Mockingjay thoughts

So...I'm ready to hear thoughts on Mockingjay! We read this for my neighborhood bookclub as September's book and there were lots of mixed feelings from those book club members. And I've heard there were mixed feelings in the family?

After immediately finishing the book, I was mad and disappointed with a lot. But after talking with Nathan about it, and digesting it like Janae said, I liked it more and more.

My initial feelings were mostly because I wanted the author to delve into other parts of the story, parts of the story I was interested in, but she went in other directions. As a reader I wanted to know more about the evil masterminds behind everything. In the end Coin was a "bad guy" and I wanted to know more about her. Why she wanted to take over, what her plan was, what's going on in her head. I feel like you don't get to know that character very much. Pres. Snow is a main character in all 3 books but he is so distant, you barely see or hear from him. Again, as a reader I wanted to know more about how he became the man he was, why did he do the things he did, etc. You have that one conversation with him and Katniss in the rose garden but that's it. One major part of the story that you don't even get to hear about is what happens while Katniss is recovering from the bomb that also kills Prim towards the end of the story. She is in the hospital, in a coma I think. When she wakes up everything in the government is re-organized and there's a new leader. You never hear how that happened. I've heard some say that was a cop-out for the author, but I'm not sure where I stand on that. Even though I always want to know every detail, I realize you can't explain everything, and some things are better left unsaid.

Having said all that: I recognize the major and obvious reason why the author didn't focus on these things: everything's from Katniss's perspective, thus the book's title Mockingjay.

I like how she showed that drug use is a way some people deal with pain and violence in their lives, I thought she did a good job exploring that and other emotions that the characters go through as they try to handle what has happened to them.

I thought she did a good job of showing Katniss and Gale gradually growing apart. We had a huge discussion at my bookclub whether Gale grew more hardened in this book, or if he was just making certain choices because they were in war. (example: blowing up The Nut. Was he just being a smart soldier or was too ruthless?) I saw both sides but in the end I think his heart did harden, and that was a major reason why in the end she chose Peeta. He balances her out, she is a little hard herself, and she needs Peeta's soft side.

I am totally TEAM PEETA! I'm happy that they ended up together. Gale wouldn't have ever understood a crucial part of her since he didn't experience the games.

Last thing-was Plutarch a funny, lovable, product of the capital culture? Or was a creepo? Nathan and I kept expecting he was up to something, in on the evil plans, but then in the end he was kept in the new goverment and you never know....was he good or bad?

Feel free to disagree with everything I've said :)