Monday, October 24, 2011

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins


The third instalment, devoured in 72 hours flat, of the Hunger Games trilogy: Mockingjay.  A perfect example of the imperfect endings of real life. Seriously, you need to read this trilogy.  Like, now.

SPOILERS!


Katniss - boy, is she flawed.  And I like that Collins is not afraid to show it.  That conversation between Peeta an Gale on page 328?  I can't imagine it ever happening between two men given the situation they're in - but I do appreciate the candid assessment of the Mockingjay.  I find her selfish, easily addicted and generally morose.  I guess the parallel story is that of her on-TV personality which is what the people fell in love with and who the people decided to follow.  Had the public seen her meltdowns and general apathy, would they have loved her?  I didn't.  In fact, I always thought it shouldn't have been her at all.


Gale - that's who it should have been.  His passion/rage reminds me of stuff I've read about Che.  Way braver than I would have given him credit and with way less motivation than the other victors.  And yet... and yet, despite his brilliance, athleticism, wit, he's somehow maligned?  I didn't understand how he could play second fiddle to

Peeta - the baker.  He spent a third of the trilogy trying to kill Katniss.  Yes, yes, he was tortured.  Boohoo.  A lot of people were tortured.  He remained the same throughout the entire series - soft.  I have no time for characters like this.  Had he had his way, he would've retreated to some mountain hermitage and preached tolerance while blood ran thick throughout Panem.  His only motivations for involvement were entirely selfish.  It's too bad the brief glimpses of his cutting honesty with Katniss didn't really last.

...I wonder how they spent those 20 years, with Peeta fighting his hijacked hatred and Katniss always playing nursemaid to him.  Gale really did hit it on the head when he said she would choose the one she needed to survive - and what she needs is to feel needed.  She and Gale would have had a tumultuous relationship; she and Peeta seemed to have had an entirely uneventful one.

And despite all this grumbling: I still loved the trilogy.  The imperfect characters (Katniss' mother, Madge, Finnick, Coin...), the great twists, the eerie parallels to our time now... so good.  All this complaining is only a reflection of just how engaged I am with these characters' lives.

No comments: