Why “Sunrise on the Reaping” blew up my mind!

Synopsis

When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

Audiobook Review

“They will not use my tears for their entertainment.”

WOW! WOW! WOW!

6 stars!

And now I want to reread the Hunger Games (the original trilogy as Snow’ story does not interest me) in audiobook just to see if it will hit even deeper this time!

Back in the days when I read the Hunger Games, I couldn’t stop praising the books for their profound and vital message. I had my kids read them some years later to have them realize how propaganda is working and that you have to think for yourself.

“All propaganda is lies, even when one is telling
the truth. I don’t think this matters so long as
one knows what one is doing, and why.” — George Orwell”

Of course I rooted for Katniss  all along but in the first book, Haymitch painted a sorry picture for himself being an alcoholic and all.

When I heard that Sunrise of the Reaping would be about his life, I knew I had to read it. I had to understand what happened to him in his games to have Haymitch become such a drunkard recluse many years after.

And what I got is a new Hunger Games story, with as much blood and cruelty than in the first books alongside an ignominious president Snow. This was Quarter Quell meaning that we have double the number of tributes – 48 children sent to their death for the entertainment of the Capitol.

Double the hurt for the reader because  I totally fell for Haymitch’s allies and I had my heart crushed again many times over for every loss we experienced.

“She doesn’t belong to them,” snaps Maysilee. “Don’t just hand her over. Make them fight for her. Run!” So I do. And I’m a fast runner. The only kid who can beat me in footraces at school is Woodbine Chance. Well, he used to anyway. I run for Louella, but I run for Woodbine, too, because he’ll never run again.”

I was especially hurt for what happened to Lulu, for what she has been through and I would have loved the epilogue to finally reveal what truly happened before she had been thrown in the arena.

The Hunger Games pushed our characters to become better versions of themselves. More defiant, more courageous at the cost of their lives for most of them.

The guilt Haymitch bore at the end of the game was unthinkable. All he has been through was cruel beyond imagination and showed that Snow would stop at nothing, would cross every boundaries to strengthen his tyrannical power.

Suzanne Collins writing is flawless, the characters so vibrant, desperate but determined that they seem to spring from the pages (or from the headset). I listened in a record time, going through every alliance, every friendship, every hope, every courageous act to disturb the capitol and also every crushing death.

This is another masterpiece in the Hunger Games series and I am glad Suzanne Collins gave us that book.

Bravo!

Thanks for reading.

Sophie