MOCKINGJAY – THE HUNGER GAMES PART III by Suzanne Collins
What a let down! After the excellent first two books in this series, I found the final part of The Hunger Games trilogy – Mockingjay – to be a massive disappointment.
Katniss Everdeen has become the rebel leader to rally the survivors of the districts against the evil forces of the Capitol. But this status is, for too long, a purely symbolic one meaning only that she gets a cool new outfit and to shoot lots of propaganda films (“propos”).
Suzanne Collins pays so much attention to how events look on television that you feel like reminding her of the late Gil Scott Heron’s observation that the revolution WILL NOT be televised.
Katniss’ has such a passive role for substantial parts of the novel that she is often little more than a helpless pawn in a bigger game and not in control of her own destiny. This is frustrating because you really want to see her battling against all the power, corruption and lies she confronts. It comes to something when she has to constantly turn to a drunken slob (Haymitch) for support .
The early rescue of Peeta from the evil clutches of the enemy, for instance, takes place so rapidly and, as it were, off-camera, that you also begin to doubt that all the stories about the impenetrable security of the state powers can be true.
Too often, major events like this are summarised while discussions about diet and costume styling are dwelled upon in tedious detail.
And let’s hear it for her ‘best friend’ Gale who , if she had any taste or judgement would win Katniss’ heart instead of the one dimensional Peeta (although choosing either should be redundant anyway as she has already shown that she is a sassy heroine who doesn’t need a man to complete her). .
When she eventually gets to see some real action it proceeds to a bloody finale which is both shocking and so completely out of synch with what has gone before, that you can only imagine that Collins has no clear vision of how to end her saga.
I can envisage this ending being toned down and radically revised for the movie version.
And finally, the brevity of the epilogue is nothing short of an insult to readers who have followed the Katniss story to its conclusion.
Related links:
- “Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins (goddessbnl.wordpress.com)
- Wicked Pixie’s book review
