Mockingjay
discussion
Why is everyone so mad about the ending of this book?
The whole third book just did not match the pace and expectations set by the first two books. I did not enjoy reading it as much as I did the first two and the ending just didn't give me any closure. For me the ending shows a really brave (although flawed) but brave girl left broken. Katniss was a warrior and I think people like that are always more satisfied with their life when they have a purpose. To me it just looked wrong that she went back.
And yes I was team Gale but I was not disappointed about that as much as I was about the way Katniss accepts Peeta, its looked like a compromise. The whole thing leaves you feeling dark and empty which I don't think was the purpose, wasn't the book supposed to be "oppressive" dystopian.
I thought this dark and empty feeling was exactly what was intended and was needed in the end. Because there is no "all good" or "happy ending" in life and all the things that happend had to have that effect on people and Panem.
I loved the ending. It was hard to accept some of the things that happened but to me it all tied together. The price of war is loss. When Coin first popped into the picture, something about her seemed sinister, Haymitch's warning, her letting Peeta come to the line with Katniss, Snow saying she's power hungry, and then her wanting a Hunger Games with the Capitol children confirmed my suspicion.
I was happy when Peeta and Katniss were together in the end, broken but together finally. I was saddened when he tried to strangle her when she excitedly ran to him.
Collins overlooked many logistical flaws to give us a sort of peaceful ending. Which also sacrificed her writing credibility because everyone knows the good guys don't always win and after she killed off Prim I don't see how Katniss could have. To try and tell us otherwise is a rip off for us, it was the easy way out, and she knows it. I had a problem with this ending because Katniss spent more time grieving Rue than her own baby sister. Rue being the ultimate representation of her sister. I have a large problem with this because I had to endure 2 and a half novels with Katniss saying "Oh no, this reminds me of that one time when Rue died and it was just terrible and it made me feel even more terrible because Rue felt like Prim to me, and I love my sister more than anything in the world, why else would I have volunteered for her. Poor Rue I will be brave for you and what you represented to me." Suzanne Collins seems to be awfully proud of this scene. Especially since every few pages she liked to remind us of this tragic death. It almost seemed like she had a "insert prior literacy accomplishment here" button on her keyboard. AND IT WAS ANNOYING. So to get to the end of a series and to see that something which was made out to be worse than death, happen, and then it arises little emotion out of the character is a major let down. After all of Katniss' crazy outbursts, for Prim to die and then she doesn't really react at all, is the collapse of three novels worth of pressure. Collins did not rise to this expectation at all. If she wants to go about killing central characters that's fine, but show us how that affects outwards. Don't just pretend it will pass. She let go of logical character responses to the event, and just did what she wanted to. DISAPPOINTING ENDING.
Shantel wrote: "Collins overlooked many logistical flaws to give us a sort of peaceful ending. Which also sacrificed her writing credibility because everyone knows the good guys don't always win and after she kill..."Not react at all to Prim's death? She goes into a profound depression. She reacts in the same way her mother did to her husband's death.
I think the facts at the ending were right. Prim had to die to close a circle, to make Katniss see the real Coin. A close friend had to go too, I would rather it had been Johanna than Finick, but the good friend always dies! Peeta and Gale couldn't die or then Katniss would have no choice to make. Killing Coin was the best ending there could be! She was EVIL!!The part I think a lot of us didn't like was after that. There was too little on what happened next.
Did she ever make peace with Gale?
Was the country rebuilding itself, was it better?
How did she and Peeta grow back together? (I know this could be another whole book, but I wanted just another wonderful Peeta quote or something before the last kiss).
What bothers me most is what does Panem think of her? Does anyone know her reasons for murdering Coin? We know Gale and some others Knew; did they tell? Did they speak at her trial?
After being such an important figure in the whole country, she just disappears as a lunatic with nobody knowing the truth?
The epilogue is fantastic. Just the right amount of information to make your own picture in your mind.
She went through all this for Prim and now Prim isn't there to enjoy it.
i like the ending for the most parts, i just however want to know more. What happen to the other victors?
Personally, I really liked the ending. It perfectly portrayed Katniss' feelings and although it seems dark and depressing, it really couldn't be any other way, I mean look at everything she's been through.Also, I know I'm gonna get hate for this, but I admired the fact that Suzanne Collins killed off Prim. Nothing against her, but it's so rare that authors kill off an important character that their reader's love. It just made the story more realistic for me; I mean this is a war people, there will be casualties and not just the bad people die. I was really upset when Finnick died, but sacrifices must be made.
I do see the point about the last book not having enough first hand accounts of the war going on though. That I can agree with, but over all I really liked the last book.
The reason I'm mad at the ending is because Prim died.
Even though I was in favor of Gale and Katniss ending up together, Prim's death is what pissed me off about the ending. And one of my best friends today spoiled it for me. I'm surprised I didn't break her foot considering how hard I stomped on it. But, I now know not to discuss unfinished series with book buddies.
Tyler wrote: "i like the ending for the most parts, i just however want to know more. What happen to the other victors?"
Exactly; too much left hanging.
I didn't like the ending because I expected a conscious decision by Katniss about whether she loved Gale or Peeta, even if it was as she or someone else died. Even Bella in Twilight was able to make a decision between two guys, and Susannah did suggest Katniss would decide with the kiss in Catching Fire. The death of Katniss would have been better. I felt cheated in a way because it felt like the whole series was for nothing - the Hunger Games, the revolution and her own personal struggle. I feel there should have been at least a small concession or reward for her as a person instead of reinforcing the image of her as just an object at the head of war - especially as she had been fighting for individuation for the whole of the third book by making her own promos, for example. At the end there was also a blurring between who was essentially good and evil in the story. I actually felt that President Snow was doing his best for the people by the end after the scene in the rose garden. This also added to the idea that the whole series was for nothing - the author left me with the idea that whoever ruled the essential evil in them would prevail with the revolution for nothing and events going round in circles. And even though Katniss may have voted yes for the hunger games just to gain trust, what if they had used this after Coins death?
It also just made me so sad when in the epilogue Peeta still didn't know that Katniss loved him and obviously never regained the unconditional love that was part of his amazing character. I feel Peeta as a character deserved more.
I also didn't like how in the second book there was only one or two districts involved in the revolution and then in the third book the war miraculously almost won without any word of when the other districts had got involved. Some parts just didn't make sense.
Lastly, I hated the idea that in Katniss's trial they had to portray her as this crazy person in order to secure her freedom. This meant that everyone would have had this shattered idea of her after she had given her life for this cause and people must have remembered her this way, even tainting her volunteering in the reaping.
(Sorry about this huge long rant, but as you can probably tell none of my friends have read this so I have been starved of hunger games conversation :) )
Yes! Jennifer! That's exactly what I thought was missing!How can a person that is loved by the whole country, be disposed of and nobody cared?
Did anybody know why she killed Coin? I think Peeta, Gale or Haymitch might have guessed; did anyone defend her at the trial?
I hate that everybody just thinks she is a lunatic that murdered a good president.
There should have Been some kind of redemption for her; even just a hint that people knew....
I liked the ending because Peeta got the girl. Yeah Team Peeta. He went through Hell and back. The only part that let me down was the fact that Prim died. The whole premise was based on Katniss volunteering to go into the hunger games to save her sister's life. Of course she grew as a person and the story evolved from that point, but it was sad to think that with all of her efforts, she still lost her sister.
I thought Katniss shouldn't have ended up with either of them. In fact I think the trilogy should have showed her gradually transcending her love triangle and either ending up with no one or someone else entirely. Plus I thought it was cliche, hasty, and unsatisfying.
Breton wrote: "I thought Katniss shouldn't have ended up with either of them. In fact I think the trilogy should have showed her gradually transcending her love triangle and either ending up with no one or someon..."That is exactly how I feel. Katniss never seemed much to care for being around other people anyway. She would have been much better suited to a solitary life. Personal opinion but I think the ending would have been better if she'd been left alone.
I agree Katniss isn't a people person, but her happiest moments were when she was with someone, Mainly Gale or Prim, and the few "normal" times with Peeta (working on the book or in the rooftop at the capitol). I don't think she would be beter off alone; she would have died of depression if Peeta hadn't come home (she sat on a chair for weeks!!).
Sometimes these lonely people are the ones who need more love, everybody she had either died or left her.
And remember! This is a FANTASY! Peetas don't exist in real life (bummer!), so we NEEDED a happy ending! Plus, I would have sued S. Collins if Katniss didn't get Peeta in the end!! LOL!!!!
I found the end so abrupt and that was my major problem with it. For me, the trouble started when Prim got killed. I honestly thought the following scenes were some kind of hallucination or dream at first, because I couldn't understand how suddenly, it was all over, they had Snow, and they were back at their base without any of that being covered. It was like Suzanne Collins got bored and said, 'That's enough of that!' and decided to wrap it up.I didn't mind the very end, showing the future with Katniss and Peeta. It was just the absence of the climax that they had been building up to that annoyed me.
Hey Kristine!!Loved the fanfiction!!!
Got anymore? It seems I just can't stop reading for some reason!! LOL
THANKS!
Luzma wrote: "I agree Katniss isn't a people person, but her happiest moments were when she was with someone, Mainly Gale or Prim, and the few "normal" times with Peeta (working on the book or in the rooftop at ..."That's the point, though. She would have died of depression without Peeta. I think it should have gone in the other direction, her thinking about Peeta less and less
I loved the ending of Mockingjay and i agree with you all. It was the best ending to this series because it was so realistic and not happily ever after even those they got that happiness but the bitter taste of it was the reason why this ending was so fitting to the conclusion of the series.And BTW the movies are amazingly similar to the books witch is amazing enough.
Joanna wrote: "I loved the ending of Mockingjay and i agree with you all. It was the best ending to this series because it was so realistic and not happily ever after even those they got that happiness but the bi..."Either you're not posting in regards to "you all" or you are limiting your your alls to those that you agree with. Many of us didn't like the ending of the last book. Nothing wrong with the fact that you do, but you are not necessarily in the majority, though to be honest, I haven't taken a count. Still it seems to me that most of us found some fault with the ending.
Most people I've spoken with were not happy with the ending.
I'm fine with the ending. I've read books with worse endings than that....like Codex. As long as it's not in any way like Codex's ending, I'm happy.
It was unrealistic and just sucked. Yep; sucked.
Well, I actually liked Mockingjay, but I do believe that its ending was very cruel! Finnick Odair was not meant to die, it was not necessary! He was absolutely gorgeous, and a greatly loveable character, his death ruined what would be a perfect ending, to a perfect story. primroses death wa also pretty tough but I did not mind about it. I believe the ending could have been a lot better, tough I do love the story. I think Katniss took a LOT of stupid decitions at the end, and Susanne Collins described her as a really cruel person at several times in the story, since she said Katniss did not even cry on Finnicks death, tough she did grieve at the end of the novel. Too many characters died in Mockingjay and I felt it wa s bit forced, like it pretended to be the third Hunger Games Katniss attended to. Anyway, I think Collins did this on purpose, like, to show how mean the conditions were. The ending was fine I guess, I expected a bit more anyway. The worst part was when Katniss voted to continue The Games using children from the capitol, since this seemed an awful, selfish desition. I believe it was because she felt betrayed and willing revenge regarding her sisters death, but it was not the childrens fault!! This idiotic action makes readers think of Katniss like a complete selfish bitch. Terrible. I do think Katniss ending with peeta was sweet, and they having children, really, really cute :)
I loved the ending to this book! I've never read a book that ended this way, and that's why I liked it. I would never want it to end another way.
For me the fact that Prim died made the whole series pointless. I didn't like it at all.
I wouldn't say I necessarily hated the ending, though it could have been better. It was rushed, yes. The epilogue could have been a bit more detailed, it seems as if Katniss was living because she had to, not because she wanted to.As for getting together with Peeta,let's say I wasn't happy. Maybe because I liked Gale better, or because I never thought Peeta would love her the same way again; being hijacked and all. Probably the former.
Choosing Peeta was mostly out of need than love. If she really wanted to move on, Peeta was not an option. He would have only reminded her of the horrors she faced in the past, after all, he was a part of the Games. And she would have had to relive those memories every day. With Gale, it wouldn't have been so. He would have been a better help at forgetting, even though it was impossible to forget it all.
But life goes on.
And then there was the whole Prim situation. Killing her was pointless.I agree it was a war situation, but everybody doesn't need to die. I would have preferred better if one of the boys died. Things would have been a whole lot easier. And blaming Gale for her death was even more stupid, I think she was being unfair on Gale, she didn't even think of all those years of friendship, let alone the fact that he loved her, or he was the one who took care of her family during the Games. Assuming, even indirectly, that it was Gale's fault made her look cruel. Even if it was his weapon, he wouldn't have deliberately done something like that.
It was plain cruel.
She jumped to conclusions so fast. I read somewhere that Gale was being selfish when he left, or that he valued his new job more than Katniss' friendship, though I would say it was the right decision on his part. He knew Katniss would never trust him again, and that she blamed him for Prim's death, and instead of seeing her chose Peeta over himself,getting his heart broken he chose to walk away, get a new life.
Though that made me sad, I loved Gale!
I would have loved to know more about how Gale went on with his life.
And then there was Finnick. He didn't need to die. I was sad, yes, but more so when I later found out that Annie had a son. It was too much of a repeat of Lupin and Tonks dying. But at least Teddy had a secure future. Who knows what happened to his son, especially when he had a mentally unstable mother?
Too many things left unsaid.
And as most have pointed, there wasn't much of war in the book, especially since it was based on the war between the Capitol and the districts.
It could have been much much better, but then again, it was the author's book to write.
Yes, but Peeta could understand better than anyone what she'd been through in the games, whereas Gale could only sympathise. That kind of thing creates a considerable bond. I also felt that Gale and Katniss shared the same faults, especially in their tendency to see things in a negative light. This is the kind of thing that usually needs to be balanced out by someone more positive. Even given what Peeta went through, he clearly still had a more positive bent at the end, or at least, managed to deal with things better than Katniss.
I had two issues. One was that the ending wasn't satisfying because there wasn't enough of it. We were as traumatized as Katniss. We needed more healing too.I hated the vote where Katniss agreed to do the games again, this time with the children of the Capitol. It was a writing issue for me. I know Collins was trying to fool us about the Coin thing, but I was never surprised about that. As for the vote, when you're in first person narrative, it's very hard to hide something from the reader and it came across as though Katniss was really in favor of doing that which infuriated me. Bad writing.
“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil. ” Tim O'Brien
Donna, I agree. That scene irritated me too. Since we're in Katniss' head, we should know if she's doing that just to fool Coin. We don't know that, so it therefore stands to reason that she does it because she believes it's the right thing to do, which is out of character.
I think that the ending was way to mild. In a real war people die a lot more. As someone who survived war I remember that every day someone died. That is what war is about, to kill and destroy as much as it is possible. To me it is obvious that the author only saw war on tv, and even though the book is well written, it is lack of first hand expirience that made the ending unrealistic, with so little casualtys. And revolutions on such a big scale have many victims, so why not Finnick, Prim and anybody else. In war, the odds are always against you.
I didnt like this book because i found it too boring.As for the end i was pretty happy with it.
But i think its silly of people to hate on a book just because some characters that they were fond of died.
I am overall happy with the ending. I feel that even though Finnick dies within a line, life is like that. You are caught mid action when something huge happens and you can't turn back and appreciate it or spend more time on it. I also felt that Prim's death was a build up throughout the entire series. At the very start, Katniss volunteers to save Prim and that is when the madness happens. Katniss even thinks something like 'I did all I can. But it wasn't enough.' That is reflected in here when she did everything to protect Prim, but it wasn't enough.
Suzanne should consider writing a book from Peeta's or Gale's point of view on the games.
Leigh wrote: "I think readers are irritated by the ending because it felt rushed and so many characters died, it felt like a bloodbath. Katniss is neurotic and disagreeable, and the whole ending just felt forced..."This. So much this. It just felt like she was ready to be done.
The ending was abrupt and just awful.Suzanne Collins didn't go into Peeta's and Katniss' relationship after katniss accepted she loved him, accept in the epilogue which was awful.
I was so disappointed.
It was an awful way to end a series which could've been good.
For me, the hunger games series is a downhill thing.
I understand that causalities occur in war but to wipe out the major characters in such a dramatic and pointless way is a waste to the reader and makes me wonder why she bothered to write the series at all. It just felt to me like she was telling me as a reader that she bores easily with her characters and so I shouldn't invest too much in them if she can so easily destroy them.
I know I won't read any more books by this author - and it would appear that the movie version is not going to end like the book!
Rose wrote: "There were some problems I had with the book. Like several characters dying and Katniss shooting Coin in the head made no sense to me. But the very ending, the tippy ending when she's with Peeta I ..."But she wound up with Peeta out of obligation not because she was in love in with him. How sad that you get the girl of your dreams and she feels like she had to settle for you since her true love is dead!
I didn't get the impression that she wound up with Peeta out of obligation. And which true love of hers died? Gale is the only other contender, and he's still very much alive at the end of the book, but they've drifted apart, while she and Peeta have drifted back together.
She didn't go with Peeta out of love - she only stayed with him out of not being alone.
She does answer 'real' when he asks her if she loves him. Being Katniss, I can't imagine her saying that just so he didn't feel bad.
yeah I loved the ending! most people hat the death of _____ (spoilers sweetie;]) they say it was not necessary they are all like "if it wasn't for her the book would have no structure why must she die? but my opinion is "she has done her part, fought her battles, said her lines. she can die now."
Yeah, i really don't get it, either. I understand why they're upset, but in my mind, Collins really couldn't have written the book they wanted, or if she did, it would have been such a cop out, and a crummy end of the series. I was a little amazed by all the complaining about the series, so wrote my ideas of why Mockingjay had to be just the way it is in my review. There's a topic for people to respond, so I"m curious if anyone will. Just bitching about a book is one thing, but having to explain your ideas is another, so who knows. lol https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I dont know why people dont like the ending. I thought that it was a good ending, although i was sad for the series to be over. Besides, there is no "happy ending" to such a tragic thing. Only the continuing of life to make it better for others.
Maryrose wrote: "I dont know why people dont like the ending. I thought that it was a good ending, although i was sad for the series to be over. Besides, there is no "happy ending" to such a tragic thing. Only the ..."Well said.
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That's the point. Bloodbath is a very important tag in the Hunger Games. If you notice carefully, the death of the people are very carefully numbered.