‘Mockingjay’: Why the worst ‘Hunger Games’ book should make the best film — popwatch.ew.com

Mockingjay is the most polarizing novel in the Hunger Games saga. Although most agree that it’s Suzanne Collins’ weakest book, some defend it; others claim it’s actually the series’ best. However, all three camps agree that, in Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins takes things to extremes, tackling traitors, murder, war, and one of the most haunting, realistic portrayals of violence in YA literature. That being said, Mockingjay is also a study of post-traumatic stress. After two books of children both killing and being killed, Collins uses Mockingjay to finally give her characters time to be damaged. That divide—one half of the book focuses on extreme emotion, while the other half focuses on extreme action—keeps Mockingjay from flowing as smoothly as the rest of the series. But it’s also why Mockingjay—Part 1, if done correctly, should make for the best film in the Hunger Games franchise thus far.

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