Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins
Warning: Spoilers abound;
steer clear if you haven’t read the books or don’t want to know.
I gave myself a few days to think about this book, but I’m
afraid this review will still come out rather jumbled because Suzanne Collins’
now famous trilogy is a messy story, in more ways than one. It’s difficult to
have complete conviction about the events that take place in the books because
they invite a wide variety of opinions; unfortunately they are not presented
with the grace or poetry that the concept demands and the ending falls
disappointingly short of expectations.
The Hunger Games—and dystopic future stories in general—make
for a pretty epic setting. Spread out over three books with information
delivered to the reader in little bursts then all at once (in keeping with the limited
point of view of Katniss Everdeen), the reader was given the distinct
impression that they were building to something big—that life as everyone had
known it for close to a century HAD to change.
And it did. The Hunger Games were abolished and the Capitol’s
heavy hand was stilled, opening up for a potential democratic Panem. Katniss
and her fellow tributes and rebels did in fact change the world... but the
characters themselves did very little evolving, and that’s where the
disappointment leaks in. By story’s end, with the exception of Katniss and
Peeta, none of the survivors are any better off or more well-rounded than they
were at the start of the trilogy. Haymitch is still a sorrowful, lonely drunk,
Gale is still brooding and defiant (this may be a controversial opinion but if
you ask me, there was never much to work with there anyway), Johanna is bitter
and alone, Plutarch doesn’t really seem to understand the gravitas behind the
whole damn business, the replacement leaders seem painfully out of touch and
even evil President Snow died laughing.
For an author with a penchant for foreshadowing and
revolutionary ideas, I felt horribly let down by the many open threads and the
abrupt end to the rebellion. When the bomb went off blowing poor little Prim to
bits and Katniss woke up in her biggest catatonic state ever (and for Katniss,
that’s saying something), I kept waiting for her to ‘wake up’ and realize she
was concussed and still in the heat of battle then get shit done and put an
arrow through Snow’s head herself out of vengeance for her little sister. Maybe
Haymitch and Johanna could come flying in on their appropriated hovercraft and
blast some Capitol flunkies away and Peeta could fight off his insanity for
good and help out. But no. Mockingjay
went out with a fizzle instead of a bang with everyone reverting back to their
old ways (horrifyingly even to the point of suggesting another Games) until
Katniss’s temporary moment of clarity where she puts an arrow through Coin’s
head.
‘Now what?’ The ending begs. Sure we get a brief epilogue
wherein it is implied that life went on and was generally better, but very few
specifics. Collins spent so much time explaining Katniss’s various mental
breakdowns that everyone else’s characterization is shoved to the side. Where
is the reconciliation between Katniss and her still unnamed mother? Why even
bring it up if you weren’t going to do something with it? What the hell was Effie Trinket up to during the rebellion? And most importantly,
when exactly did Peeta get over his murderous PTSD and why? Should I be afraid
that one day he’s gonna snap at the sound of a car backfiring and murder the
mother of his children? The guy really got the shaft throughout the trilogy and—as
he is generally considered the most honorable person around—I think he really
deserves a happy ending, but something didn’t sit right with me there.
On that note, you can color me surprised that Peeta ‘won’ in
the end... (You’ll have to forgive me here; out of fear of spoilers, I mostly
steered clear of the online aspect of the Hunger Games fandom so I don’t know
what it is you kids are calling them these days—Peeniss? KatPee?). I’ve I
thought for sure that a future with Gale was inevitable so when she eventually
chose Peeta, I was surprised, but also pleased because by this point it finally
felt more natural. Still though, I don’t know that you can really call a future
with moody miss Katatonia a ‘win’ so maybe Gale’s the real winner here...
The flow of Collins’ writing was consistently well done in
all three books. It was hard to put this down for the night and go to bed
because you really want to know what happens next. I enjoyed the first part of
the book where we get a window into the elusive District 13 (I couldn’t help
but be reminded of another post-apocalyptic bunker that also housed the nukes...). One thing that frustrated me though was
the senseless lack of communication. When Peeta was in the Capitol’s custody he
was forced to do interviews in which he initially appeared healthy as he begged
the rebels for a ceasefire, seemingly at the Capitol’s behest. The main driving
force for Katniss to become the symbol of the rebellion, the Mockingjay, was to
create a pact to protect the captured victors from being executed as traitors,
but I have no idea why this was even necessary. Katniss was no longer being
controlled by the Capitol so there was no reason to keep up the charade that she
and Peeta were an item. She could at any point have explained to District 13
that it had been a ruse which Peeta was forced to continue under duress to
protect her, especially since they seemed aware of this anyway. Why she had to
bend to their will to diffuse an obvious misunderstanding is beyond me but it
all feeds into the convoluted situations Katniss constantly finds herself in.
Perhaps if she were in less impossible situations all the time, she could
actually have a chance to be more active about her fate. But alas, she is never
given the opportunity.
For once in my life, I actually sort of hope the movie takes
a different tack, but I know it won’t. If the purpose of this series is to highlight
the dangers of using icons and propoganda to fight your wars, then I can accept
a protagonist like Katniss, but if she was meant to be a folk hero, then I have
to disagree. We are told again and again how special and wonderful Katniss
Everdeen is... so much so that a country moved for her. But you’re gonna have
to work a bit harder to convince this reader.
Let's have a moment of silence for our fallen:
Cinna: You probably initially had a purpose but when Mockingjay came to an end, with that fate of yours still ambiguous, Collins couldn't figure out what that purpose might be, so you were nothing more than a hug dispenser with a kicky fashion sense. But damn did you ever rock at hugs and fashion!
Finnick: Bless you, you handsome bastard. Your backstory was probably the darkest thing in this entire trilogy and your death was an afterthought and barely acknowledged but at least you earned the cliché posthumous baby to live on by. Also, the second coolest shipper name, which I shall henceforth refer to as Fannie.
Prim: As the indirect kindling that started the fire, it's rather appropriate you burned in the end-you were just too sweet to live. Along with Finnick, you had the most positive character development, so naturally you had to die for no reason.
Boggs: Way to be the only awesome representative of District 13. That is all.
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