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

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I loved Mockingjay, actually, and I thought the ending was perfectly fitting and foreshadowed in the earlier books. But it seems that you don't like the series very much anyway, so perhaps you should just quit and not waste your time further?

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Honestly, QoT, I am about too. This series is probably the worst possible case of wasted expectations (and misrepresentation: I will debate to death that this series is as close to feminist fiction as Twilight) I had for a while. The lesson for me: always check the ending. :D I usually do check the ending, as you know,, but here I thought: oh, this is such a winning formula, what can go wrong?

One and only positive thing is that I am looking at Harry Potter in completely different light. HP is much better series, and on many many levels.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree about this. I didn't find the Harry Potter books nearly as engaging or riveting as The Hunger Games books and I have absolutely no inclination to reread them or to see any of the films once I knew the ending of the series, which is the opposite of how I feel about Collins's work. And I find Katniss an extremely strong female character, not in the sense that she's always perfect or right, but in the sense that I find her completely compelling. I haven't read Twilight, so I can't comment on that comparison.

ETA: I do understand how you feel (albeit in a slightly different way) because I loved the first two books of Philip Pullman's trilogy and absolutely hated the last one to the point where it spoiled the entire series for me. I just have absolutely the opposite reaction to the Collins' books.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am not a big fan of Harry Potter as you know, but I have to admit that the series had strong worldbuilding, and great female charcters.

Where Katniss, whom I liked very much at first disintegrated into naive, indecisive and "dim" mess. I must say, her character is one of those I would most definitely not recommend my daughter to read about: a) low intelligence, b) tantrums, c) using two boys at once. I definitely don't see teenage girls as this over-emotional mess.

PS: I am sorry, I know you liked the books! But I am really angry at this series, and I feel I have good reasons to be angry! ** angry **

PS2: And I am not even starting the plagiarism debate again. The first book (the one that was very close to Battle Royale) was definitely much much better than the other two. it could have been a good book on its own.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

You don't have to apologize to me for not loving something I love, and your reasons for not liking the series are obviously totally valid, just as my reasons for loving it are also valid. I guess I object to the idea that "rationality" enters into our personal preferences (as per your original post) because that implies that I and those who do love the series are irrational as opposed to the rationality of hating it. I don't think our personal preferences are ever entirely the result of rationality.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

You are so eloquent , as always. And yes, I completely agree - for me two opposite opinions can be completely valid.

I just object to statements like "Oh no, you are reading it all wrong" on principle. :D

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

PS: and don't start me on Pullman. I agree with you completely here. he really wasted such a great series.