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Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
sunrise really pulled me back into the world of the Games, which i hadn't touched (aside from the films, okay mostly just the second film) since maybe middle school? there are so many details that i'd forgotten, but what's different about this book, compared to the originals and ballad is that we already know that haymitch is going to be the victor this time. you could argue that narrators don't die and that it was always going to be katniss who won her games, but suzanne could have pulled a veronica roth if she had a mind to. i wouldn't have put it past her.
for probably the first 80% of this book, i was planning on giving it five stars, but the ending did not do the rest of it justice. we all knew that
there were also many many times when haymitch's logical jumps/internal monologue felt stiff and lacked real depth. i liked him as a narrator, but i think suzanne wrote him in a way that swung wildly from uninformed impulsivity to frozen inaction. he makes unintentional mistake after unintentional mistake, and it results in the deaths of an astonishing number of people. it kind of got old by the end?
that said, suzanne's best work is done in the messages and themes of her novels, and boy does she deliver. her creativity in designing the arenas and the history of the Games has always been so impressive to me, but at the end of the day, this book (and the rest) is both a warning and an alarm.
and while i'm saying good things, maysilee donner, the woman that you are. as soon as she said that line "if you let them treat you like an animal, they will" i was so sat. i bet she would have loved johanna mason.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, War, Classism
Minor: Animal death, Kidnapping, Death of parent
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, Alcohol
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Torture, Violence, Grief, Alcohol
Minor: Rape
The writing is tight and the author is excellent at creating tensions of all different kinds, of creating expectations and subverting them, of creating unlikeable heroes and charismatic villains, and demonstrating clearly how propaganda is created and how it props up and is propped up by the fascist power dynamics at play politically, far from where Haymitch grew up but controlling the district at a distance.
The audiobook is exquisite, and the narrator performs with excellence. He really goes from optimistic to devastated via every emotion imaginable. Absolutely excellent reader.
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Alcohol
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Genocide, Alcohol
Minor: Gore, Torture
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, War
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, Classism
Will I be seated for the film adaptation??? Yes!
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism