Sunrise on the Reaping

 

 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, 400 pgs.

Haymitch Abernathy is up before the sun. He has chores to complete if he is going to see his girl before the reaping, and she is the main thing on his mind. At first glance, this day is just like the reaping day of last year, and the year before that one, but today will change Haymitch's entire life. Before the sun sets, he will be carted off to the 50th annual Hunger Games, where he and forty-nine other teenagers will fight to the death until one "victor" prevails. Haymitch will soon learn that nothing is certain, and as much as one may try to mold their future (and past), outside forces are constantly trying to change its shape.

We have heard part of Haymitch's story before, told second-hand in the original Hunger Games trilogy, but his first-person account adds so much depth to what we already know. As readers, we come to realize that our prior knowledge is largely based on the Capitol-sponsored version of events, and we see how Haymitch's experience was twisted and misrepresented. Suzanne Collins has done it again.