By Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press
Publication Date: August 24, 2010
ISBN: 978-0439023511
I never wrote anything about Catching Fire. Since it's the middle book, I didn't want to give anything away that might hint at the former book for those wishing to read the series. But it's not to say the second book wasn't good - it really was. Shocking. Inspiring. Painful. Wonderfully done. Amazing new characters who I fell in love with. It's like Back to the Future 2 - just as good, if not better, than the original - yet the first is necessary in understanding and completely engaging in the second.
It's for the same reason I was hesitant to write about Mockingjay. Yet, a day later, when i'm still ruminating on the ending, I feel as if I have to write something. I just can't get it out of my mind.
There seems to be mixed reviews on the book. While, generally, they're mostly positive, many people feel the ending was too painful, too real. They feel the characters lost their compassion, and somehow went awry. They wanted it to be happier.
But a series about a country where its main form of entertainment is a battle royale will not have a happy ending. Katniss will not choose one guy, beat President Snow, and live happily ever after. There will be consequences. Lives will be lost. People will be hurt. Yes, painful, but real.
The writer of this fantastic review quoted a character from the miniseries "Band of Brothers" by stating "The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function: without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends upon it." And that, essentially, is what the last book is about. Katniss has been forced through hell. Twice at this point. She knows what it's like to lose people she loves. She has killed, she's been torn away from home, she has barely survived numerous times. By the beginning of Mockingjay, she's not living anymore - she's surviving. And she's being forced through more.
And that's why I find Gale's quote about who she'll choose so fitting. "Katniss will pick whoever she thinks she can't survive without." It's not heartless - it's true. And it's something that turns from "thinks" to "knows."
With that, it's NOT about who she'll choose - Gale or Peeta. The series never was. Sure, it was the backstory, the romance that kept readers wanting more, but that never was the main plot. And as broken and lost as she is in this book, she just can't choose. (Yet, as readers do know, she does in the end. But that's not the point.)
The book is about war. About how hard it is, and how much people go through during and after it. The consequences. The reprocussions. The choices they have to make - the choices they're forced to make. Who to go back for, who to leave behind. Who to ultimately trust. Because, when fighting and killing, who really is right?
Yet, Katniss still has some of her old self around. Seen when she risks her life to help in districts 2 and 8, or when she makes a gift for Johanna, or pushes the hair out of Peeta's face - she's still there. She's still compassionate, but she's lost so much and seen so much in the process that it's easy for her to just slip into the void she's getting used to - hiding in closets and avoiding people. She can't get her life back.
Everything about the end was shocking, and I think that's what made it so good, and so painful. I was drained in the end, completely emotionally exhausted from the roller coaster of a book. But that's what it was supposed to feel like, I think. It was supposed to take you through every emotion, every feeling Katniss went through. So by the end there's more truth than comfort in Plutarch's words: "Collective thinking is usually short-lived. We're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction. Although who knows? Maybe this will be it..."
No one is whole after its over. There's no getting your life back. There's just pushing on, surviving. There will always be those moments where, like Peeta, you'll have to hold onto the back of the chair just to make it out of the flashback. But you keep going because you find something - or someone - else to hold onto. And that's what Katniss does in the end, which, to me, is the ultimate test of strength. And there's so much beauty in it.
Truly, I wish more books were written like this. Honest. Painful. Wonderful.
5 comments:
Can't wait to start this! I just received the audio in the mail, and the kids and I will soon dive in. I would never criticize a book for being too real, in fact I'd be upset it the author didn't throw everything at us. After all of that, I don't want to be babied!
I really need to read these books. Wouldn't you say that as a high school teacher, it's essential?
Um, can we email offline about this? I don't want to spoil it for everyone with my feedback. I just finished reading it and am mulling over my thoughts. I LOVED the first two books. So glad you wrote about this
Yes, when I read the epilogue and last few pages, I couldn't help but think of the harry potter series and how cheesy and unbelievable it's epilogue was. Mockingjay's epilogue was perfect, and Harry's epilogue should have been more like it, I think. There is no going on in perfect happily ever after mode after such traumatic times.
I agree with you 100%. I have to admit, blogs I've read that say "I told you she'd choose Peeta!" make me mad. That is not what it was about at all. Yes, after reading Catching Fire, I was in the same boat trying to decide who she would pick. But Mockingjay proved that the romance was not what the story was about and it took the reader in a completely different direction. And for some not to get that, well, it disappoints me.
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