“Fires catching, and if we burn, you burn with us!” In Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins, you’ll experience heartbreak, romance, war, physical hardships, betrayal, despair, yet a few laughs. To fully experience the heartfelt story of the Mockingjay, read the book.

There are many differences between the book and the movie. First of all, the book starts out with Katniss in District 12 after it was bombed, but the movie starts with her in the pipe tunnels in District 13. Secondly, Effie Trinket. In the book she is missing and everyone in District 13 can’t get her, but in the movie Effie is in District 13 just hiding in her room because she can’t wear any of her clothes from the capital. Talking about Effie, Katniss’s prep team, Flavius, Venia, and Octavia were with Katniss from the beginning of the book to the end always making her Beauty Base 0, but in the movie they didn’t appear. Another difference between the book and the movie that I was quite confused about was President Coin. In the book she sounded strong and harsh and she didn’t like Katniss, yet in the movie she looked sweet and gentle and she kindly welcomed Katniss with a warm, open heart.

There was a couple events in the book that were missing, changed or added in the movie. Effie gave Katniss Cinna’s book in the movie but in the book, Purlarch gave Katniss Cinna’s book. Effie was not suppose to be there anyways so I don’t know why Effie would give Katniss Cinna’s book. I liked the part in the book where Purlarch gives Katniss the book. Another event that got changed was the Hanging Tree part. Katniss and the camera crew were suppose to be in the forest when it happened, not at a lake. Something they added to the movie that wasn’t in the book was when the people in the district bombed the capital dam and cut the entire capital’s power and electricity. In the movie the people from the district made bombs and fought the peace keepers to get into the dam and blow it up. The director probably made these changes to keep the movie short but I felt like it took away from the movie quality, considering it was only part one of the movie.

The movie cast was very good, even though the movie was lacking some details from the book, the cast played their part very well. Jennifer Lawrence was a great choice to play Katniss Everdeen, she is a great actress. She had so much emotion, it made the movie so much better. Josh Hutcherson also made the movie a lot more enjoyable to watch. Although his character Peeta Mellark shows up towards the end of the movie, he made the most of it. Like Jennifer Lawrence, he acted with so much emotion. He show the pain that Peeta felt in the book, he showed the frustration. They did a great job. Julianne Moore, who played President Coin, is a great a very good actress no doubt but she didn’t play the character President Coin well. In the book President Coin is a strong, powerful, mean and harsh eagle type leader but I in the movie she was kind and warm, especially to Katniss. Mahershala Ali, who played Boggs, was a very funny surprise. While reading the book I always thought that Boggs was white man, but I am glad he wasn’t. it was sort of refreshing to have a black guy play Boggs. He did a very good job, he made Boggs a stronger character, he definitely made the movie better with the little parts he appeared in.

As you can see, I fancy the book more than the movie. If you would like a stronger understanding of the the Mockingjay story, you should definitely read the book. The movie was good but it didn’t succeed in capturing all the main themes and events the book did. I strongly suggest reading the book.