I think I have sympathy PTSD now. Anyone else? Is TEABS a treatable condition according to the American Medical Association?
Full spoilers for Mockingjay after the cut. No apologies to Henri included.
OH MAN. Okay, I’m still trying to process – I finished up the last few chapters at around 3 this morning when I woke up and realized I just couldn’t wait anymore. So maybe it was the atmosphere – sneaking the book in the early morning hours, slumped down on the floor of my bathroom so as not to wake up my boyfriend with the light and also the choking sobs.
Let’s start with the death count:
Boggs: NOOOOOOOOO! BOGGS ILU!!
Finnick: I am actively pretending this did not happen. In my version, Finnick made it out alive, he and Annie are very happy together, and occassionally he still disrobes in public. NOTHING WILL CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE.
Prim: WHAT? WHY? WHAT? NO! It feels like such a cheap death – a way of making us hate Gale (although he had no idea that his idea would be used that way; it’s not his fault), a way of realizing that District 13 sucks, which I think we’d ALREADY FIGURED OUT. Oh, Prim.
President Coin: HA! Yes! FUCKING SERVES YOU RIGHT!
President Snow: Most anti-climactic death of all times. Which I actually liked, because anything was going to be anticlimactic for that bastard. I love that he ended up just choking on his own blood.
Now, can we talk for a second about the next Hunger Games? WHAT? WHAT? I’m sorry, I don’t think Kanye Caps are accurately expressing my horror. WHAT. WERE. THEY. THINKING.
As for the ending, well. I mean, we all know my stance on Peeta, and he may be the only character who I wasn’t disappointed* in by the end. But I kind of love that . . . well, no one got a happy ending. They got an ending. An ending carved out of what remained; an ending of shattered pieces and broken morals to be patched up, somewhat, but never quite the same, never quite as whole. I don’t think it could have ended anyway but that it did, and that makes me happy.
* except about the kid thing. Stop asking Katniss to have babies with you, Peeta!
There’s so much more I want to WTF about: Effie being alive (Cinna being dead – SHUT UP, BRIAN); Gale working in District 2, Katniss’s mom ditching her now that Prim’s dead, Katniss and Haymitch voting yes for the Hunger Games, whether the Hunger Games happened once Katniss killed Coin, the fact that Madge wasn’t secretly alive in the woods somewhere, and Buttercup coming all the way back to District 12. Man, forget A Bird Called Olive. I want the next release of these books feature Buttercup on the cover.
The epilogue:
PLEASE JUST STOP WITH EPILOGUES. Has an epilogue ever, ever been a good idea? AND WHY DO THEY ALWAYS INCLUDE BABIES? There is no reason to make babies part of a happily-ever-after ending. EVER. I mean, I like babies. Babies are cool. But when a character has undergone years of murder, mayhem, rebellion, assasination attempts and head injuries, WHY DOES THAT CHARACTER NEED TO HAVE BABIES? I didn’t want Harry Potter to have babies; I didn’t want Katniss to have them. Not everyone needs to have a kid to be happy, YA writers! I promise you this!
Also, how sucky for Annie. How sucky for Annie and Finnick’s kid. Dad’s dead and Mommy’s a basket case, kiddo. Hopefully Aunt Johanna can show up and show you how to be awesome and crazy in a mostly functional way.
I still need time to process this crazy ride I’ve just been on. I can tell you that, epilogue aside, I really loved it. Maybe I should just remove epilogues from all of my YA book series! It might help!
Regardless of your feelings about Katniss, Peeta, Gale, the rebels, the Capit0l, I have one question for you all:
This book fucking wrecked you. Real or not real?
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Yeah, I assumed the reason Katniss voted “yes” on the Hunger Games was so she could take the opportunity to assassinate Coin, thereby assuring that the next Hunger Games would never happen and that a new President Snow wouldn’t rule the country.
FINNICK GAH AND I CAN’T BELIEVE CINNA WAS ACTUALLY DEAD ALL THAT TIME.
Real. (=
It wrecked me. Until now I haven’t properly grieved for it. I still have a hollow ache in my heart. I will reread this book soon so I can have a proper cry.
“I cannot believe that Katniss agreed to another Hunger Games after all she, and her friends, had been through.”
I saw that scene differently. Katniss voted yes not because she truly wanted to have another Hunger Games, but because she already decided to kill Coin the moment she offered the possibility of another Hunger Games. The only way Katniss could perform the assasination was to keep Coin unsuspecting for as long as possible. It’s like keeping your enemies close. I found it telling that the passage was written like this: “I weigh my options carefully, think everything through. Keeping my eyes on the rose, I say, ‘I vote yes…for Prim.’”
That alone was enough for me to know that Katniss has ulterior motives. Thinking thoroughly? Looking at the rose? Giving Prim as her reason? They were all signs that something else was going on in Katniss’s head.
But I’m completely sold when Katniss narrates this: “I can feel Haymitch watching me. This is the moment, then. When we find out exactly just how alike we are, and how much he truly understands me.” Why would Katniss put emphasis on that part if there’s nothing more underneath that?
And if that’s not enough, Haymitch says “I’m with the Mockingjay.” He didn’t say “Yes” or “I’m with Katniss” even. His statement signifies that he understood exactly what the Katniss-the-Mockingjay-with-a-mission (and Katniss-the-grieving-sister) wanted to accomplish.
Katniss killing Coin wasn’t a last-minute decision. Coin made herself a target as soon as she wanted to have another Hunger Games.
I meant to say:
His statement signifies that he understood exactly what the Katniss-the-Mockingjay-with-a-mission (and *NOT Katniss-the-grieving-sister) wanted to accomplish.
Damn I realized the last two comments I made was for another review in another website, not here.
Yes. This book wrecked me! I still can’t decide if I loved it or hated it. I just felt numb in the end….just like Katniss.
OMG, this is exactly how I’m feeling right now. You’d think I just had a shot of Morphling or something, geez
Yes, epilogues suck. Yes, I hate how babies = sappy HEA ending. And no, I never want children.
But…as much as I try, I just can’t hate this one. I think Suzanne was trying to show that everyone was slowly healing, including Katniss.
In books 1 and 2 children were such an unthinkable future to her because revolution was a pipedream. She was never anti-babies; she was anti-babies-being-raised-in this-kind-of-world. It took 15 years for Katniss to finally start believing that world was gone. Those children are the dandelions in that field.
Re: This book fucking wrecked you. Real or not real?
Real. So real. I just wanted hugs from someone who understood when I finished… and I read it quickly. I’m so glad this site was recommended to me.
“This book fucking wrecked you. Real or not real?”
*Sigh* Real.
Why oh why did she have to kill off PRIM!?! That messed with my head for days. Sad.
And yes, Finnick is still alive, happy with his crazy wife Annie and periodically taking his clothes off in public.
Ugh so freaking REAL. I’ve had to stay away from the site for over a week to avoid spoilers because I needed time to read all three books and, oh yeah, work. And now I’m done and I don’t know if I am suffering from regular TEABS or a full on depression. At first, I was elated that Katniss said real. Quickly followed by “I can’t believe it’s all over” and then cut to ten minutes later and I’m just sitting here with a big ass lump in my throat because it was all just so incredibly sad and heartbreaking. Katniss will forever be a badass but damn is she broken but I like how she got one last badass moment with Coin (never liked that woman!). I will forever be Team Peeta so I’m happy about that but their end together is so bittersweet because they are just fragments of their former selves. They might as well have died out there. I cannot even talk about Boggs, FINNICK, and Prim. What the hell. War sucks, y’all. I may need to go read about some vampires. I don’t think I’m cut out for dystopia.
Wow, I am so glad I visited this beloved website. I am in Japan and JUST got Internet yesterday after a month without it. And I just finished Mockingjay and need to TALK, but no one’s heard of it here!!!
I’m piping up now, though, to defend the epilogue. I thought the epilogue was one of the best parts of the book. I want to disagree with some folks on certain things:
1) Babies with Peeta does NOT equal HEA. I do NOT think Collins added the epilogue as an afterthought, or because she thought that was the only way someone can be happy. The epilogue goes directly back to the first book and is where the books were always leading. Katniss never wanted kids because of the Hunger Games, and the Capitol’s oppressive rule. That’s it. The fact that she had kids is simply a sign that she has moved on, that she is healing, and that they WON. Katniss is inherently nurturing, and if you think for a second that Peeta forced or guilted her into it, then you apparently have never met Katniss or Peeta.
2) The epilogue is GRIM. Katniss’s side won, but at what cost? Katniss and Peeta are tired, traumatized soldiers who want nothing more than peace and to be left alone. In truth, this is all they have ever wanted. They will be recovering from the games and the war for the rest of their lives– Katniss still has frequent nightmares twenty years later. We wanted more for them–we wanted Katniss or Peeta to be important, to be leaders, big heroes. Instead they’re just two shivering, broken people clinging to each other against the coldness of the world, growing strong. This is no HEA.
That’s right! I love a good epilogue and this one was great and not some ” but I stand here vigilant, prepared for the day they’ll return” bs. This is the end of the series so finality and looks into the future is not only ok, but needed in a series where people are so invested in the characters.
on 1 &2. It’s why I’ve enjoyed this series. I love gothic romance, but realistically-ever-after is something few authors can ever capture and she’s done an fantastic job that I’m happy won’t be confined to just to YA readers.
~random, but Japan?! My galpal is moving their in like 2 weeks and I’ll be going to teach English there (fingers crossed) for the spring semester. Look how books bring people together. :0
Oh, so f*ing REAL!
I haven’t been this destroyed by a book since … well, I don’t know when.
Well, peeps, oh, yeah, REAL, and I’ll tell you why………….
First off, thanks for being here!
From everything I’ve read and heard about people who survive a war, or death camps, or things like that, this book is about as real as it gets. Sometimes you are surprised by horrible things, and sometimes by wonderful things, and who survives (Effie) and who doesn’t (Finnick, not that it makes anyone feel better) can seem random. People may heal from their psychological traumas, if they can, but there is always some lingering effect. I would not call either Katniss or Peeta cold, damaged or mentally unstable by the end of the book (pre-epilogue).
Two points: together with Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta make a scrapbook honoring their loved ones and tributes who have died, in their words, to “live well and to make their deaths count.” The birth of Annie and Finnick’s baby is a “strange bit of happiness.” These are the thoughts and actions of people who are healing, not people who are stuck in a bad place.
Also evidence of healing are Peeta bringing fresh bread to Katniss to eat with her (his first connection was feeding her, after all) and Katniss cleaning Buttercup, taking a page from Prim.
As for the children, not everyone needs children to be happy, let’s agree on that. I and at least several of my friends are childfree and perfectly OK with it.
But in the context of the book, it is one further way in which Katniss and Peeta, like the incoming District 12 residents who “plow the ashes into the earth and plant food,” make the future happen.
Also real – how many concentration camp survivors came to America, married and raised families, after what they had been through? I give them a lot of credit – I’m not sure I would have had that courage, but they did, and so do Katniss and Peeta, which makes them even bigger heroes than surviving the Hunger Games and the rebellion.
So yes, real.
best comment ever.
“So after, when he whispers, ‘You love me. Real or not real?’
I tell him, ‘Real.’”
UGHHHHH STOP IT PEETA, I LOVE YOU! Really, the book could’ve just ended there
the fact that Madge wasn’t secretly alive in the woods somewhere,
WHAT?! WHAT?! When did they say that? I must have missed that PLEASE Somebody explain to me how that is possible? And why did Snow always smell like blood? I didn’t get the whole poison part. Please explain! Tnx! Love you guys!
Sorry forgot this:
I was thrilled when I found out that Effie was still alive. I just couldn’t bear the thought of such a silly and happy person dying. I know it’s stupid but that really affected me. Also I believe that Cinna is hiding somewhere. HE CAN’T BE DEAD!
Sorry I’m so behind on this party (I’m so late!) But there’s something I need to say, I don’t know why everyone keeps saying Finnick and Cinna are dead. They’re obviously on an awesome sunny island getting pranked by Fred and George. And getting lemondrops and socks from Dumbledore. And drinking firewhiskey with sirius. And learing all sorts of fun things from Remus Lupin. Yep, Finnick fishes and Cinna makes fun clothes*. On an awesome sunny island. One that has no smoke monsters or polar bears. (Jin and Sun can come though; so can Charlie; and of course Desmond). *obvs optional for Finnick (and Sirius pre-azkaban)
So Katniss throws a hissy that the prep team were thrown in jail for stealing bread or some other stupid contrived thing but it’s okay for her to be judge, jury and executioner of Coin?
People are okay with this? Isn’t this the same crap the Snow does? I still think it was Snow who ordered the bombing because he was dying anyway and had nothing to lose. One last FU to Katniss. He wasn’t laughing at Coin, he was laughing at Katniss.
This book really sucked. I with people would quit defending it just be she ended up with Peeta.
And this isn’t a realistic look at war. In no way shape or form is this a realist look at war. The leader is a 16 year old girl. Unless it’s Joan of Arc, then that fact alone makes it not a realistic look at war.
On not being a realistic look at war. It’s not, it’s a futuristic fantasy book that will hopefully make TEENS think about war and it’s consequences.
In the books defense. She was never made a leader. She failed at her mission. And kids die in wars all the time. People as young as 18 live on warships here in the U.S.
Funny anecdote, my dad joined the army at 16 during Vietnam, and learned to drive in a tank before a car. I think the story did a good job explained how she has learned to cope after the war, especially her required therapy which is a topic always debated concerning American soldiers.
Was a I wrecked? For Realsies.
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