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next_to_normal) wrote2011-02-27 04:54 pm
next_to_normal) wrote2011-02-27 04:54 pm
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Epic Mockingjay review
I am not even kidding, you guys. This sucker is over 3,000 words. The Hunger Games has taken over my brain!!!
Incredibly spoilery Mockingjay reaction post under the cut. If you haven't already, go read it!
Remember, in my Catching Fire review, when I said I wasn't sure what to expect other than a vague Katniss-led revolution thing happening? Well, THIS is what I expected, basically, except I wasn't at all clear how we would get from Katniss and Peeta winning the Hunger Games to this. I'm glad we didn't go immediately from the first Games straight to revolution, because we needed that transition, and while this final installment is definitely a departure in setting, structure, and tone (OMG I didn't think it could get darker! THERE IS ALWAYS DARKER) from the previous two, I was SO EXCITED to get to full-out war after a whole book of simmering rebellion.
My foreboding was on full alert right away with District 13, though. I mean, I realize that they need serious rules and structure in their society in order to keep things together after all they've been through, but... LOOK AT YOURSELVES, PEOPLE. It reminded me a lot more of a prison than a society, or even a military base. And let me tell you, the whole "torturing Katniss' prep team over a slice of bread" thing is NOT helping their case.
Also, this is probably a Freudian something or other, but I could not stop reading President Coin's name as "Cain," i.e. Admiral Cain from Battlestar Galactica, aka the most ruthless HBIC ever. (Calling it now: Michelle Forbes as Coin if/when they make the Mockingjay movie.) This may have significantly colored my perception of her - though, as it turns out, not inaccurately, lol.
I love the propaganda war between District 13 and the Capitol for several reasons:
I literally cannot even imagine what Katniss is going through. Like, my brain cannot process the horror of her situation. I don't even know how she makes it through every day without completely falling apart. If I were in Katniss' shoes, I'd have given up and just curled into a fetal position and cried about a hundred times now. I'm close to a complete breakdown and I AM JUST READING ABOUT IT. I absolutely am in awe of her strength and determination, but at the same time, she's clearly not coming through this unscathed, and it's so horrible to watch her sustaining more and more emotional and physical damage and yet she just keeps pushing forward until she's a brittle shell of who she once was.
Everyone in this book is suffering from a raging case of PTSD. I mean, obviously. But it's just - it's so overwhelming at this point. Is there anyone who's NOT damaged? Katniss having to repeat her mantra of basic life history and Finnick tying knots and Johanna too terrified to shower and Annie in her own world and now I know why Haymitch drinks, y'all - and PEETA OMG WHAT IS THERE TO SAY ABOUT PEETA.
Throughout much of Mockingjay, I kept hearing Buffy's line from "Checkpoint" echoing in my head. When the Council is trying to control her, and she tells Giles, "They picked the perfect thing. I can't lose you." The Capitol - and Snow in particular - always know exactly the right thing that is uniquely capable of ABSOLUTELY DESTROYING YOU emotionally. For all the fire bombing and the deadly traps and the muttations, it's the psychological warfare that is the Capitol's most deadly weapon. It's the worst thing they could possibly do to Peeta, who was so determined not to lose himself during the Games, not to let them take his humanity. They've managed to do what two rounds of the Hunger Games couldn't accomplish. They turned him into a monster, into a weapon set to destroy the one person he has left in the world. And it's the worst thing they could do to Katniss, too, to take the one person she thought she could always trust - someone who loved her unconditionally - and turn him against her. It was bad enough knowing they were torturing him, but now he's been brainwashed into hating her and wanting to kill her and believing that her very existence is a betrayal. And everything they've done to him is to make Katniss suffer. How do you even live with that?
Those first few interactions after Peeta's rescue are just SO PAINFUL OMG. My heart breaks every time he says or does something cruel. Minor complaint, though: Once they started working on Peeta, I felt like it was resolved a little too easily. Granted, I am a total angst addict - not like this series doesn't have enough of that - but there seemed to be so much that could be mined from the process of bringing Peeta back, but because Katniss can't deal with it, most of it happens off-screen. Which is totally understandable from her perspective, so I guess what I'm disappointed in is that the limited POV doesn't allow us to explore things outside Katniss' frame of reference. I have actually felt that way a few times, but I'll come back to it later.
I'm glad we FINALLY got some quality time between Katniss and Gale in this book. I'm Team Peeta all the way, but in order for this triangle nonsense to play believably, I needed to SEE why Gale was a serious consideration for Katniss, not just hear about their deep trust and understanding of each other. It was nice to see that in action. And I appreciated that it was handled with a deft touch - only once did I feel like we were being hit over the head with the love triangle, in the scene between Gale and Peeta. While I like the implications of "Katniss will choose the one she can't survive without," the rest of their conversation was so on-the-nose it made me gag. "She loves you more!" "No, she loves YOU more!" I admit, I found it HILARIOUS that Katniss' reaction was, "I can survive just fine without either of them." Granted, it probably wasn't intended the way I interpreted it, but I love how it subverts the typical love triangle - instead of angsting over which one she should choose, she basically says, "Screw it. I don't need to choose. I'm just fine on my own."
However - and maybe it's my shipper bias talking - I never truly believed that she'd end up with Gale. I believed that she would consider it, but we've spent all this time with Peeta, and not nearly as much with Gale. And what we do see of Gale in Mockingjay isn't very appealing. In the end, they're just too similar. She's ruthless and violent and vengeful enough on her own; what she needs - what she can't survive without - is the compassion, the gentleness, the humanity that Peeta brings.
And of course, Gale's involvement with the parachute bombs seals the deal. Again we see the theme of becoming the evil you're fighting against. What they do is so brutal, so calculated, and it's the exact psychological warfare the Capitol is so good at. Katniss could never be with him after that, and I don't blame her. Even beyond the consequences, though that's horrible enough, I think she sees the worst of herself reflected in him in that act. That's the Katniss who's forgotten who the true enemy is. That's the Katniss who would vote to hold another Hunger Games. But she can't - she won't - be that person, and that means she can't be with Gale.
I'm also happy that Prim played a slightly larger role in this book. Much like Gale, something felt off about the way that relationship was portrayed. Prim is supposedly everything to Katniss. She's the reason all of this is happening, because Katniss loved her too much to watch her little sister die. And yet, we've gotten very little of the two of them as sisters. So I liked seeing them bonding in District 13, especially now that Prim is growing up and wise beyond her years (and yet still SO YOUNG OMG I'M GOING TO CRY AGAIN). I admit, I was spoiled and so I knew that she died, which I think softened the blow a bit. It's probably for the best, anyway, because I still cried my eyes out when I got to the part with Katniss and Buttercup (CAT MOURNING OMG). And it's still devastating to realize that, in the end, Katniss couldn't keep her sister alive. That's all she's ever wanted, since we first met her, and she failed.
Johanna, you have redefined the word "fierce." Even Gale "Kill 'Em All" Hawthorne is terrified of her! (Btw, I find it hilarious that people ship them based on their two-second interaction, but it kind of totally works.) Her budding friendship with Katniss was fun, both because I think they desperately need companionship in order to survive the heaps of trauma, and because Johanna gives Katniss a much-needed dose of honesty. She always tells it like it is, because she's been through way too much to bother with pulling punches. Tact is just not saying true stuff. She'll pass. I enjoyed the two of them training together - in general, it was weird but fun to watch all of these familiar characters turning into soldiers. Really, only Gale seemed suited to it. He is a soldier by choice, whereas the victors became killers against their will. I felt a little bad for Johanna that she wasn't allowed to go with the other to the Capitol, but at the same time, I found myself thinking, "Well, at least that's ONE person who will probably survive." Heh.
It was fascinating the way that Collins brought back the specter of the Hunger Games, though. I didn't see how she could possibly get them back into the arena, nor did I expect her to, but the invasion of the Capitol was like entering an urban warfare arena, with all the same traps and dangers. And of course, the same high body count. Of all the new characters, Boggs was probably my favorite, so that was a horrifying "shit just got real" moment, when the mission abruptly turns from practice to the real thing. Speaking of which...
OH FINNICK. Unlike Prim, I was totally unprepared for his death. So much so that I had to reread that passage at least three times before it sunk in that he was really gone. I really, honestly thought he would make it. I know, I know. I am a Buffy fan, I should see these things coming! NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO BE HAPPY! The slightest bit of happiness is an obvious sign you are MARKED FOR DEATH. But it's FINNICK! My heart is breaking all over again. In fact, I am kind of still in denial. FINNICK WILL RISE FROM THE DEAD YOU WAIT AND SEE.
MOAR FINNICK OMG. I love him SO MUCH. I love how he manages to be both utterly hilarious and utterly depressing at the same time. I love how he and Katniss bond over their shared fears about their loved ones and strengthen each other against the psychological torture Snow is putting them through. I love him in his underwear. I love how happy he is with Annie. My heart breaks for him with all that he suffered through, and those early scenes in Catching Fire are painful to think about in retrospect, but I am so incredibly proud that he was able to use his collection of secrets as a weapon. I'm so glad that he stuck with Katniss until the end. But noooooooooooooo Finnick you can't die!!! You're too pretty to die!!!!
I have to admit, though, as much as I want to love Finnick/Annie, I think they suffer from the same problem Katniss/Gale does. It's very clear that they love each other deeply, but we hardly get to see Annie at all, so it's hard to understand WHY they love each other. Their reunion is gorgeous and their wedding is delightful, but I SO wish we had more background on how exactly Annie "crept up on him." I honestly found myself more intrigued by Finnick's friendships with Johanna and Katniss, because we know them, than his relationship with Annie. Maybe my expectations were too high? Because the way she was talked about in Catching Fire, I couldn't WAIT to finally meet her, because I thought their relationship would be fascinating to explore. But - again, probably a consequence of the limited POV - we really don't get much. And then Finnick dies and oh, by the way, Annie has his baby in a random throwaway line.
Speaking of which, let's talk about Things I Didn't Like (yes, there are a few). Namely, the "babies make everything better" epilogue. WTF COLLINS?? Y'all know how I feel about epilogues, and this is the worst possible kind. For one thing, the "You love me. Real or not real?" is the PERFECT ending for Katniss and Peeta as a couple, as individual characters, and the series as a whole. It brings them to a satisfying place romantically, it shows Katniss being open about her feelings, it calls back the "real or not real" game they played to help Peeta recover, and it echoes the theme of reality vs. lies and propaganda that has threaded throughout the series. "And then they had babies" is just... superfluous.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure it wasn't intended in the typical sense of using babies to validate a romantic couple. I think it's meant to symbolize Katniss' hope for the future, since she'd always refused to have children because she didn't want to face them going through the Hunger Games (especially with Peeta, since the child of two victors is almost guaranteed to be selected as a tribute). So the fact that she's willing to have children proves that the fear is gone and they can grow up without the shadow of the Games hanging over their heads. But... I dunno, as someone without a maternal bone in her body, I appreciate the rare occasions when I find a female character who is adamantly opposed to having children, for whatever reason, and I hate to lose that kindred spirit in Katniss.
And, you know, for a trope that usually signifies a happy ending, things still seem pretty bleak. It's obvious that Katniss will forever be broken, that she will forever be haunted by her nightmares and fears. And while it's true that some wounds never heal, it feels as though Katniss suffers from the same lopsided development as many Joss Whedon characters. It's a complaint I frequently have, that Joss spends so much time tearing down his characters, and then fails to spend enough time building them back up. That's what seems to be happening to Katniss. She's spent nearly the entire series having everything stripped away - her family, her friends, her home, her entire identity - and how much do we see her get back? Even though the rebels won, it doesn't feel like a victory for her. She gets to live traumatically ever after with Peeta in District 12, but... it doesn't seem like enough. Babies do not make everything okay again!
Maybe I'd feel like she had more agency if she'd played a bigger role in the final battle. I don't know why Collins does this, but she seems to end every book with Katniss unconscious, only to wake up and have other characters tell her what she's missed. In The Hunger Games, it worked, because we saw her win, and it was just the aftermath she slept through. But in Catching Fire, she causes chaos in the arena and then misses the entire rescue - not to mention that she was completely in the dark about the whole plan in the first place. And then here she's unconscious through the final battle in the Capitol. I guess it makes sense, since she's not really a soldier, just a figurehead, that she wouldn't be an essential part of the fighting. But I feel like she needs that, you know? In order to build herself back up, she needs some sort of personal victory that she can cling to. She kills Coin, true, but then she's basically punished for it - no one ever really knows WHY she did it, and she's branded as crazy to avoid execution.
Anyway, it doesn't prevent me from being like OMG IT CAN'T BE OVER I WANT MOAR STORY. Or maybe it's because of that that I want more - I want to see the other side of the arc rather than ending it with Katniss at such a low point (although, from the little Collins has described, it sounds like Katniss intends to live a very boring life from now on, lol). But it's also, as I said before, the limited POV issue. Because we've spent so much time in Katniss' head, I don't feel like we've gotten to know the other characters as well as we could have. I would LOVE to get more of the series from different POVs, so we can see the backstory on Finnick and Annie, or Johanna, or Haymitch, or maybe see more of Gale and whoever else in the future, struggling to rebuild Panem into a republic. Just from a political standpoint, I would find it fascinating to see the rebirth of the nation. That is the problem with such fantastic world-building and creating such rich characters - Katniss' story is not enough!
Incredibly spoilery Mockingjay reaction post under the cut. If you haven't already, go read it!
Remember, in my Catching Fire review, when I said I wasn't sure what to expect other than a vague Katniss-led revolution thing happening? Well, THIS is what I expected, basically, except I wasn't at all clear how we would get from Katniss and Peeta winning the Hunger Games to this. I'm glad we didn't go immediately from the first Games straight to revolution, because we needed that transition, and while this final installment is definitely a departure in setting, structure, and tone (OMG I didn't think it could get darker! THERE IS ALWAYS DARKER) from the previous two, I was SO EXCITED to get to full-out war after a whole book of simmering rebellion.
My foreboding was on full alert right away with District 13, though. I mean, I realize that they need serious rules and structure in their society in order to keep things together after all they've been through, but... LOOK AT YOURSELVES, PEOPLE. It reminded me a lot more of a prison than a society, or even a military base. And let me tell you, the whole "torturing Katniss' prep team over a slice of bread" thing is NOT helping their case.
Also, this is probably a Freudian something or other, but I could not stop reading President Coin's name as "Cain," i.e. Admiral Cain from Battlestar Galactica, aka the most ruthless HBIC ever. (Calling it now: Michelle Forbes as Coin if/when they make the Mockingjay movie.) This may have significantly colored my perception of her - though, as it turns out, not inaccurately, lol.
I love the propaganda war between District 13 and the Capitol for several reasons:
- BEETEE! I love him being all techie and awesome.
- It's turning the Capitol's own game against them.
- It has the same flavor of ridiculousness as Anderson Cooper reporting from the middle of a hurricane or whatever, a camera crew following Katniss around into a war zone to film her being inspiring.
- Katniss as the Mockingjay bears some frightening parallels to Katniss the Girl on Fire in the first Hunger Games. The awe-inspiring symbol, the compelling story, the sympathetic figure - it's exactly how she was used to attract audiences for the biggest reality TV event of the year, and now the rebels are doing the same thing to unify the districts for war. It's the first sign that they're becoming the very thing they're fighting against (more on that later, obvs).
I literally cannot even imagine what Katniss is going through. Like, my brain cannot process the horror of her situation. I don't even know how she makes it through every day without completely falling apart. If I were in Katniss' shoes, I'd have given up and just curled into a fetal position and cried about a hundred times now. I'm close to a complete breakdown and I AM JUST READING ABOUT IT. I absolutely am in awe of her strength and determination, but at the same time, she's clearly not coming through this unscathed, and it's so horrible to watch her sustaining more and more emotional and physical damage and yet she just keeps pushing forward until she's a brittle shell of who she once was.
Everyone in this book is suffering from a raging case of PTSD. I mean, obviously. But it's just - it's so overwhelming at this point. Is there anyone who's NOT damaged? Katniss having to repeat her mantra of basic life history and Finnick tying knots and Johanna too terrified to shower and Annie in her own world and now I know why Haymitch drinks, y'all - and PEETA OMG WHAT IS THERE TO SAY ABOUT PEETA.
Throughout much of Mockingjay, I kept hearing Buffy's line from "Checkpoint" echoing in my head. When the Council is trying to control her, and she tells Giles, "They picked the perfect thing. I can't lose you." The Capitol - and Snow in particular - always know exactly the right thing that is uniquely capable of ABSOLUTELY DESTROYING YOU emotionally. For all the fire bombing and the deadly traps and the muttations, it's the psychological warfare that is the Capitol's most deadly weapon. It's the worst thing they could possibly do to Peeta, who was so determined not to lose himself during the Games, not to let them take his humanity. They've managed to do what two rounds of the Hunger Games couldn't accomplish. They turned him into a monster, into a weapon set to destroy the one person he has left in the world. And it's the worst thing they could do to Katniss, too, to take the one person she thought she could always trust - someone who loved her unconditionally - and turn him against her. It was bad enough knowing they were torturing him, but now he's been brainwashed into hating her and wanting to kill her and believing that her very existence is a betrayal. And everything they've done to him is to make Katniss suffer. How do you even live with that?
Those first few interactions after Peeta's rescue are just SO PAINFUL OMG. My heart breaks every time he says or does something cruel. Minor complaint, though: Once they started working on Peeta, I felt like it was resolved a little too easily. Granted, I am a total angst addict - not like this series doesn't have enough of that - but there seemed to be so much that could be mined from the process of bringing Peeta back, but because Katniss can't deal with it, most of it happens off-screen. Which is totally understandable from her perspective, so I guess what I'm disappointed in is that the limited POV doesn't allow us to explore things outside Katniss' frame of reference. I have actually felt that way a few times, but I'll come back to it later.
I'm glad we FINALLY got some quality time between Katniss and Gale in this book. I'm Team Peeta all the way, but in order for this triangle nonsense to play believably, I needed to SEE why Gale was a serious consideration for Katniss, not just hear about their deep trust and understanding of each other. It was nice to see that in action. And I appreciated that it was handled with a deft touch - only once did I feel like we were being hit over the head with the love triangle, in the scene between Gale and Peeta. While I like the implications of "Katniss will choose the one she can't survive without," the rest of their conversation was so on-the-nose it made me gag. "She loves you more!" "No, she loves YOU more!" I admit, I found it HILARIOUS that Katniss' reaction was, "I can survive just fine without either of them." Granted, it probably wasn't intended the way I interpreted it, but I love how it subverts the typical love triangle - instead of angsting over which one she should choose, she basically says, "Screw it. I don't need to choose. I'm just fine on my own."
However - and maybe it's my shipper bias talking - I never truly believed that she'd end up with Gale. I believed that she would consider it, but we've spent all this time with Peeta, and not nearly as much with Gale. And what we do see of Gale in Mockingjay isn't very appealing. In the end, they're just too similar. She's ruthless and violent and vengeful enough on her own; what she needs - what she can't survive without - is the compassion, the gentleness, the humanity that Peeta brings.
And of course, Gale's involvement with the parachute bombs seals the deal. Again we see the theme of becoming the evil you're fighting against. What they do is so brutal, so calculated, and it's the exact psychological warfare the Capitol is so good at. Katniss could never be with him after that, and I don't blame her. Even beyond the consequences, though that's horrible enough, I think she sees the worst of herself reflected in him in that act. That's the Katniss who's forgotten who the true enemy is. That's the Katniss who would vote to hold another Hunger Games. But she can't - she won't - be that person, and that means she can't be with Gale.
I'm also happy that Prim played a slightly larger role in this book. Much like Gale, something felt off about the way that relationship was portrayed. Prim is supposedly everything to Katniss. She's the reason all of this is happening, because Katniss loved her too much to watch her little sister die. And yet, we've gotten very little of the two of them as sisters. So I liked seeing them bonding in District 13, especially now that Prim is growing up and wise beyond her years (and yet still SO YOUNG OMG I'M GOING TO CRY AGAIN). I admit, I was spoiled and so I knew that she died, which I think softened the blow a bit. It's probably for the best, anyway, because I still cried my eyes out when I got to the part with Katniss and Buttercup (CAT MOURNING OMG). And it's still devastating to realize that, in the end, Katniss couldn't keep her sister alive. That's all she's ever wanted, since we first met her, and she failed.
Johanna, you have redefined the word "fierce." Even Gale "Kill 'Em All" Hawthorne is terrified of her! (Btw, I find it hilarious that people ship them based on their two-second interaction, but it kind of totally works.) Her budding friendship with Katniss was fun, both because I think they desperately need companionship in order to survive the heaps of trauma, and because Johanna gives Katniss a much-needed dose of honesty. She always tells it like it is, because she's been through way too much to bother with pulling punches. Tact is just not saying true stuff. She'll pass. I enjoyed the two of them training together - in general, it was weird but fun to watch all of these familiar characters turning into soldiers. Really, only Gale seemed suited to it. He is a soldier by choice, whereas the victors became killers against their will. I felt a little bad for Johanna that she wasn't allowed to go with the other to the Capitol, but at the same time, I found myself thinking, "Well, at least that's ONE person who will probably survive." Heh.
It was fascinating the way that Collins brought back the specter of the Hunger Games, though. I didn't see how she could possibly get them back into the arena, nor did I expect her to, but the invasion of the Capitol was like entering an urban warfare arena, with all the same traps and dangers. And of course, the same high body count. Of all the new characters, Boggs was probably my favorite, so that was a horrifying "shit just got real" moment, when the mission abruptly turns from practice to the real thing. Speaking of which...
OH FINNICK. Unlike Prim, I was totally unprepared for his death. So much so that I had to reread that passage at least three times before it sunk in that he was really gone. I really, honestly thought he would make it. I know, I know. I am a Buffy fan, I should see these things coming! NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO BE HAPPY! The slightest bit of happiness is an obvious sign you are MARKED FOR DEATH. But it's FINNICK! My heart is breaking all over again. In fact, I am kind of still in denial. FINNICK WILL RISE FROM THE DEAD YOU WAIT AND SEE.
MOAR FINNICK OMG. I love him SO MUCH. I love how he manages to be both utterly hilarious and utterly depressing at the same time. I love how he and Katniss bond over their shared fears about their loved ones and strengthen each other against the psychological torture Snow is putting them through. I love him in his underwear. I love how happy he is with Annie. My heart breaks for him with all that he suffered through, and those early scenes in Catching Fire are painful to think about in retrospect, but I am so incredibly proud that he was able to use his collection of secrets as a weapon. I'm so glad that he stuck with Katniss until the end. But noooooooooooooo Finnick you can't die!!! You're too pretty to die!!!!
I have to admit, though, as much as I want to love Finnick/Annie, I think they suffer from the same problem Katniss/Gale does. It's very clear that they love each other deeply, but we hardly get to see Annie at all, so it's hard to understand WHY they love each other. Their reunion is gorgeous and their wedding is delightful, but I SO wish we had more background on how exactly Annie "crept up on him." I honestly found myself more intrigued by Finnick's friendships with Johanna and Katniss, because we know them, than his relationship with Annie. Maybe my expectations were too high? Because the way she was talked about in Catching Fire, I couldn't WAIT to finally meet her, because I thought their relationship would be fascinating to explore. But - again, probably a consequence of the limited POV - we really don't get much. And then Finnick dies and oh, by the way, Annie has his baby in a random throwaway line.
Speaking of which, let's talk about Things I Didn't Like (yes, there are a few). Namely, the "babies make everything better" epilogue. WTF COLLINS?? Y'all know how I feel about epilogues, and this is the worst possible kind. For one thing, the "You love me. Real or not real?" is the PERFECT ending for Katniss and Peeta as a couple, as individual characters, and the series as a whole. It brings them to a satisfying place romantically, it shows Katniss being open about her feelings, it calls back the "real or not real" game they played to help Peeta recover, and it echoes the theme of reality vs. lies and propaganda that has threaded throughout the series. "And then they had babies" is just... superfluous.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure it wasn't intended in the typical sense of using babies to validate a romantic couple. I think it's meant to symbolize Katniss' hope for the future, since she'd always refused to have children because she didn't want to face them going through the Hunger Games (especially with Peeta, since the child of two victors is almost guaranteed to be selected as a tribute). So the fact that she's willing to have children proves that the fear is gone and they can grow up without the shadow of the Games hanging over their heads. But... I dunno, as someone without a maternal bone in her body, I appreciate the rare occasions when I find a female character who is adamantly opposed to having children, for whatever reason, and I hate to lose that kindred spirit in Katniss.
And, you know, for a trope that usually signifies a happy ending, things still seem pretty bleak. It's obvious that Katniss will forever be broken, that she will forever be haunted by her nightmares and fears. And while it's true that some wounds never heal, it feels as though Katniss suffers from the same lopsided development as many Joss Whedon characters. It's a complaint I frequently have, that Joss spends so much time tearing down his characters, and then fails to spend enough time building them back up. That's what seems to be happening to Katniss. She's spent nearly the entire series having everything stripped away - her family, her friends, her home, her entire identity - and how much do we see her get back? Even though the rebels won, it doesn't feel like a victory for her. She gets to live traumatically ever after with Peeta in District 12, but... it doesn't seem like enough. Babies do not make everything okay again!
Maybe I'd feel like she had more agency if she'd played a bigger role in the final battle. I don't know why Collins does this, but she seems to end every book with Katniss unconscious, only to wake up and have other characters tell her what she's missed. In The Hunger Games, it worked, because we saw her win, and it was just the aftermath she slept through. But in Catching Fire, she causes chaos in the arena and then misses the entire rescue - not to mention that she was completely in the dark about the whole plan in the first place. And then here she's unconscious through the final battle in the Capitol. I guess it makes sense, since she's not really a soldier, just a figurehead, that she wouldn't be an essential part of the fighting. But I feel like she needs that, you know? In order to build herself back up, she needs some sort of personal victory that she can cling to. She kills Coin, true, but then she's basically punished for it - no one ever really knows WHY she did it, and she's branded as crazy to avoid execution.
Anyway, it doesn't prevent me from being like OMG IT CAN'T BE OVER I WANT MOAR STORY. Or maybe it's because of that that I want more - I want to see the other side of the arc rather than ending it with Katniss at such a low point (although, from the little Collins has described, it sounds like Katniss intends to live a very boring life from now on, lol). But it's also, as I said before, the limited POV issue. Because we've spent so much time in Katniss' head, I don't feel like we've gotten to know the other characters as well as we could have. I would LOVE to get more of the series from different POVs, so we can see the backstory on Finnick and Annie, or Johanna, or Haymitch, or maybe see more of Gale and whoever else in the future, struggling to rebuild Panem into a republic. Just from a political standpoint, I would find it fascinating to see the rebirth of the nation. That is the problem with such fantastic world-building and creating such rich characters - Katniss' story is not enough!
no subject
OK. Here now. And loving your review! I basically agree with everything ever? Especially these parts:
I am a total angst addict - not like this series doesn't have enough of that - but there seemed to be so much that could be mined from the process of bringing Peeta back, but because Katniss can't deal with it, most of it happens off-screen.
Word. I felt like there wasn't enough Katniss/Peeta full stop. Katniss/Gale interested me enough, but WHERE'S MY OTP-TIME YO?
Namely, the "babies make everything better" epilogue.
UGH SO MUCH WORD. Particularly because:
For one thing, the "You love me. Real or not real?" is the PERFECT ending for Katniss and Peeta as a couple
YES. YES. I do not understand why it couldn't have just ended there. As it is, I came out of the book feeling a little less in love with Katniss/Peeta as a pairing. Which is depressing. It's like, it was this totally unique love story, and then it was: "then they had BABEHS AND LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER". And I know, I know, obviously not that simple, but all the ambiguity that made their story great was just traded for something really traditional. Bah. IDK. I just have an irrational hatred for traditional romance.
I dunno, as someone without a maternal bone in her body, I appreciate the rare occasions when I find a female character who is adamantly opposed to having children, for whatever reason, and I hate to lose that kindred spirit in Katniss.
ITA. *completely un-maternal high five*
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Anyway, agreed, not enough Katniss/Peeta. I mean, I get that it's not really meant to be a romance novel, so I can understand why that part of it would be skimmed over a bit in favor of KILL ALL THE THINGS. But it's a little jarring to go from "so damaged they can barely talk to each other" to "oh, hey, they are having sex and babies" in the space of a few pages. Honestly, I would read a whole fourth book that simultaneously dealt with rebuilding Panem and rebuilding Katniss and Peeta's relationship.
It also really bugs me how distant Katniss seems from her children in the epilogue. Like, she can't even refer to them by their NAMES, just "the girl" and "the boy." It makes it seem like she still doesn't want kids, and only had them because Peeta badgered her into it. Which... is an extremely disappointing end for our awesome heroine. I just DO NOT UNDERSTAND what Collins was trying to do there. It seems like she's trying to tack on this happy ending to make up for the epic trauma, but all the evidence points to further pain and misery and makes it all very WTF.
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THIS x a billionty
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OH FINNICK, ANGEL. <3
I don't know why Collins does this, but she seems to end every book with Katniss unconscious, only to wake up and have other characters tell her what she's missed.
Oh, that's a great catch. I didn't notice, even, probably because I don't like reading action scenes, so I didn't miss them. But yeah, you're right, it's something that must be brutal for Katniss. Especially since she's learning the hard way that nobody is a reliable narrator anyway? So she and we kind of have to play real or not real about all of these important moments.
SO GOOD THOUGH.
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Yeah, exactly. Which is important, I think, in establishing Panem as a whole. Because when I read dystopian fiction, I have a tendency to think, "Oh, but that would never really happen. People wouldn't allow it." But, in extreme enough circumstances, they absolutely can. And I love how explicit it is that sometimes the good guys are indistinguishable from the bad guys.
I didn't notice, even, probably because I don't like reading action scenes, so I didn't miss them.
HA! It's one thing I am looking forward to with the movies, though, getting to see more of that outside perspective. I would love to know what was going on behind the scenes in CF and definitely want more of Peeta dealing with his reprogramming.