"The snow may fall, but the sun also rises."
I finished reading Sunrise on the Reaping on Sunday, and even now I feel like it hasn't fully sunk in. I knew it would be rough going into it, but my expectations were far exceeded. I keep asking myself how in the world they're going to adapt this one into a film without giving it an R rating, because there's simply no way they can't. They try to soften it, it'll lose it's meaning and that ultimately defeats the purpose.
I'm sure fellow book nerds/Hunger Games fans have seen the videos floating around on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, etc., of people crying over Sunrise. Somehow, I didn't cry while reading this. I came close a few times and had to set the book down for a few minutes, but I never actually cried. The only explanation I can think of for that is I really went into it expecting the absolute worst.
Sunrise focuses on Haymitch Abernathy and his Hunger Games. If you know Haymitch, you know he's an alcoholic protagonist who won his own Games twenty four years before the original trilogy begins. Not only that, but he wins in a way that could be seen as "sticking it" to the Capitol. And sure, you can attribute his alcoholism to the fact that had to fight to the death against forty-seven other kids when he was sixteen and he's forced to mentor two kids from his own district every year after. But there's actually more to it than that. Which is freaking awful, considering the aforementioned description I provided would be enough to drive someone to drink. Haymitch deals with so much grief and loss at such a large scale in such a short amount of time, it's horrific. I'm not sure who pissed off Suzanne Collins the day she developed Haymitch's character and backstory, but they owe her one hell of an apology.
I also feel the need to put this out there, for some reason or another -- Sunrise is an IMPORTANT book; just like all the others in the franchise. Anyone who tries to say the Hunger Games books/movies are too politicized are either kidding themselves or are not paying attention. Suzanne Collins has even said she only writes when she has something to say, and she includes four quotes about propaganda at the beginning of this book. Not to mention there are themes of government control, distrust of authority, class discrimination, resistance, etc. woven throughout all of the Hunger Games books. Despite the fact that these books are marketed as YA, they're meant to be political and spark political conversations.
I say all of that to say this: this is a brilliant installment to the Hunger Games franchise, though obviously very heavy and not for the faint of heart in some areas. I would encourage any Hunger Games fan to read this if you can -- if you already like Haymitch, you'll like him even more; if you don't already like Haymitch, you'll gain a ton of respect for him.
Sidenote: I mentioned when I first read Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes that you absolutely do not need to read that if you're not compelled to, but you absolutely need to read Ballad before you read Sunrise.
