Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) in On Tyrants & Tributes : Real World Lessons From The Hunger Games

Aug 21, 2010 Amy H. Sturgis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 21st-century, postapocalyptic-dystopia, science-fiction-contemporary, ya-dystopia

I loved Hunger Games and Catching Fire, so my expectations for Mockingjay were high, and Suzanne Collins did not disappoint. I was particularly pleased that Collins consistently maintained throughout this final book her comparisons between Panem and Ancient Rome, her critique of war and "reality television" culture (and the way these two become conflated), and her implication that power - whether it's wielded by the Capitol or by those in the Districts - not only corrupts, but attracts the corru ...more

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Oct 03, 2012 hannah renee. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, dystopia, exceptional-heroines, sexy-lit-men, young-adult, best-book-of-the-year, best-romances

FIRST TIME READING (Fall 2012) [18 year old self is apologizing profusely on 14 yr old me's behalf]
This is for all the Hunger Games books. This was really an AMAZING series. I absolutely LOVED how the characters developed. Couldn't have done better. The only thing I really would've done different was that Finnick died. Now THAT made me mad. It was also the way he died (though I hated THAT he died more) it was HORRIBLE. I LOVED Finnick! But enough of that. I loved the end, Peeta and Katniss were FIRST TIME READING (Fall 2012) [18 year old self is apologizing profusely on 14 yr old me's behalf]
This is for all the Hunger Games books. This was really an AMAZING series. I absolutely LOVED how the characters developed. Couldn't have done better. The only thing I really would've done different was that Finnick died. Now THAT made me mad. It was also the way he died (though I hated THAT he died more) it was HORRIBLE. I LOVED Finnick! But enough of that. I loved the end, Peeta and Katniss were so perfect together. There couldn't be a better couple, I knew it would NEVER be her and Gale, Gale just kind of bugged me. In fact it would have been better if he had died instead of Finnick.
As for Prim's death, I didn't care as much as when Finnick died. I've never been a person to cry over books or movies so...yeah.
Everything about these books was amazing!

2ND TIME READING (July-August 2014)
This book gets 10 stars. Seriously. This book was turbulent and exciting in ways the first two weren't. They were excellent, but this book was best of all. I LOVED how much everything changed; sure, Peeta wasn't the same but Katniss wasn't either. Collins is truly one of the bravest authors, and I give her a bravo! I loved it for the reasons others hated it; and that is what made this book fantastic: you either hate or love it. It was DEEP. It was TURBULENT. It was gripping. The first time I read it, I thought the first half was slow and a little boring, but this second time around, listening to it on audio and being a bit more advanced of a reader, I appreciated it and was able to follow, not seeing how I had thought it boring the first time. In the first two books, Katniss was rather annoying, but it was explainable, given her growing up, but she became much more likable in Mockingjay than in any other book. The ending was appropriate, and good; some said they felt it was too rushed, but as the intuitive person I am [insert older 18 self here: wow do I sound pretentious], I felt that it was exactly what Collins had in mind for the end; she even says that Katniss knew that she would end up with Peeta. I think her misgivings about Peeta in the first two books were the fact that 1. Peeta was pushed on her by the Capitol, thus making her resistant and perplexed as to her feelings and her strong nature of independence and 2. her deep friendship with Gale thoroughly confused her. True, she kissed him, but did she ever feel the stirrings for him as she had for Peeta? No. Peeta's personality complemented her own. It's not about who prefers Gale or Peeta personally. It's about who Katniss was right for; her fieriness was complemented by Peeta's docility. [<--Not sure if I agree with this now but okay] All in all, I love, love, LOVE this book and I will keep on reading it on through the years.

Update in February of 2016
My best book of 2014, because even though the first time I read this in 2012, it didn't touch me the way it did in the summer of 2014. The emotions and turmoil of that time made me connect to all the emotional hardship that Katniss did. What better reason is there to elect best-book-of-2014?

Random thoughts from May 2017
There are many reasons that this is one of my favorite books/series and that's saying a lot for a YA. I'm not even reading it right now and haven't even read it recently and just was thinking about why I actually do love it.

1. Symbolism. Goshdarnit, one of my favorite things in all literature is symbolism and I love what Collins does with it.

2. The characters. I even like Katniss. When I first read it, I kind of went off other people's opinions rather than my own. I can see why people can find her frustrating or annoying--in fact she can frustrate me myself--but she has a level of complex motivations to her character that she isn't entirely obnoxious. Oftentimes other authors will write characters similar to hers and will come off obnoxious because the character doesn't have any real substance. If you're going to do something, you have to do it right.

3. The emotional poignancy of the writing. Collins does so, SO well with writing Katniss's reaction to Prim's death. It's absolutely 100% perfect and helped me get through my own grief. I channeled my emotions through hers. ...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Curtis rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, novel

Horrible ending. The problems of the first two books are repeated here, but with greater intensity. Also, could've done without Harry Potter-esque epilogue (I didn't like it in Harry Potter and I think it's even crappier here). At least she finally makes a decision, but it feels incidental, given that the other choice isn't available anymore. ...more

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Apr 17, 2014 Courtney rated it really liked it

“What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.”

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