A Fine Line Between Terrorist and Freedom-Fighter: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

(Author's Note: Spoilers... you know the drill... blah, blah, blah... just read the books already! Especially since this time there are actual spoilers for the actual ending of this book. - S)

It's hard for me to know exactly what to say about this book in comparison to the first two. It is not as good as the first two books--it lacks a straightforward plot, it spends a little too much time inside Katniss's head as she agonizes over her relationships, and it tries to cram too much into the final chapter of this story about what it takes to start and finish a revolution--but it still manages to pull you in with a fast-paced narrative, and after everything the first two books have spent building up, it's very hard to put this book down until you know how everything ends.

And I actually admire Suzanne Collins for not taking the easy way out when choosing an archetype for her freedom-fighter army. She could have made them as noble as their cause certainly is, which would have made the ending to this story much less emotionally jarring, but she chose to--in my opinion, at least--write a little closer to reality. Two ideas that I've thought about far too often over the last decade or so kept crossing my mind as I read this book: "There's a fine line between a freedom-fighter and a terrorist," and "War makes monsters of men." The tactics that the Capital used at the end of the first rebellion to prevent further uprisings--the enforced poverty, the isolation and separation of the Districts, the marginalization of a majority of the population, and especially the Hunger Games--were abominable, and there was no question that they needed to be brought down, but, unlike in the stories we are all told as children, one does not vanquish evil simply by being its opposite. Any war, even a just war for freedom, is a messy business that often requires the worst even of good people, and the killing of others, no matter how bad they are or how hard they were trying to kill you, changes a person, and Collins doesn't shy away from those harsh realities.

To call the ending of this story bittersweet would be a gross understatement, but I am still glad that it ends with the two people who most deserved peace and a future together finding it. By the end of the story, I can forgive Katniss her wishy-washy emotions and her selfish tendency to focus too much on what people think of her despite the fact that there was a war going on. She was a teenager, and some things about teenagers will always be the same, no matter how quickly their circumstances in life expect them to grow up. What matters in the end is that she is able to see things for what they really are, make the best choices available to her, and try to find some peace with herself once she has brought about a future in which she can have that peace.

The one thing that truly makes the entire story bearable and almost enjoyable to read over and over again, though, is that it brings Peeta a happy (sort of) ending too. Peeta is, without a doubt, my favorite character, because he is the only one of the main characters who is a truly good and decent person. From the very first time you meet him, you can see that he has a good heart, and he manages to keep it all the way through, even after being tortured and having his memories and his emotions twisted by President Snow. The fact that he survives and is able to make a life for himself, the girl he loves, and the family that they have together in the end brings a peace to the ending of this amazing yet troubling story that I hope can be found by all good men who find themselves scarred by events in their lives that are out of their control.

Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins