So, I was sitting at lunch today trying to describe why I like Mockingjay, the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy, and when I got done, all three people at the table said "You should write that down!" or some iteration of that. I thought, sure, I'll add to the giant weeping cloud of book review blogs.
And here we are. I don't have any idea what my first book review will be, but I'm sure it will be good. For now, I will give a brief explanation as to why I like Mockingjay in a way that is spoiler-free.
Well, basically, I feel like the first two books are very actiony. There's a lot of fighting and running for your life and all that, but Katniss is fighting external foes. She's very self-conscious but not very self-aware. She's good at reading others, but always seems surprised to see the good in people and to realize that they like her.
In the third book, Katniss fights mostly with herself. She's struggling to even feel comfortable in her own skin. There are physical reasons that her brain is a foreign place, and it's not helped by the fact that Katniss is having an existential crisis. I think it's an accurate portrayal of depression. Wanting to lodge your body into a small warm place so that you don't dissipate into a mist of pain and confusion.
I feel like there's a lot more that I can connect to emotionally in Mockingjay. I've never been put into an arena with my peers and made to kill them, so I can't relate to that. But I have had days where all I want to do is ignore my schedule and sleep. Try to forget about what has hurt me, what's coming around the bend. So that's a Katniss that I can see myself in.
