Mockingjay: the end

[alexandral]

"Hunger Games" is a big disappointment of 2011, something I expected to like following almost universal praise this series receive in Lj land.. This disappointment goes quite deep covering many different levels and I feel compelled to write this down while I remember, even though I am probably re-capping some of the things I said previously:





- Borrowing: I am still giving Collins a side-eye for her statements that she "have never heard of Battle Royale". But I am going to give her the benefit of a doubt in the specific case of "Battle Royale" because this doesn’t really matter. Even if Collins has never heard of "Battle Royale", there is also "Running man", "The Long Walk", and many other books and authors from whom Collins "has borrowed" many scenes, characters and ideas. Even Narnia. We re-watched "The Lion, The witch and The wardrobe" during the Christmas holidays and I was stricken with how similar Katniss is to Susan (arrows included).

- The first book is the best in the series: standing alone, "Hunger Games" is a good book. But! At the same time this is a book that is very similar to "Battle Royale" which fact spoiled my enjoyment of it. The last two books are exponentially weaker than the first.

- Repetitive nature: I know the series are called "Hunger Games", but I honestly didn’t expect the author to repeat the same plot device (survival games and arena) four times in a row. By the third time I was getting tired of it, and by the fourth time I was "sick and tired" of it, especially considering that survival games wasn't even the author's own idea.

- World building: The world of Hunger Games is something I have the most problems with in the series. It feels as some kind of decorations that the author never gave too much thought to. I have so many unanswered questions about the world in Hunger Games I don’t even know where to start.

- One anecdote from "Mockingjay" that made me laugh quite a bit: The moment when Katniss was shooting arrows at planes during the bombing of the District 13 and managed to bring down the planes with her arrows. I immediately imagined that all the planes in the Hunger Games universe are made of paper.. or cheese.. or something else. It is clear that Collins is not someone technically-minded, but still.. shooting planes with arrows? How can this be possible?

- The character development of Katniss: is the worst character development I have encountered in the last year. I remembered what this character development reminds me of: Jandi in the Korean version of "Boys over Flowers". Katniss starts as an interesting gender reversal and ends as the usual "emotional female" trope. To clarify this so that no misunderstanding arises: I think Katniss’ feelings and emotions are valuable and people of both genders can suffer PSTD… But, unfortunately the overly emotional female that falls to pieces in adversity when her male counterparts seem to fare much better is a trope that is used very often and this happens to be a trope I don’t like personally. Thus, for me the character of Katniss is quite far from the "feminist ideal". I would most definitely not recommend this book to my daughter.

- Predictably: I WAS RIGHT!!!! I like to make those predictions, but the fact is that I guessed almost every single thing!!!!!!!!!!! This was so predictable!!!!!!!!!!

- Audiobook: I listened to this series in the audiobook form and it had the most annoying narrator voice I have encountered so far. Katniss (who is no bunch of laughs anyways) has become ten times whinier when narrated by Carolyn McCormick. This was seriously bad. Dear Carolyn McCormick, please don't narrate any more books ever.

- Gale: I am still confused as to what has happened with Gale at the end, how come everything has become his fault? I am not saying I dislike Gale, what I am saying is that Gale (and Peeta) are still unclear to me as characters, that after three books they also seem to be somewhat cartoonish and decoration-like..

Overall: Book 1: 8/10, book 2: 6/10, book 3: 4/10, on average: 6/10

PS: I always welcome a discussion, but please don’t comment with statements like "You read it all wrong". The way I read it is the way I read it, and although I respect opinions that differ from mine, and I am 100% sure that all opinions are valuable, I lived half of my life in a place where I was told what to think by other people, and unfortunately this made me quite sensitive to anyone’s attempts to tell me what to think. So – your opinion is yours, mine is mine and if you think that your opinion is somehow more valuable than mine we differ on a very fundamental level.

On the happier note: Lois McMaster Bujold! Vorkosigan Saga! HERE I COME! Cordelia and Miles and everyone else!!!!!!!!

Comments

[saxify.livejournal.com]

Mockingjay was such a giant disappointment, ugh. I loved The Hunger Games, and even Catching Fire was an enjoyable read but Mockingjay was just terrible. I was expecting much more, probably due to all the great things I heard about it :/

[charlie-bz.livejournal.com]

"The last two books are exponentially weaker than the first."

Yes! I couldn't have said it better or more succinct.

I was very disappointed by this series. All your criticisms are valid. I wanted more of Capital city, more about Gale and Peeta and the mentor guy whose name I've forgotten.

I'm now rereading Game of Thrones in anticipation for the new season starting in April. Can't wait!

[fauxkaren.livejournal.com]

I didn't like Mockingjay on my first readthrough, but I think it might be my favorite of the series now. The first book is very much an action-adventure story. The second one starts to bring in an more motional element, but the third one is all about Katniss and her character journey which is why I love it.

I love that the series sets you up to think that it's going to be about a rebellion, but then it's not at all. We don't get to see things like Katniss's trial at the end of the book because that's not the point. The point of the book is how Katniss has been changed by these events and how she is being used as a pawn by the Capitol and later the rebels.

Something important to note is that in each of the books, Katniss has a moment where she asserts her own agency. In THG, it's when she pulls out the berries and threatens to eat them along with Peeta, which forces the Capitol's hand to let Peeta and Katniss both live. In CF, it's where Katniss uses her arrow to shoot the forcefield. In MJ, it's when she kills Coin, demonstrating to the rebels that she is NOT their puppet. So I love that even though these books are mostly about how Katniss is a girl trying to navigate her way through the politics of both the Capitol and the rebels who are trying to use her for their own purposes, in the end Katniss stays true to herself and doesn't let other people control her.

The other thing I love about Katniss is that in the beginning Katniss is cold and cut off. She loves her sister, but because of the hard thing she's gone through in life, she can be a bit unfeeling. I think it's a really interesting parallel to notice how in the first book Katniss talks about how she never forgave her mother for shutting down after her father died, but then Katniss does the same thing when Peeta is in the hands of the Capitol. I think that as Katniss grows up and allows herself to care about people more, she lets herself be affected by the world around her.

I love that Katniss is a fully formed character with faults and weaknesses while at the same time being incredibly skilled with an arrow and strong and brave and willful. Katniss isn't a cardboard cut out. She's complicated and sometimes makes mistakes and sometimes doesn't always behave perfectly, but that's ok. Women are just people. We're not a better kind of person than men. We're just as flawed at times and just as strong at other times.

Also, I'm just pleased that a female character was allowed to be the lead character of a book series that was not marketed specifically towards girls. (see also: why I love Leslie Knope on Parks and Rec and Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. YAY FOR FABULOUS LADIES CARRYING SHOWS THAT ARE MARKETED TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND NOT JUST OTHER WOMEN!)

[embitca.livejournal.com]

Your post makes me so happy I didn't proceed beyond the first book. I just knew that there wasn't going to be anything there for me. I wish Battle Royale was available on Kindle. I'd love to read it. Maybe I can at least see the movie.

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

Lol YOU DID predict everything!! You have no idea how my face looked liked when I read your first topic on the subject ^^. I was "ok we have Nostradamus here" (now you need to put your Sherlock brain onto Games of Thrones asap :p).

Anyway, I knew everything you disliked from book 2 was going to worsen while reading book 3. And I can't really come with anything substantial with everything you just said. Basically you are very right on all this. I still enjoyed the books nonetheless. I was expecting a lot less while reading it and tbh, once I got past the *eyerollingthisissobattleroyale* I was fine. I think the biggest thing is.... I got attached to the characters. That's all that took. I loved Katniss despite her flaws (and let's face it, they deepen and deepen through the books). I adored Peeta. I was ready to believe in Gale. I smiled when Prim was there etc.

It's not deep literature, but I felt the adrenaline while reading it and I liked the road the author took. I loved the breakdown scenes. I don't think Prim's death was necessary though. And, my biggest grief (now I can say it to you ^^) is the memory loss of Peeta. I bloody hate that kind of storyline/plot. I suspect the k-dramas have spoiled that "temporary losing my memory sorry" thing forever to me. It's way too easy.
I only let it go because it was Peeta tbh. But I still cringe. You use that when you don't know what to do anymore (or that's how I see it).

[singing-tree.livejournal.com]

Can't say I'm surprised that you didn't like Mockingjay. Such a letdown!

[madame-parker.livejournal.com]

Ouch, was the world building really that paper thin? Because wow, that's some bad writing skills to not only screw up the world but the characters and the plot.

I'm starting to really be glad that I never got to read the book but if I do find it in my library I'll take it out, just so I can really judge for myself, I did the same with Twilight and discovered to my horror that it was worse than everyone was saying, so who knows, I might spot even more of the crap than you did in the Hunger Games, we can compare notes. :D

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Vorkosigan Saga for the win!!!!!!