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Book Review: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Genre: Dystopian Fiction

Alternate Title: A spark that eventually caught fire

I read the entirety of the Hunger Games while I was in middle school and haven’t read them since. Reading this newest installment of the Hunger Games series as an adult is a hundred times more horrifying. As a middle-schooler you’re the same age as the kids in the Hunger Games and somehow it doesn't click with you until you’re older. They’re so young. So young and being put to the death in horrific ways for TV entertainment.

I enjoyed this book in a soul-crushing way. I fell in love with all of the characters and kept holding out hope. “Maybe, more than just Haymitch will make it out alive. Somehow. Right? Please?” Immediately after reading this book, I requested the entire Hunger Games series on DVD from my library. I wanted to catch moments of connection to Haymitch’s Hunger Games, even though it’s a prequel meaning the connections were able to be written in easily any way she needed. But alas, they still punched me right in the gut.

Propaganda and Authoritarian Control
The main theme present in this installment of the Hunger Games was to remember that video and words can be manipulated to tell whatever story people would like. Haymitch was blowing things up and having heartfelt moments with the other competitors, but once it was all said and done, the footage was sliced, diced, and chopped up to portray him as a heartless scoundrel. “The Games are the best propaganda [they] have. [The] tributes, [are the] stars….But only if [they] control the narrative. Don’t let [them].”

Aside from completely tampering with the Hunger Games to have it play out in a way that would benefit the Capitol, they use slogans to create fear and control. Saying, “NO PEACE, NO PROSPERITY! NO HUNGER GAMES, NO PEACE!” Slogans that are easy to say over and over act as ear worms that change the way people think. In the BITE model for Authoritarian Control the “use of loaded language and clichés which constrict knowledge, stop critical thoughts and reduce complexities into platitudinous buzz words.” Hear something enough and people start believing it. Maybe not the people in the outer districts because they live in horrible poverty and don’t see an inkling of peace, but certainly the Capitol people and people of the inner districts could be led to believe that the Hunger Games maintain peace. They’re living in peace and comfort after all, aren’t they? That’s why it’s important to look outside yourself and help others.

Authoritarian groups and governments use deception by withholding and distorting information. When the people of Panem were shown the reaping of District 12, they saw nothing of the boy who was originally chosen and murdered. The citizens don’t see that Louella was killed in a chariot accident and replaced by the lookalike Lou Lou. They’re only shown what the Capitol wants them to see of the Hunger Games. The BITE model also states that these groups cause memories to be “manipulated and false memories are created.” Even Haymitch, who saw in person the reality of the Hunger Games and their cover up of Louella’s death, in the end couldn’t tell the difference between the Lou Lous: “The strangest visit involves Louella and Lou Lou, dressed in identical outfits, sitting across the table from me while I peel and eat a bowl of hard-boiled eggs. “Which of us is which?” they ask me. But the Capitol has won. I can’t tell them apart.” That’s the real danger of authoritarian groups. You have a hard time deciphering what’s real and what’s manufactured to appear real. It makes it hard to tell facts from fiction, and makes it easy for them to pull the blinders over your eyes and do whatever they want.

Keep Fighting Even When All Seems Futile
From the very beginning, the odds were never in Haymitch’s favor. He was a tribute from District 12. Only one other person from District 12 has ever won. There were double the tributes, and the Hunger Games are rigged and manipulated for entertainment value. He goes into the Games knowing the inevitability that he’s never going to see his friends and family again. Even if he did win, there are no real winners in the Hunger Games.

Through everything he’s up against, he still keeps trying. Even if it only makes a smidgen of a difference, he knows that that’s not nothing. “Trying’s not doing.” “No, but it sure beats not trying.” While Katniss was the one that finally “caught fire”, so to speak, Haymitch was the spark. This is symbolized by the flint striker token he wears. They tried to put an end to the Hunger Games that year, but they failed. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t worthwhile. “And that’s part of our trouble. Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible.” “You were capable of imagining a different future. And maybe it won’t be realized today, maybe not in our lifetime. Maybe it will take generations. We’re all part of a continuum. Does that make it pointless?”

After Beetee’s plan fails, Haymitch commits to still trying his best. He sticks to his values and stands up for what is right. “Instead of giving up, maybe I’ll see if I can’t be of some tiny use to someone else.” He could’ve given up. He could’ve let the Hunger Games change him and turn him into the villainous monster the game makers portrayed him as, but instead he shared chocolate with the Careers. He showed kindness and empathy to everyone. Even when it was hard. Especially when it was hard. "Maybe I haven’t learned anything and there’s no chance of success and I should double down on my implicit submission. But the truth is, what have I got to lose? Nothing, that’s what. And I owe it to Ampert to try.”

Recommendation
This book was as gut-wrenching as it was page-turning (which I admit made me feel a bit ill, like I was just another Capitol goon). Anyone who was a fan of the Hunger Games growing up would love this addition to the Hunger Games series. Anyone who has yet to read the Hunger Games series would also love this tragic tale of fighting in the face of injustice. However, if you have yet to read the Hunger Games, read all the books in release-date order (as God intended). Start with the original Hunger Games trilogy, then read the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and then you can read this book. I will now be taking a break from thinking about this book for the time being because it makes me feel sick to my stomach. And if that’s not a glowing recommendation for Suzanne Collins’s book doing what it was written to do, I don’t know what is.

Star Rating: 5/5