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A review by analenegrace
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Mockingjay was my comfort book in high school; whenever I was stressed or anything, I would reread it and revel in the ending. Now, at 22, I am shocked by my high school self for this...
This book really encapsulates the journey that Katniss is taking throughout these books; at the end of the day, she is seeking peace more than anything, and while she will never fully have that, she achieves that somewhat with a whole lot of heartbreak first. I think Mockingjay does some of the best world-building of the whole series with the descriptions of the capitol, District 13, and their entire society through Katniss's thoughts. Collins doesn't information dump about her universe but instead gives it to us slowly when it matters, which works so perfectly in this case.
This book is so much about Katniss's internal struggles as it is about the war she's thrust into the middle of. She clearly has severe PTSD, and I really appreciate how realistically Collins portrays Katniss and Peeta's disabilities here. The epilogue is probably one of the most important pieces of literature to me; while some don't think it, I think it takes all of what Katniss has felt about children and shows us what peace can bring. Throughout the books, Katniss never says that she doesn't want her own kids; instead, she is always expressing her unwillingness to put a child into the Hunger Games and the fact that romance is simply not something she can worry about in the world she was raised in. She is able to eventually love Peeta and feel sexual attraction again, which I think is a super important part of her recovery here. Her children represent the future of their world in this nebulous 20 years or so into the future, where Katniss is able to experience some sort of recovery and actual happiness (yes, maybe I am tearing up writing this!).
I also want to touch on Collins' representation of war and revolution. It is so different from others in her genre, and I appreciate that so much. She is willing to show the actual struggles of war, empathy versus righteous anger through Gale and Peeta in most of the series, and then actually, as we see Katniss have to struggle to overcome her own anger, which she isn't able to do often. Katniss is not a perfect hero, and honestly, not even a hero. She is a scared girl willing to do what she needs to do to survive and protect those she loves, and it's not until Mockingjay that she's even willing to be a revolutionary, and even then, only really to protect those she cares for.
I would maybe cry meeting Suzanne Collins with the way these books have shaped me, and even now in my adulthood, how they make me think so much.
This book really encapsulates the journey that Katniss is taking throughout these books; at the end of the day, she is seeking peace more than anything, and while she will never fully have that, she achieves that somewhat with a whole lot of heartbreak first. I think Mockingjay does some of the best world-building of the whole series with the descriptions of the capitol, District 13, and their entire society through Katniss's thoughts. Collins doesn't information dump about her universe but instead gives it to us slowly when it matters, which works so perfectly in this case.
This book is so much about Katniss's internal struggles as it is about the war she's thrust into the middle of. She clearly has severe PTSD, and I really appreciate how realistically Collins portrays Katniss and Peeta's disabilities here. The epilogue is probably one of the most important pieces of literature to me; while some don't think it, I think it takes all of what Katniss has felt about children and shows us what peace can bring. Throughout the books, Katniss never says that she doesn't want her own kids; instead, she is always expressing her unwillingness to put a child into the Hunger Games and the fact that romance is simply not something she can worry about in the world she was raised in. She is able to eventually love Peeta and feel sexual attraction again, which I think is a super important part of her recovery here. Her children represent the future of their world in this nebulous 20 years or so into the future, where Katniss is able to experience some sort of recovery and actual happiness (yes, maybe I am tearing up writing this!).
I also want to touch on Collins' representation of war and revolution. It is so different from others in her genre, and I appreciate that so much. She is willing to show the actual struggles of war, empathy versus righteous anger through Gale and Peeta in most of the series, and then actually, as we see Katniss have to struggle to overcome her own anger, which she isn't able to do often. Katniss is not a perfect hero, and honestly, not even a hero. She is a scared girl willing to do what she needs to do to survive and protect those she loves, and it's not until Mockingjay that she's even willing to be a revolutionary, and even then, only really to protect those she cares for.
I would maybe cry meeting Suzanne Collins with the way these books have shaped me, and even now in my adulthood, how they make me think so much.