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I'm sick. Head cold and chest cold. Yuck, yuck, yuck. It's manageable, now. In fact, I'm getting energy back, which is good, because tomorrow my list is loooooooong. Not too long. In fact, I think the only thing on there is laundry. Long enough for me!
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I made a mental list in my mind the other day about how my life would be easier if:
1. I had no asthma
2. I had no Depression
3. I had no allergies
4. We had no debt
5. We had a really nice house that wasn't falling apart
6. Brandon was done with school
7. I actually followed through on my desires to stay at a healthy weight
8. I had children who liked to obey willingly
I told Brandon about this list. Like a good husband, he just listened. He knew what I would say next. I said this:
If I didn't have those things, then I wouldn't have any trials. I wouldn't learn anything. I wouldn't have sympathy or empathy or experience or be able to learn more. Without them, there wouldn't be any point, eh? So, I shouldn't wish them away...
My smart husband just nodded.
I still kind of wish the bad stuff would just go away, though. Even for just a couple of years.
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Brandon and I are now addicted to Firefly. Anybody seen it? I feel dumb we haven't seen it up until now! Thank goodness for Netflix.
Speaking of great shows, I am looking forward to:
The Biggest Loser
Psych (which is already going! Yay!)
Community
Parks and Recreation
The Office
The Amazing Race
If I have any time to watch them, of course...
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MOCKINGJAY SPOILER! DON'T READ! UNLESS YOU READ THE BOOK!
Some people are not liking it. Many are feeling let-down, betrayed, deflated... But moi? I loved it. I thought she got the ending just right. Why? Get ready for the list...
1. It's a YA trilogy. For YOUNG ADULTS. Too many adults reading these books are fascinated with them (including me), but I think they are holding them to standards YA fiction aren't supposed to be held to. Making commentaries upon our own socio-economic-political-world views that meet our long-life experiences aren't supposed to be in YA fiction. Again, they are for the up-and-coming adults. You know? The ones who haven't experienced everything, yet?
2. People want mind-blowing results and endings. I blame Hollywood for this because we are all continually and consistently desensitized to anything that isn't mind-blowing. Take the most recent movies. Biggest complaint against Inception? Not mind-blowing enough. I know this because it was mine. There's something sad in that, people. The fact that we have to have everything played out for us. Whatever happened to imaginations? To pondering/wondering/hoping/coming up with our own satisfying end? People accuse Collins of lazy writing because she leaves too much to our imaginations --that it's unprofessional. My response: What the?
3. I think the ending was appropriate because war sucks. It hurts EVERYONE. If the book had ended up with roses (haha! Not primroses --you know what I mean) and cheerfulness (rather than lifetime nightmares and the loss of pure joy), then it wouldn't have been realistic. What Katniss experienced would have broken anyone, let alone a 17-year-old girl. I'm glad she lives with the pain of the people that died. I'm glad she and Peeta end up together. It kind of goes with my empathy post (a few back). There's something to be said for mourning with those that mourn and misery loving company. I don't think she and Gale would have made any sense. But I'm glad he didn't die --I mean, it's like real life, almost. When I broke up with boyfriends (or was dumped) it wasn't because either of us DIED... (yeah, yeah, bad analogy)
4. The book is written in first person from Katniss's POV. I really doubt a real-life version of the girl would want to keep talking about life after the war. She's barely living it as it is (for a few decades, anyway). Thus the shorter ending --the vast amount of time mourning in silence. The quickness to move on. Three or four pages worth.
5. I think Collins got her point across very easily without beating it to death with a stick: War hurts, corruption is easily attainable, and the things that matter most have to do with love and relationships. In fact, when Katniss assassinates Coin at the end, I'm not surprised --nor thrilled --but I'm glad. Because it's just another cycle of repression/suppression/abuse about to begin (revenge by making another Hunger Games!? Really!?). Katniss realizes that she's been manipulated her entire life --from the Hunger Games to the Rebellion to the War to the Assassination of Snow/Coin. I think her going back to 12 and marrying Peeta and writing the book of memories is the only foregone conclusion. What else would she do? How could she ever trust anyone again? Where else could she live? Who else could she live with?
6. I just really like her writing!
What did you think?
5 comments:
LOL!! Ethan and I have been "Browncoats", the term for die hard Firefly fans since 2005. What an AWESOME SHOW!! Be sure to see the followup movie "Serenity" when you are done with the series. It wraps up the show and answers all but 2 of your most major questions about characters/plot lines. (Sigh) probably the best show ever cancelled before it finished it's first season. Welcome to the Browncoat club!
This reminded me of the whole "happiness is a voyage, not a destination" or "happiness is only one step away" or "I'll finally be happy when *blank*" thing... even if all those things on your list went away life wouldn't be easier and you wouldn't be happier because something else would come up right? I don't know... but I love you!
How have I not forced you to borrow Firefly before now?!? I feel like I've failed you.
I'm with you on the Mockingjay thing. I have questions but I'm not mad that she didn't answer them, I don't think it's her place to answer them, just to bring them up.
I didn't LOVE Mockingjay, but I didn't not like it either. I thought it was good. The ending made sense to me. I don't know what I would want to be different.
Hi Cheryl! I haven't done the blog thing forever, but I knew you had finished Mockingjay and I've had no one to talk to about it, and today I thought "Gee, I bet Cheryl blogged about it". Yay, i was right!
My thoughts on the ending are that I didn't "like" it, but it was still a well-written and fitting ending. It hurt, and it left me feeling "was it all really worth it?", but I think that's a good thing. That's real, that's war. The personal loses outweigh the personal gain.
But what hurt the most for me was Gale's ending. I've been Team Gale since the beginning, but mostly, I just loved the character. Now, by even halfway through the book I was no longer pulling for Katniss and Gale to "be together", because they were both too close to the war and too much happened between them for it to really work out. But it just HURT so badly that Katniss completely wrote him off at the end. He was her Best Friend, they loved each other - in whatever shape or form there was genuine love in that relationship, on both sides - and her survival and the survival of her family was because of him for so many years. He was already feeling guilty about what his inventions had led to, and she let him walk away, basically saying "Yes, you are evil. You are unforgivable". It was very in-character for katniss, but I just hated it. I sobbed and sobbed for him. I still get choked up when I think about Gale and all that he lost. I keep having to remind myself that he's fictional, and his future was not really written. I'm totally free to imagine that he finds someone in District 2, a nice girl, someone soft and warm, someone to be like Peeta was to Katniss, to help him heal. And heck, if I get to use my imagination, I can imagine that Katniss did eventually realize that she didn't want him completely out of her life, and that she and Peeta made contact with him and basically forgave him. In that epilogue, Katniss never says "And I still never ever talk to Gale", so I can think whatever I dang well please, right? But not having the AUTHOR say that makes it feel not real. I feel like I need to call up Collins and have her tell me over the phone that Gale does get a happy ending, and then I can feel better.
Sigh... okay, this is a ridiculously long comment. Can you tell that I've been needing to vent? I need more friends to finish this dang book!
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