We had been waiting for this to be released on DVD for months having watched the previous three installments of The Hunger Games.
The book was up in the laundry, but I didn’t read it because I didn’t want to spoil the story. Besides, it is very rare that films of books are the same (for example: Absolute Power), unless you go for the extended edition of Aliens, The Abyss and Dances with Wolves.
Anyway, having watched the film, twice, I decided to read the book.
To be honest, I found it hard going at first, and not only because it’s written in the first person. I suppose trying to connect what I’d seen with what was written was confusing, though the main characters are there, and as I only read a few pages at a time, it took a while for it to come together.
The entire series was extremely good, though I think breaking Mockingjay into two parts was perhaps unnecessary.
The fight scenes were fast and some of our favoured characters were lost, but it would have been wrong for all the good guys to survive.
President Snow deserved to die, and Katniss was entitled to execute him.
He stared at her with acceptance as she raised her bow to deliver that final arrow.
To Hubby and I it was a foregone conclusion what happened next, and both book and film concurred.
I was disappointed in the ending the first time, but on watching the film again, and reading the book which was only slightly different, it couldn’t have ended any other way.
The song Katniss sung to Rue as she was dying accompanied the end credits, and the words are printed at the end of the book.
Knowing the story behind it, it made me want to weep.
Deep in the meadow, under the willow
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow
Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes
And when you awake, the sun will rise.
Here it’s safe, here it’s warm
Here the daisies guard you from harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.
Deep in the meadow, hidden far away
A cloak of leaves, A moonbeam ray,
Forget your woes and let your troubles lay
And when again it’s morning, they’ll wash away.
Here it’s safe, here it’s warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.
pensitivity101 
That song was heartbreaking to hear – but it put the film over the top in my opinion.
This film had real heart.
I love the books so much – but Mockingjay just isn’t the same as the other two in my mind, in terms of quality. I think the book could have been longer, and the movie could have been shorter (two parts seemed entirely unnecessary, particularly for what I think most people agree with me is the weakest of the trilogy).