MOCKINGJAY: NOW WITH SPOILERS
MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins
Now that the last book of this trilogy is finished, what do I have to look forward to? I feel bereft, a bit like I did at the end of HARRY POTTER. Alas, alas, alas.
(Actually, I have plenty to look forward to. MONSTERS OF MEN, for one. Also, THE CLOCKWORK ANGEL is on my list of books to read next.)
That being said, I feel the need to write a slightly longer, more emotional reaction-based review of MOCKINGJAY because ZOMG. I got this book at midnight and finished reading in the wee hours of the morning because I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. Oh Suzanne Collins. You are good at writing teh crack.
Warning: SPOILERS BENEATH THE CUT.
First, despite my claimed abhorrence for FEEEEEEEELINGS, here is what I have to say about my FEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS when it comes to the FEEEEEEEEEEELINGS in this trilogy. You know. That infernal Team Peeta vs. Team Gale debate.
So, here it is:
BOOYAH. TEAM PEETA FOR THE WIN.
But. But. I feel that the romantic conclusion of this trilogy is moot. This young girl at the midnight release party sums it up best.
Books of Wonder Owner: Who do you think Katniss should end up with: Peeta or Gale?
11-Year-Old Girl: I don’t know. I don’t really care. It’s her decision!
DAMN RIGHT. YOU GO, GIRL.
Romance? Irrelevant. It’s not about whether or not Katniss chooses someone, and while I love Peeta, I did not walk away from this book cheering that my team (whatever that means) “won”.
It’s a horrible way to talk about relationships anyway, winning or losing.
So let’s talk about this book as a whole. Which…destroyed me. It was one of those novels that made me mull, unable to say unequivocally I loved it! or I hated it!
Of course I didn’t hate it. It was simply too good for me to do anything but be in awe of it. But awe doesn’t exactly inspire the same emotional reactions as “love” or “hate”, and it certainly isn’t one of those books that takes you for an emotional thrill ride. (Even though it does rip my heart out several times.) Unlike the end of say, KUSHIEL’S AVATAR–which is emotionally satisfying–MOCKINGJAY is in many ways a chronicle of the atrocities of war. To steal from another YA series, “war makes monsters of men”. You don’t necessarily walk away from Chinua Achebe’s THINGS FALL APART saying “I loved it!”
In this regard, I find MOCKINGJAY rather close to the conclusion of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Some things you can’t go back from. Some wounds will never truly heal. Some things, once experienced, can never be unlived. What I did not realize I wanted from this book was a resounding emotional climax and conclusion: President Snow defeated! A new order is established! Things are good! Katniss and Peeta live happily ever after!
No. The world does not work that way. Those who have witnessed the horrors of war know that the world does not work this way. Tolkien was a soldier in the Great War and saw many of his boyhood friends die. Collins’ father was a veteran of Vietnam. Things do not return to status quo, nor do they get “better”. You live with your scars.
Guh.
I think it’s a fitting end for the girl on fire, who wasn’t even the girl on fire by choice. Manipulated and used as a pawn from beginning to end–by both the Capitol and the rebels, her only real desire from start to finish was to survive. And that’s what she does. She survives. And continues to live on. The ending of the novel is so bittersweet in this way:
Peeta and I grow back together. [...] I wake screaming from nightmares of mutts and lost children. But his arms are there to comfort me. And eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive* is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion of spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.
*emphasis mine
Did I want her to “choose” Peeta like this? No. I wanted her to realize that he was good for her. I wanted them to play out their gender reversals in a happy version of District 12: her bringing home the bacon (literally) with her phallic weapons as he kept home and hearth alight. I loved that about Katniss and Peeta together: she’s stoic and he’s emotional, she’s pragmatic and he’s sensitive, she’s the hunter and he’s the nurturer. Roles traditionally ascribed to men and women have been switched in these two.
And while I think that still exists, that’s not the point. These two who have been through so much and suffered so much finally settle down for a bit of peace and quiet. It doesn’t have that resounding climax I wanted, but it feels right, even if it lacks drama.
I have issues with the book, but overall, I think it’s pretty fantastic. There are some pacing issues towards the end, not to mention the epilogue makes me angry (but I choose to ignore the epilogue’s existence). Also, Gale Hawthorne, I can’t stand you. You are a motherfucking tool. (More on that later. Maybe. If I feel up to it. And no, it has nothing to do with “the Nut” episode. Those who have read MOCKINGJAY will know what I’m talking about.)
But aside from that, I thought MOCKINGJAY was smart, a sharp critique on reality television and propaganda, as well as a powerful novel about war. Recommended. (Obviously.)
So, what did you all think?
In this regard, I find MOCKINGJAY rather close to the conclusion of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Some things you can’t go back from. Some wounds will never truly heal. Some things, once experienced, can never be unlived. What I did not realize I wanted from this book was a resounding emotional climax and conclusion: President Snow defeated! A new order is established! Things are good! Katniss and Peeta live happily ever after!
No. The world does not work that way. Those who have witnessed the horrors of war know that the world does not work this way. Tolkien was a soldier in the Great War and saw many of his boyhood friends die. Collins’ father was a veteran of Vietnam. Things do not return to status quo, nor do they get “better”. You live with your scars.
I like this part and agree with it, but I’m not understanding: you DID want the ending to be the way it was, or you wish it was a little more realistic and not so “let’s tie up the loose ends?”
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I thought the ending was realistic. I suppose I wanted the less realistic ending of Life is Beautiful Now! As in everyone gets a Happy Ending–actually “happy” instead of the gut-wrenching PTSD. And it isn’t as though the ending isn’t hopeful; it’s just not that big “fireworks explode while Katniss and Peeta kiss over a New Society” type thing that I never knew I wanted. (I blame you, Disney!)
If that makes sense.
(The epilogue makes me kind of mad, but I will choose to ignore it. Because the end of the book proper is so good.)
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Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I agree. I think she did a nice job of balancing the two – giving us our happy ending and catering to the parts of us that wanted StoryBookLand, yet not making it SO over the top happy that it was dumb (coughHARRYPOTTERcough).
Yeah, epilogue, eh. It could’ve ended on the “Real or Not Real” and been PERFECT. Ah well. The rest is so good it’s forgivable. I agree with the below posters though – BABIES IZ TEH HAPPIE! Ew.
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I know!
That’s such a beautiful ending. Much better than wondering if Kreacher will make her a sandwich, anyway.
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UGH. You HAD to remind me. ::wince::
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I HATE the “Real or not real?” thing at the end. Why can’t Katniss just come out and own her feelings FOR ONCE?
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I actually really loved the “Real or not real?” bit, mostly because it would be weird for Katniss, someone who keeps her emotions so close to the vest, to declare her love like that. I mean, she can’t even grieve over Prim.
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Were you the one who wrote this article? Well anyway, I did think that the ending was not realistic. Realistic would be if Katniss helped rebuild the world. But no, she went home and decided to be in SUPAH love forever with Peeta.
Also I don’t think that you should blame Gale for killing the kids. I think that the author did that so people wouldn’t be mad when Peeta won. And to give you Peeta-lovers amunition against team Gale people.*
*Note: I am not angry at you. Any anger is toward the book
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Why the epilogue at all? I mean, it reads like a romance, when it was WAY OVERDONE to throw in an epilogue and a kid running around to say “Look! Happy ever after! Kids are the way to happy ever after! See? Babies!!!” It was cliche as an adult book, and felt very un-YA to me.
I wanted a happier, more triumphant ending too, but you’re exactly right: that wouldn’t be realistic. And gosh, it was so well done, but it totally wrecked me. I burst into tears for half the day!
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I hated that a previously child-free by choice girl ends up acquiescing to her husband. UGH. I get that her previous stance was due to the fact that any children she might have would end up in the Hunger Games, and that she was young and her ideas might have changed.
Still, as someone who intends to stay child-free, it made me really mad.
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So… I hated the epilogue too, b/c it came off cheesy, and I think the ending of the “book proper” (as you called it) left it WAY open for children anyway. But I think Collins probably wanted to make it 100% clear how much has changed in their world by showing that Katniss, at last, felt safe enough to have children.
What upset me the most about the book, actually, was her and Haymitch agreeing to one last Hunger Games. Does anyone else wonder if that was a ploy/code, a test of Coin’s integrity? Or was Katniss really that jaded? (And if she was, would Peeta have forgiven her for agreeing to send more innocent children to their death?)
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ahhh i know i burst into tears as soon as she said yes to another hunger games. Im not sure what was going through her head!
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Fantastic review! I completely agree, especially with how things ended with Peeta and Katniss. And Gale…I have so many not-so-nice things to say about him. In the first two books Gale was an annoyance, but in Mockingjay I hated him most of the time. The book is still haunting me and I think I’ll need to read it a few more times before I can absorb it all. The series is definitely at the top of my favorite list and Collins is AMAZING!!!
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It’s always gratifying to know that I’m not the only Gale-disliker out there. (I don’t hate him. He’s too real and too human. But I think he’s a tool.)
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YES to all of your review. I liked it. The writing is so solid, how can you not? Awe is a perfect word. BUT I didn’t love it. I was able to put it down. I didn’t feel like the emotional arc for Katniss was satisfying. She survived, but did she really evolve? That’s the question I asked myself, and so far, the answer is no. From the first chapter of Hunger Games, she is a survivor of tragedy. That is not altered by the end, except extra helpings of suffering have been levied on her. I wanted more finite choices coming from her because she realized that war is ugly, making life all the more fragile. Instead, IMO she never really discovered an ability to savor those good moments or the people who loved her.
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I wanted her to work harder to win back Peeta’s love after he’s hijacked (because it’s the ONE THING everyone takes for granted–even Haymitch!), to make herself WORTHY of his affection instead of just…being with him because it’s easy. Or maybe not easy. Less painful?
It’s why I like the last few paragraphs of the book, although I wish we had SEEN her actively choose life instead of being told about it.
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I would’ve also liked to see this from the other way around; see more of Peeta’s love for her. I was always somewhat dubious about this, given they’d never really talked prior to the Hunger Games. Him being interested, having a crush, and having that evolve to full-blown love given the situation in book one? More understandable.
Which is why I was very interested when he was so skeptical of her during this book – I thought we’d get to see her win his love back, see what he loved about her in the first place and how much of that survives during times like this. I thought we’d get to see him falling in love with her anew. Instead, it goes from “skeptical” to “okay, we’re on a talking basis” to “yep, true love”.
To be honest, there are a lot of things I didn’t like. It felt like more of a draft than a completed book. Some of the emotional arcs – like this one – didn’t ring true; it’s like she still had to polish some plot lines, figure out what to chop, give Katniss more active choices to make, et cetera. I think, given Collins’s strength as a writer, it would’ve been possible to make Katniss stronger/more proactive without hurting the overall theme of ‘war destroys people’.
I also didn’t like some of the plotting – the ending with the pods in the Capitol seemed very contrived and not particularly gripping. The mutts seemed tacked-on. The entire trip ended up being for, well, nothing, really. She didn’t do anything. She got to see Prim getting blown up.
Which may be the way life is, but it’s not necessarily the way books should be. You can make the emotional impact just as messy and hard-hitting while keeping the plotting strong.
That said… said emotional impact definitely had, um, impact. The ending messed me up hardcore. Especially once Buttercup came back.
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The last quarter of the book needed much more work. Things seem to happen so quickly/perfunctorily and many big plot points happen while Katniss is unconscious/recovering. I wouldn’t have minded if this book was another 50 pages as long as the resolution didn’t get rushed.
I agree with you on Peeta’s feelings. I thought it was so brilliant that the one thing everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, took for granted was Peeta’s undying love for Katniss and IT WAS CORRUPTED. With that taken away, we would see her be more active in loving him and we would see HIM fall in love with her again–and we’d see the reasons this time. Or we should have seen it. I think if the book had been longer, we would have seen more of it and it would have felt more real.
But then again, I’ve never had problems with long books. It’s easier to cut/trim than add, after all.
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I don’t think the book needed to be longer – some of the earlier sections where she’s so inactive could’ve been trimmed, or she could’ve just weaved in bits and pieces with Peeta to at least give us a hint.
I wouldn’t have minded the book being longer, either, but it just bothers me that something both interesting and hugely important was completely glossed over while there was so much there that didn’t interest me, or wasn’t as important either plotwise or thematically.
The book just felt… unfocused. Unpolished. Like I said, it felt kind of like a draft: she got all her thoughts and ideas out on paper, and now needed to figure out which ones to lose and how to flesh out what she wanted to keep.
I did like a lot of aspects of the book – the parts that worked worked. It just could’ve been so much better that I found myself getting actively annoyed that it wasn’t. It kept me from loving it the way I wanted to.
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Corinne, I agree with virtually everything you’ve said. So much so that I’m at a loss as to how to elaborate.
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Really, really fantastic book. I agree with the pacing problems–and, WTF, Gale?–and also, I was saddened that some of the exits of important people seemed very glossed over (Finnick–*sobs*) But, of course, what I *really* wanted were those fireworks that someone mentioned (I also blame this on both Disney and years and years of romance-novel reading). Okay, so maybe not fireworks, literally…but I guess overall, I’m not really sure that Katniss grew much emotionally from book 1 to 3–I was longing for more of an emotional arc for her.
I guess the ending you quoted really ties in with Gale’s comment, about how she’d choose whoever she couldn’t survive without?
The third one was a great statement on war and survival and tied the end back to the beginning in a nifty way(I’m also ignoring the epilogue), but my definite fave is still Catching Fire. Blame it on me being a romance junkie. :D
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Me! I never realised I wanted fireworks, but apparently I did!
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Okay, I suppose this goes without saying but, my response is going to have SPOILERS as well. Fair warning to stop reading.
I agree with you about the ending. At first, I felt a little shafted because I was expecting this big realization from Katniss about her FEELINGS toward Peeta, but then I thought about how I would have wanted it done, and I couldn’t think of any other way. It fits the overall tone of the book. Actually, I think I would have been mad if Collins had spent a lot of time delving into Katniss’s internal war over FEELINGS at the end of the book.
What I did like was how everything kind of came full circle. The whole reason Katniss became the girl on fire was because she wanted to save Prim. In the end, despite everything she went through, all the horrors she faced to keep her family safe, it didn’t work. MY GOD, that destroyed me. Then the stupid cat came back and I sobbed some more. But like you said, it correlated with how things happen in war. There isn’t a big hoorah at the end with whoops and celebration. It isn’t a happy ending. It’s just over until the next time.
I also thought Gale was a huge jerk in this book. And I’m not a fan of epilogues. Didn’t like it in Harry Potter; didn’t like it in Mockingjay. Still love both authors though.
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I never liked Gale much. At the end of THE HUNGER GAMES, I was indifferent to both, although leaning Team Gale based simply on the fact that he was her friend first. And then in CATCHING FIRE, I was like PEETA I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, HATERS TO THE LEFT.
There are many reasons I started disliking Gale, but they were all exacerbated in MOCKINGJAY. I actually started making a list called REASONS I THINK GALE HAWTHORNE IS A MOTHERFUCKING TOOL.
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I had the same reaction to Gale. He had all the signs of being a radical from the beginning and they played out in MJ. I’m not sure why everyone thinks Peeta was weak. He killed in the arena. AND he was willing to sacrifice his life for Katniss time and again. Laying your life on the line is not the sign of someone who is weak.
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It’s not his radical proclivities that bothered me; they were understandable. It’s how he thinks of/treats/emotionally manipulates Katniss which made me see red.
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I also always felt like Peeta loved and accepted Katniss for exactly who she was. Gale, on the other hand, wanted her to be a certain version of herself. Not even “the best Katniss that she could possibly be,” but rather one that was more in line with *his* life philosophy and personality. To me, that’s not really love… (Or at least not the kind of love she should choose when Peeta is the alternative!)
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Am I the only who liked Gale? I mean I was never Team Gale, but I thought Gale was awesome. I probably need to reread it again to see what everyone was talking about. I thought he was complex and radically crazy. I’m almost certain I have to reread what he did to Katniss. I just saw him as being jealous, but knowing that she was completely changed from The Hunger Games. There was nothing he could do to get her back either. He kind of resigned to that fact to me.
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Page 138, Chapter 9 was when Gale lost my good opinion forever.
I only know the exact page number and chapter because I actually yelled, “TOOL, WHAT A MOTHERFUCKING TOOL” out loud. It only got worse from there. And I only dislike Gale with regards to Katniss, not as a person. Because I think he’s totally real. And sympathetic.
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I looked this up just to make sure you were talking about what I thought you were talking about… Page 138 is in Chapter Ten… And Gale’s not on that page… But page 130 (written in a funky font where the 0′s look like 8′s) is Chapter Nine and features Gale saying something that made me want to punch him.
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You are right! Whoops!
And yes. That was the line where he lost my good opinion forever. TOOL. WHAT A TOOL. And after that point in the book, all of his tool-y instances just started jumping out at me to the point where I could never see him as a viable romantic partner for Katniss (and possibly not anyone else if he’s such a manipulative bastard).
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Wow, I just reread it and now I’m like “How the heck did I miss that?” I think I was so caught up in trying to finish the book and trying to write a presentation. I remember reading it but not thinking anything of it. I really need to reread this book again. The first time I just read to find out what was going to happen, now i need to find out what actually happened.
It does change my opinion just a little, but I think I appreciate that the author went there with his character. It was convincing like you mentioned below(or above), but that part was a little jarring. I still can’t believe I missed it the first time.
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You’re not the only one. I *liked* Gale, and just like Katniss, I’d probably value a friend like him deeply. But some friends just aren’t meant to be more than that, and I think Collins firmly put Gale in that camp.
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zOMG I agree. With all. In regards to Gale, I felt the same way as you did although I did so with a bit of sadness–I felt like Suzanne Collins almost overdid it a little bit and I thought some of the things he said and did, especially toward the end (*especially* the last thing he says to Katniss) are so cruel that it actually seemed uncharacteristic of the boy I thought he was, even though I knew he was supposed to be the representative “hate begets hate” of the two boys and I knew he was already getting to the point of no return. And it was not the Nut. It was the stuff he said. *gnashes teeth* And it makes me sad b/c I wanted to give him a chance! How can one be such close childhood friends with someone only to see such a different person emerge, and why can’t the best friend be the right choice for once! But alas, Peeta is most definitely without question the other half of Katniss. He is her match, and he is not a tool. <3
My other little nitpick is I didn't particularly like the way Katniss chose to end things, per se, when the war was over. I would have liked to see her choose something other than violence to stop the violence she was so against. For me, at least, it ruined some of the symbolism throughout the book (and the series). Surely there could have been some other way to break the violence cycle instead of ironically ending that cycle with more violence. Not entirely sure what that says about how much Katniss has learned, although I am a poor literary critic and I suppose it does fit her personality.
But all in all, Mockingjay left me stunned and awed in the same way you mentioned. Out of curiosity, what didn't you like about the epilogue? I do think it was a bit cheesy but the final paragraph and final line gave me goosebumps. And today, I have bloodshot eyes and the attention span of a squirrel but that's all good. :)
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I thought Gale’s evolution was pretty convincing–he was always a bit of a firebrand and a believer of “the ends justify the means”. I didn’t feel it was overdone so much as sad that it had to happen. And what he says to Katniss at the end WAS cruel, but necessary, and I think it’s the first time really that he’s really and truly honest with her.
I have many nitpicks with the ending. Not necessarily the very end, but the climax, which felt rushed and a little confusing. Although I never felt Katniss was against violence–she thinks of herself as a ruthless killer after all–I think you’re rather right in that her emotional arc seems a bit stunted. (I wanted her to WORK for Peeta’s affections, dammit!)
The epilogue enraged me, actually. :) But that’s because in my head, I’m thinking, WHAT IS WRONG WITH BEING CHILD-FREE BY CHOICE????? The whole Babies = Future rubs me the wrong way, although I will admit that it seems right for a society that sort of desperately needs to repopulate.
Still. ARGH.
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Gale’s evolution was about 90% convincing for me; the other 10% sort of jumped out of the text at me in a jarring way. :) For example, when Gale said “That was the one thing I had going for me”, I wanted to punch him in the face b/c it just didn’t seem like something even he would say straight to Katniss’s face! Of all the people she knows, Gale should understand more than anyone how much Prim meant to Katniss. And the only thing he can say regarding Prim’s death is how it ruined his own chance to win Katniss over? I dunno….it’s probably just me. :) But I couldn’t imagine even crazybook3 Gale saying something as ignorant as that to a childhood friend. *breathes into paper bag* But you’re right, it was necessary for him to say that to really cement Katniss’s decision.
Oh I totally agree about the rushed climax. :) I felt it as well, although a part of me resigned it to the fact that I was rushing through it and so I figured it might be me, too. I had no idea what was going on half the time through just the sole action (which I thought was just due to my rushing), and sometimes I’d stop and realize a character had died and I didn’t even realize it. (Finnick! Hey what the–where did you go?! There were rat lizards??) And YES I wanted her to work for Peeta’s emotions too!! One of the things that I was always mildly annoyed with in Books 1 and 2 was Peeta’s love-no-matter-what for Katniss and I was SO happy in Mockingjay when he turned on her and started calling her out for all the mistakes she’s made with him (even tho he was possessed). I wanted to see her suffer a little bit more. I kept expecting a scene where she would run off to do something crazy that would earn her some points from Peeta.
Oh I see–yeah, I can understand that sort of sentiment against the ending. :) I do admit having trouble imagining Katniss as a mom….
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Her kids don’t even have names! (I’m sure they do, but she practically calls them Thing 1 and Thing 2.)
I thought that line about Prim seemed in line with who Gale is, but then again, he lost my good opinion on page 138, Chapter 9. ;) After that, there was no coming back for me. Tool.
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Buhaha….so true.
Oh yeah, Gale was formally awful in that scene. I think that was where he first pissed me off. (I am a dork and went hunting for the scene :) )
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I’m 36 with no kids, and… man. The last year I taught, mothers in their thirties would make the SNIDEST remarks, little digs behind smiles, because I had no kids. I know a large percentage of women who judge you SOLELY on whether or not you have kids (or how much you love kids), and they’ll only forgive you for not having kids if you’re trying and unable to conceive, and then they start pressuring you to pony up the $25,000 to adopt. (Oh RIGHT! I forgot! It’s on the tree in the backyard!)
So, yeah. I hated it. Children=happy-ever-after gets on my nerves, especially when it makes the point, “See! I’m healed from my trauma! I have KIDS! All is better! Life is perfect now!”
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Oh, the point to my rant… the epilogue felt like it was written for thirty and forty year olds, not young adults. I’m ALL for young adult literature being read by thirty and forty year olds, but… the charm of young adult literature is that it’s YOUNG ADULT literature. Not thirty- and forty-something literature.
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I respect women who choose to have children, as long as they respect my decision to remain child-free. And I liked that Katniss was staunchly anti-family in the previous books! Of course, her reasons for remaining so had a lot to do with the fear that her children would be reaped in the Hunger Games, but still, she was a real and believable child-free by choice heroine.
Of course, she was 16 at the time and yeah, yeah, yeah, her mind can change, especially with the defeat of Presidents Snow and Coin. But the language in the epilogue is the most troubling: that it took her “five, ten, fifteen years” before she agreed to it, and then it seems as though she did only because Peeta wanted them. (Argh…Peeta, don’t YOU make me lose my good opinion of you.) Her children don’t even have names in the epilogue. Argh.
And yeah, yeah, yeah, in a decimated population, it’s probably smart having children, but you know what? CHILDREN ARE NOT HAPPY FUN TIMES AND THEY DON’T HEAL EVERYTHING.
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Great review. I was team whatever-sorta-leaning Peeta, since I didn’t care much about the romance, but I think some of the responders aren’t giving Gale enough credit. If the government essentially caused my father’s death and made me live in constant terror with my family on the brink of starvation, and THEN forced me to watch my best friend become incredibly messed up on national television, I wouldn’t be so happy-go-lucky myself. I’d hate the capital people who just sat aside and watched, too.
Ditto on not liking the epilogue, but only because I liked the idea of the Hunger Games continuing on and on, but with capital brats instead. The moral ambiguity intrigued me. I could also see a future trilogy featuring President Snow’s granddaughter who worships Katniss from afar but gets thrown into the arena anyway.
My own review is at http://unrepentantescapist.blogspot.com/2010/08/mockingjay-review-mild-spoilers.html
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I don’t blame Gale for the way he feels–he is a firebrand and a passionate person and clearly someone with the desire to change things. That’s not what made me think he was a tool. He lost my good opinion when he tries to manipulate Katniss into loving him by preying on her known weaknesses. TOOL. GALE HAWTHORNE, YOU ARE NO LONGER WELCOME IN MY BOOK.
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Actually, I really hated (and didn’t believe) that they could have voted to continue the Hunger Games, not after what going back felt like to Katniss in Book 2. There’s no way she would have inflicted all that on her enemies. I mean, if she couldn’t shoot people at the train station b/c collapsing the mountain reminded her of her father’s mine accident, it doesn’t follow that she would be in favor of more Hunger Games.
I think/hope she was testing Coin: If Coin lets us have the Hunger Games again, then she’s no better than Snow. And Katniss got her answer, which combined with Snow’s accusations, solidified her realization that Coin killed Prim.
That’s my story and I’m sticking (clinging!) to it!
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Hah! As soon as I finished the book, I went back to the last _real_ page and reread it to get the epilogue out of my head. The last two lines of the last chapter were the ones I wanted ringing in my mind.
After that, I posted on both Twitter and Facebook that I hate epilogues. (Without saying which one I meant, of course. :)
This one wasn’t as awful as the Harry Potter epilogue, but it still left me wondering why I read epilogues at all. I very seldom like them. And I don’t think I’ve ever liked one that started out talking about how the MC and her love interest went on to have kids. Gah. (And I’m a mom, so it’s not just people who don’t wish to spawn who feel this way.)
Also… Totally with you on Gale. I’ve been Team Peeta since the start, but I could have understood if Katniss went with Gale instead before this instalment. But I muttered about him being an ass way too often. And like you said in the comments, it wasn’t so much his hatred that bothered me (though it did) but his treatment of Katniss.
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Totally agree with you that it’s a Lord of the Rings style ending. That puts it perfectly, I didn’t realize just how much it is until you pointed it out.
But I find it interesting how you read Gale. I honestly read your moment of TOOLBAGGERY as his defining moment of maturity. I thought he was being upfront and honest, and basically clueing Katniss in that she doesn’t really love him and she’s unintentionally stringing him along. I was proud of him for that. And I didn’t find it manipulative at all. There were moments in previous books where I found Peeta manipulative (though I get shot down on those quite often), and I thought Gale had some growing up to do in Catching Fire, but in this book I really thought he did that. He grew up, he recognized the situation, and he let Katniss in on it, even if it went against what he wanted. He could have let her fawn over him and enjoyed the attention, but instead he said “hey. This isn’t what you want. Just so you know.” *shrug* Guess we had different interpretations on that one.
The epilogue totally sucked. I agree with you 110%, she didn’t need to have children. She would have been so much better without them. I mean she doesn’t even NAME them. Of course, after Harry Potter, I should be grateful we’re not being subjected to Rue Madge and Cinna Boggs being babysat by Finnick Mags (okay, so the last one didn’t work as well).
But the book was amazing. Simple as that.
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Ugh. I read that moment as HE IS PREYING ON HER COMPASSION. If a guy ever came up to me and said “Woe is me” so I would kiss him, and then said, “I knew you would do that” IS A FUCKING TOOL. OUT OF MY BOOK, GALE HAWTHORNE. I DO NOT LIKE YOU ANYMORE.
The thing is, his other development really worked for me. He’s passionate about the cause. I get it. His whole blowing up a mountain full of people, while sad, was understandable. It’s just that I often read his attempts at romantic moments with Katniss as him trying to manipulate her into being what he wanted her to be–a soldier in this war. She never wanted that; she only wants to survive. Seriously, I felt like I was pulling slime off my body every time I read his exchanges with Katniss. Ew.
The only moment of real maturity I read from Gale was at the very end, where she asks if it was his bomb and he responds he doesn’t know, but that it doesn’t matter–Katniss will never get over it. That, to me, is the one instance where he grew up.
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UGH! I had this whole big comment typed out and then the internet ate it. Rawr.
I went back and read the exchange again, trying to see it that way, and I just can’t. She kissed him before he said that, and I really read it as a moment of weakness. He loves her, he can’t help it, but when she kisses him it confirms what he already knew: she doesn’t love him, she pities him. But rather than keep silent and use her pity, he tells her upfront and leaves. That’s how I read that exchange. A sad confirmation for him that she will only ever want him when he’s hurting. If he intentionally tried to present himself as broken to elicit that reaction from her, yeah that’s manipulative. But he didn’t. He told her straight up why she was doing that, and then he left. It was completely counterintuitive to what he wanted. He did what was best for her.
Every time they had a romantic exchange, Katniss was the one who initiated it. And he was the one to stop it. Because he knew that she was only wanting him because she was desperate and couldn’t have Peeta. And rather than say “Well he’s not here, so why don’t you settle for me?” or even not say anything at all and just let her get her desperation off on him, he tells her why she’s doing it, that she really wants Peeta, and then goes and gets her for him. I see him as a very selfless person, sometimes undone by his love for her and hoping that something MIGHT change and she MIGHT choose him, but ultimately resigned that her choice is and always will be Peeta. I don’t see any manipulation from him.
As for the soldier, I see it entirely separate from his romantic exchanges with her. I think he wants her to be strong and be a soldier, but not any moreso than say Boggs or Cressida. Certainly not like Coin. *shrug*
I agree that he was very mature at that last moment. But for me it was a continuation and a final resignation to his fate there. Not some sudden burst of maturity. For me it was a natural direction for him to take. I felt he’d grown up through the whole book.
Now I am copying this so that doesn’t happen again!
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He leads her on in both instances.
“This is where we kissed” and I definitely recall him saying something to get her to kiss him AGAIN in the “drunk” exchange. Be the better man and DON’T ASK FOR IT.
TOOL.
If he’s so fucking resigned, he fucking leaves her alone. Oh, and guess what? He does! He abandons her at the execution. GOOD FOR YOU, GALE.
Ugh, sorry, but I started disliking him in CATCHING FIRE and EVERYTHING in MOCKINGJAY exacerbated what I couldn’t stand about his emotionally manipulative, possessive, and jealous ways.
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Hey Risa,
I know it goes against popular opinion (or at least here on JJ’s blog, hi everyone!) but I wanted to say that I’m with you on this. Other times he should have stopped her, but wehn he did tell her to kiss him again, it was after he got her to open her eyes. I didn’t read that moment as “Oh, baby, give me more” but rather “You’re kissing ME, don’t pretend it’s him, look at me and make sure it’s me you want to kiss.”
In my opinion he sunk lower for the bomb idea in the first place. (And I was so horrified by the idea in it that I was pissed that Katniss didn’t think of his bomb and it being the rebels immediately. As soon I read that SOME of the parachutes exploded 10 seconds later or whatever it was I had a sinking feeling about what was coming next!)
But overall….I was less than impressed with the entire romance angle of Mockingjay. It worked in HG. It worked in CF. Mockingjay didn’t need it. Perhaps some of this is me. I had some experiences in the killing fields in S21 in Cambodia that I have still not entirely processed and will never be over. And that was seeing something nearly 30 years after the fact. But from the very beginning of the book when she kicks the rock that’s actually a skull, I was back there, picking my way between the mass graves, trying not to think about the clothes being washed free from the earth, the skulls with clear wounds to them, the teeth and other small bones too numerous to have been removed and nearly impossible not to step on.
War and torture and the cruelty of man has been much more at the forefront of my mind, so it really might just be me…..but I ended up not caring about the romance. I ended up not really caring if she died. Or Peeta. Or Gale. I mean, I cared, but I cared in that sort of “Oh, God. Please no more” not because of the character themselves, but because they were one more person. Prim, even. I know we know her more than the other nurses/doctors that came in to help, but at that point it wasn’t about someone you knew or didn’t, it was about deliberate cruelty and more senseless deaths.
I feel like Collins did a good job of creating a story that people are much more likely to read than a history book. And I loved Plutarch’s cynicism. As far as Katniss or anyone seems to know or care there was the failed rebellion that brought about the hunger games and then there was what was currently happening. They didn’t seem to know or care about all of the other wars and genocides that had happened before, so I was glad that they were at least alluded to by one character. And I like that it’s not a happily ever after ending. I think that I would have thrown the book out had it been that.
Yes, it’s a commentary on where things may be headed with things such a reality tv, but this last book is war. It has different technology, but it’s not something about what could happen in the future. It’s what has happened already.
(I got off track, but yes, Gale’s decisions in terms of the war and fighting mattered a whole lot more to me than him having an honest discussion with someone who had just kissed him of her own accord.)
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There is literally no reason for me to blog about Mockingjay. Everything you said? Ditto.
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Hey, I’m just going to hop on in here although there is so much discussion happening! Overall, I love MJ as much as the previous two. I definitely could not pick a favourite.
I wanted to say that I am a fan of Gale. I won’t go into a long defense of his character because there’s really no need. However, I do want to say that from the first sentence of Mockingjay, I really wanted Katniss to be with Peeta. And I don’t know why, exactly! I was all about her and Gale and then it hit me. It’s got to be Peeta. For him, it was love at first sight. For Gale, he didn’t decide he loved her that way until someone else showed affection for her and he realized it “bothered him.” I think Gale and Katniss can (and do) survive without the other.
Kristan, your issue with Katniss voting for another Hunger Games with the capital children is valid, but I drew the same conclusion that you did–she realized that Coin was just going to perpetuate the same thing the revolution was fighting against. (and every leader afterwards) That’s why she voted yes and why Haymitch backed her up. In a way, it was an unspoken vow that they were thinking the same thing–Coin must be stopped. After all, Katniss and Haymitch are incredibly similar. Really, she made that one choice that was her own–it’s all she had the power to do. I absolutely LOVED the way that all went down.
I really enjoyed the fact that MJ was more than just a love story–that is surprised me in so many ways. It killed me sometimes reading those really tough passages, but always in a good way. I hope I can get just a bit of that “rightness” going on in my own stories. peace out.
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Here’s my take on Coin and the next Hunger Games vote: Katniss voted yes so that she could have a WEAPON in close proximity to Coin – during Snow’s execution. If she voted no, Coin would have taken her weapons and not allowed her to execute Snow. Katniss understood voting yes was her best chance to kill Coin, who Katniss, at the point, believed was responsible for Prim’s death.
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Name the kids!!!!!!!!!
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I thought I was content to read others opinions of MJ but I feel I must also put in my two cents. It’s just too hard to keep quiet! Initially, I was surprised at the intensity at which people professed their love for this book as I had quite the opposite reaction. I was severely disappointed when I finished. At first I thought it was because there were not a lot of romantic aspects to the plot, (I must admit, I’m one of those “hopeless romantic” types of people), but I came to the conclusion that it was the plot itself that left me wanting more. As others before me have said, there were a lot of pacing problems that really interfered with the reader’s enjoyment of the book. It just felt like something was missing. It didn’t quite “flow” as well as it should have- as well as the HG and CF did. Despite the action and suspense, there were moments where I asked myself, “What just happened?” as opposed to, “Wow, I can’t believe that just happened!” As for the characters, I was disappointed by Katniss’ transformation, or lack thereof. I think Collins wanted the readers to feel as if Katniss had matured throughout her whole experience by the end of book but I don’t believe she changed at all. The only realization she had was that Peeta would never be the same as he was in CF. Otherwise, I think she just blindly chose paths to take when she was at a crossroad. Now that I look back, you are absolutely right about Gale. He was pretty manipulative and quite frankly, acted superior to Katniss as if he should have been chosen to lead this revolution. Which brings me to asking, Why did all the characters personalities change? In my opinion, that really alienated the audience that grew to love these characters while reading the HG and CF. I just wish there was some closure towards the end. But as for the ending, (I also choose not to acknowledge the epilogue exists,) I was satisfied with the message Collins instilled in all three books: War changes people.
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I totally agree with you. Yes, GO TEAM PEETA!! Yes, Gale is a TOOL of the lowest quality! I stayed up one whole night reading this, also, and this trilogy has to be one of my favorites in a long long time.
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