“Fire is catching.  And if we burn, you will burn with us.”  After Katniss Everdeen got out of the arena, she felt extremely guilty that she got to live in peace, and Peeta was still trying to extricate her life, and keep her safe, even though it meant he had to be tortured by President Snow.  She met President Coin in district 13, and she made Katniss “The Mockingjay,” a rebel figurehead held to lead a war against President Snow, and his dictatorship.  Katniss agreed to become “The Mockingjay” under a few conditions, Peeta gets to stay alive, and she gets to kill President Snow, the guy who poisoned people to gain his power.  They filmed and broadcast throughout the districts, and eventually it lead to the district finally fighting back.  President Coin called for Peeta?s rescue, and Katniss got a chance to kill President Snow, and kills President Coin instead.  Eventually President Snow dies from choking on his own blood, but no one in the district sorrowed over his death because of all the privation he caused them.  Although opinions may vary depending on the order, the book Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is better than the movie if you read the book first.

There are a variety of differences between the book and the movie Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, but there are also many similarities.  The movie is only half of the story because they split it into two parts, and that is one of the biggest differences between the book and the movie.  They did a lot of editing to the series of events, changed the order of some events, and took out a lot of fairly important things.  The book starts off in District 12, where Katniss visits her recently destroyed home, which brings the book a very powerful beginning.  The movie however, starts off in District 13 with her shaking in an air-duct, still damaged and recovering from previous events, which delayed the story a little because they still included her visiting her home in twelve, just not as a powerful start.  In the movie, Jennifer Lawrence played the part very well, but the beginning, being not as powerful as the book, presented Katniss as a little weaker than in the book.  One of the big paraphernalia in the book is the daily tattooed-on schedules, that the people of thirteen have to follow, but in the movie, there were no signs of them.  In both the book and the movie, Katniss agrees to become the Mockingjay with a few demands, but the demands in the movie are different than the ones in the book.  In the book she request to keep their cat, Buttercup, save Peeta, Johanna, Enobaria, and Annie, but in the movie Enobaria got cut out entirely.  Also, in the book, Katniss’s prep team (Flavius, Octavia, and Venia) is alive and prepares her for becoming the Mockingjay.  Effie Trinket doesn’t actually make an appearance in District 13 in the book, but she does in the movie, and kind of acts as Katniss’s prep team, since they took the prep team out of the movie.  The last major comparison I noticed between the movie and the book is that in both the book and the movie, they saved Peeta, Johanna, and Annie from the capitol, but the book didn’t include the actual mission, however, the movie did.  Those are most of the major comparisons I’ve noticed between the book and the movie Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. 

There are many possible reasons for all the director/actor’s changes to the events, resulting in the movie being different from the book.  It could’ve been because they wanted to keep it PG-13 to attract a different audience, or to just shorten the movie, and keep it from becoming 6 hours long.  Nevertheless, it came out a fairly good movie even though the book was better in my opinion.  To keep it PG-13, I would’ve changed the events up a little, but definitely keep all the characters the same.  I really didn’t like the ending of the movie, from the audiences point of view.  Although, from the directors point of view, knowing it had to end around there, that was a logical place because they all were saved, and if it went any longer, they wouldn’t find a place for it to stop.  Even though I don’t like the movie as much, they did an excellent job with the cast, the timing, and especially the setting considering it’s not the easiest set to recreate.

I definitely recommend the book Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.  If you’re like me and really enjoy the book, the movie will seem kind of disappointing because they changed it up a lot.  In my opinion, the book is better than the movie.  The book is more powerful, and gives you a different perspective of the whole story, because you’re basically reading it from Katniss’s point of view, and hearing all her thoughts.  I think everyone should read the book then watch the movie in that order so you can experience it fully, discover different perspectives of the story, and obtain your own opinion.  “It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart.” -Katniss Everdeen