Book Review: Mockingjay by Suzanna Collins

[Kristen Ray]

Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins

Date Read: 1/27/12

Rating:  4 / 5

 

The only reas this book is getting 4 stars is becuase the last 60 pages or so finally got me hooked.  The first 2/3 of this book was very disappointing for me. I was expecting so much more from this book.  But it was so empty.  I understand that Katniss has been through a lot, that any normal person probably would have broken down like she did...but she is the Girl on Fire.  I expected her to push through everything she'd been through, to persevere tot eh world we all dreamed of.

 

The love triangle was not very good at all.  There were two boys, yes.  She led them both on, yes.  but I didn't feel like she had strong feelings of love for either one of them.  It was more dependency.  there were moments though, when I thought she loved Peeta, and she should have noticed it, but she didn't.  And teh way she treated them both in this book infuriated me.  now, Gale made some comments that deserved how she reacted.  But Peeta didn't deserve anything she threw at him...and it took Haymitch telling her so, for her to change.

 

There was not very much action in this book.  I think this is what disappointed me the most.  I expected a lot of fighting.  But Katniss was either hospitalized or on the sidelines.  And it irritated me just hearing about what was happening.  That's why the last 60 pages were good, when she strayed from teh cameras on her assassination mission.

 

I was very upset about some of the deaths in this book. I know its war, and people die, and that was supposed to be part of the impact of this book.  But I also felt like those deaths were fairly anticlimatic.  They were here one minute and gone the next.  And the death that should have had the most impact, was basically just glossed over.  Katniss's reaction to this wasn't glossed over, but it happened and then Katniss woke up in teh hospital.  I had no idea what really happened.  *SPOILER ALERT* I also had the feeling that Katniss volunteering from Prim was pointless with her death still coming not long after.  And maybe Collins was going for that - for you to see how pointless war is - but if she was going to kill her, I would have liked to have been connected with her more, and had the death more prevalent, so it had the impact on the reader that it did on Katniss.

 

I was also very upset that Katniss did not get to be involved in the take over the Capital.  She wakes up and we're just told what happened.  But I did like how Katniss finally made a wise decision in teh person that she shoots at the end of the book.

 

It was heart wrenching when she went home and really had no one left.  She definitely goes into a depression, and honestly, I cannot blame her.  After what she had gone through in 1.5 years.  Is it sad and depressing for the reader to read throughout the book?  Yes.  But it is realistic.  I wouldn't have believed the story if she just got over it and moved on with her life quickly.

 

What really got me were the 2 pages of the epilogue.  I finally had some hope again. B ut at the same time, you know they'll never be able to escape their past.  It will always be a part of them.  But at least the next generation won't have to go through this.

 

The book ended the way I wanted.  Through, much less epic that I wanted. I  felt numb at the end. I wanted to cry. I wanted to be mad. I was a little disappointed.  I felt just like Katniss had the whole book.

 

Overall teh Hunger games series is a good read and everyone should read it, because the first 2 books are great, as well as the last 60 pages of the third.  I just wish this book wasn't so depressing.  I wish the rays of hope that were in the fitst 2 were more prevalent in this one.  I am still happy with the story, but I do feel like Collins could have made this book a little more epic.  But she wanted a real story, and this was real.