Title: Mockingjay (Hunger Games Trilogy, 
Book 3)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Released: August 24, 2010
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages/format: 400 (Hardcover)
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi/Dystopian
Source: Publisher
Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.
It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans–except Katniss.
The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay–no matter what the personal cost.
One Sentence Review: Mockingjay was a depressing and unsatisfying resolution to the Hunger Games trilogy.
In-Depth Review
¡Warning! This review contains numerous major plot spoilers.
I approached Mockingjay with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I loved the first two books in the Hunger Games trilogy, but I had read mixed reviews about the third and I knew that Mockingjay was going to be very different from the other two books based on the synopsis.
The Evolution of Katniss Everdeen
When we meet Katniss on the first page of The Hunger Games, she’s in a tight spot. For one thing, she lives in a totalitarian state where the majority of the populace is underfed, overworked, and constantly oppressed by the government. Katniss’s entry into the Hunger Games places her in an exponentially more difficult situation and it is there that we see a lot of her real character come out. In The Hunger Games, Katniss displays defiance toward the Capitol’s inhumanity in a number of ways what endear her to readers. She volunteers to take her sister’s place at the reaping, decorates Rue’s body in the arena, and almost eats the deadly berries at the end of the Games.
With her second round in the Games, the ante is upped once again and the pressure on Katniss increases to a point at which most people would crack. In Catching Fire we see a more desperate and hardened Katniss and fewer acts of defiance, though Katniss does extend her hand to Chaff on interview night and tries to carry Mags.
Though physically she is free of the Capitol in Mockingjay, the emotional pressure on Katniss increases even more, to the point where she begins to lose that inner stability that she displayed in the first two books. We see the old fiery Katniss very little in Mockingjay as her emotional reserves are worn down to a nub. Most of the time she is either in a state of shock or unconscious. I find it ironic that the slogan displayed on the book trailer is “Break Free.” It seems to me that Katniss does not break free in Mockingjay, but instead cowers inside of her mental shell while trying to put on a brave face and still function. She comes across even more hardened than she did in book two. This makes Mockingjay a decidedly darker book than either The Hunger Games or Catching Fire.
Peeta in Mockingjay
Something that greatly contributes to this depressing air is Peeta’s introduction to the world of District 13 as a murderous lunatic. His real memories having been replaced with nightmarish versions induced by tracker jacker venom, Peeta is under the impression that Katniss is out to kill him, and he is bent on killing her first. In books one and two, Peeta was the ideal self-sacrificial moral character and was intent on keeping his soul while all those around him were losing theirs to the brutality of the Games. This makes the abrupt change from bread boy to murderous maniac all the more unsettling. Essentially, the old fun loving Peeta readers came to know and love does a vanishing act and we only get a quick glimpse of him at the very end of the story. This drives Katniss to the edge and deprives the story of the character whose bright spirit balanced out the darkness of the first two books.
In her Amazon bio, Collins states that she explores “the effects of war and violence on those coming of age” in her fiction. Putting her main protagonist through such extreme distress makes the story very interesting from a psychological standpoint because it prompts us to ask questions like, “How would I respond in this situation?” and “Is Katniss’s response realistic?”On the other hand though, Katniss’s instability throughout the book is highly depressing and makes the story stressful to read. For this reason I think Collins would have done well to keep Peeta’s character intact and thus bolster Katniss’s emotional strength.
The Ending
I am very unhappy with the ending of Mockingjay for a number of reasons. First, I think Prim’s untimely death defeated the purpose of the series to a large degree. The whole reason Katniss entered the Hunger Games in the first place was to save her sister. Prim’s death nullified that purpose. Katniss’s original act of self-sacrifice that started the ball rolling for everything that followed was for naught. We don’t even know for certain who ordered the bombing that killed Prim. Additionally, the effect of Prim’s death on Katniss’s mother is never really discussed, and the fact that Katniss and her mother permanently part ways is extremely sad.
Gale’s abrupt and anti-climatic exit from Katniss’s life is disappointing and a bit unbelievable. It’s as though he simply stopped caring and decided to move on and try to forget about the horror of the past, which included Katniss. But this doesn’t mesh with what he said earlier in a conversation with Peeta in Tigris’s basement when they discussed which one of them Katniss really loved: “Well, it won’t be an issue much longer. I think it’s unlikely all three of us will be alive at the end of the war. And if we are, I guess it’s Katniss’s problem. Who to choose.” All three of them do survive the war, but Katniss never has to choose anyone. Gale just leaves which does not make sense based on his past actions.
I also feel that Katniss and Peeta’s reunion and future together is unsatisfying, in part because the Peeta portrayed in Mockingjay is not the same Peeta readers know from the first two books, and neither is Katniss the same. I also think that the epilogue was unnecessary and distracted from the powerful final line in chapter twenty-seven.
Also disappointing was the lack of resolution between Haymitch and Katniss, and the fact that Haymitch’s future looks so bleak, filled with an endless stream alcohol just as it was before the Games.
We never really find out what happened to Beetee, Annie, Johanna, or Katniss’s stylists which disappointed me. We are also left in the dark about the new government that is formed after Coin and Snow are dead. It was implied earlier in the book that the leaders of District 13 wanted to form a Republic, but we don’t know for sure if that is what actually happened. We also never find out what the new government did with all the Capitol citizens and refugees. It seemed like there were a lot of loose ends still hanging at the end of this story.
One thing which completely shocked me was the fact that Katniss voted to hold one final Hunger Games, in the name of her dead sister no less. Perhaps she was already planning to kill Coin at this point, and knew that even if she voted yes the plan would never be carried out, but I still can’t figure out why she would vote in favor of it at all. While Katniss is an interesting and engaging character, I never really empathized with her a whole lot and I’ve thought her a bit heartless since the latter half of book one. Her pro-Games vote made me go from not empathizing to simply not liking her.
The one part of the ending that really pleased me was when Katniss killed Coin. We all knew it was coming, but it was nonetheless a fitting end to the tyrannical reign of both Snow and Coin.
If I could rewrite the book, I would have either killed Peeta off in a self-sacrificial way during the Mutts incident instead of Finnick or completely removed the Capitol’s hijacking of his mind from the story and kept his old character intact. If Peeta had died, Gale and Katniss would have ended up together. Prim would have lived and Katniss’s mother would have stayed with her children.
Conclusion
Ultimately, I found Mockingjay to be a pretty depressing read, and a poor conclusion to the Hunger Games series. There was no hope at the end, no redemption for the lives lost over the course of the three books, and thanks to Prim’s death, no real purpose for the suffering that Katniss endured. Yes, a new government is formed which we assume turned out to be relatively democratic, but at a personal cost so high for Katniss that she never recovers. Broken versions of Katniss and Peeta face the future together, and though they heal to some degree they live with the nightmare of their past always fast at their heels.
So, the big question: Was it worth reading the series? It depends. If I had read it solely for entertainment, then no, I don’t think it would have been worth it. But I think it was worth it to examine the philosophical questions that the books raise, and to better understand our culture through the lens of Panem.
Other Reviews: The Book Lady’s Blog | Castles, Quills, and Cameras | Literate Housewife | New York Times
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About Suzanne Collins:
Suzanne Collins has had a successful and prolific career writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, and is the author of the bestselling Underland Chronicles. Suzanne currently lives in Connecticut with her family and a pair of feral kittens they adopted from their backyard.
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Also read my reviews of the first and second books in the Hunger Games trilogy––The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.
How did you feel about the end of the series? Why did you like it? If you didn’t like it, how would you have changed it?
Personally, I just love the whole trilogy. My favorite book though was the first one(obviously).
Some of the things I would have changed in Mockingjay are:
1. How Gale just kinda… left.
Maybe like one final argument where it turns out obvious that they can’t work together would maybe have solved it a little bit because, I mean, Katniss and Gale, they’ve known each other FOREVER! How can Katniss blame Gale for her sister’s death? He probably didn’t even know that some of his ideas were used to kill Prim! However, I do understand that Gale and Katniss could most probably never work out like Peeta and Katniss.
2. Peeta
I would’ve love it if Peeta was “unhijacked” when maybe he saw either the locket with the pictures of Gale and Prim and her mother that he gave to Katniss in Catching Fire or the pearl he gave to her. It would have been more satisfying to actually have “the boy with the bread” back for a while longer.
3. Katniss’s mother
I don’t think that the book mentions any reaction from her to Prim’s death. If your youngest daughter died, you would not under almost any circumstance feel indifference toward her death. I also don’t see how she can choose to willingly stay away from her remaining daughter when her remaining daughter, Katniss, is in a state of mental instability.
4. Prim
I don’t think Suzanne Collins should have killed Prim off after her character had barely been developed into something at least a little more than just Katniss’s little sister. I do though understand why Prim was killed off: no one survives war without some permanent scars. But I don’t think it was right to kill Prim so soon and anyway why was she on the front lines? I think she shouldn’t have been in the action I mean, she was only 13!!!
5. Rushed/Unsatisfactory Ending
A few extra pages or chapters wouldn’t hurt. I hate when the ending to any book feels rushed or insufficient. I mean, yeah I’m glad that this book wasn’t like the last book in the Twilight Saga where the heroine, Bella, got to keep everything and everyone she wanted and sacrificed almost nothing. Even when the vampires met up for a battle it just ended up with a peaceful resolution which the book didn’t need. Mockingjay, on the other hand, kills off basically everyone. Finnick’s death I think was the MOST unnecessary; Cinna’s was not needed, Prim’s was understandable, Coin’s was predictable. I do think though that the book had the right amount of bloody violence to get people to imagine war and the trauma that comes after it and how no one is ever exactly the same again. I also do think that Katniss could have spent a bit less time on a hospital bed on morphling.
These are just some of my opinions on this but most of my other ones I’m probably forgetting right now (lol) I’m just saying what I think no one has to like totally be on the same side as me.
By the way I just got back from watching the movie “The Hunger Games” I loved it all at first i was totally absorbed into the movie but then when the countdown in the arena started I began to feel like “OMG I’m not ready to watch this bloodbath and brutal violence in reality!” I actually gasped ouloud in shock when
(Continued from previous post)
Katniss was watching the reruns of the old Games at the pure bloody violence personally I never pictured or imagined all that blood and hand to hand combat I just well created a movie in my mind not as violent or bloody as the real movie or how it really would be in real life. I was in a state of shock because almost for the first time it felt to me that the Hunger Games actually were real, and when I got outta the theatre I felt like the hunger games actually could happen in the future if humanity did turn against itself.(which I have almost no doubt it eventually in a couple hundred years could happen with all the deaths we can watch on the news on TV without feeling any difference thinking “Oh well, at least it isn’t happening where we are.”)
Kalina, this is the best summary of how Collins might have made the last book better that I have seen! I completely agree with you on all points. I can’t wait to see the movie! I’m hoping to go soon… maybe next weekend if I can find the time and I’ll definitely be reviewing it afterwards!
Saw the movie with my teen who read the book. Loved it. Decided to read Hunger Games. Hooked. Read Catching Fire and Mockingjay in 3 days. A record for me as I’m not exactly a prolific reader. I was as disturbed as most of you when I finished Mockingjay. I decided to reread the last half of the book. Surprisingly, I feel less cheated with the way Collins wrote the last few chapters.
It’s painful to see how damaged Katniss is. In many respects she is just as damaged emotionally as Peeta is after his hijacking. She has to ask her self several times, real or not real when she’s figuring out everyone’s role in Prim’s death.
Gale is toast when Katniss asks him if it was his bomb that killed Prim. He knows she’ll never let it go. She was never comfortable with his work on that type of weapon. She remembers him saying “Beetee and I have been following the same rule book” as Snow. He knows that his biggest tie to Katniss, his protection of her family, was lost. He’s letter her go even before this point. He doesn’t visit her in the hospital It is Peeta that keeps Katniss from taking the suicide pill.
There were several sections in hte last few chapters that I love even though they are difficult. She hears Gale and Peeta talking. She’ll pick who will help her survive they concluded. She thinks, I don’t need either one of them. Classic Katniss. She sets Peeta free, releasing him from his bracelets and hugs him. The hugs will never be the same.
Her return to district 12 after she killed Coin is one of my favorite chapters. Sure it’s very painful to see her in this condition. But she grieves Prim with Buttercup. Greasy Sae taking care of her. You see her slowly begin to take small steps out of her paralysis. Peeta returns to bring her bread. I also loved that Peeta returned to district 12 as soon as he could. Like he couldn’t wait to get back to be with Katniss. Even in spite of everything that has happened, he still wants to be with her above all else.
“Peeta and I grow closer”. If you focus on that one line, you’ll feel cheated. But, I felt that Collins actually was building to this point. Not with huge chunks of storyline, but little tidbits. The special kiss with Peeta happens. Everybody’s favorite line, Peeta: ”You love me, real or not real”, Katniss: “Real”, Katnis: “It would have happened anyway”. Again, classic Katniss. That’s as close as it’s going to “I love you Peeta”.
I know that Collins was bent on pushing the “war is hell” theme. But I still think she could have given a happier ending. How about a small, simple wedding in district 13? Katniss could have worn one of Cinna’s dresses. Her make over team could have had one last crack at returning her to beauty base zero. Hamich just sober enough to give her away. Oh well.
I thought I could get this book out of my head and get on with my life. But obviously that hasn’t happened.
hi idont know if I’m replying to anyone, but I just have to get this out of me. I HATED THE ENDING OF MOCKING JAY. absolutely hated it. I was crying probably for the last 50 pages, and believe me, I’m not a wimp. And i have good reasons for hating it, too, I read this book in depth. the ending was sick.(not the good “sick). I get that Collins is trying to stress the whole, “mortality and Reality” thing, but honestly we don’t read a book to get the most depressing version of the story. It’s supposed to be a heroic story of a strong minde3d and thoughtful and cold girl, who most hate but few love very much. This is part of the reason why i hated the ending so very much. It proved how WEAK katniss actually is. She has so self restriction and really doesn’t care about anything. The entire book, she’s just crazy and irrepairably depressed. She makes no attemp at anything and its just like watching a fish flop out of water refusing to help herself. The story just drags on and gets extremely boring at times. At some points I only kept reading just to get a sense of closure at the end. Well anyway, the moment I actually stared ta the book in disbelief is when she is standing in the middle of the Capitol square, The moment is so heated, the parachutes just went off, and Katniss is so close to getting the oppertunity to do exactly what she came so far to do, for what SO MANY PEOPLE have died for, and then BOOM. not only does prim die, after the moment Katniss discovered she was there, but also katniss is physically destroyed and sent to her all time low, after just starting to heal. I thought it was a joke when shes in the hospital, and I totally expected it to cut out and say “and there she was laying in the middle of the chaotic battlefield…” so on. and from there Collins just sums everything up in something like a paragraph. that’s also what baffles me, is how an entire book of purposeful reading is rewarded with such a short and blunt explanation. I hate that she goes insane and doesn’t talk, and I hate how noone talks to her or makes any attemp. I hate that her and her mothing never talk again, and she makes no attempt to. I hate that she never sees gale again and they never make up their differences, and when she finally sees peeta again, she’s been sitting alone in her house not talking to anyone for months. It made me cry all over again finding out that finnick and annie had a baby. I could go on for hours but like I said, I just had to get that out of me, lol word vomit <3
I’m so glad to find people who agree with me on these books. I couldn’t put them down but felt so depressed after book three. I finished it right before going to watch the movie and I almost didn’t go. All I could think of is what’s the point? I mean I understand why Katniss would struggle with Gale having anything to do with the bomb that killed Prim but he’s not the one that decided when and where to use it. She killed several innocent people herself so why is Gale the only bad guy? She didn’t even really mourn her sisters death. The only mention of it comes when she’s talking about Gale. She was looking for Gale, not Peeta when she was arrested. I have more questions than answers over the end of this book and it makes me wish I’d never read them. I mean Gale was her best friend for years, the reason her family didn’t starve, he brought them safely out of 12, rescued Prim when they were about to bomb 13 and because he worked some with Betee it’s his fault Prim dies? So there’s no reason to look at him or talk to him again? I understand why he left. He did everything for her including saving Peeta several times and he knew she would choose Peeta. He couldn’t watch that. I just feel like she settled for Peeta.
I understand your frustration, Carmi. I’m glad I’ve had almost a year after finishing the series to process it and reset my mind before going to see the movie (which I hope to soon…)
I’ve just finished the last book. It took me 3 days to read the trilogy and I’m just thrilled about the release of the movies.
About Mockingjay … I agree with Maria in many aspects.
It is also true that I felt sad at the very first moment I finished the book… but probably that’s just my hopeless romantic side that needed a few more lines describing Peeta’s endless love
So:
-The book is darker, yes. But that is what I was waiting for. The story in book 1 and 2 lead to revolution and war and Katniss thinks she is guilty of hundreds of deaths and the possible death of Peeta. It is amazing how Collins manages to drag the reader into Katniss own desperation and madness. I felt anxious when she was waiting for Peeta’s return, I felt extremely confused and angry when she experienced the bombing of the hospital… that’s what a good author does: she makes you feel what the characters are feeling.
-Into this horrible situation, Katniss also fights her own demons. Her personality is not like Peeta’s. The death of her father and her struggle to keep her family going changed her forever and she has built walls not to be hurt again. So she is always torn between the greater good and her own desires: she wants to stop years of massacre but also save her family and friends at any cost; she wants to be the Mockingjay and sometimes she wants to run away into the forest and not come back. She needs to find her real self and the person she wants to be. We all face that choice in life.
-The book shows us all the pain and destruction war can bring. How people is affected in a way that will never leave them. Because it is true! You cannot be exactly the same person after having experienced so much horror. That would be unnatural. So it is perfectly normal to me that Katniss is devastated after all that happened.
-Peeta. He represents love, goodness, hope, family, solidarity, values… and of course he needs to be tested. And after all that happened to him… he is not broken. He still fights for what he thinks is right and wants to sacrifice his life not to hurt anybody else. He fights against the fake memories that try to make him change. And he succeeds. Because his objective was always so clear to him: never to become a piece of the games and be loyal to the one he loves.
And that’s how Peeta has been the key to Katniss survival and change. Katniss begun to learn from Peeta from the moment they became tributes and shared time together: there is hope, she can be loved, she can be good, she can have values… most importantly, she can love.
She is lost without him in the first part of the book. She has the opportunity to end with the suffering of all the people that counts with her being the Mockingjay but she does not want to do it until that becomes the way to save Peeta. She is a fighter but she fights for love. She is really human, not a perfect heroine. And I like that.
And then, Haymitch. We cannot forget he is the one that makes Katniss realize she needs to help Peeta come back to her. That’s the turning point. Haymitch reminds her that she is good, that she has learned that from Peeta.
-So that’s how the two of them, wounded but not broken choose each other again, even after all the horror. If that is not a strong love, I do not know what is.
They will never forget and that will cause pain and nightmares sometimes… but they can be happy too because they have each other and that is all that really matters: the people you love. This makes the story much more realistic. Real life is full of pain and desperation but we also learn how to be happy, we fall in love, we have children, we laugh…
Well, I guess the conclusion is that I loved it!
Great analysis, Aída! I obviously didn’t love the book, but as more people comment and explain their reasons as to why they did love it, I’m beginning to understand their point of view more. Thanks for sharing!
Aida,
Thank you for your take on the ending. I have been so frustrated about the ending and you brought a new perspective out for me. I am a hopeless romantic and agree that it would have been great to read a bit more on HOW they grew back together, but you are right on!!! I never thought she deserved Peeta but I always thought they should be together because he deserves her (he is the only noble and kind character so he deserves to be with the person he loves). I thought there were some missed opportunities, namely when Peeta makes mention of his and Katniss’ nights on the train-I think he was wanting confirmation that those nights meant something to her and instead she gets angry so he is left to wonder if she is really as callous and uncaring as she seems.
I think a few of the things that are bothering readers are being misunderstood:
I believe Katniss voted “yes” for the Hunger Games in order to placate Coin and give her the opportunity to kill her. It was Coin’s idea, and that finally answered in Katniss’ mind what kind of person Coin was–no different from Snow. That, combined with the decision to accept Snow’s explanation, is what made Katniss decide to kill Coin. I think she had already decided to kill Coin at that table, and Haymitch understood that and supported it. Her sister’s role as a pawn in the Hunger Games that was the war (where so many innocents died) had to have been orchestrated by Coin, and considering Prim is what makes her say “yes.”
While Gale does leave because of his failure to protect, I think the author gives us PLENTY of indication that Katniss and Gale can never work together–not in the way they have changed, but possibly, from the beginning. Katniss and Gale don’t share the same opinions during their discussions in the woods. Katniss has been broken and reshaped, been a pawn herself, and she HATES the killing of innocents. Gale has remained strong, been an instigator and shaper of the war, and has no problem killing innocents (as we see at the Nut awhen he wants to seal everyone in to their deaths.) Katniss is “so..so PURE,” and Gale is not, kissing all those girls. Peeta’s love has been his whole life, while Gale only began to have feelings 6mo before the first games. And Prim’s death makes the dichotomy between what Katniss and Gale want and what is possible clear—even though Gale WANTS to protect her family, his choices and mindset prevent it, and possibly undermine everything Katniss stood for (the original reason she enters the Games.)
It makes perfect sense that two people who have shared the experiences and come out trying to heal the other (instead of just completely shattered) would make the best go of it. If anything, Peet’s hijacking lends more credibility to his love for Katniss—because after he gets over his nightmares and implanted memories, hesees her as she was, with all of her conflicting motivations, insecurities, bad decisions, and selfishness–yet continues to overcome those things to love her in her brokenness anyway. Katniss finally deciding to help heal him instead of discarding him even though he finally knows and understands her is what seals the deal of who she will be with.
I’m not saying I’m completely satisfied with all of Collins’ choices–but I do understand them and feel she gave significant support to the conclusions throughout the books.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Maria. You make a strong case for the book and I respect your clearly well-though-out opinions.
Thanks. I just read the books this past month (books 2 and 3 in the last two days) and the more I think about the third book, the more satisfied I am in the artfulness of Collins. It’s on a whole other level from the first two. I read the first essay on Amazon from the book of commentary essays on the trilogy just now, and I feel justified that the author there drew the same conclusions I did. I thought of something else re: Gale, too—his interest in Katniss was spawned in jealousy when he didn’t like Darius flirting. There’s just so much there that doesn’t make a successful relationship. I want to hear from Collins about the motivations she intended!
I agree that Gale and Katniss would have been a bad match. It just surprised me that he left so suddenly. They may have made a bad couple, but they were still close friends for many years.
I agree that they were close friends–but men and women, as Harry Met Sally tells us, cannot be friends–and how could she hope to create her life with Peeta with him hanging around? And how could he create his life stuck with them in his sight? They had to be separate. I agree Collins needed to give more details at the very last pages of the book. I do think it wrapped up too quickly. I guess Gale and her talking about the bomb was his goodbye, but I would like liked a longer one. It was too much of a surprise.
I agree that they needed to separate, but there was virtually no goodbye. It was too abrupt.
I agree!
I mean, this is war. Even winners aren’t winners and there are some things you don’t ever really come back from. There’s some glimmers of hope through her children, but some hurts you can only endure until the end.
This doesn’t mean the ending was any more pleasant or easy to deal with, and there is some validity to critiques of rushing the ending, but I respect Collins more for the choices she made. It costs us, the reader, to care about the characters and then lose them or see them so hurt they are forever changed. Collins makes you care and even if you don’t like where she took the story, it was real. It has more value because it cost us something.
Maybe some blame is to be placed on these books being tagged as young adult fiction, but I mean, really, young people are killing each other from book one in the arena. This was never going to be a romantic adventure, not of if you took the premise of post-apocalypse and blood sport seriously.
Even if people don’t like it because it challenges them, this series finishes with more truth and more integrity than most authors will ever have the courage to write with.
The problem with the ending is that is a cop out. Collins didn’t want to write a comtroversial ending making katniss kill snow in his mansion, or making her choose between peeta and gale. Instead, she killed off a character, Prim, who meant so much more to the book than just katniss’s sister. We learned about Prim’s future, and then she dies. It’s a cop-out, she didn’t want to write anything controversial, so the easy way to end it was to make Katniss go crazy and every tough decision, gale or peeta, go away.
My wife and I just finished reading the last book. What a waste of time! I hope someone from the movie business sees this blog before the third movie is made because there are a lot of problems with the story. No sense in making us all relive this overly depressing anticlimactic book on film. There was a glimmer of hope when Katniss got her MockingJay outfit and the ridiculously awesome bow AND THEN got sent to District 8 to be in the action, I thought the book was going to be epic. What a let down. She spends most of the book on the hospital ward doped up on pain killers.
As a series each book is well written with cliffhanger ending at the end of each chapter propelling you forward in the books. You can’t put them down because you can’t wait to find out what is going to happen between Peeta and Katniss. I’m not a romantic but I have to admit that was the reason that I kept reading. (Maybe that does make me a romantic.) I started out the series really liking Katniss and Peeta’s characters. By the end of the third book I hated Katniss.
She starts out as an altruistic character driven to action to save her sister. That’s what makes her so likeable in the first book. She slowly looses that attribute over the course of the second and it is almost non-existent in the third. All she does is use people who are kind enough to sacrifice themselves for her. When she is tired of them she moves on to the next person. She seems to make all of her friends that way. Peeta, Finnick, Gale and Johanna. In the end she is weak, mentally unstable and just plain selfish. This wouldn’t be so bad if she weren’t the main character.
I kept reading in hopes that someone would slap her back to reality and that she would make an active decision about who she loved. That almost happens but then doesn’t. Katniss acts like she cares about Peeta when he is in the capital. But when he comes back its all over. I can understand the initial hesitance what with the whole he wanted to kill her thing. But Katniss didn’t pay any attention to him or try to help him recover. Then she realizes that Peeta would have helped her if she were hijacked and then she still ignores him. What a jerk. Katniss focused all her attention on Gale. Then I came to a startiling realization. Katniss is a player. Whenever Gale was gone she remembered her boy toy Peeta but as soon as Gale came back it was as if Peeta didn’t exist. Even in the end when she ended up with Peeta,(which seemed to happen only by default) I kept thinking Gale would show up any minute and Peeta would be toast.
In the first book Peeta tells Katniss that his dad once loved Katniss’s mom. The readers all felt bad for his dad because he ended up getting married to a witch who beat Peeta. At the end of the third book we see that Peeta is in the same depressing situation that his father ended up in. Married to a jerk for the rest of his life. If I were Peeta I would have ditched Katniss for Delly.
Another problem, the ending was so unfulfilling. I was sad when Finnick died but had hopes that it wasn’t in vain except until I realized that it was. Katniss never made it to the Mansion. She gets set of fire and is incapacitated for the final battle. Poor Finnick. After he finally marries Annie he gets killed on a mission that Katniss made up which turned out to be of no benefit to the war at all.
As a side note: I liked Peeta’s character a lot. He was such a true friend and so selfless. But I really wish Peeta did something more manly and exciting than paint pictures and bake bread. In an action situation it makes you seem really lame.
I hope that the movie makers do change the third script to make it better than the book, but I disagree that Katniss is just a selfish person. I think she’s just so traumatized by the war that her actions aren’t as altruistic as they might have been in other circumstances. I think she gets worn down.
These are my favorite books in the whole world!!!!!!!!!!! My sixth grade class read them last year and I loved them so much. I even got my 9 yr old sister to read them last year and she and her friends all loved them too!!!
I started reading the Hunger Games, and then read all three in three days. The first two were amazing and then the third. It left me angry and I found myself rereading the books trying to find something to redeem them. I’ll admitted the first time I read Mockingjay I was mad. Finnick’s death was unnecessary, Prim’s as well. I felt like there was so much more potential to develop Prim into something more than Katniss’ idealized little sister, and she finally started to develop the character, and then she was killed off. The same with Finnick, his character had developed into so much more than the pretty boy from district four, and to kill him just when he had found some happiness seemed heartless.
My other problem with the book was the resolution of the Katniss, Gale and Peeta love triangle. I feel I should say that I was always on Peeta’s side. I didn’t mind that Peeta was highjacked or that by the end of the book we don’t see obvious proof that he will go back to being “normal”. What bothered me was that Collins seemed to just cop out, I mean she always gave us hints as to who Katniss really loved, but she allowed Katniss to be so passive in the situation, and that’s one thing Katniss never was, passive. I guess you can argue that war changes people but it all seemed like Katniss was allowing decision to be made without her input.
With that being said, and the fact that I would not mind at all if they ended up changing a few things in the Mockingjay movie, I think Collins overall message about war is fascinating. In life we don’t always get the happy ending, sometimes its the best we can do to just pick up the pieces and try to survive. The second time I read the ending I felt a little better about it. The whole series is about the struggle to survive and hopefully not to lose yourself in the process, and I’m not entirely sure Katniss succeeded, but I for the most part enjoyed seeing her try.
I remember when I was in highschool/university and I just wanted to finish an essay. For example, if it had to be 3000 and I was approaching the end, my writing quality went downhill fast – so I could finish on time! – feel this is what happened in the final book. I was so sick of reading about her inner turmoil, and I wanted other key events explored and developed. I wanted Katniss to reciprocatw Peeta’s love more fully – because by the end I actually started to dislike Katniss.
I felt exactly the same way about it. It did feel like she was in a rush to be done with the whole thing. I hate it when authors do that with the last book in a series.
I couldn’t agree more. Everyone has literally spoken my exact thoughts. I hated that katniss was always hurt mentally or physically and was always ending up in the hospital, when in the first two books she seemed totally indestructible. It was just a complete 180 from the first two inspiring books. I absolutely hated how dark this book was. I am a hopeless romantic and loved the story of peeta and katniss up untill this book. I would have been more satisfied if somehow someway peetas memory came back. Maybe by Katniss showing him the pearl or having the doctors in district 13 figure out a cure for him. I feel like so many pages were wasted going into such detail of such minor things, when that detail should of been used for the end, at least bringing some sort of happy ending to the book. I feel like the huge detail of the trip to The Capitol was just a bit much for me , it was hard to even follow at some points. I wish prim was kept alive that totally defeated the purpose of the first two books, and why would Collins even mention having her training to become a doctor. It was just a total let down for an ending of such an amazing series. It makes me question if reading the first two were even worth it
I’M SO DEPRESSED. Where’s the Peeta who once said he wanted to freeze that moment in time and live it forever? I think it’s horrible that Peeta forgot everything, I grew to enjoy his character and it was just taken away. I guess this is Collins’ way of showing what war does to people but I can only imagine how many people are gonna be angry when this is turned into a film.
I just totally disagree with your interpretation of the saying yes to the hunger games. I think she only said yes because she knew that is what Coin wanted to hear, but she knew at that moment she was planning on killing Coin. As soon as she suggested the hunger games, Katniss knew she would kill Coin because she was the same as snow. She needed to be on Coins good side to get access.
Hey everyone. I just finished reading Mockingjay an hour ago. I’m so traumatized. I was sad, angry, depressed, frustrated. I think it had a lot to do with Prim dying, Gale leaving, Katniss and Peeta’s states and well, Peeta has probably been the one thing that hits me through the most in this series. With his last statement being from the “Real or Not Real” Game makes me think that he will never come back. The old Peeta. The one most people loved. The one who sacrificed everything. The boy with the bread. Gone. And Katniss, the girl who really WAS on fire. Well, everything started to lose their meaning to me when Prim died. Gale left, none of the boys visit her in that training center room she was confined in, Peeta never recovered, SHE never recovered. Finnick dying. Katniss and Annie having kids. FACEPALM.
P.S. I was never really into Gale but I just wish he was back atleast, and her mother. If I could re-write this, Peeta probably wouldn’t have been hijacked, or he could’ve been but got cured after he sees Katniss’s PEARL, Gale would’ve atleast been around or president or married someone else like Madge (if she didn’t die) or Delly *atleast*. Prim would’ve lived. Her mother would’ve been there. Peeta’s family wouldn’t have died. But I guess you can never really pick on who dies. Collins is such a great author but I feel that she turned something epic, into something regretful. The books are still great though. It’s just the last paragraphs of the book I hate, especially that epilogue. I hate it the most. and that “You love me, real or not real?” “Real” I pretty much hope that was a joke.
Great books though. Excruciatingly painful to put down. Lovely read. And now, I feel like mourning. This will pass. I guess.
I really think I need to disagree with you completely. Yes the book is definitely the most depressing of the three, but I don’t feel like it’s a cop out. It didn’t turn out perhaps the way I would have written it but I actually felt satisfied by the ending. A truly “happy” ending for Katniss was probably not realistic for the setting of the entire story. Even if a revolution had not happened she still would have led a miserable existence after the first Hunger Games — all of the past victors seem to have been put through hell regardless of their victor status. Not to mention she never would have married or had children. I don’t suppose Gale lovers quite realize that she would not have married him in any previous circumstances because of her fear of the Hunger Games.
As for Gale and Peeta in Mockingjay, we see both of them change character a lot. Katniss is shocked by the lengths to which Gale will go to annihilate the enemy — i.e. in District 4. It changes her opinion of him and opens a lot of distrust. Yes Peeta also does a 180 but Katniss knows that his changes are not his fault. Gale’s are his own fault.
Prim’s death does make the whole situation feel like it was all for nought. But this is a book about a dystopian society and things rarely work out “happily” — i.e. 1984, Brave New World, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series. I’m still under the impression that Coin was responsible because she was afraid of Katnis’s ability to draw power and she was probably hoping to crack her mental state once and for all. Instead, had Coin let it be, Katnis may have let to take over and gone with Prim and Peeta and their mother to live in District 12. But we all know a District 13 takeover would have ended in a fascist military regime. Prim’s death causes Katnis to kill Coin and I’m not sure what reason she’d have to do that without Prim’s death.
I will admit that I also did not like Katnis’s choice about the Capitol children Hunger Games. I expected her to overcome a want of revenge in light of the fact that it has been her horror for the past three years. That she would never wish to put more innocents through something like that. On the other hand though, Capitol citizens have been entertaining themselves with the deaths of children from other districts for 75 years without a single clue of the pain they wrought on other people. That shows they saw the children of the other districts as less than human. By forcing Capitol children into a final Hunger Games it brings the Capitol to the same level as all of the other districts, hopefully eliminating the They vs. Us quality that things would have had after a revolution. I’m also not convinced that killing Coin prevented such a Hunger Games from occurring. We are left to wonder if it actually did.
I like that Katnis got a sort of happy ending with Peeta. She had never thought marriage or children were in the cards for her. But I think those opportunities go a long way in healing a person. Yes she and her husband are scarred for life but they get to raise children in a new, more free society. Anyone who has been through war is scarred for life. Katniss would have been scarred even if she’d only had to participate in one Hunger Games.
I finished reading Mockingjay a couple of hours ago, and I had to go look at funny pictures of cats to keep the depression away. I thoroughly agree with your assessment that these books are not for young teens. If I had read the series as a 12- or 13-year-old I would have been scarred for life.
This series was riveting in part because it struck me as something that could actually happen. What would we do if we lived in a society that no longer had a concept of God? How quickly would our species turn to its baser instincts? Collins definitely gave me a lot of philosophical questions to ponder, but that did not make up for Mockingjay’s weaknesses–and there were far too many of those.
While I enjoyed parts of the story, on the whole I left the world of Panem feeling emotionally drained and thoroughly hopeless. Prim’s death felt like a completely unnecessary cop-out, a way to drive that final wedge between Katniss and Gale. Finnick’s death and Haymitch’s rapid decline back into alcoholism were also very unsatisfying. There were so many stories left untold or finished in an unbelievable way; it will be hard to re-read The Hunger Games when I know what awaits poor Katniss later on.
I believe the thing I found most disturbing was the post-traumatic stress Katniss was forced to endure. She was so strong in the first two books–even under great stress she forced herself to keep going and hide her emotions. When she started breaking down in Mockingjay, my initial reaction was, “It’s about time!” No one can live with that level of fear for so long and show nothing. However, I expected her to get back on her feet…and she never really did. The Katniss that so riveted us with her passion disappeared. I found it hard to picture her as a heroine. It felt less like Collins was telling Katniss’s story, and more like she was seeing how much abuse Katniss could take before she would put a bullet in her brain. I enjoy watching characters deal with their predicaments, but this felt more like torture.
In a way, the end of the series reminded me of The Lord of the Rings. All of the Ringbearers are so scarred that they eventually board the ship to the Grey Havens and leave the world behind–they can’t face their own reality anymore. The Shire was saved, but not for Frodo. Panem was saved, but not for Katniss. In that way, her relationship with Peeta makes much more sense. Gale cannot begin to understand the horror of the arena–watching it on television cannot compare to actually being there. The Games and the war changed them so much that his fire would collide with hers, causing both flames to die. I could have accepted that if Peeta’s recovery had been discussed in more detail. However, Katniss’s relationship with Peeta was never explained in a way that would give a reader any satisfaction. We only catch a glimmer of the old Peeta before the book abruptly ends.
Most confusing to me was Katniss’s decision to hold another Hunger Games. That was the moment where I knew that the old Katniss–the girl who sang Rue to sleep, the one who sacrificed everything to save her family–was gone. While I never particularly liked Katniss as a character, I at least respected her. With that decision the respect went out the window and I no longer had any hope for the rest of the book.
I will still enjoy The Hunger Games trilogy, but this will be one of the rare times where I hope they change the end of the story for the movie.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Kaitlin. I agree with all of your points, and while I appreciate that Katniss’s response to her circumstances is thoroughly realistic, I wish Collins hadn’t put her through so much to begin with. I was too depressing!
I agree that this is the first time I can think of where I do hope they change the ending in the movie. I went to bed at 4:00am reading these books, and the first two were AMAZING. Mockingjay was darker, but it kept me intrigued and wanting to know more… but it was three books worth of build up for a bit of an anticlimatic ending. It was emotionally draining for the reader, who is IN the story with the characters. It felt that you left just as scarred, disappointed and hopeless as they did, and although realistic, I would have preferred a happy ending.
I though Finnick’s death was not necessary, and Prim hurt the most because it almost seemed senseless especially if there was the hope of her being a doctor. I could still get over this, thinking that Katniss’s sacrifice for her sister did get the ball rolling and the bigger picture is that the world is changing for everyone else… but not getting to know what happened to Annie and her son, Prim’s mother just separating completely… all these character’s that you grew to care about, and you have no idea what became of them.
We got so much description over some parts, and then it felt other important parts were just summarized… rushed.
But even getting over that, the part that destroyed the story for me was Peeta’s ending. I kept reading, hoping that Peeta would come back and there would be a point where Katniss showed him the pearl and decisively tell him that she loved him all along or something (yes, I’m a romantic). I know Collin’s made us see throughout the book that she really loved Peeta and everyone could see it but her, but I would have liked for her to have had that revelation as well… Instead, it does feel like she gets “left” with Peeta. Although Collin’s made it very easy to dislike Gale and show that Katniss’s choice was obvious, we don’t even get the satisfaction of a passionate reunion, or at least more of a glimpse that the old Peeta is coming back, even if not completely (the primrose reunion was not enough for me). I think Collin’s made her point obvious about the scarring that war creates, especially with Katniss, but what started off as a light, exciting read left me feel empty when it was over…
To me, the Catching Fire was the worst book of the series. Of course, the Hunger Games was the best book. But in the Mocking Jay, I enjoyed it because I think that it is basically telling us that change can always occur no matter what.
Interesting perspective, T.J.
Finished reading the trilogy over the weekend.
Overall, the first 2 books left me with a good impression. The last book was darker, more grim and more uncertainty over which side (if any side) had any “good guys”. For the most part, it was OK until Katniss reached the capitol city. After that point the rest of the book seemed rushed.
The ending was disappointing. I was hoping for a more positive ending.
If I knew this in advance, I am not sure I would have read this trilogy.
Some of my thoughts about Mockingjay:
I had some difficulty visualizing the city and the travels of Katniss’ group through the city and sewer. I found the amount of traps in the capitol to be amazing to the point of pushing believability. (If I was a citizen, I probably would not have been on the streets of the city)
I did not like Prim being at the capitol. (She was ~13 at the time. I would not think it appropriate for her to be on the front line.) (I think the irony of her dying helps drive the point that few people go untouched by war. I do not like it, but it makes some sense to me)
Katniss must be special considering the way people are willing to do what they can for her whenever possible. Sometimes this is more blatant than other times.
Squad 451 made me think of “Fahrenheit 451″.
I liked Coin getting the arrow. Although, by that point in the book, I expected it.
I liked the uncertainty presented about 13′s (specifically Coin’s) motives and if they were any better than the Capitol. It seems that all governments should be questioned.
I was surprised by Katniss voting for the Hunger Games continuing.
I would have liked the loose ends tied up better. Several things were glossed over with little if any explanation presented.
I would have liked a more detailed epilogue, if one was to be given to us.
It would have been nice if Peeta was able to remain above the events throughout the books. I guess another casualty of the war.
Manipulation of information presented to the public was a recurring message throughout the trilogy.
I finished Mockingjay two nights ago, Kate, but I had read this post before then…. on the whole I really, really agree with you. I have two friends who told me they were on the first one yesterday and my first thought was, “I pity you.”
Now whenever I think of the books, the first emotion I feel is the same as if I had thought of a terrible nightmare that had permanently scarred me. Yeah.
Anyway, off to do a post on the Trilogy now…. and btw, thought you’d like to know, I’ll be linking to this one in there somewhere
It’s interesting how many people felt the same way about the final book. I think Collins really dropped the ball here. I’m still glad I read the trilogy. I think overall it’s a good story and it has prompted so much great discussion, but I wish the Mockingjay hadn’t been so ridiculously gloomy.
Thanks for the link back! I’ll be checking your blog for that review.
What I don’t get is how many people are *crazy* over it, like it’s their favorite series and all. After reading the last book I don’t see how anyone can still maintain that, but oh well, every man to his own I guess…
Have you read her other series, The Underland Chronicles? It’s also on the serious side and doesn’t end happy (I really, really love the ending- perfect definition of bittersweet) but I would recommend them to anyone, unlike HG.
Well, gotta run… * goes back to working on HG post *
That’s just it–I was calling the Hunger Games a favorite series during the first and second books, which I LOVED, but I can’t recommend any of them if the ending is so bad. Which kinda stinks.
I haven’t read The Underland Chronicles, but now I’m adding it to my TBR list! Thanks for the recommendation!
“but I can’t recommend any of them if the ending is so bad. Which kinda stinks.”
YES. *nods*
In The Underland Chronicles there is still war and fighting and some creepiness which may bring HG to mind, but on the whole they are very, very good.
I’ve actually come to be able to live with the ending of Mockingjay a little bit because I read her other series first. Collins is a master of not-happy endings
Oh, do you mind if I quote your conclusion as well??
Not at all!
I don’t mind a certain amount of violence in books if it’s handled correctly. And I LOVE that Collins shows the emotional/psychological consequences of violence realistically. But I wish she hadn’t taken everything quite so far.
To everyone!
Thank you thank you thank you so much for writing your opinions/reviews because i have just litterally NOW just finished mockingjay and felt exactly what has been said. I am still in shock and had to find SOMEONE who felt the same as me or could at least understand what i was feeling.
The ending was so hopeless, the characters changed beyond compare, i dont really need to repeat how perfectly you guys rounded it up! I totally agree about how i imagined Gale to stick with Katniss like a brother and if he had killed Prim, he would NOT ever have ran away to another district. And Prim dying like you said (parchment girl? haha) completely destroyed why the books started. If anyone in the book should of died it should of been Haymitch! Im sorry that i am repeating everything but i feel so sad inside, i dont know why exactly, and writing out how i am feeling seems to help a little.
And Peeta. Wow, was (and still am) i so so utterly shocked. At first, when he srangled Katniss, i thought COllins was saying that Peeta was angry that katniss was with the Rebels because the rebels were JUST as bad as the Capitol, but she took it a way i had never expected. I guess it could be seen in a cool new way for the story. But i feel in love with the first two books mainly because of the strong character of Peeta (and OF COURSE katniss). So when peeta descended into a deranged differnt person, i kept reading the book, searching for him to somehow open his eyes again and remember who he was, who he loved, and etc. The same with Katniss. I cant understand that war changes and scars people forever, but Katniss and Peeta felt like a rock in the book. (gale too, and prim, oh gosh everyone hah!)
And Katniss, after expressing everything she felt in the Hunger Games Arena, how killing people never leaves you, and even saying how people never change JUST BEFORE SHE SAYS YES TO ANOTHER HUNGER GAMES makes no sense at all. She would never let innocent people die. She kept saying how the people killed each other in the arean out of defence, how they all had to, how she didnt want to be a puppet. And i know in my heart she would of never let the hunger games happen again.
I feel upset actaually. The first two books although sad (rue, mags, all the experiences in the arena in general) although very sad, they had a meaning to them, and with a glimmer of hope to each of them. This book left me feeling very empty and many many little characters stories unresolved.
I was only going to write a few sentences and now i have written a whole book, i am so sorry…
Thank you so much for feeling the same, seriously, its helping me get through this strange state i am in.
x
Glad we gave you an outlet to express your feelings, Betsy! The ending was definitely depressing.
ooo, and just to add to my already looong list, when i read a book, i get involved with the characters in their journey, and i feel like i know them, thats why i am upset now because i feel like ultimately i didnt know the characters, and i miss what i thought they were…
Thanks again,
x
I know what you mean! I felt a little cheated at the end of the book.
oh i am really sorry, but i want to add AGAIN, that, i just re read the last chapter, (not the epilogue, i dont think the epilogue is needed) and in a very small way, there is resolution. Katniss will never be the same, she has been through so so much. I am accpeting that. And i think collins writes that very well and realistically, i could imagine someone with Post traumatic stress disorder feeling that. Its the just the fact that Peeta isnt peeta that upsets me i think, how he was taken away from her and changed, never mind, i need to go to sleep haha!!!
x
I get what you’re saying here. I also thought that Collins wrote very realistically, but I guess sometimes realism isn’t as satisfying, even though it’s closer to real life. But it was totally unnecessary to have Peeta tortured into insanity. That could have been left out entirely and it still would have been realistic!
Everything you discuss in your “Ending” section voices exactly how I feel about Prim death in the series, the resolution of the Peeta/Gale issue through and Katniss voting for the Hunger Games. For me, Collins used Prim’s death as a way to create an easy fix for the choice between the 2 guys. When Prim dies as a result of the bomb which Gale has possibly had a hand in making Collins has him bail out with the whole “i failed you because i couldn’t protect your sister like I promised, and now i understand you’re going to pick Peeta.” Everything about it felt like the easy way to write the story-line and a complete cop out from allowing Katniss to wrestle through the decision and decide how much the Hunger Games have changed her- Does she connect more to the girl she was before the reaping, hunting in the forest and starving to death in District 12 (which would lead her to pick Gale) or has the traumatic experience of the arena, the fire which leads her to declare that President Snow’s death must be at her own hands, unalterably changed her and led her to be in love with the one person who understands what she has gone through (Peeta). And not only does Mockingjay lack this important soul searching moment for Katniss, but Gale dropping out of the running for Katniss’s heart happens at the expense of Prim’s character and the promise for hope which she represents in the novel. Why bring up Prim’s potential to be a doctor if she is just going to be killed? As you write so well, Prim’s death completely undermines the sacrifice Katniss makes to replace her in the reaping. Even if Collins wanted to leave her readers with a profound sense of the terrible nature of war, the deep scars and tragedy from which Katniss and Peeta will never recover, I think she loses the strength of her message when she kills Prim, leaves Katniss’s mother attending the sick far away (while her daughter suffers-wouldn’t it have been heartwarming if she came back to finally take care of her daughter after years of depression), presents Gale as an afterthought (after discarding of Katniss’s love struggle so easily) working in a district far away and no longer even sharing a friendship with her. For me, all of this + the necessary (aka what I was able to accept) deaths in the story + the tragic state of Katniss and Peeta at the end still haunted by their experience, left too terrible of a taste in my mouth about the series as a whole…and judging by the unbelievable outcry of other devoted readers, the same goes for a large portion of her audience.
On a separate note (sorry this is so long! Just glad to have a place to express my thoughts in response to a post which made so much sense to me!), some other things which I wish had happened differently were:
1. I wish we had seen Katniss get into President Snow’s mansion and comfront him then with her bow and arrow and choose not to kill him. Instead the bombs go off (Prim dies, Katniss goes crazy, etc) and we are robbed of such a victorious moment until after the rebels have won. I think having Katniss ask permission to enter Snow’s room and confront him while he is defenseless is so much less exciting. As you said, why make her the heroine, the Mockingjay, a victor in the arena who had the sense to know who the true enemy was, if not to carry out her role all the way? I do think though that the Coin twist was great on Collins’s part–I had a suspicion something like this would happen because of the similarities between District 13 and the Capitol. But again, Katniss’s ability to see the true enemies and recognize that destroying the Capitol would only put in place another leader (Coin) who was unwilling to reach out to other districts in need, is totally inconsistent with her vote to continue the Hunger Games. For me, the continuance of the Hunger Games do not represent revenge for Prim’s death, they only serve to keep in place the terrible practice which symbolizes the terrible power of a government like the Capitol or under Coin’s reign.
2. Let me know what your thoughts are about this, but up until the end I kept thinking that Haymitch was going to step in and sacrifice himself for Katniss or (more likely) Peeta. It would have been such a great way to have a victorious tribute who had fallen so far out of grace with his drinking and years of unsuccessful tributes truly live up to role. His sacrifice would have shown how important Katniss was to the story (because he has grown to care so much for her/is a father role etc.), the power of the Mockingjay for the rebels and I think his death would have served a purpose in the novel opposed to let’s say Prim’s (You can tell I’m still not recovered from her dying). It also would have allowed him to keep to his promise of protecting Peeta if he had died in order to save him.
I think I’m all talked out now, but I’m sure I’ll have many more opinions to voice if you’re willing to hear them…Please let me know what you think about my comment and thanks for such an inspiring original post!
You brought up so many great points, Liana! I never really thought of Prim’s death and Gale’s subsequent departure as a cop out on Collins’ part, but now that you mention it, that totally fits. It’s almost like she got tired at the end of the series and decided to take the easy way out. I also wish that Haymitch had died in some noble, self-sacrificial way instead of going back to his drunken lifestyle. I think that Collins’ resolution was more realistic, but it certainly didn’t make for good fiction and it destroyed a lot of the powerful symbolism in the story. I was okay with the whole President Snow thing. I think there was a lot of power in the fact that Katniss confronted him without killing him at first. But her vote to continue the Hunger Games–totally awful. I would put that as my #1 complaint about the book, even before Prim’s death.
I would love to hear what else you liked/would have changed about Mockingjay! I think YOU should have written the final installment instead of Collins.
I think the book was almost a complete waste of time. I had heard some bad reveiws, but I loved the past books so much I didn’t think much of it. I should have. I’m glad you said prim’s death made the book pointless. And Peeta being hijacked was a little rediculous, I was really bummed when he tried to kill Katniss. Another bad part is when Finnick died!! I was really sad because he just got married to Annie. With that being said, in the end of the she had his child which I thought made it even more depressing and made me wonder how she was doing. She was probably more mental. Collins didn’t mention a lot of the characters and how they were doing. That was part of why the book was bad. But Collins panned the book out very well, when they got to the capital and it was cold so they got to ware coats without looking weird. And bring back Delly from the first book was good. If I could rewrite this prim and Finnick wouldn’t die, Peeta wouldn’t have been hijacked, and I probably wouldn’t have made Katniss’s character change so drastic. But what I’m really wondering is how well they are going to potray all the books into movies. I really hope they don’t screw it up.
I empathize, Baylee! I also wondered about how Katniss was doing at the end of the story, and it was depressing because I think there’s no way she’s ever going to be able to recover from everything that happened to her.
Me too!! And I bet Peeta is going to be the same way. Collins left it very vauge, and it is going to bother me for a very, very long time. the epilouge didnt help very much either.
I was dissatisfied with the ending of this one too. It was my least favorite of the series. But overall I couldn’t hate the book. The reason is I flew through it. I was such a compelling read that I couldn’t put it down.
I did not like how Katniss voted for another Hunger Games.
I really didn’t like the ending. If Collins had gone back to the romance I would have be satisfied, but I really felt let down in that area (you know that’s my thing. LOL).
But ultimately, I wonder to myself if it’s possible to be satisfied with the ending to a mega huge series of books, movies or TV…don’t we always have a sense of let down no matter how it ends?
I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever been satisfied.
I struggled with how to rate this one, because while I felt that the end was unsatisfying and rushed, and the whole book was rather dark, I also read through it in a single day. I couldn’t put it down. But ultimately that sense of letdown won me over to giving it a low rating.
You make a really good point about always having a sense of letdown at the end of a series. 95% of the time I enjoy the experience of reading/watching the first book in a series better than all the ones that follow. And I always have a sense of letdown at the end, no matter how satisfying the resolution. In fact, I would say that I feel that to some degree every time I finish a book, standalone or not. The only exception to that is when I know the story will continue in another book, which I think might be part of the attraction of series. It’s always kind of sad when you have to say goodbye to a character or set of characters that you’ve traveled with on their adventure. Great observation!
The reason Katiness voted yes is because she and Haymitch had their mutual understanding throughout the book, in the games where Haymitch would drop presents to Katiness and she would understand the purpose. Her saying yes to another Hunger Games is her secret way of sayings yes, shes going to kill Coin. And Haymitch response is agreeing to that. Intentionally written this way to make you think deeper and throw you off haha
Didn’t think of that. Great observation, Ryan.
I’ve been waiting for your analysis for a while and I’m glad it is finally here! This series is so interesting and intense! As a reader who has read it…it is almost difficult to sit by and wait while others are finishing it! I found so much to be talked about when I finished Mockingjay, and yet even though it has been months since I finished it, I barely think I’m ‘over it’ enough yet to even talk about it…
There are so many things that I wish were different in this third book. The first two were so absolutely brilliant to me. But this third one was so…different. And then, once the group makes it to the Capitol, I felt a HUGE sense of being rushed through to the end. It was almost like the author tired of Katniss and the rest of the gang, and just hurried through it. What were incredibly developed plots and characters before quickly changed into…well, they just sort of dropped off or disappeared forever.
I really feel like there are several really great characters left out there with a story that I do not know. I feel like you perhaps shared this sentiment as well. And poor Gale! I was really rooting for that guy. I know he *may* have been responsible for the bombings, but goodness gracious…Peeta was kinda PROGRAMMED to kill her for cryin’ out loud!
All in all, the series is fantastic in my opinion. I wish Mockingjay were different. But that is why I was not the author and Ms. Collins was. I appreciate your review and analysis. This would be a super great series for a book club, I think, as it is extremely discussable in terms of characters and hypothetical scenarios.
I completely agree about feeling like I was rushed through the end. Everything happened so fast I was left mentally breathless and it took me a while to process what happened. And I really would have liked to find out more about Johanna and her story.
Sorry you didn’t like this one, I actually took a quite opposite opinion. I think Collins made an interesting statement that when it comes to war, the scars of trauma are inevitable and it changes everyone. I think Prim’s death (and the unanswered question of whether or not Gale caused it?) was a rough blow, but I think it really revealed a lot about the main characters. Ultimately that situation drove Katniss away from Gale so even if Peeta had died I don’t think she would have been able to end up with Gale. I think Peeta and Katniss coming together to recover from their shared traumas was the best way for Collins to end the series on a positive note and in a way I think it showed that recovery is possible and left the reader with a glimmer of hope from a very dark series.
I really like your review though – great analysis of your opinions!
You make some good points, and I think for me I was torn between looking for emotional satisfaction at the end of the series (which I didn’t find) and looking for a unique and complex plot, which I did find, but I still thought some of the loose ends could have been wrapped up better.
Yeah, there definitely could have been more resolution – especially as you mentioned with Haymitch, Beetee, Johanna, Annie and the stylists.
I just read the series wanting to know what the hype was all about- loved it! Until the very end- I got the reason she voted yes to the Hunger games because she was telling Haymitch she blamed Coin for Prim and was going to kill- what I didn’t get is why she wrapped the ending in such a rush! I hated her for that! For 3 books it showed Katniss struggle and trying to decide what her feelings for Peeta were and u go from him wanting to kill her one day to not letting her kill herself the next then planting bushes by her house! I wanted that whole scene played out where they found their way back to each other again discussed what brought about his change. Collins had us invest in all these characters then took their voices away in the last chapter as she wrapped it up in her own- very very disappointed! Hopefully the movies will play it out better
I hope the movies conclude the story better too, Tiffany! Thanks for commenting!