Mockingjay

Most people I know who have read The Hunger Games trilogy flew through all three books unable to put them down. If you have been following my blog, you know that I had to take breaks between them for my mental sanity since I get so into the reading experience. Several weeks ago I was finally ready to pick up the last book of the trilogy, Mockingjay, and fly through it. Oh. My. Goodness. Mere words can not even begin to describe the depth of feeling this book elicited in me. It is, hands down, my favorite of the trilogy. I absolutely LOVED it.

Mockingjay picks up right where Catching Fire left off, with Katniss’ world flipped completely upside down. Whether she intended to or not, she has set in motion a rebellion against the Capitol and it is time for her to figure out what her role in the events unfolding around her is going to be.

From the very start, this book was full of intense emotion. The devastation that has already taken root inside of Katniss and grows throughout the book was very difficult to read. Her pain is so acute, so real, I could feel it in the core of my own spirit. While there were still moments that she drove me crazy and made me want to reach through the pages to throttle her, those moments were much fewer. She had already been through so much and it only got worse as the pages were turned, there was no way that I could not sympathize with her. There could be a whole series of essays written on her character development over the course of the three books, but suffice it to say, that my opinion of the Katniss we meet at the beginning of The Hunger Games and the one we have at the end of Mockingjay is completely different. I just…I think about her now and my heart aches for all she has suffered.

Without spoiling anything, I have to say that one of my favorite – and most hated – aspects of the book was the plot surrounding Peeta. I mean, wow. It was absolute torture to read some of those scenes involving him, hence the hate, but the ways in which those events affected, not only his character, but Katniss and many others as well, was brilliant writing. Reading his story in this book was one of the most harrowing things I have ever read. It pulled at me even more deeply than all that Katniss faced. Peeta had been one of my favorite characters from the very beginning and what he went through physically hurt me. And that is a mark of good writing.

I have heard from many people, both online and in life, that they did not like the ending. While I can understand why people feel that way, I in no way share that opinion. I thought that the ending was perfect. I really don’t see how the book could have ended any differently with all of the things that these people, these teenagers, had been through. The ending felt organic to the story that had been told. It left me completely satisfied and resonated within me. Any other ending that attempted to be more saccharine would have felt false, forced. It would not have had the same impact that made this one of those stories that will stay with me forever.

There is so much more that I could say about this book, but it would probably just begin to be redundant, so I will stop here. With the first two books I knew that I had found something special, a series that I would love, but it wasn’t until Mockingjay that I understood just how much. Not since the Harry Potter series or Deerskin has a book affected me so much. After I closed the cover I sat there thinking about the characters and story, and I cried for an hour. These characters are now a part of me. Their story is a part of me. Forever.

Have you read Mockingjay? What did you think of it? Were you satisfied with the ending? What parts did you like? Dislike? Let me know in the comments.

The Hunger Games

For quite some time now I have been hearing about Suzanne Collins’ book The Hunger Games from a plethora of sources, all of which had good things to say. Naturally this made me want to check it out. I started it this past Friday when I had about an hour break. I thought it was interesting, but I was ok with putting it down until later. When I picked it up again that night it was suddenly 2 AM and I had finished the book. Whoa…how did that happen???

The Hunger Games follows the story of Katniss Everdeen who is a 16 year old in the post-apocalyptic world called Panem. Every year one boy and one girl are chosen from each of the 12 Districts to compete in the Hunger Games where the winner is the last one alive. In order to save her younger sister, Katniss volunteers to be the girl from her District. The reader is then taken with her as she attempts to survive the Games.

There were a lot of things I didn’t really care for about the book, but as evidenced through how quickly I read it I still became completely captivated by the story and it’s characters. My biggest gripe is that the story is told in 1st person present tense narration through Katniss, or as Kristen Lamb calls it “come along with me” narration. This is my absolute least favorite type of narration. It reminds me of the old film noir movies where the detective is narrating everything in a detached monotone and that was exactly the feeling I got from the book. The narration felt clipped and often void of all emotion.

Even though I didn’t like it, I understood why Collins chose to write her book this way. Katniss comes from a world where she faces the threat of starvation daily and has to watch everything she says and does for fear of being deemed a traitor. She has learned to essentially turn off her emotions and the style of narration demonstrates this and really fits with her personality. I just personally didn’t care for it and, as a side note, while I liked her more and more as the story went on Katniss was not my favorite character.

But that’s enough of the bad. It is a testament to how engrossing the story is that I was able to forget about all I just mentioned and actually really enjoyed reading it. There is a great cast of supporting characters, especially Rue and Peeta, who we truly grow to love and the action of the plot always has an undercurrent of intensity that keeps us turning the pages. Even in the quiet and touching moments we are constantly aware of the fact that someone could appear at any moment to kill our favorite characters.

Once I got into the story I obviously couldn’t put it down, but when I was actually finished with it I was filled with mixed emotions. Part of me absolutely loved it yet at the same time I was so frustrated with Katniss that I wanted to scream. Her character grows leaps and bounds through the story, but she can still be incredibly dense which causes her to do things that drive me crazy! The fact that The Hunger Games was able to evoke such strong emotions out of me, however, shows what a good book it really is. I am hoping that after I read the rest of the series my frustrations will be resolved.

What about you? If you’ve read it did you like it? What did you like or not like? Did the narration style bother you?