"Mockingjay" {by Suzanne Collins} Book Review

(Source)

Mockingjay

Author: Suzanne Collins

# of Pages: 400

Year Published: 2010

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Genre: Young Adult

Summary:

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans--except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay--no matter what the personal cost.

Our Rating...

3.33 Stars

Knowing that this was the final book in this series, I think we all came to this book with great expectations. Even as book club started you could feel the excitement as we play Team Gale vs. Team Peeta trivia. We all had pretty strong opinions about this book and some pretty intense feelings to share. Kelly did an AWESOME job getting us all thinking more deeply about the book. One my favorite questions was "Who do you think suffered the most by the end of the book?" There was a lot of debate about this question. Some people thought it was Finnick, others said Haymitch, and some thought Johanna. Very fascinating.

I decided, for my post I wanted to use a survey so that I could get some answers to some pressing questions I had after book club :). I want to talk about some of the responses because I found them fascinating! I hope it's okay that that is how I am doing this?

I asked people to describe how they felt about Mockingjay in one sentence and these are just a few of the responses we got:

"Heartbreaking"

"A someone unpredictable and abrubt ending to love and war"

"The story stayed true to the book and ended in a way that felt realistic and satisfying"

When asked to choose between Peeta and Gale...we were 100% Peeta. I found that pretty hilarious. Obviously Katniss agreed with us and I appreciate that about her.

When asked what your favorite thing about the series was, some responses are:

"that Peeta won" :)

"how emotionally attached I was able to get to the characters"

"how detailed the stories were down to laws, fashion, and traditions"

"how it made me think about the way our world was heading"

The most fascinating answers I received was to my question "What disappointed you about Mockingjay?" Here's what we got:

"I had a really hard time when Finnick died"

"abrupt and intense ending"

"Katnis being a hypocrite"

"Peeta being hijacked"

"the story wrap up of Katnis' personal life progress was an afterthought and happened in 5 pages"

"I wanted it to keep going"

33% of us were disappointed by this last book, however, 67% of us were not. Interesting.

Most of our favorite thing about book club this month was Kelly's cute trivia game. It was so intense, just like the war between the capitol and the districts :). Such a good time.

So...thanks so much girls for a fascinating discussion! I hope I've done this write up correctly...maybe Kelly will never let me do this again? :)