MOCKINGJAY REVIEW

I Just finished Mockingjay and I'll be very up front about it. I hated it. This book was simply too dark for my sensibilities. There was so little of redeemable value in it. Violence, aberration,manipulation and mayhem again and again. Even our protagonist made incredibly reprehensible decisions in the name of revenge. This is marketed as a Young Adult Novel and it makes me very sad that we are providing our youth with reading material that fails to exemplify nobility, truth, and right. I felt the first two books in the series-- while disturbing and visceral could be tolerated in the name of "Hope for a better future." The third is gratuitous violence with a flat ending. Very sad.
SPECIFIC REVIEW POINTS (Be warned-- May include Spoilers)
The hardest thing for me to accept is Katniss's complicity in agreeing to a final HG. It tells me she learned NOTHING despite the devastating effect all of the kills had on her mental state. THumbs Down.
Secondly, Mama's abandonment of K in her darkest hour seems the cruelest of all. LAME
Thirdly: COllins should have turned K's revelation about the rebel's involvement in the Prim/Children massacre into a redemptive moment a la Ender's Game. Instead, she assassinates Coin-- all but ignoring Plutarch and Gale's hand in the atrocity. And then acts as if she still has some feelings for Gale. Preposterous.
I think Suzanne Collins has forgotten what Young Adults Need-- Somebody who fights for truth, A loyal band to fight along with them, and A triumph of Good over evil. Definitely something Rowling got RIGHT~~~
One reviewer (a neighbor) stated that she felt Mockingjay was accurate in its portrayal of the aftermath of so much trauma. She may be right. It may be accurate. Doesn't make it good reading. I'm still trying to shake it off. I certainly wouldn't want my teenager or, heaven forbid, preteen reading this. Teens are already so fragile. Something like this might send them over the edge.