So I'm hearing from many of you that you haven't liked the ending to the third and final installment of the Hunger Games series. Though it has taken me an extraordinary amount of time to recover from the Storytelling Festival (more on that tomorrow--hopefully) and get back to blogging, I just thought I would say a little something about what I didn't like. But I'll say it in the comments so as not to give anything away to those who have not yet read it. If I haven't waited too long and your passion for what you didn't like hasn't fizzled, please fill me in on what you didn't like as well.
And then not one more word! Because the more I think about it the more I don't like it and the more stars I may have to go back and drop from my GoodReads review.
And then not one more word! Because the more I think about it the more I don't like it and the more stars I may have to go back and drop from my GoodReads review.
5 comments:
**Spoiler Alert--I am now going to talk about the end of the book.
I think that one of the main issues I am having with the book right now is that Katniss and her team were put through so much and then in the end they and their actions didn't really matter to the revolution. The revolution would have occured and ended pretty much as it did had Katniss and her team returned back to base. What is the point in that? Sure that kind of a thing happens in real life, but not in fiction.
I also didn't like that Katniss ended up with Peeta because she basically had no other choice. She couldn't choose Gale because he was indirectly responsible for her sisters death. I wanted her to end up with Peeta (so I am happy about that) but I wanted her to choose Peeta.
Other things I wanted: More spine from Katniss (she had it in battle but spent the rest of the book sleeping, depressed, or addicted to drugs). A more present Gale--I just never felt him in this book. And, a better resolution with Katniss as the honored hero for assasinating that woman whose name escapes me.
What didn't you like? Or what did you like?
I think Katniss did choose Peeta, in two senses.
First, her rejection of Gale was a conscious decision, not a circumstance thrust upon her. She realized that a man who felt ends justified means, who would kill innocents to achieve objectives, and who was driven so much by anger that he had no room for compassion, wasn't the kind of person she needed or wanted as a soul mate. Prim's death was just the last straw.
Even with Gale out of the picture, it wasn't a given that Katniss would choose Peeta. After all she'd been through, it wasn't a given she'd want to be with anyone, let alone a mentally unstable person who'd tried to kill her at least once.
Peeta won not because he was the last available option, but because he clawed his way back to sanity, prevented Katniss's suicide after she shot Pres. What's-Her-Name, and then went back to being the same gentle, caring person he'd always been. He was an oasis of gentleness, love, and peace that made Katniss's life worth living. That's why he won her over, again.
As for the book in general, I have mixed feelings about it. It felt "real" to me in the sense that I could easily imagine things working out the way they did (e.g. we might want Katniss to be a non-stop action hero, but in reality a teenager thrust into her position probably would spend most of her time hiding in closets). I appreciated that "reality" in some ways, but on the whole the book was too dark and violent for my taste. I'm glad I read it, but I probably won't re-read it.
Kimberly, I love your comments. Somehow I hadn't thought about Peeta clawing his way back to sanity but that and, as you pointed out, Katniss could have chosen noone does make me feel better. I was talking with someone about what you said about Katniss being a real teenager in the way she reacts to the complete hell she is thrust into and actaully think she probably did handle it better than I would have. And I think you are right about it being to dark and violent to read again--I don't think I could either.
I'm wondering now if I would have felt it was too unrealistic if Katniss had been a non-stop action hero. I just can't be pleased.
And sometimes when we expect a story to go a certain direction it's hard to fully enjoy it when it takes a different turn. We're too busy waiting for what we anticipate or lamenting to "missed opportunity."
Life's kinda the same way, if we're not careful. :)
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