Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Title:  Mockingjay: The Final Book of the Hunger Games Author: Suzanne Collins Publisher: Scholastic  Published: August 24, 2010 Format: Hardcover ($19.99CDN) Age Group: Adult  Other Books in the Series: The Hunger Games & Catching Fire My Copy: Purchased

 

Synopsis:

 

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

 

My Review:

 

Despite this being a fictional novel Mockinjay came alive for me in a way that extended past the pages of the book.  We may not live in the dystopic society that is an every day reality for Katniss Everdeen and her family but I can see our own failings mirrored in the pages of Mockinjay.  I can see it in our capitalistic society that is obsessed with material goods and is driven by consumption, in the genocides that have happened in our past and that go unnoticed by many in our present and the starvation that is a reality for many across the world.  As I reconnected with the characters of this novel and experienced with them the horror of their reality I was humbled and became grateful for all that I have.

 

In each novel of The Hunger Games series it is Katniss's selflessness that stood out to me and her willingness to do anything to protect those she loves.  The narration of this novel is very morose but it is occasionally peppered with stories of hope, moments of laughter and touches of kindness.  While Mockinjay is not a book with constant action like the first two novels in this series, each moment was well written and I found the change in pace to add to the story rather then take away from it.

 

Suzanne Collins did not present her readers with a happily ever after story where after accomplishing the goals set out in the novel Katniss catches the man she loves and lives out her life a happy utopian society.  This is a novel with pages filled with horror, pain, death, sacrifice and situations I have no name for.  This novel is genuine and believable but in a twisted way that had me gasping in horror, clutching the pages in suspense and angry at the author for writing such a emotionally charged novel.  With that said Suzanne Collins delivered a novel with a beginning, middle and end that paid tribute to the main characters of the novel without diminishing the sacrifices they had made to bring about a worldwide revolution.

 

However excellent I feel the book was, in the end it was a simple moment when a mangy cat with a name that does not reflect his disposition reduced me tears and had me unable to fall asleep as I replayed the book in my head.  If you haven’t read this series yet I highly recommend you look into purchasing or borrowing a copy of The Hunger Games. This entire series is emotionally charged and it provides the reader with a fictional example of how to have hope when your situation seems hopeless, have courage despite being terrified and how to never give up even when you think you can no longer go on. 

 

My Rating: 10/5