Mockingjay (Re-Read)

I love The Hunger Games. I loved the books when I first read them and I have loved every movie. Before I go to see Mockingjay Part 2, I decided to re-read the book. Mockingjay is a fantastic novel and a great conclusion to The Hunger Games trilogy.  Though the other books have “The Hunger Games” in them, the last book, a Hunger Game in its own right, is so much more violent.  We watch as characters we love come to gruesome ends.  I’m not going to say who dies, as the movie is about to be released, but I do wonder how they are going to portray these scenes.  When the first movie came out, I remember hearing about complaints, some people didn’t expect it to be so violent. Perhaps they hadn’t read the books, or even understood what “The Hunger Games” were. Mockingjay is more violent.  Maybe I can give one warning about the tunnels?  Also, just when you think things are safe and easy…

There are a lot of frightening, heart-wrenching moments. I really like how Katniss’s relationships with everyone evolve through this novel and through these moments.  Her relationships are so much more complicated and multi-dimensional than they were before. Peeta and Gale aren’t just boys who love her, they have their own anger and motivations.  I also like the relationships that are left out of the films, how Katniss feels about Mags and Delly, the roll Delly plays with Peeta, even Greasy Sae, who is there, but not there in the movies. Katniss goes through such a change.  She thinks about children in war and includes herself, she is only 17, but remembers that there is no way either side think of her like that anymore. Peeta, oh Peeta.  Gale, so different, but maybe more himself than he’s ever been.  Prim, not yet 14. 

I have noticed though, that Plutarch is so different in the books than the movie, he’s so much more “Capitol” in the books.  I’m surprised Katniss never punches him, or even screams at him. There’s a difference that is noticeable between the three groups of people.  The Citizens of District 13, the Citizens of the Capitol and the Rebels. Though I guess there’s another group, the Rebels who come from the Capitol, like Plutarch and Fulvia, they don’t quite fit in at District 13, but they know life in the Capitol is wrong.

I don’t re-read a lot, but reading each of The Hunger Games books before seeing the movies was a good decision. It places the characters fresh in my mind. I’m eager to see how this exciting novel plays out on the screen.