Mockingjay
discussion
anyone find the last book disappointing? a little rushed?
Although I liked the book, I agree that the last book was very rushed and I was disappointed that the author didn't keep the reader informed on the details about Peeta. Peeta became a very second-class character in this book. I seriously wanted to know more about him. And Finnick was a tragedy, but I must say that it made things more realistic.
It definitely felt rushed. I felt like she was trying to end the book in under 400 pages. There were so many loose ends. Gale just ups & disappears w/out saying goodbye?
Madeline ~Plub!~ wrote: "the ending was good, i guess but i liked the first two way better"i agree
I agree. Yes, she was traumatized and she every right to be so, but the premise of the series was that she was a strong heroine. For her to fall to pieces and to be catatonic through so much of the book was just irritating. And why didn't she shout to the world the reasons why she killed Coin? Why didn't she say that Coin intended to bring back the Hunger Games? We know Katniss and Haymitch only went along with that whole travesty so Katniss could convince Coin she was on her side so she could get close enough to kill her.She is just made out to be insane. Blah! A literary cop-out if you ask me. I felt that Collins had had enough of the series, so she just drugged Katniss so she could gloss over all the issues without having to thump another hundred pages out on her laptop. That is what irritates me, not the epilogue, or the fact that Finnick dies - or even that Prim died. And I really don't care who she ended up with (sorry team Peeta and Team Gale), but I do care, that I felt cheated by the ending that left so much unsaid by character who, up until then, had no problem acting and doing what needed to be done.
I wouldn't call it disappointed. It was incredibly emotional and sad, which I never like the last book in the series being... but this book is all about war. About life being unfair. So really I think when people express disappointment in the book, it's more that they're disappointed that it didn't end as happily as they wanted. I bawled and bawled my eyes out at Prim's death... but that doesn't make Mockingjay a bad book by any means. I think, in fact, that there should be more books like this -- endings to books don't need to be happy endings in order to be a satisfying read. Prim's death... the whole series and war and taking down the Capitol started because Katniss took Prim's place in the Hunger Games. Prim would have died had Katniss not done this, and in the end, despite everything Katniss went through, Prim died anyway. Looking at it that way, and the world Suzanne Collins created, I feel like I shouldn't have been surprised by the way it all ended.
Alison wrote: "Well, not to completely put the book down (because the series is by far my favorite series!) but it seemed that Katniss was kind of...depressed the whole book. She just lost her spirit, I guess you..."I agree with Alison, I mean yes, she lost all her family, and Gale left her practically, so yes, depressed she should be, but it totally changed my feelings for her. The description was very scattered, I wanted more detail. And how she showed no emotion, especially when Finnick died, left me kind of upset at her.
Tegan wrote: "It wasn't rushed, I think it was just made to read that way stylistically, especially towards the end.As for the Gale/Peeta comments: the whole relationship issue I'm in two minds about. On one, ..."
See i'm the complete opposite, i spent the entire 3 books thinking what a totally usless character Peeta was and just wishing he would die already. Besides, in the first book Gale goes to tell her the he loves her first but gets cut off, so you always have that in the back of your mind all the the first book while they're in the Arena.
At first the ending was just way to complecated and jumbled for me, with me not even realising Prim was actually dead. Then to not enough information in the last page of the book. What I hated most of all was the not the fact that she ended up with Peeta, it was the fact the it felt like she was with him just because he was there, and that if it had been the other way rounf, if Gale had come home, and Peeta went off and did other stuff, she would have ended up with him. It just wasn't a rounded off ending at all.
I strongly agree with Lord Horatio's rant. The emotional impact of Rue's death is so huge, while the many deaths in book three are so hurried. Yes, war is hell, and yes, that was a realistic way that people would die. But great books go beyond realistic. Time is elastic, and it bends with the characters' emotions. Katniss must have been devastated by those deaths, and yet we get little to no sense of that. Only frenzy and yet more morphine. There is no sense or point left other than that war is hell and life is random.At the beginning of the series, I'd hoped to conclude much more than that.
i did think the ending was too rushed, but the worst part was Prim. Basically the entire thing started because Katniss was trying to protect Prim in the first book. Killing her off at the end sorta ruined the entire cause, sont you think?
Érika wrote: "Needmorebooks wrote: "i did think the ending was too rushed, but the worst part was Prim. Basically the entire thing started because Katniss was trying to protect Prim in the first book. Killing he..."ikr? it was sooo scrwed up!
maybe Collins wanted it as a last act of power or somethign along those lines...
i can't believe how terrible the ending was! I actually like how there was a page or two telling us about peeta and katniss in the future, but there should have been something like that for more characters, expecially Gale!
Eric wrote: "I strongly agree with Lord Horatio's rant. The emotional impact of Rue's death is so huge, while the many deaths in book three are so hurried. Yes, war is hell, and yes, that was a realistic way ..."Samantha wrote: "Tegan wrote: "It wasn't rushed, I think it was just made to read that way stylistically, especially towards the end.
As for the Gale/Peeta comments: the whole relationship issue I'm in two minds..."
I agree with both of you.
WHY DOES PEETA HAS 2 GO CRAZY!!! ITS ALL THE STUPID PRESIDNET'S FAULT!!!!
I usually don't write reviews, but this book deserves one, but not for the good reasons. I was disappointed that in the first 2 books, she described Katniss as strong, ready to fight, that she was going to do something amazing at the climax of the serie. But, i felt like she was just a witness in the plot. Her going nuts was really at the opposite of all the foreshadowing the author had written in the preceding novels. When the group finally reached the presidents mansion, oops, the revolution was almost completed. Well, we followed Katniss for nothing. Oops, her sister dies. Then, she decides she wants to organise another Hunger games, a position against all her values and everything she said in books 1 and 2. The author storyline was just off-track and lack emotional connection and continuity.
Some folks have made the point that Prim and Finnick's deaths seemed so empty, and I have to agree. I literally cried when Rue died -- both in the book and in the movie. I got pretty teary when Mags walked into the poison gas. But Finnick and Prim? In both cases, I had to go back and reread to make sure I noticed they even died. That's not right. These are characters in which we have invested time and emotional energy. Collins worked hard to make us care about Finnick after he started by being such a shallow jerkface.
Yet neither of their deaths made me feel a thing. That's a problem because we were supposed to feel something I think.
I love the series...but 3rd is not my favorite book of all..!!i like the ending though....although it didnt explain all the loose ends...it gave an overall value to the 2 preceding books..!!
but story and portraying of characters felt disoriented and misplaced...and finnick's death is something to be the most disappointing thing...!!
and the devastating thing is prim's death...i mean...the reason y hungergames began for katniss is disolved at the end of story? its just didnt come out good..!!
I thought the end was a well boring. I think that the story would have been better if the epilogue was longer wit more detail as to what everyone now did and how the people lived then. The characters weren't given full and conclusive endings. If anything they should have had funerals for all those that died for the cause.
Jeff wrote: "I think that those with military experience, particularly those who have deployed, can probably better relate with Katniss in this third book. She is essentially going through her THIRD Hunger Gam..."Thanks for providing some real life. Senseless deaths occur during war and the innocent die. I don't think Katniss could have performed her last act of defience if Prim had not died. People marry for all sorts of reasons and love comes in many flavors. There's the love that sets your heart racing and there's the love that makes you feel safe. Romantically we want them both from the same person but life isn't always that easy. Katniss had always loved Peeta but did not understand what she felt.
regarding the "love triangle" my main issue is that it just wasnt fleshed out. i know people say "but the books were about war/mayhem/survival, etc". okay that's fine. then Collins shouldnt have focused so much on the katniss/peeta romance in book 1, if she wasnt willing to flesh out the romance plotline in the subsequent books. the first book was just all kinds of right, with the subject matters balanced almost perfectly. i think Collins got a little lost in CF (but i still liked the book) and further lost with Mockingjay, which i didnt like so much. and it's not because key characters died...(although the character deaths would have meant more to me if some of them werent so random...Prim, Snow, etc). and again, i just felt like there was too much going on and not enough fleshed out. i actually had to go back and reread what the hell happened to Gale. so he went off to what, pick his nose in district 2?? and a little more substance to Peeta and Katniss's reunion would have been more than welcome...i dont think readers would have bitched about 50 extra pages just to get some decent closure there. which, btw, it was always pretty obvious to me that she would end up with Peeta after reading HG. there was just too much focus on it and Collins spent way too much time getting us to like Peeta...i didnt feel that same type of focus on Gale, even in book 3. he never became more than a one dimensional character to me. i think Collins was clumsy about the "love triangle", but even with the clumsiness, it just seemed obvious that katniss would end up with peeta....right down to the dandelion metaphor mentioned in like the first 50 pages or something in HG. and the subtle focus on the kissing...Katniss never really mentions feeling longing/hunger/whatever with Gale, like she does with Peeta. but again, that triangle really needed to be fleshed out more and i think it could have been easily done if a few minor plot points could have been taken out of the third book. a lot of what went in in book 3 just seemed kind of pointless to me. idk, again, it's like Collins got lost or something. i get that she probably did have this overall vision, and that the orginial book was not about the actual games, not really, but about the bigger picture of what was coming. but still, it seems that she didnt really take the time to figure out what she was trying to accomplish in book 3. it's like she got caught up in the mayhem too! i hope the film adaptations are able to calm some of this down...and i cant believe im saying this....but i hope the films take a little liberty to put some sh*t back together that otherwise will be a mess if taken directly from the books. CF might be okay....but Mockingjay is going to need some serious work for a successful film adaptation. HG was amazing, both in book and film, and i sort of wish the series ended there. bc really, i just cant say anything negative about the book and everything melded together pretty perfectly.
Like others, I felt like the 3rd book was 'off' from the rest. It didn't have the cohesion the other books did. Book 1 was great through and through (the movie even did it justice). Book 2 was pretty good UP to the point of the games, then it started going down hill pretty fast. Book 3, it was crashing and burning all the way through. Katness was just a headcase and whiny lil girl throughout book 3. This didn't gel with the strength she showed for the first 2 books (and throughout the 4+ years before the books even started as she feeding her family at 11) My top complaints about the 3rd book.
Peeta gets screwed. He basically is a mental case with still the hopeless romantic syndrome and he never recovers. While I can normally swallow this for side characters, or characters who have it coming... Collin let us invest ourselves into Peeta throughout books 1 and 2. Besides being 'crazy' in book 3, he doesn't really get much page time and he did in the other two books. He doesn't save anyone, he doesn't help anyone, he doesn't talk anyone out of anything... he's stripped of anything we become to value from him, besides his innocence, which he was more than that.
Fenniks death. Again, Collins let us invest specifically into that character during the games of book 2 and continued letting us invest ourselves into the character very much so throughout book 3. Fenniks was a likable character, he was a strong fighter, and smart young adult. To just 'leave him' to the dogs to be eaten just seemed out of place. His character deserved more than that. He deserved to go down fighting.
Prim's death. While I didn't care if she died or not, (because the readers aren't invested into the character as much as say Fenniks or Peeta) Collins was trying to be realistic, but this is where she messed up. No way would a 13yr old be ferried to the front lines. If you're going to do this, why not kill off Prim and the mother. It just doesn't make much sense.
Haymitch's character. So he sobers up, becomes harsh, and then sits in the back room? Seriously, there's no way he'd want to do that. He'd want to be on the front lines. If not to take revenge to the capital, to end his own suffering (because he's sober). Then Collins sends him back to District 12 to be an endless drunk again... it just doesn't make sense.
The epilogue. Notes to self, TheHungerGames Epilogue is a PRIME example of how NOT to write an epilogue. It was garbage. Even the Harry Potter series had a better epilogue. Like others have said, should have not even written an epilogue and just left it at that. While it would be a sad ending, it wouldn't have been the garbage that Collins wrote in the epilogue.
The 3rd book seemed to be rushed to be 'assembled' but dragged on the story to fill pages. There was just stuff to be there, and very rarely had a satisfying moment in book 3. This hugely contrasted book 2 where I was smiling at the end of each chapter due to the irony.
it was kinda like ok we need to end the series lets kill everyone!!!!
I really don't have a problem with the ending, as far as the story goes. But here's the thing, I'm not really a fan of the way Collins writes in general. It's not that it's bad writing, not at all - she doesn't make you cringe, she can suck you into the story, but the way everything is put rather matter-of-factly, it made it difficult to connect to the story on a deeper emotional level. I think I most clearly felt this when Finnick was telling the secrets of the Capitol and President Snow. If there were only a few more details, a little more substance, it would have made a much bigger impact. And the sensation followed me throughout the book. It wasn't the events and the way the story enfolded that left me wanting for more, but the fact that I had no time to digest what has transpired (and probably the fact that in the last chapter there was little else than pure facts to digest) .Katniss's breakdown felt very natural to me. It's not just what she had to go through, but also the fact that Snow kept torturing her psychologically. Furthermore, she lost a number of people she used to turn to in crisis (Peeta being held captive, having in a way to rebuild the trust she had with Haymitch, even Gale not being completely honest with her). Katniss was sucked into the revolution and given a role within it. She realized the power that that role had, but she didn't nourish the ideas of a different society, nor care for them before. She was a 17-year-old girl that was never presented or envisioned as someone who could be a logistical leader of a rebellion or to rebuild a society. And while she was doing everything to survive and protect her loved ones for the most part of the story she was a pawn in a much larger game controlled by others. So the way Katniss played her role in the rebellion was logical to me, but that isn't to say that I found her to be passive.
I did feel there was some set up for the events at the end, especially with President Coin. The way 13 was organized always left me uneasy and I kept thinking that it might not be any less oppressive than Capitol, just oppressive in a different way. And when the children were bombed in front of the President's Mansion I thought it made no sense for Snow to do that, so Coin doing it did feel more probable. It would've explained why Prim was there, because she was too young to be there without special approval. Coin wanted Katniss out of her way (because as the soul and the symbol of the rebellion Katniss held some sway over the public oppinion)to the point I kinda thought that the chaos resulting in Boggs's death wasn't really accidental, and if Coin couldn't have Katniss dead she new exactly what Prims death would do to her. She even got to turn the few loyalist's Snow had against him.
Which I suppose leads to Gale. I don't think anyone can really hold him responsible for Prim's death in a direct way, but the bottom line is, I don't think that matters because those things now go hand in hand in Katniss's mind and it would be nearly impossible to prove without a shadow of a doubt that either side did or didn't do the bombing.
I didn't even think that she ended up with Peeta because the choice was made for her. Perhaps because I felt that she already leaned that way much earlier in the story, and Katniss herself says that that would've ended up being a natural choice anyway. But I always did think that once she made that choice there wouldn't be a place for both guys in her life.
Ultimately, I don't feel that the conclusion to the story should be any different but it had to be more fleshed out.
The most unrealistic point is how Katniss didn't do everything to find out who's responsible for Prim's death. She wanted to take revenge on Snow so badly that it consumed her throughout the whole book. Why when Snow gave more than a hint that Plutarch also involved in the bomb that killed Prim, he was left untouched in the story.No real winner in the war. The concept of war draining hope in humanity is truthful although I felt so drained by it and loss the anticipation in the book nearly the end.
I asked myself over what is the most disappointing aspect of the 3rd book. It's not that many main characters die (otherwise it won't be realistic), how Katniss didn't care much about anyone else in the end or so many stuff unanswered.. What break my feeling is that her self-centred characteristic was way too much beyond my comprehension.
Katniss was not that a nice person from the start and that is understandable. She had always think of herself & her family first which gave a nice contrary to Peeta. No need to mention that she did have the fire and many good qualities in her but it was all lost in the Mockingjay.
She yearned for being back with Peeta but put absolutely no effort to try to get him back. I would expected she would had negotiated that to Coin from the start even I also expected Coin would say no, brainless.
Her being so tramatized that they got to rescue Peeta and others later doesn’t’ count.
After that she found Peeta was hi-jacked, she distanced herself and gave up on him too easily. It didn’t come across her thought, while she was being victimized herself and wanted to kill Snow, that she could have done something to help bringing Peeta back. If you think about it, this version of Katniss to way too self-centered.
I felt like the author betray original Katniss character in the 3rd book although I am not the one to judge it.
I was very disappointed with the last book. The book had no sense of direction; they seemed to be trudging through the underground for the majority of the book. There was not much description of the Capitol, which is a shame because they are in it for most of the book. Also, I think the killings of the characters were okay, I felt some of them were needless. But the thing that was worst about the killings was that there was no reflection by Katniss at all EVER, of the people who were close friends and family. Something that really bugged me, was the fact that she went through all of that, for her family, even risking her life to feed them by hunting in p, and then she doesn't even stay with her mum, she ignores her. There was no inclusion of the future of the Panem, AT ALL. Also, the choice of Peeta.
I found the drugging of Katniss easier and quicker way of telling the reader what happened; something important would happened, then blackness, then she would wake up in a hospital bed, and someone would come through and tell her in approximately a paragraph everything that happened in the few days that she was unconscious. I feel like the plot-style paragraph was a lazy way to explain to the reader what happened.
However, I did find the killing of Prim very sad but necessary, with the use of Gale's idea for the bomb, because it adds realism to the story.
Generally, I found it hard to pick up, which was the complete antithesis of the other in the series, because I feel it lacked plot, emotions and Katniss didn't seem to care for anyone. I feel that Collins perhaps made her too heartless and cold, when the reason for the whole rebellion was for the hate of the Capitol, and for her family and friends freedom.
Me. I find it disappointing cuz there were no hunger games inside. :)
My first reaction to the end was 'What!?!? That's it?!?' But looking back now it ended with how life might happen, not the happily ever after that books seem to always give us. I feel like Peeta was exactly what Katniss needed in the end. Gale wouldn't have been able to relate to the things that she had experienced. Great series!
I think the reason why a lot of people find it disappointing was because they were expecting a happy ending....but this was never a romance novel. I didn't like that prim, finnick and cinna died though, especially prim since she volunteered to save her life in the reaping which started the rebellion in the first place so at least she shouldn't have been killed off just as the rebellion was ending.
I appreciate Suzanne's daring in taking us out of our comfort zone. However, the whole book is a botch. Katniss is too passive. She literally spends a large part of the book hiding in closets. Coin isn't in the book often enough to justify her being as evil as Collins wants to make her. (I'm referring to Coins responsibility for the bombing of those Capitol kids.) Paylor isn't in the book often enough to give us confidence that her "election" at the end would result in a better future for Panem. Without these things, all the deaths of -- Finnick, Boggs, Prim, even Coin -- seem pointless. Yes, for me that's the real reason all those deaths are unjustified. It's impossible to tell if they were worth anything.
While I enjoyed the books, it felt that Collins had maybe two novels worth of story. I would not be surprised that someone, perhaps the publisher, read the manuscript and convinced her that trilogies were the big thing.
I didn't like this book as much as the other books. I agree that the ending was rushed. I hated how Peeta acted to Katniss in the book.
Alison wrote: "Well, not to completely put the book down (because the series is by far my favorite series!) but it seemed that Katniss was kind of...depressed the whole book. She just lost her spirit, I guess you..."i completely agree
I'll say this right now, I haven't read Mockingjay in a while, so I don't remember the books as clearly as I'd like to. "Mockingjay" was my least favorite of the three books. The pacing seemed kind of off, like it was a sort of dream world. Also, Katniss was in a constantly depressed and angry state during the course of almost the whole book. At the end, the change to "Oh, I'm so happy with Peeta in our new world" seemed too abrupt and almost out of character.
Does make you wonder if Collins may have had a slightly (or very) different ending in mind, but editors jumped in.
I agree with anyone who thought the ending was rushed. I was left hanging at the thought of how the people of Panem treated Katniss in the end, after she killed Panem's new leader. Was she a heroin or a traitor? Why was she left alone living her life? Did nobody care(the citizens) about her anymore?
119 wrote: "I agree with anyone who thought the ending was rushed. I was left hanging at the thought of how the people of Panem treated Katniss in the end, after she killed Panem's new leader. Was she a heroin or a traitor? Why was she left alone living her life? Did nobody care(the citizens) about her anymore?"She was acquitted on grounds of insanity, which was mighty lucky for her.
One thing that disappointed me was, did Panem become a free country? We aren't told, largely because we see so little of Paylor (Coin's successor) in the novel. What did Paylor do during her Presidency to make things better? Why did Coin's District 13 officers find Paylor acceptable? Why didn't the death of Coin lead to a new civil war? It's as if Collins lost interest in the book she was writing, got bored with it.
I actually really liked the last book because it was the only one of the three wherethey weren't back in the arena. I was really excited to find out what was going to happen with Peeta and Katniss and that there was finally a different plot and battle that they were involved in. I enjoyed the battle throughout the streets with the pods and things that trapped them. It was more intense in a way because you didn't fully know what the characters were going to do in this new situation.If anything, I found that the second book was more disappointing because Snow made all of the previous winners go back into the arena. I was really mad at Collins for doing that. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED all of the books, but that really ticked me off. It felt like the same plot re-hatching itself all over again even with the different arena and characters.
TEAM GALE!
Alison wrote: "Well, not to completely put the book down (because the series is by far my favorite series!) but it seemed that Katniss was kind of...depressed the whole book. She just lost her spirit, I guess you..."I agree!
Does anyone else feel like Collins missed a great opportunity for a wicked fight scene against Snow? All I wanted was for her to kick his ass, but instead she gets him handed to her on a platter!! The action in this trilogy was amazing until the third book. Mockingjay was so bad, it made me doubt my initial feelings about the first two books. I wish I hadn't read it. *sigh*
Yes, there should have been a dramatic confrontation between Katniss and Snow at the climax of the revolution. But that's only the beginning of the problems. Collins spent 2 and 1/2 books telling us the Capitol doesn't produce anything but the Hunger Games and oppressive laws, so storming the Capitol was completely unnecessary. A couple of weeks of siege would have been enough for force the Peacekeepers to surrender. From the start of the book, Katniss is so hurt by the firebombing of her home town (District 12) that she blames herself for the attack. She spends much of the book in hiding. There are some combat scenes for her, but I wanted more combat scenes, in all parts of the country, except not in the Capitol. Make Katniss the hero I thought I saw in the making in the first two books. Then have her and Coin and Boggs and a few bodyguards flown into the city by hovercraft to receive Snow's surrender.More should have been done with the character of Paylor, so we can feel reassured when she takes over in the end. As it is, Paylor is something of a puzzle, left uncharacterized except as somebody who's personally brave in combat and also nice to Katniss.
I was a bit disappointed with the end of gale, i felt it shouldn't have ended just like this! but i still find the book brilliant in everyway!
The last book severely dissappointed me. It seemed almost as if the inspiration had dissapeared so she quickly wrote the end of the story to pacify the people that were calling for more of the hunger games.
Yes! i thought the ending was a little satisfying, but it was almost like someone like me just writing to get the assignment done and quickly end it. But I was happy with it, that's how I wanted it to end, but it was so fast.
Yes a bit. The main thing was that I didn't think there was enough closure with the other boy (don't want to spoil it for others). On a side note, I was disappointed she didn't name her daughter, Prim. But that's just random.
Margo wrote: "Yes a bit. The main thing was that I didn't think there was enough closure with the other boy (don't want to spoil it for others). On a side note, I was disappointed she didn't name her daughter,..."That's something else...I agree lol. It's like that certain guy just disappeared and never spoke to her again! another reason why I didn't like him. He never gave her real closure about everything
I started to get disappointed from the second book in. the Hunger Games was like WOW!!!! but it just went downhill from there. the way the last book ended I wondered why the author bothered writing as trilogy at all. I 100% adored the series but I think it could have turned out much better. if I didn't like the first book so much I don't think I would have even bothered with the third. I also agree it WAS rushed. it almost seemed like the author was trying to squish too much into the trilogy, maybe one more book might have helped. even if it was just a thin one.
I don't think the last is very disappointing. It tells about the effect of war and how sometimes innocent people die. This book doesn't exactly end the way I expected, or hoped.
Yes! Too complicated of story for such an easy solution.
(Warning; spoilers for those who haven't read the book!)To be honest, this is one of the most disappointing endings to a book series I've read in a long time. Where do I start? Let's start with the ending itself. I can hardly say anything that hasn't been said already. The details are unclear, and unlike the other parts of the series that are clearly defined, the end hardly gives a fuzzy image of what happens. What I come up with is that Katniss was depressed until she had kids with Peeta. And Prim's death wasn't very well described either. Lastly, what happened to Gale?! Surely he could have come back!
The third one is the most disappointing one for me: sense of incomplete, lack of detail and (too many of) meaningless deaths
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In the first two books I was 'team gale' (although i had guessed that katniss wouldn't end up with gale) but in the last he seemed different and a bit creepy. Hmm... i guess creepy isn't a good word for him but hopefully you get my drift.
I loved Mockingjay, even if Finnick did die. The last sentence chilled me to the bone: But there much worse games to play.