What can I say?  I read it and I loved it.  Rather than purchase my own copy, I queued up at the library and waited my turn.  I’ve changed my spending habits in lots of ways since we’ve become mainly a one-income household, but perhaps the largest has been my book-buying habits.  (Well, that and my shoe-buying habit. )  I still buy plenty of books, but they are almost exclusively for the girls’ schooling or fun reads for them.  However, I’m seriously considering buying the Hunger Games boxed set I saw at Sam’s this past Saturday because Mockingjay elevated this series for me to something just a little bit above what I originally thought of it as:  a thrill ride, enjoyable and unforgettable, but certainly not substantial.  Mockingjay is the clincher in more ways than one.  Obviously, it ends the series and ties up the loose ends rather neatly (although certainly not predictably!).  More than that, though, it brings the story and the characterization to an end emotionally, and that is why I love it.   Up until this last book, I didn’t really feel much for Katniss.  I suspect that Collins developed her in this way so that we, the readers, would come to like and/or love her in the end.  Like most everyone who has read this book, I’m sure, I thought more about war and its effects after reading it than I ever have.  My dad is a Vietnam veteran, and reading this book makes me consider him in a little different light than I have before.  Just last night after church I was talking with one of my closest friends about her nephew, a soldier headed back to Afghanistan in a few weeks.  The cliche ”war is hell” certainly applies to all of these men’s experiences, and it applies to the experiences of Katniss and her friends/comrades-in-arms/enemies as well.  I know there are spiritual implications to this novel, too, but I’ll leave the spiritual parallel drawing to Sherry for now.  This is one thrill ride that provides plenty of material for rumination. 

One last thought:  I thought this book had one of the best closing lines ever.  I won’t reveal it, although to spell it out wouldn’t actually be much of a spoiler, but maybe my mention of it will encourage someone to pick up this series who otherwise might not give it a second glance.  Although reading in this genre is somewhat out of my comfort zone (I abhor violence!), I am very glad I read this series.  My only regret, if I can call it that, is that I didn’t wait and read all three books in quick succession.  I have a bad memory for details, so sometimes I was a little fuzzy when references were made back to things that happened in previous books.  Since all three are published now, that’s no excuse any more.