by Suzanne CollinsStart Date: 23 August 2010
End Date: 24 August 2010
398 pages (Hardcover Edition)
Published 24 August 2010
I have to admit, I was apprehensive about posting a review about Mockingjay. I felt like I could not quite articulate my reaction, which would obviously make writing a review a bit difficult. Luckily, I found a fantastic review by Allegra of Here's to Us which I completely agreed with and which brought up extremely interesting points that I'd never thought about before.
Here is the link to her post, and I'd also recommend checking out the rest of her blog; it's got some great stuff. http://herestous.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/bread-and-circuses/
And now, inspired by Allegra's superb post, I'll write down a few of my thoughts about Mockingjay. First of all, let me say that I loved the Hunger Games. I'm a little hesitant to recommend it to my friends since the entire premise has to do with teenagers killing each other, but I personally enjoyed it immensely. That said, I thought that the second book could have been better, and I didn't really like how she had to go back (trying not to give away too many spoilers). The third book seemed... I really don't know how to phrase this so it'll make sense... heavier somehow than the other two. And it's not even that the other books don't have horrible things happening-- they do-- but this one felt so much more horrible, partly because it felt more real. Like, the Hunger Games is a great concept and makes an engaging plot, but Mockingjay is basically a war. And wars are real-- it's not just in some dystopian future world, but in our world, today. Because of this and so many other things (let me just say: silver parachutes!), Mockingjay was harder for me to read than The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Other than that, I will direct you to Here's To Us.
P.S. I didn't know until I looked up the publication date for this post that I received the book a day earlier than the official publication date. Amazon is too efficient for its own good. *contented sigh*
3 comments:
I would completely agree with you Pica about the writing seeming heavy. It weighed me down and I actually had to take breaks because I couldn't go on reading. But I always did because it was so good. I think what caused the sort of heaviness was that the book kept you tense all the time, you couldn't relax; too many horrible things were happening and could happen at any moment. It must be because it felt more real. I hadn't realized that before. You really felt the fear more acutely than in many other books. Usually it's just excitement for the reader and suspense. Here it was different. It was fear and that's why I wanted to escape it sometimes.
I did actually enjoy the book however. I loved all of the Hunger Games books (I read all three of them in about a week, quite a record) but in Mockingjay, sometimes I felt like it went a bit over the top. Sometimes I would stop and say to the book, "Really? Was that necessary? Did she really have to die?" And I would answer myself no, she didn't. If you have read Mockingjay, you may know I, like Pica, speak of the silver parachutes at the end.
To respond to the post about Mockingjay on Here's to Us, I had completely forgotten my initial connection of the hunger games and ancient Roman gladiator fights. Years ago I heard a piece on the Hunger Games on NPR and the description immediately led me to the connection.
Curiously, I didn't think of the connection at all while I was reading the Hunger Games or after, until now.
Think about it! Gladiators were all criminals, condemned to death but used for entertainment. Yes, some did make a sort of career out of it when they kept surviving but it was all still a punishment.
Each tribute was a punishment to the Districts, but were used as a reinforcement of the dominance and power of the Capitol as well as entertainment.
I agree with you about the second book not being as good as the first. I felt a little let down when i read the second book but i knew there was one more so i gave it a chance to redeem itself. I read mockingjay and i was pretty happy with the ending!
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