A review by leweylibrary
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

5.0

Suzanne Collins does it again. In the most heart wrenching, devastating way. Like more so than all the other books my god. 

I had to put down the book and SOB three times towards the end. You know how it's going to end, and yet you have NO IDEA. No idea. It's so much worse than you could ever be thinking when you go into it.

Obviously you know Haymitch wins the Quarter Quell. You figure
his mom, brother, and girlfriend will die
because how could he end up the Haymitch we know and them not. But everything that happens to get there, especially the distortion and propaganda from the Capitol to twist his narrative and his humanity into something so cold and sad, is truly devastating.

The parallels between Haymitch and Katniss are so apparent, and I honestly am looking forward to rereading the series next so I can find even more. I cannot even fathom what his life was like those 23ish years being without
his loved ones
, trying desperately to forget while not moving on at all, feeling so helpless to stop the Capitol but having
pledged to his dead lover to never stop trying
, and watching pair of tributes after pair of tributes every single year die on his watch and be unable to stop it--AND ON HIS FUCKING BIRTHDAY. WTF. 

The emotional damage Haymitch experiences, and that I experienced along with him, is on a sociopathic level, Suzanne. Being
illegally reaped
, targeted so personally by Snow, watching
he bonds with during the games die, be tortured, or both
, being forced to kill other children, having so much responsibility thrust upon him while doing so, finding out that his narrative was twisted to the point of being unrecognizable in a way that strips him of his humanity and connections to other people which probably made it easier for people to not care as much when
his mom, brother, and lover die
after he gets home, THE WAY
HIS MOM AND. BROTHER AND LOVER DIE while he watches helplessly as he did during the games
. I just cannot with how bitterly cruel a hand Haymitch was dealt. It makes me look at the Haymitch we know from the OG trilogy in a completely different way and be so gutted for him. I cannot even imagine the emotions and thoughts he was experiencing with Peeta and Katniss as his tributes. As they were the first to not only not die but to eventually help the sun finally not rise on a reaping. DAMN. Suzanne Collins is on a completely different level, and I both love and hate her for it.
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