Life is not always fair. Things do not always turn out the way we want them too. I think it is real, raw, and dark. My heart broke so many times during this book.
What they did to Peeta was pure savage. What they did to Prim was just soul crushing.
There is evil in the world, and this book did not shy away from that fact.
I totally agree life is not fair and bad things happen to good people and I think that is what made this book great. Because it was raw, dark and real. Loved it
The great thing about the ending is that it does show hope in the form of Katniss and Peeta's children. Playing over a mass grave seems kind of dark, I know, but the idea behind it is that wounds from the past can heal and bring about a better future.
I didn't mind so much that Prim died. Although it was definitely senseless violence, I didn't know her character all that well so I didn't care as much as when, say, Finnick died earlier.
Finnick's death annoyed me the most. He was such a fun character.
As for Peeta and Katniss getting together, eh. He was downtrodden in Mockingjay but I still preferred him to Gale at the end of the day. Poor dude deserved a happy ending after what he'd been through.
I'm new here, and I hope you guys don't mind me jumping in, but I had to add my thoughts on the ending.
At first, I totally hated it. I'll be the first to admit, that's because I often over-identify with characters in novels that I'm really into, and for some reason, I really really thought Katniss and Gale would end up together. In fact, I was downright mad that they didn't. And a huge part of that is probably because Gale is the type of guy I typically end up with, and since I identified closely with Katniss, I was surprised, and very confused by her choice in the end.
But after thinking on it for a few days and talking to one of my friends that also loves the book, I realized that the ending was basically how it should be. Peeta had changed, and wasn't the sappy push-over he once was. Katniss had changed too, some of her fire had dimmed in the face of overwhelming darkness.
Had her and Gale gotten together, it may not have ended well, since they were both very much alike.
Don't you love discovering things about yourself and gaining insight into your own minds through reading?
I also found the ending very depressing, and sobbed for the entire final part. However it really stayed with me, I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened at the end, which for me means it must have been very powerful.
Although Prim's death was a horrible shock, I think it was an incredibly clever way to ultimately choose between Gale and Peeta. Because the bomb that killed Prim was based on Gale's design, it allowed for there to be sufficient reason for Katniss to choose Peeta once and for all. All throughout the series I had wondered how she would ever choose between them so me this was a good twist, although was the point when I started crying my eyes out.
As for the change in Peeta, I think it was an interesting exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder, but also used an interesting idea in emotional warfare that I really liked.
I think it is depressing, but as many of you have commented on here, life isn't always easy and happy, and for such a bleak world, if the ending had been too happy it would have ruined the credibility of the series.
I found the ending to be quite depressing too but it really continued out the themes of the entire book series. Katniss was trying to prevent provoking the capital and causing war as she understood the greater ramifications. I think it depicted the harsh reality of war (often not shown in YA books): no one really 'wins' and it leaves behind people who are impacted negatively their entire lives.
The entire Mockingjay book made me feel sad. Everyone that I cared about died or changed so drastically. Not only did I cry for like an hour but I couldn't even pick up another book for a couple days!
meghanelyse730 wrote:The entire Mockingjay book made me feel sad. Everyone that I cared about died or changed so drastically. Not only did I cry for like an hour but I couldn't even pick up another book for a couple days!
I feel like any good book (especially a series), leaves me feeling this way! Even if it's a happy ending, I still will feel sad that it's finished and I will mourn that 'world'.
The ending of the book was heartbreaking. They were supposed to be happy, but instead ended up dealing with their current situation, you know? Honestly, if you think about it, the ending is kind of ironic.
Katniss literally loses the one thing that this all started over. Her sister.
That may be the most depressing thing about the entire series. Yes, I wanted her and Peeta to be together (I would have been happy with her and Gale, he was always there for her), but her losing Prim was just the end of everything for me. That part ripped my heart out. I can't even begin to cope with the other parts of the ending because of the devastation.
I agree with previous posts the ending of the book was very depressing but I also think it was hopeful. Katniss & Peeta were never going to get over the horrors they had saw & experienced. They were never going to be light & carefree. It was impossible for them to forget everything they had gone through but at the same time they survived it & had come together to find some kind of happiness in the world that was left behind. They also had the hope of a better world for their child and for all of the children to come. They made great & terrible sacrifices for their dream of a better world and in their struggles to right the injustices of their world in the hopes that they could put an end to suffering of so many people. In my opinion it is impossible to not change as a person when you go through something so horrific. The book would not have been realistic if Peeta had not been changed by his torture and imprisonment and I think he had to change in order to understand Katniss better. Because of all they went through both separately & together they were able to admit & accept their feelings for each other & they were able to be there to hold each other when the nightmares came. I think in a lot of ways it was a beautiful ending and really the only version of a perfect ending it could have.
I have to say, I didn't like the ending. I read it some time ago and my opinion has not changed. I thought that Katniss would be better suited to Gale. I also find it unrealistic that he suddenly disappeared to go and do some fancy job and didn't try to make it up with Katniss. I understand why she was mad at Gale because anyone would be, but I feel like they'd known each other long enough and been through enough together to make it up in the end.
On a more general note, I thought the first 2 books were better and was a bit disappointed by the book. I know a lot of you loved this series as I do, despite my disappointment with the ending, so I would highly recommend reading her other series The Underland Chronicles. It doesn't have as much publicity, but I actually enjoyed it more than The Hunger Games. You do have to give it time though, because the first chapter is totally boring. It gets a lot better after that, so giving it some time should be well worth it.
I was very disappointed with the ending as well. The whole point of Katniss volunteering for The Hunger Games was to save her sister and then she ended up dying anyway. That was the part that upset me the most; however it made sense that she couldn't be with Gale since one of his weapons may have killed Prim.
I loved the ending then I went to go see the movie and was surprised that they did remember to put the ending I found some parts were a little sad but mainly it was a good ending and overall book.
I kind of agree that some parts of the story were depressing. I mean Finnick dies right after his wedding, Prim died and we don't know which side did it. I think that's one of the reasons Katniss picks Peeta in the end. It also kind of ends in a happy ending, Katniss and Peeta are married and have two kids, but they know he will never be the same after being tortured. I kind of like that Katniss killed President Coin instead of Snow, I mean she was using Katniss as a means to an end.
