.

I was a little confused by Bogg's statements...I thought we would understand more about that and also about President Snow's comment about "I thought we had promised not to lie to one another".

When Coin suggested another Hunger Games...I nearly wanted to scream...why all the fighting at that point.

As for the epilogue, I was left sadly unsatisfied. I always feel an author needs to conclude her story the way she envisioned it and not how readers might want it. I felt JK Rowling did that with HP whether I agreed or not and Stephanie Meyer did it with BD. But I think SC could have spent less time on the war and bombing children, etc. and a little more on building/showing the ending and more hope. It seemed so bittersweet. Some would say that there was hope there....I'm just not sure.

Overall, it was an interesting, intense, emotional ride. Collins ability to world build and create twists and turns is amazing. Unfortunately, at times I felt she failed to follow some of her own twists which would have resulted in a stronger story in my opinion. Did I like it - yes. Would I read it again...probably. I am still amazed by the world that Collins created and think that any book that could cause me to have this many intense feelings meant that it probably did what it was suppose to do. ...more

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Sep 21, 2010 Nick rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, science-fiction

I really enjoyed this story, but I couldn't give it a fifth star because her world-building drives me crazy. The details of the world are vague until she needs a certain thing to be defined, and that makes the whole world feel unfinished. That, plus the odd dropping of a few details, were just distracting.
The story itself was powerful and interesting. Suzanne Collins has a very intriguing idea of the effects of power on the human spirit, and some really depressing views of how people react at ti ...more

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Jan 03, 2010 David rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult, yabc, 2010-books

The final book in the Hunger Games trilogy takes you to the conclusion that I totally saw coming. Happily Ever After! :-D And may the odds be ever in your favor!

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