Little introduced me to a wonderful series for my birthday this past January - the Hunger Games trilogy. For those of you who have not read it, you are missing out. The first book in the series is really great and stands well on its own, and the next two are very good.
As Mockingjay was just released August 24th (and I got it the 23rd in the morning, ha!) there was a good wait period between the second and third book for me to get excited. In the end... I think I was disappointed.
I won't spoil anything, but I must say that the story arc of Katniss is very human and realistic. I'm sure she probably copes with the trauma of war better than most people in the real world do.
But I don't want to read a novel about how people really cope with life. That's what life is for. I want characters who are better than myself, doing things that people in real life cannot do but hope to do (but hope - there's the key word). That's why I thought Death of a Salesman was an abomination, and why I threw 1984 across the room when I finished it (though I will admit that no other ending would have fit that book).
Perfect characters are boring; but I want characters that have flaws that they must overcome, and do.
Random rant, off.
I was wondering what your take on Mockingjay was, Ryan! I think this review helps clarify for me the types of stories you prefer and why you do.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the end of Mockingjay, especially because Katniss ends up being only human and makes irrational and emotional decisions. But I think you and I just to enjoy different types of characters and plots in our works of fiction.
Maybe this also explains why you didn't like Dollhouse? Those were definitely some flawed, grey characters.
I wonder if Little will post her own review of Mockingjay? (Assuming she's finished it by now!)
Yeah, it definitely contributed to my dislike of Dollhouse, though normal people facing fantastic problems can be interesting if it is well done; Mockingjay was basically a normal person facing problems that real people face all the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely not disparaging it - I read several reviews on Amazon from ex-soldiers or wives of soldiers who basically said "Yeah. That's how it is." The type of people that war creates aren't people that polite society has a place for, and in that sense the end of Mockingjay is very powerful and poignant.
I do recognize that, but I still prefer perhaps over-romantic stories like Harry Potter, etc.