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Mockingjay
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Erika, Dream Thief
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Feb 14, 2012 01:59PM
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I hated this book the first time I read it, I was really annoyed at Suzanne Collins, but rereading it now it is my favorite of the series. I don't know why, maybe I just have fresh eyes this time and can understand it more. It's absolutely amazing this time around.
I loved it.. But not near as much as the other two. I have a hard time picking a favorite of the first two lol. But Mockingjay was my boyfriends favorite
I've read this book twice. The second time was a few days ago, so it's still fresh in my mind.The first time I read it, I HATED it. Once I was done, I literally threw it down in disgust. The normally strong and independent Katniss had been turned into a weak, lovesick person. Peeta was nothing like his original self, and his continuous attempted betrayals became old. Gale and Katniss's relationship was completely ruined, and Haymitch hardly appeared.
Also, Suzanne Collins began needlessly killing people I liked left and right, and I hated the way it was a "happily ever after" ending.
Then I read it the second time.
And you know what? It wasn't actually that bad. Why? Because I had my expectations set too high the first time. I expected a book as good as the original one was, so I was severely disappointed when the book didn't come near to that caliber. So, I threw those expectations away, and came away with a pretty good story and a good overall experience.
Although this book isn't as good as the first two, it has its own merits that, in some ways, make it better than the two books that came before it.
a lot of people have been complaining about this book and the ending but i have to say that i really liked it. I thought it was a good ending. It was imperfect just like the world that Collins created.
I agree with you Jack, i think a lot of people didn't like it cause it didn't live up to the expectation they had of it.
I agree with you Jack, i think a lot of people didn't like it cause it didn't live up to the expectation they had of it.
This book is hard for me because I loved Hunger Games so much. On many levels this book just didn't live up to it which I think is why some fans don't like it. I have to admit I had a hard time getting through the last third of this book. ***Mild Spoilers***Peeta who I adore was reduced to such a different character and I felt Katniss was turned into something other then I expected of her. While I don't hate it I cannot say it was as good as the first book.
I didn't like the ending either. Overall, the book was ok, I loved the final choice she made with the arrow, but that was it. I liked it but it just left me feeling vaguely dissatisfied.I just read above and don't want you to feel that you shouldn't read this one, you should. It is good, there is just this final "but"...
Everyone I know falls into one of two camps: loved it or hated it. Most of my friends hated this book for the reasons posted above as well as others. Primarily most people I know were upset because there wasn't a happy ending to the series, and the epilogue just seemed to be the calm in the storm, but neither of the other books had even remotely happy endings. The realism of the series (particularly in the current political climate of global unrest) seemed to lend itself more to the ambivalent ending. Moreover, Collins even said that she intended the series to be about the horrors of war (just for young adults). I agree that it didn't really end happily and wasn't as good as The Hunger Games, but I felt it was better than Catching Fire, and the ending seemed to fit more with the overall series than anything happier would have been. In all, I thought this was a fantastic book and quite possibly the perfect end to the series.
i think the reason everyone didn't like mockingjay as much was because it didn't have what made the other two so great: the gamesand also most of it was planning the rebellion, not actually carrying it out
:(
I really liked the book. I thought it ended the series well, even though I had minor withdrawals once it was over. My only complaint is the death of Prim. Wasn't the whole point of Katniss volunteering for the Hunger Games to save her sister? Only so she could get blown to bits at the end?! Sad. But I suppose it added a little bit of a realistic finish to the story. I know some think the Katniss/Peeta/Gale love triangle was a bit sappy, but I think it was one of the reasons I couldn't put the book down. I admit it! I wanted to know who she would end up with. And I was pleasantly satisfied with the result!
i loved mockingjay but was annoyed that suzanne collins killed off so many people, like prim and especially finnick just after he got annie back!!
i also can't beleive her mum wasnt even there at the end!!! she was basically all alone! :(
i need to stop reading reviews of this book untill i actually get round to reading it... :L
Caitlin wrote: "i think the reason everyone didn't like mockingjay as much was because it didn't have what made the other two so great: the gamesand also most of it was planning the rebellion, not actually carryi..."
I was thinking the same thing! The Games are sooo interesting, and there's really nothing about them in the last one...I guess I can understand, though. It must've been hard enough coming up with a reason to send Katniss into the arena a second time, let alone a third.
I completely agree when I first read it I thought it was a horrible ending. Susan killed of to many favourite characters and left all of the remaining ones either so mentally distraught that they drunk themselves shitless or were too depressed to do anything. Then the ones that actually were up and about were abandoned in another district working! Like da fuck? I really did not like the third book as much as the other too. But as others says maybe its because there was no hunger games in it??
I completely loved Mockingjay. I was actually pretty shocked when I realized a lot of people didn't like it. I just felt the ending, although sad, was very realistic. I liked that it didn't end all happily ever after because I just think it wouldn't make sense if it had ended that way. I mean this series is about kids killing kids. There's no way this series could've ended with big smiles. The deaths just added a great emotion to the story. I was balling my eyes out and I think that's the emotion it needed to have. Oh and I also loved that she ended up with Peeta. That was like the hope that even though all of these terrible thing had happened, that life could still go on.I dunno, maybe I'm the only one that feels this way. But yeah, I loved the ending.
Jack wrote: "I've read this book twice. The second time was a few days ago, so it's still fresh in my mind.The first time I read it, I HATED it. Once I was done, I literally threw it down in disgust. The norma..."
I agree with you when you say that it was disappointing because of your expectations. I was late to the whole HG series. I only read the first one shortly after Mockingjay was released. After reading and enjoying the Hunger Games in one sitting (11 hours!) I read Catching Fire just a few days later. Towards the end of CF i realized that the story was going to become darker. And so when I eventually read Mockingjay, I was unsurprised and felt that Katniss's story had come to a logical end. For me Mockingjay was great.
Kati wrote: "I completely loved Mockingjay. I was actually pretty shocked when I realized a lot of people didn't like it. I just felt the ending, although sad, was very realistic. I liked that it didn't end all..."Nope you're not the only one who feel that way. Couldn't have said it better myself! :)
Jack wrote: "I've read this book twice. The second time was a few days ago, so it's still fresh in my mind.The first time I read it, I HATED it. Once I was done, I literally threw it down in disgust. The norma..."
I completely agree with you!
At first I did not like Mockingjay AT ALL. Then I reread it a few times and I liked it better. I still think HG and CF were better but after rereading it and thinking about it, I like Mockingjay. Although I really wish Prim survived.
I liked Mockingjay. I thought it was hard to read when Finnick and expecially Prim died. But that made it more realistic. At the end, when Katniss was so destroyed that seemed like a good ending after everything she went through. Of course, I am glad in the very end she and Peeta had their happily ever after, but it was a long time coming.
Definitely not as good as the other two :(
I'm just saying that it should have been less rushed at the end, not that I didn't like it, cause I actually did. Sorry if that came out wrong :(
Evelyn Grey wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Definitely not as good as the other two :("I DISAGREE! no offence but in my opinion you are completely wrong! this one was actually pretty good. except for what happened to Petta! :("
I disagree with this statement.
I think this was the worst of the trilogy. It felt rushed, and the characters weren't the same.
Caitlin wrote: "i think the reason everyone didn't like mockingjay as much was because it didn't have what made the other two so great: the gamesand also most of it was planning the rebellion, not actually carryi..."
I have to agree with you! :) Its the lack of the games! - Oh well I liked it! It wasn't as good as the previous ones but it wasn't bad either
this book was the one which was ruined
I'm going to have to echo what a few people have said already. At first, I hated the ending. I was furious that certain people had died, furious that certain other people had seemingly abandoned Katniss, furious (view spoiler)But it was right. It really was. For all the excitement, we too easily forget that this is a dystopian novel about a world gone very wrong. I think that in wishing for more blood, more games, but still a pretty little bow tying everything up at the end that we become more like the world in the books than we would care to admit.
The world in HG is broken. There are real, immediate prices to be paid. Collins works hard to keep the world of Panem and its inner workings realistic and plausible, because it is that very realism and plausibility that make the stories both horrifying and fascinating. Even in the slightly neater revolutions that have taken place in history (American Rev., French Rev., etc.), a victory does not equal peace. There are still feuds and concessions and bad blood. The districts of Panem have nearly a century of history and bad blood to deal with, and we expected Katniss and Peeta to say a few pretty words, shoot a figurehead baddie, and fix everything magically?
Tying up everything would have been a cop-out. Collins did what made sense.
Yeah but after everything Katniss had suffered it would have been nice to just forget about real life for a minute and give her, at least, a fairly happy ending.
It's fairly happy. She has Peeta, future children. She has peace, if only for herself.
Addendum: I have to thank you all, because I was struggling for a post on my blog this week, so I took the Mockingjay discussion and turned it into a full-fledged apology (in the debate sense). http://shelversanon.blogspot.com/2012...
I loved this book. I read so many reviews that said Katniss turned into a weak girl, I even think the word love sick was used. My take is completely different. Put yourself in Katniss's shoes with all the lose, being manipulated, betrayals, etc. In the end, she defeated her enemies, and in time opened herself up and allowed herself to love. She never thought she'd have that. What better way could it end than with her able to live a life not of war, fighting, politics, and such, but in her home, watching it be reborn, with Peeta and her people by her side? I thought it was wonderful.
Hahahaha"Finnick?" katniss says. "Maybe some pants?'
He looks down at his legs as if noticing his outfit for the first time. then he whips of the hospital gown, leaving him in just his underwear. "why? Donyou find this"-- he strikes a ridiculously provocative pose-- "distracting?" p.79
this book was....frustrating. Sometimes I wanted to chuck it across the room and other times I hugged it! Embarassing I know but....I have such mixed feelings about this book...I guess I kinda knew that finnick was gonna go but she made his death....unimportant...
I was really disappointed by Mockingjay. I thoroughly enjoyed Hunger Games and thought Catching Fire was a good sequel, but I really didn't care for this one. Sure, there were some exciting scenes and clever twists, but I found much of the writing tedious and was eager for the story to end. I thought it was over the top, reminding me of a Hollywood summer blockbuster. The ending was particularly disappointing. Collins handled the love triangle so brilliantly throughout the series, and then it just fizzles.
In my opinion, the first two volumes worked well because Collins balanced the frightening material with humor, romance, and a sense of hopefulness and triumph over dark forces. For me, she failed to achieve this balance in Mockingjay, leaving the reader with only bleak despair.
Michael wrote: "I was really disappointed by Mockingjay. I thoroughly enjoyed Hunger Games and thought Catching Fire was a good sequel, but I really didn't care for this one. Sure, there were some exciting scene..."
I disagree. Well, I disagree now. I thought the same thing when I first finished the book. I was ticked off at how it ended, how dark it was. Then I really started thinking about it.
My full explanation is here: http://shelversanon.blogspot.com/2012... but basically, I think Collins chose the best possible scenario that still fit the world she had created. The proper feel and consequences were there. And there was still hope, despite it all.
I'm not convinced by your argument. Could it be that your initial disappointment with the novel was on target, but that was too painful so you rationalized yourself out of it? Just asking... :)
I actually felt like this was my favorite of the three books. While I think violence and the killing off of characters is overdone in a lot of books, I think for her book it was an interesting commentary on war; eventually even the good guys start doing bad things. In the end Katniss has to face the fact that often times you can't save the world. But if you can find peace in one person, and pass that happiness on to others then that doesn't make everything better, but sometimes it's enough.
Michael wrote: "I'm not convinced by your argument. Could it be that your initial disappointment with the novel was on target, but that was too painful so you rationalized yourself out of it? Just asking... :)"Nah. I already had the niggling feeling that Collins had made the right choice even as I was throwing books around. What do you feel is incorrect or less than convincing?
OK start and good middle of the book, but the ending ruined it. It showed that nothing changed in Panem. There was no moral, either, with this ending, but i loved how katniss shot coin instead of president snow! coin annoyed me
sorry about the spoiler. i didnt think before i wrote.
I have such torn feelings about this book! On the one hand I loved the planning, the fight, the deaths (even though they seemed too planned), the way katniss ended up and what happened to peeta. Those were good parts of the book. But on the other hand why have certain characters turn out the way they did? The book also seemed to drag. I know the other books had more action because of the games but some part in MJ were just too lengthy. I'm not upset about Prim. She was the reason katniss entered the games but not the reason she stayed. What I did not like was the fact that her friendship was ruined with her best friend!! and the reasoning behind it as well!!! There could have been various other reason to make the decision she made instead of Collins giving her Prim as reassurance. Like I said I'm torn but I think I'm leaning towards the negative side personally.
I've heard a lot of people complain about this book, but I've got to say, I don't agree with any of them. For one, they complain that there wasn't another Hunger Games, but given how the second book ended I don't see how she could've made another Games and make it logical at the same time. I thought that she did a great job finishing off the story and I thought that Katniss did the right thing in the end. What's the point to all their suffering if nothing ever changes?
So... I was ready to see what happens to Katniss and Peeta then when it ended I was like :o. So yeah I didnt like the endinng though.
I hated this book. Sorry but I really do. I enjoyed The Hunger Games, thought Catching Fire was OK but I HATED this one. The ending. It may sound slightly drastic but I will never read the series again, nor see the movies for the second two book. I went from liking and admiring Katniss as a character to hating and despising her. when she said yes to the Hunger Games, I very nearly threw the book on the floor and refused to read the end. I wish I had. It just got worse.
Hai wrote: "The ending was so morbid but i felt it fitted with the series perfectly :)"I felt the same about it!! (:
