Mini-Review: Mockingjay

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  • Author: Suzanne Collins
  • ISBN: 9780545788298
  • Genre: Sci-Fi/Dystopian
  • Pages: 400

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived. But her home has been destroyed. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding… – Goodreads synopsis

I’ve had Mockingjay on my shelves for awhile and forgot that I had yet to read it until after I started the first book of another popular Dystopian trilogy, Divergent, by Veronica Roth.  I figured it was about time I wrap up “The Hunger Games” trilogy once and for all.
Mockingjay was difficult for me to get through.  There were parts of it that were just too real for me, having served in the military.  At one point, I had to take a break to read something fun and easy.  I ended up re-reading The Princess Bride by William Goldman.  All in all, though, I needed Mockingjay.  Katniss helped me heal, even if just a little bit.  Collins didn’t end the book with a sappy or sickly sweet happily ever after.  The book wouldn’t have helped me at all if she had.  Instead, she ended it with Katniss’ thoughts on how her past affects her life.  One sentence that had the greatest effect on me:

“I’ll tell them that on bad mornings, it feels impossible to take pleasure in anything because I’m afraid it could be taken away.”

Within the paragraph that one sentence is from, I have found someone who knows exactly what I feel on “bad mornings”, but I’ve also found someone who has done more than just survive.  Thank you, Katniss.
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