“May the odds be ever in your favor.” This infamous phrase from “The Hunger Games” follows and taunts a tribute throughout the Games. But are the odds ever truly in their favor?
For Haymitch Abernathy, it seems they are not. In Suzanne Collins’ newest novel, “Sunrise on the Reaping,” readers follow the Games that brought Katniss and Peeta their mentor in the original trilogy.
Although these Games, the 50th and second Quarter Quell, are mentioned a few times in the second and third portions of the trilogy, this prequel describes them in excruciating detail. Compared to the usual Hunger Games taking 24 kids, or tributes, for this fight to the death, this 25-year anniversary special called for a reaping of double the tributes.
Haymitch is from District 12, the poorest district known for coal mining, so the odds are not in his favor from the jump. Knowing this fact and how many children are going to die, this novel easily becomes one of the most devastating reads of the series.
Learning exactly what happens during Haymitch’s Games was not something I was prepared for. As someone who recently finished the original trilogy, I had some feeling the Games would be similar to Katniss’ Games, which takes place 24 years after this one. But I was wrong.
Starting on page one with the reminder that the reaping always takes place on July 4, which happens to be Haymitch’s birthday, I knew immediately readers would be in for an emotional rollercoaster. Watching this boy who just turned 16 years old get illegally reaped for the Games for reasons outside of his control was almost as bad as all the things we had to watch Katniss go through.
By the end of the book, I had my eyes opened by the stark reminder that the Capitol easily glorified everything that happened, and even I had my brain warped by their messages.
Instead of the selfish version of Haymitch presented on the recording of his Games, this book gives fans the chance to see the true details of how he was simply trying to help those in his alliance by distancing himself from them. With President Snow having sent him into the Games with a promise of death, he knew it would not be safe for the others to be near him.
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It also would not have helped his side’s plot of breaking the very arena they were fighting in.
With the help of victors whom we get to meet younger than when they are introduced in the original series, Haymitch is willing to fight the Capitol’s rules and propaganda. He is even willing to sacrifice himself for this cause.
In many of these scenes where we see him working out these difficult plans and experiencing the desire to destroy the Capitol, I was immediately reminded of Katniss. There are several times where he almost parallels Katniss, despite their differences in “The Hunger Games.”
Another of their major differences lies in how each of their stories ends. As we know Katniss can save the majority of the people she loves, Haymitch comes home to find the nearly opposite situation. Almost everybody he loves gets taken away from him, and he pushes away those who do not, becoming the version of himself we meet in the trilogy.
The message behind Collins’ books has always been present, but this novel almost drives it home more than the others. It reminds us how the Capitol, meant to be similar to our government, is willing to glorify terrible events to twist the narrative in their favor. By directly destroying everything and everyone Haymitch — just a 16-year-old boy at the time — loved and lived for, we remember how their world may not be too much different from ours.
Collins’ writing has always been powerful, and this novel is just more proof of that. Though it came with many tears, I think Collins’ presentation of Haymitch’s heartbreaking story will be difficult to forget.