Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Изгревът в деня на Жътвата

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Изгревът в деня на Жътвата by Suzanne Collins

857 reviews

isa_darlingg's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

most heartbreaking book I've ever read. 10000/10 my soul was stomped on, spat on, set on fire, chewed up, and then stomped on again for good measure.

Content Warnings

vumalilli's review against another edition

1.25

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Once again, a prequel where the most engaging content is squeezed into the final few chapters. My overall opinion: I think these additional stories should be short stories, or novellas to maintain a level of mystery and afford more room for the audience to engage in their own creative interpretations. It feels a little bit like the author is force feeding how we should feel and giving far too many bizzire connections between President dictator Snow, and the District 12 community. His obsession with one District is bordering on unrealistic now.

This book has a few of sensational new characters - like Ampert (my heart!), Maysilee, Wyatt, Lenora Dove, and Louella. It's also very dark and does not hold back in ensuring readers understand how Haymitch Abernathy is the jaded, alcoholic, disengaged mentor we are introduced to in Katniss' Hunger Games trilogy. Unfortunately, despite this being the long awaited story of the 50th Games, the 2nd Quarter Quell and one of only four District 12 Victors, the majority of this book was very … underwhelming. The first prequel and the main trilogy are carrying this story!

Largely because, we already know how Haymitch story goes. I knew the entirety of the book that he’d survive, how he won, and what was waiting for him on the other side of his bitter victory. That element of surprise is the most captivating aspect of these books. Watching an innocent member of a district enter an arena and being completely unaware about how it will end for them. I didn’t realise how much these books relied on the audience waiting to read who wins the Games. I missed that element so much throughout and lost interest frequently while reading this.

As the reader, you know he’s surviving this. I think Suzanne Collins compensated for what her readers already knew by trying to tell the story she told for Katniss over 3 books in one book.

Haymitch is recruited into a rebel plot the moment he is reaped - this made for a very overpacked story!

. The only way to surprise readers was to go HARD in the ways she tortured her 50 tributes throughout the games, and make a whole list of cameos and connections of characters past and present. I did love SOME of the cameos and the subtler connections between Ballads, Sunrise, and THG, but this, unfortunately, adds to the story being upheld by nostalgia and pre-existing contexts. It's rather lazy when you think about it long enough. I also felt like the author did not spend enough time investing in why her characters did what they did throughout. I understood how mistrusting Snow and Katniss (rightfully) were in their stories when interacting with strangers in a cruel and dark world like theirs. In this, a lot of the characters are VERY naive and TOO trusting.

Overall, it's a FINE story, but, I'm not enjoying these prequels as much as I want to. I wish I could say that Suzanne Collins is writing this for her enjoyment of her universe, but it's pretty obvious she's writing this for a cheque and an easy movie-deal.

I hate that Haymitch figured out the connection between President Snow and Lucy Gray Baird. That was so ridiculously written and deserved so much more mystery than it was afforded. Especially since his epiphany is never mentioned again in the trilogy. It was an overkill attempt to connect the first prequel to this and to the trilogy. Lucy Gray being Katniss' distant great aunt on her dad's side was more than enough.

I also think Collin's contradicted her universe A LOT throughout this book by constantly reminding readers that the game makers are capable of putting in delays in the the Hunger Games, and over editing the final show broadcasted and recapped throughout Panem. Lucy's Games erased, Haymitch's Games over-edited and tweaked to tell a false narrative - why didn't he remove Katniss' tribute to Rue, and black out the moment her and Peeta attempted to swallow the nightlock? Why did he allow 5 known rebels into the Games for the 75th Quarter Quell knowing they have nothing to lose in overthrowing him? This is the moment to quit while you're ahead

Content Warnings

alanatai's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Very touching and I enjoyed the young cameos of characters from other books in the series. It makes me want to go back and read them all again with the added context! Haymitch is a much more complex character than I gave him credit for. All of the character development is amazing and there are a lot of sometimes complicated inserts from old poems, but they add to the overall storytelling if you can decipher them. This takes place 40 years after the ballad of songbirds and snakes and 24 years before the OG hunger games trilogy. It’s amazingly consistent with all of the characters that came before it and after it, timeline wise, and gives great insight/fills in a lot of holes that I didn’t know were missing from the other books. It covers his reaping year and goes into the time before and after but doesn’t talk much about his experience mentoring Katniss and Peeta until the epilogue. Happy ending for him (or at least as happy as he can be).

Content Warnings

theirdarkmaterials's review against another edition

3.0

dark sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I ripped through this and very much enjoyed being back in the world of the Hunger Games. I particularly liked seeing younger versions of the victors we meet in Catching Fire.

My main complaint is that we do rehash a lot of The Hunger Games - the reaping and lead-up to the games especially - sometimes with not enough of a unique spin. Having read the original trilogy, it is interesting seeing historical gaps filled in, but I'm not sure this book distinguishes itself enough to justify its existence.

Surprisingly I found the beginning of the games the part that lagged the most, as Haymitch spends a great deal of time on his own and we miss most of the initial action between the Newcomers and Careers. This is a little baffling considering this Quarter Quell has double the number of tributes, which I never felt was used to its full potential - the arena feels almost deserted at times.

It's at its most interesting when Haymitch is with other characters, Maysilee being a standout. Haymitch himself is not really recognisable to the one we know in the original trilogy. Not enough of the other tributes are distinguishable - maybe it ought to have been a bit longer to flesh more characters out...?

Also - why didn't the gamemakers just kill Haymitch after all the shenanigans he got up to? As I was reading I grew more and more surprised that he's actually allowed to win the games - doesn't really track with what Snow is about. I kept waiting for the promised targeted mutts to appear. This isn't a Katniss/Peeta situation, it would have been very easy to bump Haymitch off without angering Capitol citizens.

I saw another review that said this book should have covered Haymitch's post-games years, when he's a victor and having to mentor year after year of tributes, delving into what life is like for victors in the Capitol. I think that would have made a lot more sense and addresses my main frustration over rehashing old ground. If we were going to do another book on the games themselves, maybe one from a careers perspective?

Sounds like I'm coming down quite hard on this, but overall I did have a good time reading it, just with some caveats. Certainly doesn't come close to the heights of the original trilogy.

Content Warnings

kapahl's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

avasbookmark's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed this one about as much as Songbirds and Snakes which to say thoroughly! I found some parts a bit cringey like the repeated “all-fire” lines and I wish we got to know Lenore Dove better.

Content Warnings

auroracapulet's review against another edition

1.75

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

when this was initially announced, i'll admit i was actually quite excited. i know there were certain reservations about dedicating a book to haymitch & what political aspects it would explore, but i thought it to be a natural extension of what collins produced with 'the ballad of songbirds and snakes'. after all, it would be another chapter in the established district 12 framework that would fill the gap in the timeline between the 10th games and katniss. connect the dots, if you will.

and oh boy.

connect it did... incautiously so.

collins has accrued a notoriety of being concise and meaningful; 'only writing when deemed necessary'/'only writing when she has something to say', but it's safe to say she has taken a sledgehammer to such sentiments with this novel. or an axe.

this book not only manages to pick at the fundamentals that seemingly made the original trilogy tick, it fails to deliver any well constructed commentary in favour of some truly diabolical fan-service. if the obscene amount of unnecessary reappearances were not eye roll worthy enough, then:

• “she wasn't one of burdock everdeen’s cousins. but i knew he had some distant ones on his ma’s side.”
• “they're not blood kin, her being a baird”

lenore dove baird - honorary cousin to katniss' father certainly was. how collins disregarded the quiet brilliance in having katniss be a completely unforeseen consequence of the system snow has tried to fortify, just to implement the chosen one™ jargon that feels so frightfully out of place in the world she has built- i'll never know. especially when there were already a plethora of motifs and common threads (district 12, the hanging tree, the mockingjay) in previous installments that already tied katniss to lucy gray that were neither as literal as a family relation, nor as offensively overkill.

but the cheap lore reveals were only a small symptom of what went wrong with this book; which i've tried to whittle down into: narrative missteps, disregard for consistency, and opportunities missed.

starting with lenore dove, who is the crux for a lot of the narrative issues that plague this novel.

whilst appreciating the difficulties that come with trying to get readers to engage and invest in a relationship that we do not get a lot of time with (especially when we know it ends tragically), it is perplexing as to why collins decided on traversing the most irritable route. despite lenore dove herself only briefly featuring *physically* in three chapters out of twenty seven, this entire novel is filled to the brim with haymitch waxing some incredibly overbearing, heavy handed poetry (literally) about her. to a point, that he starts self deprecating in order to highlight how 'perfect' lenore dove is. he doesn't mention his mother and little brother even half as much as he does lenore dove, which is beyond jarring.

considering the outline of haymitch’s games (given in ‘catching fire’), there was no scenario where this wasn't going to be an issue. there was never going to be enough time to invest in his relationship with lenore dove, because she's physically just not present. her being featured in only three chapters (four, if you count that risible phone call) forces the relationship between haymitch and herself to be told not shown. the vignettes included every five minutes don't alleviate this issue, they only suffocate the present narrative and make haymitch look like an absolute muppet. case and point:

• “lenore dove says my dreams are like windows into my mind, too clear to need interpretation. which is nice way to say really obvious”
• “help me, lenore dove, i think. but she can’t. no one can.”
• “each book’s as precious as a person, she says, as it preserves someone’s thoughts and feelings long after they’re gone.”
• “i remember having this same discussion with lenore dove. she said quaff means to drink, usually something with alcohol.”
• “I don’t know what an aphorism is — some sort of saying? lenore dove would know.”
• “how there’s a part of her she refuses to share with me. she’d say it was to keep me safe, but maybe she just doesn’t trust me with her secrets.”
• “dreary. lenore dove taught me that word. ”
• “lonely for her”
• “how lenore dove would love it if she knew i’d bested the capitol and stopped the games, at least for this year. there’s glory in that. dignity. and if i did it using her flint striker? It’d be like we did it together.”
• “creating lenore dove’s precious mockingjays.”
• “you? It’s entirely my fault you’re there! and i know i’m why you got that score. i as good as killed you,”
• “we will be together always,” i say with conviction. “i don’t know how, and i don’t know where, i don’t know anything, but i feel that in my heart. you and me, we will find each other, as many times as it takes.”
• “i love you like all-fire, too. you and no one else. just like my geese, i mate for life. and then some. forever.”
• “but lenore dove is the winged being on my mind at the moment.”
• “i should be planning my strategy in the arena, but i just keep thinking about lenore dove, and how much i love her, and wondering if she’s home by now and how she’s doing.”
• “and the birdsong distracts me with thoughts of lenore dove.”
• “i allow myself a moment with lenore dove”
• “i press my lips to the flint striker, hoping lenore dove sees me, knows this is a thank-you to her for saving me from the mutts.”
• “i say my good-byes to those i love. burdock and blair. hattie. ma and sid. and finally, lenore dove, my rare and radiant girl.”
• “oh, lenore dove, how did it all come to this?”
• “i watch, breathless, for what the love of my life would call poetic justice.”
• “where am i, lenore dove? where are you, my only love?”

it reads as if collins decided to pander to consumer demands and threw every effort into making haymitch ‘book boyfriend of the month’. which led to a novel (technically) centering him but he has very little agency and no solid arc.

the calamity continues with the shameless dramatic irony of haymitch being a bootlegger and mentioning how he doesn't drink:

• “though i’m not a drinker myself”
• “i don’t drink.”

what happened to subtlety?

there was no reason for this outside of cranking up the melodrama for when haymitch inevitably turns to drinking after lenore dove’s death. which is not reasonable, as there is little prerogative to care about haymitch’s obsession with lenore dove.

noting the emphasis on her death being the titular event that throws haymitch's world so completely off its axis... was it not the culmination of everything he has been through in past weeks? his mother and brother dying? the deaths in the games? the extremities of the dehumanisation he's faced? his physical scars and potential disabilities? (disembowelment is no joke.)

why is his entire character so narrowly focused?

the final chapter (twenty-seven) had a handful of throwaway lines shoehorned in to patch over how little he seems to be affected by these things (in comparison to lenore dove's passing):

• “i have never really been alone before, always with my family. or my friends. or my love.”
• “the others are there — ma, sid, my fellow tributes — but not lenore dove.”
• “now that lenore dove has said her piece, other ghosts, filled with “hate and rage, visit me in the night. panache seems to have little to do but hunt me down and silka thinks i owe her a crown.”
• “i’m so sorry about your family’s accident, haymitch. and then your girl’s appendicitis right after? tragic.”
• “i search the wider sea of faces for lou lou’s kin and come up empty.”
• “to escape the grief, the aching loneliness, the loss of those i love. there are no mementos of them; all are burned or buried. i work on forgetting their voices, their faces, their laughs.”
• “and when i remember that, i hear sid’s voice”

but it does little to negate how his whole being exists within lenore dove’s orbit. the deaths of his mother & brother being brushed over to make lenore dove the focal point felt particularly egregious. reading:

“are you okay? are you really all right?’

“as right as rain,” i promise her. i don’t care, i can’t leave her.”

had me rethinking the integrity of the entire series.

‘he’s just dissociating!’ you don't need a pulitzer to know that was written to place the stakes of haymitch’s emotional deterioration and subsequent turn to alcoholism on lenore dove’s survival.

people are very welcome to scream ‘he's only sixteen!’ from the rooftops, but sixteen year olds just don't act like this; or at the very least, without significant reasoning. but, even with the consideration that haymitch had to ‘grow up’ faster for his family’s survival, the ‘be all or end all’ approach to romantic relationships still feels improbable. and given how poorly their relationship is written, his undying sense of devotion never stood a chance of being remotely believable.

[rambled so hard, i went over the word count. so, here's the rest:

https://substack.com/@auroracapulet/note/p-160147111?r=5fzviv&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action ]

Content Warnings

kaitlynsicilia's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I will proudly say that Suzanne Collins really ate with this one. It had me in such an emotional rollercoaster and starting the book, I knew she would put me through devastation, that it had me reading chapter by chapter with time apart in between by how immersed I was with the story.
I think definitely from all the new characters, I really loved Maysilee and Ampert and I also enjoy the mysteriousness of Wyatt and how tragic and ironic his death was and how predicted just exactly what would happen—that Haymitch would win.
Reading this book made me regret how many times I watched Tom Blyth as President Snow in the movie adaption of Ballad of Songbird and Snakes. I’m sorry, Suzanne Collins. Please never hurt me again. Also, make a Finnick Odair book ASAP!

Content Warnings