"Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

[Tenley Nadine]

Blurbing book club book from August 27th, 2010 - September 30th. 

Here's a few things you should probably do:

1. Read the book (obviously).

2. Come back to this forum and leave your thoughts about the book. You can write a sentence, you can write an essay, it doesn't matter, whatever you want.

3. Blurb the book.
Some of you may not know what a blurb is so allow me to explain: A blurb is a sentence of 10 words or less, that sums up the book in question. If you want an example, look on the back (occasionally the front) of some books lying around your house. Those are blurbs.

Keep in mind that you can also compose lol-cat blurbs if you'd like (the same thing but with internet slang).

[Elijah Joseph Donnelly]

I really would like to be apart of this Blurb, but I believe I should read the first books first...Onward to the Library!...on Monday...

[Tenley Nadine]

Hopefully you'll have enough time to read them all before the end of September... but even if you don't, their great books.

[Lizzy Who]

[SPOILER ALERT FOR THIS POST]

I loved this book. I must admit I always liked Gale better than Peeta (none of that team nonsense here, though- I just mean overall as a character), and I was really disappointed that he sort of disappeared at the end, though I was glad that neither he nor Katniss nor Peeta got killed. I was also puzzled at how Peeta's mental healing went. It didn't quite seem real to me that he didn't try to kill Katniss the second time he saw her in the hospital.
The book was overall really excellent. Finnick and Prim's deaths brought me to tears, as did the scrapbook of dead people at the end. The epilogue was pretty sappy, but not as sappy as I'd expected when I first heard that there was an epilogue, which was good.

Blurb: Revolution, you say? Let the 76th Hunger Games begin!

[Amanda K.]

ive always like Peeta better but i was sad when Gale left cuz it felt to empty. But when prim died i started crying but i think Finnicks death was a bit to fast. Also i never think Peeta fully mentallt recovered it just seemed like he was trying to hard in the end to just be himself

[Sarah]

SPOILER ALERT.

I just finished Mockingjay, like, five minutes ago. My thoughts are still kinda jumbled, so this may be a little messy.

I enjoyed the book overall, but I was very frustrated at the last few chapters. I think that the beginning of chapter 25 was just totally confusing. I didn't know if it was real or fake when Katniss was in the hospital. I thought the paragraph explaining about Gale and Peeta, her mother and the fall of President Snow and the Capitol was all very rushed. I didn't really think there was enough time spent explaining the whole situation. Also, I agree with Lizzy Who: Gale was just kind of dismissed.
I suppose I could pick out every detail I didnt like, but I actually really liked the book as a whole. I really felt Katniss's pain as she struggled depression. I was thoroughly moved by the deaths of Prim, Boggs and Finnick (I kinda fell in love with Finnick's character). And, I liked that Suzanne gave closure

[Tenley Nadine]

I agree with you and Lizzy Who about Gale being dismissed... he's one of my favorites, I kind of wanted to see more from him.

Also, here's a friendly reminder to post a blurb... not necessarily now, you have a month to think it over.

[Freya S.]

[Spoiler alert]
Um... I am completely new to this, but since I finished Mockingjay yesterday, and my best friend has forbidden me even mentioning it near her presence, I had to come here.

How shall I describe what reading this book was like? First, I suppose I should say that my favorite character from the start of the series was Peeta. I never liked Katniss, in fact, I almost hated her. I disliked Gale for a childish reason: he was the obstacle between Peeta and (though it annoyed me) his object of affections, Katniss. Mockingjay was a hard book to digest in general but especially, I think, for Peeta fans.

I don’t want to give too much away because I respect the author’s wishes, but I have to mention a few things that I liked about Mockingjay and a few things that surprised me. I’ve always liked that Collins is not a black and white writer, as so many YA fiction authors seem to be. She writes all her characters in a gray area that sometimes makes it hard for readers (or at least me) to accept or understand them. Katniss is a prime example; she is so human, she practically leaps out of the page. In a lot of books, other authors chose what I call the ‘safe’ approach to characterization. This approach paints main characters to be almost too perfect, their only faults are usually that they are ‘too nice’ or ‘naive’ (and even then, those are portrayed in a way that is endearing). Collins cannot be accused of writing her characters this way. Katniss is so human, it makes me hate her; she represents everything about humanity that I try to escape from through books. She is irrational in her anger at times, selfish, cruel, thoughtless, and everything else that humans are. The books are her thoughts, her inner most feelings, her consciousness, the place where she doesn’t lie, so what we see of Katniss is essentially her Id, or the uncensored, unfiltered thoughts that we as humans hide from the rest of the world. Her humanness makes her both relatable and easy to despise for me. I can relate with her anger at the authorities in District 13 but I can also despise her for how she reacts to the hijacked Peeta. In the end, I think I came to accept, and even like Katniss for the same reasons I hated her before. I came to understand that she is not perfect, nor should she be, and that it’s her imperfections that make her so alive.

Another aspect of the book I liked was how it ended. No spoilers here, but it was an ending that was realistic for a series like The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games deals with many themes, ethical (such as killing, death, vengeance, human nature, and ‘good’ vs. ‘evil’), but it also deals with politics (corruption, rebellion, the advantages and disadvantages or various forms of government) and I was glad that the latter was not conveniently forgotten at the end. Suzanne Collins shows that she thinks highly of her audience with this ending; she shows that she thinks we understand the world and its intricacies enough to embrace her series. I thank her for that.

The things that surprised me were good things; things that made the series painful but again, ‘realistic’. I don’t know how I can say too much without giving anything away, but I knew that Collins would write some of the things she did but it didn’t cut any less deeply when my suspicions were confirmed.
It was an amazing book and I feel lucky to have read such an amazing series.

[Tenley Nadine]

Yeah, I like that Collins isn't a black and white author as well (although, I never thought of calling it that. I do really like that phrase though).

Also, feel free to make up a blurb before the end of September. I mean, you don't have too, but if you wanna.

[LuckyElf]

You summed up beautifully what I thought of the book. I took was annoyed with Katniss from the first book, and thought she was a little brat in The Hunger Games. This lessened for me in Catching Fire since she seemed to be leaning more towards helping Peeta and her character was strengthening and becoming less obnoxious, but since Peeta is barely in the 3rd book... man it was just a whinge fest. I thought Katniss was stronger than Collins portrayed her in the final installment.

[Roshni K]

I really want to "like" this.
I love when books have realistic endings. Otherwise it's like the entire plot is planned, and in the end the world of the book is just forgotten to get the characters a happy ending.

[Noellieeee]

*Spoiler Alert*

I just finished Mockingjay last night, and I am completely like... Woah. I love this series and I believe the ending was fine, it had good closure, but I also didn't like how some of my favorite characters died (Finnick, Prim, Madge, Boggs). If you think about it though, not everyone can live happily. I'm just glad Finnick had a chance to marry Annie and that I was able to see how mature Prim has gotten since the last two books. Overall it was a great great book. I'm very happy she ended up with Peeta, I have always loved him since the beginning.

The shockers I had when Peeta tried to kill Katniss or maybe even how he even made it alive (I was planning on him dying...) was totally unexpected. I love how stories are like that though and I'm very honored to have read this book. Me and my friends all enjoy it so much and are getting more people to read it.

Blurb: The Games; it's not about how you win them, it's about how you use them.

[Jennnn]

*Spoiler Alert....obviously..*

So I loved the book as a whole, and just like everyone else, I thought the ending was a bit rushed. Nothing really shocked me that much except for Prim and Finnicks death. I noticed that Suzanne Collins likes to drop bombs at the end of chapters so I always had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. i.e. when Peeta started choking Katniss.
I know this is going to sound weird, but I am sad that neither Peeta nor Katniss did die. It felt right towards the end that one of them would. The entire series it seemed to come down to either one of them dying, but somehow they always evaded it. It's just too clean of an ending to have them both live happily ever after, especially after everything that has happened. Of course I like that they did end up together because I was a big Peeta/Katniss fan, but it just didn't feel right that Katniss got married and had children. I totally did not expect that at all. Am I weird for thinking like that?
Also, I am in love with the Hanging Song. There are a few versions floating around youtube and I had one in my head right when I read it. The lyrics are so beautiful and kind of eerie. I love it! :]
And now I don't know what to do with my life after the Hunger Games. It's hard for me to find books where I become totally thrown into the story. Any suggestions?

Blurb: The Games are finally over. Real or not real?