Mockingjay: Please tell me this is going to get better.

[alexandral]

I am through about 40% of "Mockingjay", and dear friends list, I am getting seriously annoyed. Katniss is undergoing what is probably the worst ever character development in the history of fiction.

Where is Katniss that was a strong survivor? Where? When was she replaced by this whiny clueless mess:

- "No-one is telling me anything! My life is a woooooooooe!" Me: no-one is telling her anything because she is naïve beyond any belief (to the point where her naivety has become brain-deficiency) and throws tantrums all the time?

- "EVERYONE IS EVIL! Capitol is EVIL! Rebels ARE EVIL! Everyone is evil! Even Haymitch! How dares he to try to keep me alive! Even cats are evil!". Me: I am eye-rolling so hard my eyes are in danger.

- "Everyone died because of Meeeeeeeeee! I should have died! Died!" . Me: Katniss, get a grip on yourself. Please get a grip.

- "Oh no! Look at poor me suffering so much when watching Peeta tortured on TV! I passed out! And I raged! " Me: Peeta is tortured. PEETA. How come it is all about YOU?

Leaving my "I am so annoyed at this" feelings aside and trying to be rational: the character development of Katniss is that of Sansa Stark (A Song of Ice and Fire) in reverse. Sansa starts as young and terribly naïve and grows into a survivor. Katniss starts as a survivor and disintegrates into a puddle of jelly with no brains.

Please tell me this is going to get better. As it stands now, I think Katniss is as good a role model to young girls as Bella (Twilight), just in a different way (no brains, tantrums, "me me me" attitude)! I am so horrified that this is supposed to be "a feminist book for young adults".

PS: Shall I keep listening? There are 6.5 more hours of this! Or shall I give up, find the spoilers, and move on to some better books?

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

The descriptions of dresses and outfits were too lengthy, too detailed, too loving, and too MATERIALISTIC. I found them to be very hypocritical because in the same book the author is trying to criticize materialism.

I thought Katniss was "not really stupid" at first, but in Mockinjay I was practically rolling my eyes.

Post Games, you have to admit Haymitch did use her, and without her knowledge. That has to bring up some trust issues.

BUT HE SAVED HER LIFE (and not just for the rebel cause). Well, this is what I mean about "clueless" - how would she not see that the plan would have never worked if she knew! Because, let's face it, she is so naive there was no chance for her to be able to hide anything (or not to start throwing tantrums).

But in seriousness, this series is such a terrible case of broken expectations for me that I honestly am all just "grgrgrgrgrgrgrgr" and other incoherent stuff. It started so well and disintegrated into such a mess! And I am not even talking about problems with worldbulding and narrative. Or with the fact that Collins "borrowed" so much from various sources. I am just raging about the "murder" of Katniss' character in this post.

[thehibiscus.livejournal.com]

Um... that's the point of the descriptions. To make the reader aware of the materialism rampant in the Capitol.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I am afraid you misunderstand my meaning. What I mean is: the way I read it, Collins is so much in love with the numerous, abundant and beautiful descriptions (there are so many of them it seems as if I am reading a fashion magazine) of Cinna's dresses that this clashes with her attempt to criticise materialism . This smells of hypocrisy.