Ms. Gardzalla reviews a book, pt. 3

Okay, readers, it's time to finally finish up reviewing The Hunger Games Series.  This week, I bring you Mockingjay.  Warning: this entire post is probably spoilers.

THE BASICS:

Mockingjay, released in 2010, is the third and final installment of Suzanne Collins' young adult triology, The Hunger Games.  It picks up almost immediately where Catching Fire left off.

After learning that her home, District 12, has been destroyed, Katniss is taken to the mysterious District 13 where she is convinced to become "The Mockingjay," or basically the symbol of the new revolution.  Being a student of literature (God, that sounded pretentious.  It doesn't help that I'm writing this in a Starbucks, either...) becoming the "symbol" of anything is rarely ever good.  Look at Gatsby from The Great Gatsby.  Jack from Lord of the Flies.  Kurtz from Heart of Darkness.  Did anything end well for any of these characters?  If you don't know CRACK A BOOK FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE.

Anyway, Katniss reluctantly agrees to become the Mockingjay, mostly at the behest of her best friend/pseudo love interest, Gale.  Gale, by the way, has become like that guy you knew in high school or college who was angry about everything the government did and constantly quoted Orwell.  I have a theory that if Gale lived in today's America, he'd be one of those guys that believes Ron Paul will fix everything about America despite the fact he is pretty loony (cue a thousand emails from a thousand stoned, angry teens-and-twentysomethings telling me how wrong I am).

I digress.  Anyway, in this book, we also see Peeta, everyone's favorite good guy, go completely insane.  Seriously.  He's been brainwashed by The Capitol and attempt to kill Katniss on more than one occasion.  He also yells some pretty terrible things at her at some point.  But nothing too terrible because this is a young adult book after all.

The entire book is pretty much Katniss and her crew engaging in urban warfare of some sort of another.  And while this is cool, after a while I found myself struggling to finish.  Out of the three books, this one was definitely my least favorite.  I felt like all the fighting, despite the fact it's near constant action, does little to actually move the plot forward.  However, I was satisfied by the end of the book, and I have no complaints about the way the series was resolved.

Which is rare.  Like just about everyone else on the planet, I read the Harry Potter series.  Multiple times. And my mother, who is a very smart lady, pointed something out to me.  JK Rowling kills off everyone you love.  Seriously.  Few characters were spared.  And in a sense I can understand that.  She wanted to hit us right in the gut so we'd feel the utter devastation Voldemort caused.  I get that, but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck.  Rowling killed off everyone from pretty major characters to characters you didn't even know you liked until they were gone.  By the end of Deathly Hallows I found myself wondering if all these deaths were really necessary or if she was just picking characters because you knew their names.

This is something Collins doesn't really do.  Yes, there are deaths in the trilogy.  And they are deaths you wish didn't happen.  I would say that the handful of deaths that occur in The Hunger Games hit you harder than the armies of people that die in Harry Potter.  Or at least they did for me.  I'm going to bring up Fred Weasley's death here.  Rowling has said herself in interviews that she really didn't know why Fred would be the one to die.  But he does.  And we cry because this is Fred Weasley.  We grew up with this guy making us laugh.  And now he's gone, and so are our childhoods.

But I was completely devastated when Prim died. This is one of the few books I've read as an adult that has drawn actual tears from me.  I really love how this book treats the relationship between Katniss and Prim, and how in the end, even though Katniss has done literally everything she could to save her, she can't.  Maybe it's because I'm very close to my own sister and would do everything Katniss did for Prim without giving it a second thought, but you can really see how this breaks Katniss by the end of the book.  Katniss never fought against The Capitol.  Every action Katniss has taken has been to keep Prim safe.  Katniss did everything she possibly could, and in a cruel, twisted accident (and it's implied Gale was responsible for it, though he denies it) Prim is still taken from her.  And that lack of reason, that suddenness, is what makes it truly tragic.

I also think that in Mockingjay is the only time the readers really see Katniss's romantic conflict in choosing one boy over the other.  Now that Peeta hates her and she isn't having to put on a show to save her own life (and the lives of everyone she loves) she can really explore her feelings more deeply.  And it isn't without conflict.  It's implied throughout the entire series that Katniss has always had some sort of feelings for Gale.  He's really sort of her first crush.  And he is like her in many ways-- they both grew up in The Seam and have a level of understanding that most other couples can only dream of.  But that's the thing.  Katniss and Gale are too similar.  Katniss even admits that she and Gale "have the same fire."  Also he is kind of responsible for the death of her sister.  Which is a giant buzzkill.

We learn that Katniss falling in love with Peeta was "inevitable."  He's always symbolized the hope for a better future.  He's been the good in everyone.  And he eventually recovers from his brainwashing.  And while Gale probably understands what Katniss grew up in, Peeta is the only one who can ever really understand who Katniss has become.  The Games change you, and not always in a good way.  Look at Haymitch.  Katniss has always managed to find everything she needs to survive.  She's one of the most self-reliant, independent heroines I've ever read about.  The only thing she's never had is hope.  And that's what Peeta gives her.

Also, am I the only one who loved the little exchange between Katniss and Peeta at the end of the book before the epilogue?  There was something so innocent about it.  It reminded me of something I would have read in one of the books in Madeline L'engle's "Austins"  series.  Very cute.

So now that I've ruined multiple book series for you, dear reader, let me just say some final things.

CLOSING REMARKS:

When I come to the end of a book series, I sometimes delay finishing it.  Like I'm not going to know what to do with myself after.  And sometimes because I'm afraid I'm going to hate the way it ends.  Even though Mockingjay moved incredibly slowly sometimes, I am really satisfied with the way Collins ended the series.  It felt firmly and absolutely resolved.  Especially coming from a woman who ended practically every chapter of every book with a friggin' cliffhanger.  Yes, the epilogue goes to ruin that a little bit, but I have a tendency to take epilogues with a grain of salt.  Don't believe me?  Go read Crime and Punishment.  Go on.  I'll wait.

OVERALL:

Three and a half, maybe four, out of five.

Ms. Gardzalla reviews a book, pt. 2

A while back, I had a discussion with a friend of mine about why second books in trilogies always seem to be the best.  Characters are well developed, so there's more room for plot. The action builds the entire way through. No rush towards a happy ending.  Catching Fire fits this model perfectly.

WARNING:  THIS POST IS FULL OF SPOILERS.

BASICS:

Catching Fire is the 2009 sequel to the 2008 young adult novel The Hunger Games.  It takes place almost immediately after the first book, with Katniss and Peeta embarking on a victory tour after winning the 74th Hunger Games. 

Katniss and Peeta haven't really spoken since the victory, since Peeta has found out that Katniss exaggerated her feelings towards him for the show of things.  You know, so they wouldn't die.  Katniss is struggling to understand her feelings not only towards Peeta, but towards Gale, with whom she has shared a kiss with at this point.  But in the post-apocalyptic, futuristic nation of Panem, Katniss has little time for typical, self-indulgent, teenage dillydallying.  She has several asses (including her own) to save.

The 75th Hunger Games is special.  It's what's known in the book as a "Quarter Quell," meaning the fabulously sadistic gamemakers decide to really rip the rug out from under everyone.  The past two Quarter Quells have involved such horrors as twice the number of tributes and I don't even remember what the other one was, but I'm sure it was equally cruel. 

This Quarter Quell, tributes are reaped from past victors.  Being the only female victor from District 12, Katniss is lucky enough to go back.  Peeta volunteers for Haymitch.  One of the things I enjoyed about this book is Katniss realizing the importance of interdependence.  At least since her father died, Katniss has been pretty much self-reliant.  It isn't easy for her to accept help from anyone.  It doesn't even really dawn on her in the first book how much Peeta is helping her.  Now she literally has an entire country on her side. 

Anyway, I'm not going to give the entire plot away this time.  Mostly because the plot of this one is really good, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't read it yet.  And if you haven't, you should get on that immediately.

I really only have a few complaints about this book.  Collins seems to backtrack a lot and go back over stuff she already covered in the first book (like what muttations are), and that slows the action down  A LOT.  I also hate how the other tributes are kind of glossed over, but I understand that Collins probably had to do this for the sake of moving the story forward.  She continues with her "ending every chapter on a cliffhanger" angle, and AUGH THE ENDING OF THIS ONE.  Very Empire Strikes back. 

I mentioned in my last review that one of the things I like most about Katniss as a protagonist is the fact she doesn't get wrapped up in that romantic triangle crap that made Twilight so popular.  Her self-esteem isn't wrapped up in Peeta's feelings for her, nor Gale's, and while she is obviously conflicted about the two, it doesn't run the story by any means.  In fact, there are many scenes where she seems downright annoyed that two very attractive men are vying for her affections.  Refreshing.

I sped through Catching Fire, unable to get enough and hungry to find out what would happen next.  The last page will leave you ready for Mockingjay.

OVERALL:

Four and a half.  

Ms. Gardzalla reviews a book, pt. 1

In college, I majored in English.  I loved it, even if it isn't making my current job search any easier.  Since one of my few marketable skills is reading the shit out of some books, I figured I'd give reviewing them a try.

Several weeks ago, I was stuck in Union Station for eight hours waiting on a train.  Luckily, there was a Barnes and Nobles there, meaning I could keep myself entertained.  My Facebook news feed had recently been devoured by posts about The Hunger Games movie, so I thought there wouldn't be any harm in giving the book a go.

BASICS:

The Hunger Games is a 2008 young adult novel by Suzanne Collins.  Many hipster douches are quick to point out that the novel/movie is a "ripoff" of the 2000 Japanese film "Battle Royale."  They do this in hopes of sounding cultured and smart, but since they didn't point this out four years ago, I'm forced to conclude these people just don't read books.

Anyway, the basic plot of The Hunger Games is that in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic nation known as "Panem," children are annually selected to compete in  The Hunger Games, which is a televised fight to the death.  The protagonist, a sixteen-year-old girl named Katniss, volunteers in place of her younger sister Prim, surely sealing her own fate.  *SPOILERS* OKAY LET'S IGNORE THAT FOR THE ENTIRE BOOK IT'S PRETTY MUCH IMPLIED KATNISS WINS *END SPOILERS*

Overall, I enjoyed the book.  It was an entertaining, captivating read, and it certainly made the eight hour wait and seven hour train ride go by much quicker.  A lot of people out there are (wrongfully) comparing the book to Twilight.  Having read both series, I really don't see that.  The main focus of Twilight was the romance between Bella and Edward, and eventually the series came to focus on the love triangle between Bella, Edward, and Jacob.  While there is romantic tension in The Hunger Games, it's hardly the focus, and the triangle between Gale, Peeta, and Katniss has been seriously overplayed by idiots.  In fact, one of the reasons why I liked Katniss so much as a protagonist is that she doesn't seem to get bogged down by typical teenage crap.  Given if I were in an arena with twenty-some-odd people who were trying to kill me, I probably wouldn't be worried what the cute guy in my science class was doing either, but then again, that's just me.

It's a sizeable length book-- three hundred some pages, split into three parts.  But it doesn't feel nearly that long.  Every chapter ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, so I found myself stopping in the middle of chapters when I needed to take a break, go to work, or go to sleep.  After I finished the first book, I decided I liked it enough to read the two sequels.  I bought the sequels, even though they're only available in hardcover, which is something I almost never do.  And while it might not be a grand literary masterpiece, it's certainly entertaining as hell, and that counts for something.  I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.

OVERALL I'd give it four out of five.