Sunrise on the Reaping – Suzanne Collins – Episode 123
The Buddies tackle Suzanne Collins’ “Sunrise on the Reaping,” the Hunger Games prequel that follows a young Haymitch Abernathy. If you liked the Hangover 2, Dumb & Dumber 2, and the Han Solo movie, then this book is for you. Not a lot of positive comments in this one, but the Buddies did wander into some bizarre tangents around spitting, gleeking, transfusions, and dead bees in figs. They also managed to rewrite the book, a “Lord of the Flies meets Rambo” epic. So join us as we discuss where it all went wrong on this one (or maybe skip if you were a big fan).
Intro/Book Report (0:00-3:12)
Stock Up/Down (3:13-37:13)
Favorite Scene/Character (37:14-41:56)
Love/Hate (41:57-48:39)
Conclusion (48:40-51:37)
NEXT BOOK: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
Transcript for SEO purposes 🙂
Alright. Welcome to the book club. I’m Dylan here with a man who I love like all fire. Keith, what’s up buddy? Thank you.
What is All Fire? Lingering question. What is it? I don’t get it. I’ll write you a poem about it or a song and jam it, force it down your throat like this book did.
Yeah. The, the editors were like, I think we need 10 more pages. She’s like, hold on a second. Let me just do this poem 12 times, and we’ll figure it out. Here at the Buddy Book Club, we’re reaganouncing bestsellers, and this week, we’ll be discussing Suzanne Collins’ newest Pan Am novel, Sunrise on the Reaping.
If you’d like to recommend a book for us to read or reach out to us in any past episodes, you can visit our website, buddybookclub.com. Send us a message on x, Instagram, buddybook.podcast, your listeners, iTunes, Spotify, wherever you podcast, please download and give us a five star review. Please and thank you. Keith, you said this was high on Goodreads. I didn’t actually check.
It was four six. Yeah. Yeah. Four six. Like I said, newest piece of the Hunger Games universe.
I I don’t know. I call it Pan Am. But, yeah. This is the newest iteration. I I’ve read the Hunger Games trilogy, as did you.
I assume you got caught by the the craze. Did you I think Hunger Games 02/2008, Catching Fire shortly thereafter, 02/2009, and then Mockingjay 02/2010 or 02/2011. You were fans of the initial trilogy. Correct? Yeah.
I mean, the first one was, like, wow. This is great. At the time, 02/2008, I was my early twenties. It’s a great commuter book, like, on the train Mhmm. Getting lost in the cornucopia.
Big fan. The other ones, I can’t really remember them being good or bad. So I assume just whatever. The other two are, like, not felt rushed or just felt they just didn’t have the magic anymore. I wanted the magic, and they just weren’t which is always tough if they’re a really big first selling book, but still.
But I do wonder if because the first one got so much so much hype and I mean, post game hype, whatever the case is, where afterwards it was so popular, that she actually stuck to her deadlines of getting the next book out when so many people, George RR Martin, just don’t do that and and take their time. And then sometimes it creates a better book because they’ve had taken their time, and other times they just don’t release it. So this is the prequel that no one asked for but that we received. It came out this year. So if you’re listening and you haven’t read it it and you really want to read it, there will be spoilers.
So download, give us the five star review, pause it, read the book, and come back. I did not fill in my assignment this week. I did not submit it. So I think I’m getting an F for not not providing a book report. But off off the cuff, I will say that Sunrise on the Reaping is a sunset to this entire story because I don’t know what else there is.
And if all we’re looking for when it comes to franchises is derivative bullshit, then you found it here. Hey. Hey, boss. It’s like, Dylan, you’re up. I’m, like, scribbling at my desk.
Yeah. Like, yeah. Yeah. Two two seconds. Two seconds.
Hold on a second. Keith, stock up for, Sunrise on the Repay. What do you got for stock up? Stock up Hangover two. You ever seen the movie, D Man?
I have, definitely, but I forget it. Oh, that’s the Thailand One. Yeah. I got a lot of criticism for because it’s basically just a carbon copy of the first one. They’re, like, celebrating something, and then they take some sort of drug, and it makes them not remember anything the night before.
And then they put the pieces back together. Yeah. Rinse, repeat. Got it. They cashed in.
It’s pretty bad. But even Hangover two, though, I was blushing at this book. I mean, if you told me this is a first draft of book one and then she just went went back and looked at it and was like, oh, yeah. I remember writing that and then just changed the name to from Katniss to Haymitch and press print. I would say that makes a lot of sense because we don’t learn in this book anything new.
There’s barely any new characters. Every single beat of this book is exactly the same as book one. It’s there’s, like, no different beats. I’m just like, okay, and then they’re gonna do this. It’s like, and they do that.
There’s nothing that changes. There are some, like, sprinklings of book two in here of, like, the rebellion stuff that’s added in. Mhmm. But I’ll tell her that. It’s it’s exactly the same.
Yeah. It’s like she took the main plot points and then twisted them. So instead of Primrose getting called and then Katniss, I declare his tribute or whatever the case is, She’s like, how can I change that? Oh, let’s have the original tribute get shot, and then Haymitch gets just because his name gets pulled again. So That’s supposed to be, like, a big surprise, but we know Haymitch is in the Hunger Games already.
So, like, who who cares? You know? Like, it’s like, okay. Well, there’s obviously gonna have something happen here because he’s he’s in it. You know?
It’s like Yeah. I mean, the worst part is really that it just destroys Hamish, the character. I I’m gonna get into that a little bit more. It’s it’s on me because I I thought this books two and three were kind of, like, Mary mentioned, a little bit lazy, weren’t very good, I didn’t think. Fool me once, shame on me.
Fool me for the prequel, hand up. That’s my fault. Wait. What’s that phrase again? Fool me once I did it for me.
Shame on me. Fool me tries hand up, lots of the prequels. And, Oh, you’re making a George w Bush blush with that one. But, yeah, I thought the reviews were gonna be good, but no. Yeah.
And the reviews were good. You looked at it. It’s not your fault. I mean, I know you’re saying hand up and, you know, we’ve all had some misses on on the pod. And I was I was excited to get back into these stories because I hadn’t read them since they came out.
I definitely didn’t read Ballad of the Songbird and Snakes just because the the title itself is, like, a hard pass for me. But, yeah, so when you suggested it, I said, Yeah, sure. Why not? No, it’s the Haymitch story of him doing his whole time in the arena or whatever the case is. I’m down.
The problem is that we, as readers of the First Ones, know that Haymitch is alive. We know that he’s a sad drunk who is pretty reclusive. So when we get introduced to all of these characters, like his family and Lenore Dove, you know they’re gonna die, which is fine in a normal book. You know Hamish is gonna win because that’s he’s alive, and you know that all these people are gonna die around him because that is the character he is presented as in the Hunger Games story. So I’m fine with books that have those elements where you already know the ending and, like, the journey can be worth more than knowing the ending.
The problem was they sold it during the story as if we didn’t know any of those things. Right. So they made him and Leonore Dove at the end or, like, there was potential that she was gonna survive even though we know everyone’s dying. So they made them seem like big twists or hangers or whatever the case was, but they weren’t at all. So, yeah, that was that was a bit frustrating.
For sure. My first stock up is spitting on people. Stock up. Yeah. It’s it’s maybe, in my opinion, one of the most despicable acts you can do to another human being that isn’t really illegal, let’s say.
You know, maybe, like, cold cocking someone when they’re not looking or something like that is is worse. But in terms of something that’s not actually physically hurting someone, spitting on them is it’s bottom of the barrel stuff. And I used to actually have a friend who that was that was his move, would be if he was at a bar he was at a bar and, like, someone was starting shit with him at the bar, he would just spit on them and then walk away. That is aggressive. That’s the most Yeah.
Most aggressive thing. That’s the one you wanna be, No. Because that starts a fight every time. Right? Yeah.
Exactly. For sure. If I think about it now, though, I don’t get why spit like, I feel like sneezing on someone would be way worse because spitting on someone to, like people kiss and stuff, but nobody, like, nobody, like, sneezes on someone and gets, like, oh, nice. Awesome. Yeah.
Sneezing on someone’s usually accidental. You gotta be a real sniper to be able to prep a sneeze to be able to sneeze on someone on purpose. Well, I don’t know why spitting on someone’s dead is that offensive, just because there’s so many more dirty things your body expels than spit. Spit’s, like, probably cleaner compared to most of the stuff you could do to people. Are you familiar are you familiar with gleeking?
You brought this up before, and I had no idea what you’re talking about. And you I remember you saying that one of your friends is this the same guy that gleaks on people on purpose? No. No. That was a different person.
You have two different dudes that are spitting on people in your grooves. I’ve never heard of this. Or Well, gleaking is a I I think it’s I think it’s actually it’s the salivary gland’s basically the base of your tongue, like, the in the bottom. In the right scenarios, they can shoot. They’re, like, almost like a venomous snake, and I think I mean, I’ve been told this is probably totally apocryphal, but I’ve been told that that’s, like, a leftover thing from when we were the same Like a tailbone?
Yeah. Exactly. Like when we were the same species. But, yeah, gleeking is a real thing. It’s like if you have something sour, your mouth kind of fills up with saliva.
It’s usually those saliva things that are going crazy. But sometimes if you open your mouth for a yawn, you can accidentally gleek and, like, shoot it out. And I have definitely, in my time, like, accidentally gleeked on someone. Okay. It’s such a weird why are we talking about this?
You know what? You it. I don’t know. You have to tell me why it’s spitting stuff. Stock up, spitting on people because Haymitch spits on all those people at the at the rally or whatever, the little chariot race.
He’s walking around spitting on people. Yeah. And they’re they’re lapping it up, quite literally. They are lapping it up. And I think if it wasn’t for him spitting on them, which then kind of cemented his identity as this, quote, unquote, rascal, although I’m not sure how being a spitting on people is a rascal move.
Sounds like a douchebag move. I’m in there. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, because it cements him as this rascal, which then they continue to use and basically shape his character around.
He’s almost like a WWE wrestler. Like, this is his character that he’s playing. And because of that, he gets a heel, for sure. And because of that, though, he gets sponsors. You know?
He’s, Yeah. It doesn’t make sense why. But alright. Yeah. Yeah.
I don’t I mean, certainly if he went up and would, like, did a WWE, started showboating and, like, bow into the crowd and stuff. You know? Like, people like, oh, we love that we just eat it up. You know? Like, do you smoke The Rock cooking type stuff instead of being the guy that’s, like, the heel that everyone hates and booze?
It didn’t doesn’t make sense. But No. He got sponsors. He was getting some stuff in I don’t know why. In the arena.
Yeah. Yeah. What else do you ever stock up? Stock up. Handicappers?
Oh, okay. I got a lot of stock up. Yeah. Wyatt out here is just a mathematical prodigy. He’s like a Mhmm.
Actuary, but, like, for or around, like, death in the Hunger Games, but then turns into the gambling. It’s it’s quite impressive, honestly. But the stock up is because the whole system for handicapping needs to be scrapped in in this book. It it didn’t make any sense. The judges so in the first one, they, like, they rate the people based off over their performance.
Like, alright. This and they’re basically handicapping the the the event. They’re saying this person’s a nine out of 12. Therefore, that’s their odds. And why it was explaining how the odds are working and things like that.
And then but then they just give Hey Mitch a one because they don’t like him? That’s the like, it’s spits in the whole face to use your analogy right there, of the whole system of handicapping. Unless they’re sandbagging and they’re gonna go put tons of money on it. But there is a system out there that’s supposed to be transparent and it’s supposed to be pretty market specific where the the odds change based off of what people are putting bets on and based off of Yeah. And I’m sure it’s it’s supposed to be an open market.
Yes. Exactly. So what is the point of grading people and then just being like, well, I don’t like the guy. So he gets a one. It doesn’t make any sense.
Unless, again, they’re sandbagging. The other thing, I didn’t get why Wyatt is a handicapper and they’re like, oh, he’s such a bad person. What? Why? I guess it’s unethical to bet on something that’s unethical, but the the whole society is unethical.
Who gives a shit? Like, I don’t really get why are they pointing their fingers at me like, oh, Wyatt and his family are bad? No. I mean, they’re they’re betting on something that’s as deplorable as the Hunger Games. Oh, the Hunger Games are a sanctioned government thing.
Also, I mean, if ethics are based off the government or whatever, like, I mean, what’s your issue? It’s it’s wrong. What do you mean? Couldn’t you couldn’t you be like, you shouldn’t be on UFC or boxing because people are gonna get cured? Die.
They don’t die. People are trying. And they’re not and they do it because they want to join. You’re not forced to join. And then I just think, like, the whole betting thing is just a sidebar.
It has nothing it it’s not like the if you’re if you’re betting and it was impacting the actual event itself, then, yeah, I get it. Then you’re asking for is the betting does and another reason why the whole like, this helps your argument because the odds are all messed up is the people that are betting on these events, the being the hunger games, have the ability to also put money in to give the tributes Yeah. That is things that are gonna help them. Yeah. So it’d be like if you’re betting on a football game, but then you can deflate the ball.
You can just, walk off the sidelines and be like, oh, you’re in now. Yeah. Exactly. You’re you’re paying to, like, trip someone. Like there’s a like a a god button that lifts the turf under their foot or whatever the case is.
So, it it does make it more interesting where it now it’s which also makes it to why its numbers would be hard to actually do. Mhmm. But I also I mean, it was a lingering question of mine, so I’ll burn it now because I did have some questions around the gambling. And mainly, why didn’t anyone bet on Hamish in District 12 that we know of? Why wasn’t this discussed?
Because they know him. They know what kinda what kinda guy he is. They know he’s got some gumption. Mhmm. So him getting a one would immediately lower his odds drastically.
So if you know this kid, you’re like, hey. I don’t know. I’ve seen this kid around. Like, he’s not terrible. Wyatt even says, and Wyatt’s obviously very smart, but he says, he’s like, my bet would be on Hamish based on the situation.
So why wasn’t anyone in District 12 going in there and making a ton of money off of Hamish winning. And then I thought about it and I said, oh, you know what happened? His mom put her life savings on Hamish to win the reaping. And with Wyatt’s family, the the bookies, she put her life savings on. Hamich was, like, 10,000 to one or whatever the case is.
She hit it big. And because the bookies didn’t wanna pay her, they were the ones that burned her house down and killed her. Yep. Yeah. That’s exactly what happened.
It it makes way too much sense on us. It’s not it was not president Snow. No. It was the bookies. He’s not a fire guy.
He’s he’s a poison guy. Yeah. Exactly. You’re a % right. Up poison guy.
So fire is a, like, mobster move. I’ve seen Tony Soprano do it at Vesuvio. The bookies didn’t wanna pay her out. No one else knew. They besides Sid, so they burned them alive and easy blame on President Snow.
Mhmm. She went to, like, you know, the mobsters, you go to turn your car on and the car blows up. She went to fill up their bucket of water and and just, like, fire started. Yep. Yep.
That’s that’s what happened. It’s exactly right. Makes perfect sense to me. Mhmm. Done.
What else do you have for stock up? That was it. A quick stock up for grape juice, which is one of the gifts that Haymitch gets in the in the is that they call it the reaping? What do they call it? The Hunger Games, I guess?
The Hunger Games? Did he get stomach issues? He was constipated? No. That’s, that’s prune juice.
Oh, okay. I think they’re both of the same family, though. Right? I actually fed my daughter some prune juice recently because she was constipated. Yeah.
Terrible. That stuff is disgusting. I cannot believe I had to give that to my child. I feel like you should call department of social services on me. The taste of that or the, what it does to you?
What do you mean? No. No. The taste. Have you ever had prune juice?
I’ve had prunes before, I believe. Yeah. Prunes Maybe I’m thinking plums. I don’t know. Plum prunes and plums are the same thing.
It prune is just a dried plum. Oh, okay. I mean, I really like, what’s the apricot? Dried apricots. Love those.
Delicious. No. This is not that. Figs are figs the same thing? Fig Newtons?
No. What’s that? Figs are just figs are figs. Oh, okay. But figs are interesting in that there’s a dead bee inside every single fig you eat.
Get out. Out. Yeah. In order to pollinate, like, a a specific type of bee, I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s called a fig bee, has to fly inside this little port on the fig to pollinate it and to turn into a fruit. And then if once it gets in there, it can’t get out, so it dies.
So yeah. Yeah. If someone says that they’re vegetarian, be like, hey. Have you ever had a fig? And they’re like, yeah.
Say you’re not a vegetarian anymore. You had a bee. I mean, that’s a good way to die, though. You’re going you’re going out banging. You know?
Yeah. Absolutely. Although, they’re just pollinating it. They’re not Pollinating is is sperm. Yeah.
But it’s flower spur. You know what I mean? It’s not like Oh, it’s not oh, they’re It’s one bee. They’re taking someone else’s sperm and spreading it throughout. Yeah.
They’re taking some fig sperm and giving it to another fig stamen or whatever the case is. We’re getting the weeds here. I like Yeah. Well, that’s not what this book is. But, no, I just want to stock up grape juice because I think it is maybe the most underrated of juices.
Oh, okay. Well, I mean, as someone that just has done a couple golf rounds and dabbled in the best drink golf drink of all time, which is a, fuck. What’s it called? I always forget the name. I always did the same thing when I’m at the bar.
I’m like, what’s a popular drink with grape juice in it? Sprite and or ginger ale and grape juice and vodka. Transfusion. There we go. You’ve had a transfusion, I’m sure, before.
It’s like the most popular golf drink. No. I’ve never Really? In my life. Wow.
Yeah. I love grape juice, though. Favorite of president Dwight e d Eisenhower. So I didn’t know you loved that. Saved our country.
Absolutely. So I love grape juice and grape Gatorade because if you ever went to a friend’s house, those would be the ones left over. People don’t like people don’t like that. And I was loving the grape the grape juice grape Gatorade. Welch’s white grape juice, also a good slap.
Yeah. I just I just had to have a quick shout out to grape juice, so I’m glad we went down that other rabbit hole. My last stock up is Crazy Parents That Stoke the Fires of Fearmongering Around Halloween Candy. You know, it’s a tale as old as time about parents checking out Halloween candy, razor blades, and apples, bullshit like that. It always turns out to be totally false, yet parents still look through it.
And finally, they got it right here. Lenore Dove just decides to pick up some bag of candy off the ground and start consuming it. Turns out it was poison. What a strategy by president Snow to just put a bag of candy out in the ground somewhere and the girl stumbles upon it and starts eating it and then she dies. Yeah.
What happens if she just decides, oh I don’t wanna eat this candy that’s been sitting on the ground or walks right over it? It seemed pretty, pretty serendipitous. It’s yeah. It’s it’s stupid. She also, like, picked it up and then, like, held onto it and hugged it and Right.
For a long time. And, yeah, I also love the whole, like, someone rebels against me, know what I should do is kill out all the people they love, but keep them alive. That will definitely turn them not into a rebellious person anymore. What? What?
Well, I’m okay with that. That’s the the idea behind that, I I kind of like, which is I have the power to do whatever I want, so I’m gonna absolutely smush you. And, also, I’m so arrogant and believe in my own power that I don’t even care what you can’t possibly do anything to come at me. It it you know, it’s that kind of arrogance that eventually is the downturn for these people. It’s like Mussolini or someone like that.
You know? That that to me is not absurd. That makes a lot of sense with the per with the character that he is. Think of, like, old terrorists, it’s all the people that have been wronged and, like, had their family killed or something’s happened to them, you know, where they’re like, alright. Now I got now I don’t care about my wife.
All might be a lot. But, yeah, I know what you’re saying. I know what you’re saying. I would say most are fighting for some some sort of injustice. Yeah.
Not even terrorists, but even just like anyone that’s, like, a, anyone that’s trying to overthrow their government or rebellious. It’s most likely be it’s not because the tax is raised by 5%. It’s because something’s happened to them that they’re like, well, this is it. Now I’m now I’ll die for this cause. He keeps on giving everyone these causes to die for.
All you do is kill the main dude and say, oh, it was in the Hunger Games. That’s too bad. See you later. You know? So Yeah.
You pull it Scott Evil. Well, just go in there. I’ll shoot him. Yes. Exactly.
That goes right into my own stock down. Stock down, sending a message, and also milk. This book is filled with people being like Wait. Hold on. Sending a message and also milk.
Slash milk. Okay. I mean, it’s filled with people being like, and that will send a message to like, let’s end the Hunger Games and that will destroy the government and let’s do this and that will send a message. First, we get introduced to Snow who’s poisoned himself. Why?
I have no idea. It it makes zero sense. Initially, when they talk about Snow, how he’s like bleeding out of his mouth or whatever and he’s been poisoned. This is in book two of three. Mhmm.
It’s because he’s in like big political events. He’s not the leader yet and he’s poisoning everyone but also himself in order to kill off his competition and rise to the top. He’s at the top now. He’s having lunch with some dude and he’s poisoning everything there and said, just when just shoot the dude in the head. He got the taste.
What’s he get what’s with the taste of poisoning the hard time? Yourself. Well, it doesn’t make any sense. Why are you still poisoning yourself? Yeah.
Maybe you’re right. Maybe he just loves poisoning himself. I I don’t I don’t know. The chef’s like, President Snow, I’m thinking about some oysters Rockefeller tonight. He’s like, delicious.
Will you put a little poison on mine? I need a little extra poison. So that he poisons himself, and then he’s like, you know what I’ll show? Like, my strength is to show up to it by myself and meet Haymitch and show him how tough I am by poisoning myself. And Haymitch is like, oh my god.
And he’s like, give me some milk, which isn’t the antidote. It’s just to settle a stomach, it sounds like. And Hamish is like, I’m not gonna give him milk. What is that gonna do, Hamish? Who gives a fuck Kill the dude right there.
If you really think he’s this bad, kill him. Murder him because he’s literally can be murdered instantly because there’s no guards there. He’s already weak. Kill him. What is the only act of do.
It’s the only act of defiance he knew at the moment. I’m okay with it. It’s the stupidest thing ever. So and then and so he I guess that’s his defiance. He does But it is like a com it is like a comedy scene, though, where he would drink all the milk.
There’s no milk left. It’s like, hey, miss. You have a giant milk mustache. You clearly drank all that milk. And they’re like, I’ll just go get another glass of milk, and then I’m over here.
That’s pretty big. Like, I drank the milk. You can’t just like, drinking milk is always taking a shot of milk. Like, you gotta really Yeah. You gotta you gotta be ready for that.
Especially if you haven’t been drinking milk, you’re you’re probably puking immediately. If you I’d be like drinking a gallon of milk for if you haven’t drank a glass of milk ever. It’s probably all the calories Hamish consumes in a week. He consumed in that ceding of milk. Yeah.
And then we get to the games, and he they send him a glass of milk to send a message. To who exactly? No one knows about this backstory and no one knows when Hamish says decides, you know what? I’m gonna drink it myself to send a message and kill myself. To who?
What is the message? The message to send the milk makes no sense. The message to drink it and kill yourself makes no sense. There there’s no what are the messages getting? Where are the symbolism?
Can you tell me? Yeah. Well, I also had a big problem with the entire plot, which was for Hamish on the same page. Which was, like, for Hamish to destroy the Hunger Games arena, which will send a message to the Capitol. Okay.
I wasn’t exactly sure what that yeah. You ruined the Hunger Games, but that’s like people saying that Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, nipple slip, like, ruined Super Bowl halftime shows. Nope. They’re gonna go on. They’re gonna have future halftime shows.
They’re just gonna make sure that no nipples come out. It’s a drop in the bucket, this whole plan. And I know the idea being, well, you’re dead anyways, so you might as well try to do something. I can respect that. But for the plot main plot line of a book that is coming off of, you know, a giant trilogy, it shouldn’t be this small.
Like, I’m thinking Star Wars Rogue One, a a very good movie in my opinion. Mhmm. Did you like that movie? No. I liked it a lot.
I mean, you know how I feel with the Andar stuff. So Yeah. Exactly. So but, you know, they’re stealing the plan. It’s the prequel.
It’s them stealing the plans for the Death Star, which is something that could actually make a difference. This is like them stealing the plans for a supply depot in a far off planet. They’re economy might dip 1% for one week. Yeah. Exactly.
It’s it’s gonna just create some new rules around the the hunger games or whatnot or some new protocols, but it’s not doing anything. It’s not showing anyone anything. And then especially at the end, when Haymitch is sitting there seeing the, like, recap episode, which is basically what reality TV is, where they just, like, twist it and turn it to make it, like, fit fit their narrative. Obviously, that’s what the Capitol does. So even if you destroyed the arena, none of it would get showed.
It would be played like there was a malfunction or whatever the case is and people would forget about it two days later. It wouldn’t be, oh, district twelve came in here and shut down the arena and really made a stand, and now the rebellion’s gonna happen. So, you know, when the he has the conversation with Plutarch at the end, Hamich does about, you know, how Plutarch’s still alive and, you know, Plutarch’s basically like, hey. Well, we started on the right path. We had the right idea, but all we need is a giant army behind us the next time.
Like, duh. What? Of course, you just made this kid and put all these other people in the capital at risk for espionage and for what? What were the stakes? I don’t really know.
Yeah. And that kind of, to me, one of my later questions is is one is you you think Hamish is kinda smart, but he’s like, wait. There’s propaganda going on? What? Oh, are they cut stuff?
And then the other question is why is this even live? Like, there he’s like, oh, they changed it. I’m sure everyone watched it. It’s like, why would they just not release it? No.
Nothing is live. Oh, it isn’t live? Okay. Well, no. I’m I mean, they might think it is, but the capital would never do that.
It just doesn’t make any sense. And then, Pluric, what’s his name? Plutarch. Plutarch. I was like, oh, damn.
This is a pretty good character, actually. I wonder what’s, like, his deal is. I didn’t realize he’s from books two and three. Yeah. The one original character I thought, I’m like, oh, he’s just the dude that’s the rebellion guy.
So, like, the one guy that I was like, oh, is he bad or is he good? Oh, I looked him up. I was like, oh, clearly, he’s good. I I I I would’ve known that if I recognized any guy’s name. I forgot the guy’s name.
And I think maybe for people that are, like, really interested in the Hunger Games or loved it so much, they would enjoy seeing a younger Plutarch or Evie who’s the wardrobe person is now, like, a a college graduate trying to figure it all out. So, you know, maybe they might enjoy that. But, my first stock down was friendly woodland critters. So all of the mutts in this arena, this hunger games, are what you would expect to be the friendliest of woodland critters, like squirrels. I mean, obviously, not porcupines, but porcupines are also, you know, not really dangerous unless you happen upon one or, you know, you know, it’s not like they’re chasing you down or whatever the case is.
Butterflies, bees, you know, that those kind of things. I would give it a little South Park did it if you’ve seen the woodland critters Christmas episode, which is basically just like all these cuddly woodland critters who end up being Satanists. Great episode, by the way. Or, quest for the holy grail? Yeah.
Exactly. Just a bunny. So I put this as a doc down because it’s funny. Just that there was all these little things that ended up really messing people up. I mean, the squirrels basically destroying that kid, which also, if you’re going to send a message to the dad, talk about sending messages, sending a message to the dad, you potentially wanna give his son a gruesome death.
I think a hundred squirrels just quickly eating him down to his bones, probably not That’s pretty gruesome to me. It sounds gruesome, but it seemed like it would all went quick. Like, the whole story wasn’t like he they could hear him screaming under there or whatever the case is. But I just wanted to talk about what you thought of the Hunger Games arena in general because that was the part I was most excited to when I was reading this book is because that was a fun part of of the Hunger Games, the the book itself, the first one, was Katniss getting into the arena, getting her bow and arrow, you know, finding her friend in the forest, wherever the case was, and then figuring out how the arena worked, I thought was the best part of that book. So I was really looking forward to it in this one, and I feel like we didn’t ever really get there.
Yeah. And I think I booked two. It was better as well with the clock idea. Oh, I thought the clock was the first one. No.
That was that was book two. That was, like, with all the, that’s where I, like, the person that’s in this book that helps him or whatever I think discovers it’s a clock. Yeah. I thought it was stupid. I I mean, we’ve already done the forest in this type of climate, like water and forest.
Those are the two ones we we’ve done. I was like, why don’t we do, like, a tundra? Why don’t we do, hey, it’s the fiftieth. Let’s we’re doing capture the flag or we’re doing king of the hill or add some new element of the game in here. It it’s exactly the same game as every with exact the first two that we saw, there’s nothing different and it’s the same environment.
The only difference is, like, they can’t eat the food, which after the first time you hear that, it’s like, alright. Well, this is irrelevant now. And then the whole thing is, like, oh, now we have to rely on people to send us food. Makes it not a game anymore. It’s just who gets paid, you know, who’s has the better gambling odds.
Yeah. So this arena was everything’s beautiful beautiful, but it’s actually everything’s poisonous pretty much. Yeah. It’s like the golden touch guy there. What’s that called?
I don’t know. I need to meet him. You know, I’m talking about, like, the, what’s the person that’s the golden touch but ends up being terrible? Yeah. It’s, like, bad because he can’t touch anything actually even though he wants to touch everything to turn into gold.
It’s actually a negative. Yeah. Yeah. So it was like, oh, okay. Cool.
It’s it’s just seemed like something you write down, but you don’t you cross it out for an idea. It’s like everything’s beautiful, but then it’s poisonous. Because like you said, after the initial punch of, oh, that’s crazy. That was poison, then you’re just expecting everything to be poison, which it is. I got I got my in my, rewrite the book section, AKA my hates.
I I I’m gonna come up. I’ll give you what I would have done. Okay. Do you have any other stock downs? Last one Han Solo stock down.
No. Don’t. Don’t. Unfortunately, I mean, I had to. I’m sure there are characters like Han Solo before Han Solo, but he’s the first one I can really remember.
It’s the the cynical, sarcastic, funny, blunt. But I don’t think they good hearted guy that, like, doesn’t wanna show that he’s good hearted. Like, he’s, like, he’s too, like, walled off to show that. You got your James Bonds, your Tony Starks, your Indiana Jones, anyone that Chris Pratt or Ryan Reynolds has played, really. And, of course, Haymitch.
I mean, those are all that character. Like, that’s the character. But it turns out Haymitch is not that guy. He he’s not cynical and sarcastic and, like, funny and all that stuff. He when he says sweetheart sardonically in the in the books Mhmm.
I thought that was a, hey, listen sweetheart. Like, talking down, condescending, kind of being funny. And this is it’s actually a tribute to someone before. He’s actually the nicest guy ever. Everything about him is perfect.
He’s a perfect person. In fact, every single person from 12 is exactly the same. They’re all the best people ever. All of them are good hearted. Once you get to know them, they’re great people.
None of them have ever done anything bad. They’re all perfect. It’s just the the capital that’s bad. So everyone’s Katniss. Everyone has a martyr complex.
And when I think back to all these other characters, Han Solo’s being bristly. He’s actually being really, really nice. He’s a nice guy that’s deep down that that’s just not trying to be funny. He’s referencing something from the past. So he just ruined the character, ruined every other character for me.
So that’s good. I’m trying to unpack that. Yeah. You’re saying basically there’s no character depth at all in these Yeah. The I was looking for in this book the the turn where I’m like, oh, what something’s gonna happen where he flips a switch that he goes from this nice dude that I was that’s what I was I was like the first half I was like, alright, this kinda sucks but whatever.
Once we get to the Hunger Games, it’s gonna be legit. Because I thought when we go to the Hunger Games, he would have to turn a, I guess, slip flip a switch and all of a sudden he was, like, a psycho. Kill some of the people that he’s He’s like, I had to do terrible things but I’m did win. I gotta do I gotta get back to my girl. I gotta do these things.
And you see this, like, change in character where he becomes this jaded person that, like, has a reason to be jaded. And this the reason he’s mad and drinking is because he’s a martyr. Like, that’s it. He’s not like he hasn’t done anything bad. You know what I mean?
There’s no guilt. Like, what’s the guilt? He he he’s literally done everything perfect. He’s, like, too good of a person. It’s like and then now he’s why is he being mean to Katniss when he twenty five years later?
It wasn’t like, it doesn’t none of it adds up. It doesn’t make no sense. It doesn’t the the character that he is in the Hunger Games story doesn’t like, this doesn’t show you why. We’re not getting a good why. Yeah.
He’s just Katniss. That’s who he is. It’s that same person. Yeah. It’s kinda like the Han Solo movie, honestly.
It’s like, wait. What? Well, in the Han Solo movie, he does shoot first, which they which I appreciate that they’re referencing. And then you can see why he turned bad because Yeah. And same thing with James Bond.
You get, in the first origin story, he, like, loves that one person and then she betrays him and he’s like, well, fuck this. Now I’m fucking pissed everyone. And you’re like, oh, I get it now. Yeah. And this you’re like, so the person he’s already rebellious.
He’s already, like, super anti government and then the government does worse things to him and he’s like, that’s it. Now I’m gonna become jaded and what? Why? What? Why?
I don’t get it. Doesn’t mean he says. Yeah. You are aware in the the Harrison Ford line that he ad libbed the I know for the I love you. Yeah.
Because he was like, my character wouldn’t say that. Yeah. Exactly. So good. So good.
Boy, this character would say would be like, I love you too, honey bunny. Oh, yeah. I love I love you like all fire. Yeah. Exactly.
My last knockdown was the Baltimore Ravens franchise. Okay. Go on. So this is a multibillion dollar franchise, and you can’t have Smudges. You know?
Public image is super important to a franchise. You just can’t have it. Also, the Baltimore Ravens, for those that don’t know, is they’re named the Baltimore Ravens because Edgar Allan Poe was from Baltimore and, you know, wrote The Raven, so that’s why they’re named the Baltimore Ravens. Oh, I did not know that. Well, yeah.
And that’s why this is a stock down, because Edgar Allan Poe is rolling over in his grave as this derivative drivel is getting thrown out into the world and involves so much of his most famous of poems, which is The Raven. It’s like she forced it in there just because she wanted to name a character Lenore Dove. She she forced it in there. Maybe I’m too dumb, and there was a lot of corollaries between the poem and this book. I didn’t see it.
I didn’t get it. I feel bad for Edgar Allan Poe. I feel bad for the Baltimore Ravens franchise. I thought there was gonna be some Ray Lewis and or, what’s his name? Ray Rice talking that.
Ray Rice. Ray Lewis. Ray Lewis actually murdered someone. I mean, hey. Don’t this is not slander.
I don’t know. Allegedly. Allegedly. Yeah. Yeah.
Easy. Easy. Yeah. Every single time he talked about Lenore Dove, it made me cringe. It was, like, very he always called her her his girl the whole time, which I was, like, thought weird about.
He also always referenced her as Lenore Dove. It’s in my hates. It’s in my hates. I was, like, just call Lenore. Just say Lenore one time.
They’re also 16, so you’re, like he’s like, this is the greatest love I’ve ever it’s like, alright. Like, relax, bud. They’re trying to do a Romeo and Juliet type thing where they’re these teenagers that are soulmates, and I just don’t There wasn’t enough time with her Yeah. For us to buy any of that. It was just, like, a couple also a big rebellious rebellious herself.
It’s like, alright. I guess. Who cares? Did you have a favorite character? I liked Wyatt.
Yeah. Yeah. Sure. I’m with you. Well, actually, no.
Yeah. Go on. Go on. I like Wyatt. That’s that’s it.
Yeah. I liked the the other District 12 or Merilee. I thought she was good. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Other thing about Wyatt too that I didn’t mention was that at one point, they’re like, I forgive Wyatt for being bad even though I don’t think he’s bad at all. No. Because he’s born into a situation, and that’s just what, you know, what it is. And I’m like, so then every single person born into the government and every single person that’s bad is forgiven? Like, that doesn’t make any fucking sense.
The district one lifers who are just in there because they’ve their whole life, they’ve been training for the Hunger Games. Like, yeah. That’s what their parents did to them. Like, that’s their life. Once you become old enough, you get to choose what if what’s right and wrong.
So either you think the person’s bad or they’re not. There’s no, well, they were born that way, so they’re everything’s allowed for that. Dumbest the most, like, excusable thing ever. Yeah. I mostly liked how Merilee pulled the I think it’s her name, Merilee, pulled the George Costanza at the beginning.
Did you notice that when they’re on the train, she got the food? She started cutting her sandwich with a fork and knife. Uh-huh. And it and they’re like, what? Who does that?
And she’s like, it’s civilized or whatever the case is. And it was exactly like George Costanza cutting his Snickers with a fork and knife. Respect. Respect. Yeah.
Favorite part of the book? Do you have a part? I liked when they slapped, what’s her name? Your girls just slapped Drusilla Sickle in the face. Yeah.
Yeah. I didn’t really understand that she got why did she get such a pass? Drusilla, that is. She, like, selected Hey, Mitch. Just like, alright.
Well, I’m picking you. You’re you’re the one. And kill off that other girl. Like, that’s how we get introduced to her. And then, like, an hour later, they’re like, alright, Drusilla.
What do you think for strategy? What I’m like, what what the heck? Like like, literally stab her. You know what I mean? Wouldn’t this be the worst person in the world to you?
The person that didn’t randomly select you anymore, so there’s no chance anymore. She actually pointed you at the ground, picked you, and then told your, your girlfriend to be killed. You’re saying Haymitch and Mary Ella or whatever it is? Haymitch I’m saying. Haymitch gave her a pass?
Yeah. Hamich was just like, whatever. Not a big deal anymore. It’s like, what? Yeah.
She personally is responsible for your you belt you going to the games and dying. And she had and, like, her ending story, how they wrapped up her character was so stupid. I think she broke her leg or something like that from because she wore heels too often. I don’t even know. It was such a weird towards the end of the book, I was because, you know, they wanna wrap up all these characters that they’ve talked about.
Yeah. And some of them were rebellious, some of them were not, but they felt like they needed to take two pages to wrap all these like, to let you know what happened to these characters. And none of them really made any sense. Obviously, the people that were involved got, like, tortured and murdered, but, like, Bertie or whatever the guy’s name, who I think is in the later the original books, who’s the guy’s dad who got eaten by the squirrels, it’s like, Oh no, he’s not gonna kill himself because he’s got another child on the way. If you just saw your child eaten by squirrels and you know that President Snow has something over you, pull out.
It’s really that simple. You’re not gonna have kids that don’t have kids anymore. That’s so unfair to them. Yeah. For a fair part, I don’t know.
I think right when they got to the cornucopia, I was excited because I was like, Okay. Here it goes. And then it was Hamich somehow being able to snag some goods, but then him running off Hamich did exactly what Katniss did? Are you is that what you’re saying? Yeah.
Exactly. Is that your are you telling me that he, yeah. Just got a spear instead of a a bow and arrow. Yeah. Okay.
Interesting. But yeah. And and then it just kinda he just ran off, and he didn’t see anyone for the whole time, pretty much. It was the arena itself was kinda boring. Like, him trying to find a berm to go into and pop the tank, which also the whole tank thing was so stupid because he got the tank.
He blew it up, but then nothing changed. Work. He’s like, literally nothing changed, and they’re still able to make rain. He’s like, oh, that must’ve just they must have more tanks. Yeah.
Who is the guy you just mentioned that’s in the the the book that I had the kid? Beanie or Bertie or First of all, he is the most trusting person ever. He’s like, oh, you’re Hamich? Day one, he needs some. He’s like, here’s the stuff to throw for the other government.
I was like, oh, okay. Yep. And then he was also just not right about anything. So, yeah, tough tough look for him. It was it just didn’t blow up this tank, this water tank, and that’s gonna ruin the game.
It’s gonna flood the whole thing. It didn’t work. What are we talking about? Yeah. Ugh.
If you’re gonna try to overthrow the government, like, come at it with your best shot. Don’t just pull some kid into it and have a shot that doesn’t make any sense. Love hates, what’d you love? I only really liked the beginning because I was really just giving it a lot of patience of, like, that turn. I I was kinda like you mentioned it, like, you know the outcome.
So, like, when you’re watching the prequels of Star Wars and you’re seeing Anakin be, like, a good kid, oh, that’s interesting. I wonder how he’s gonna turn. So there’s always that, oh, this is a good story because you can see, a character’s go from, an innocent person to the most evil person or in this case, it would be an innocent person to, you know, a jaded, hate everyone. Person. But yeah.
Well, I guess turns out he wasn’t. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. No.
I didn’t turn. So There was no turn. Yeah. So yeah. That was it.
I had a few other just, like, lingering questions, but no other loves. I didn’t really have any loves. Like, I agree with you that at the beginning, I was excited to be back here for some reason. Like when you said, let’s read A Hungry in the book, I was like, oh, that sounds fun. I’m excited to do that.
Getting back to District 12 was fun at the beginning because you’re just seeing things through the District 12 people’s eyes, and then the reaping happens. People start getting shot. You’re just like, okay. This is gonna be a little bit different. And then once they get on the train, it’s just kind of boring.
But and the plot buildup is you’re wondering, okay. How is this exactly gonna work? But you’re still maybe hanging on for a little bit. Well, because the first time you read it, you’re like, they do interviews? Like, oh, this is crazy.
Like, I wonder what that’s like. And this is like, there’s an interview. You’ve already seen this exact scene. The training. And and I usually like to see what kind of tricks the arena’s gonna pull, like they did on Katniss a couple times.
And there really weren’t any. Obviously, the initial drinking of the poison, which he already found the charcoal tablets, so it was whatever. I guess the ladybugs on the hollies, like, instead of hollies, like, the the the fruit or whatever, the berries, the holly bears, the ladybugs, like, oh, okay. Cool. And then the final one with the force field thing and the acts of him killing Silca or Silca killing herself, I guess, it was just so obvious.
So, oh, he saw that before. That’s clearly foreshadowing to something that’s gonna happen later, and it did. So that was that. I guess that’s all hates. Did you have, did you have any other hates?
I rewrote the book. Let me know what you think of those. Yeah. Yeah. Please.
So we start as Hemich is lowered into the arena. That’s the literally, the opening scene. It’s a desert or tundra. It’s something completely opposite of what we’ve seen. And like I said, we could make capture the flag.
You could make whatever you want. Like, you just change up the book and game, you know. Make it something. Haymitch, the character we’re introduced to, is angry at the world, angry at every person. And he grew up in 12.
He’s an orphan, but he blames the district for his troubles. He doesn’t blame blame the Capitol. These people lost in the war. I’m in a terrible position because everyone around me hates everyone around him. Because he’s an orphan, he’s not getting help from anyone else because he doesn’t realize that they’re struggling too.
And so Exactly. He just blames the people around him as opposed to realizing that there’s more going on here. Yeah. Yeah. He’s a angsty teen.
He’s 16. He’s he hates the world. And he gets in the arena. He’s a savage. He’s having a good time.
He’s killing people. He’s drinking their blood because that’s that’s what I would have made the the thing. Okay. You can’t survive unless unless you’re drinking. Oh.
The only way to survive in the desert or even Yeah. The tundra is to to you have to eat the other people, which that’s the fiftieth twist. You know? It’s like, there’s no food. You gotta eat people.
Oh. You like that? I love that. Anyways, but he’s in the middle of, like, killing his first person, and he wakes up. He’s fifteen years in the future, and he’s cold sweat.
He just goes down to a thing of vodka just to, like, you know, just to keep normal. And then we start to develop this story of, like, a a guy that’s actually deep down still angry, but very guilty of what he did. And, like, he doesn’t know where to place that anger. And then we get introduced to, like, one of these rebellious characters that starts guiding him in the right direction. That’s when we start building the character where he’s still an angst an angry sardonic funny character, but he’s now being shaped in the right direction.
We finally get to the point where he meets Katniss, and that’s where he goes full rebellious, but he’s still playing the role. That’s it. That’s the book. I love this. Love this.
Lenore Dove could even have been a different tribute in District 12 who was maybe from one of the wealthier families. So he looked at her as the, like, the head of the people he hated. Yeah. You know? Because she’s, oh, she’s District 12, but she’s, you know, her dad’s a merchant or something.
I don’t know. And she ends up saving him as he’s going through his, like, bloodlust. She ends up saving him in The Hunger Games, and they have their, like, Mustang and, what’s his name from Red Rising? Darrow. They have their Mustang Darrow moment in the cave as Full penetration.
We show it. Yeah. As she no. And she’s, like, healing him back to life. He gets pregnant, but then gets killed.
No. That’s a different story. Okay. And she’s telling him, you know, about her life and about the district and what she knows and how the Capitol is actually the ones, and he’s mind blown and turned. And then so he becomes, like, goes from bad guy to good guy through that, but then she gets murdered somehow by prison snow, not by some candy she found on the ground.
And because of that hamage just goes into himself and, like, still has those rebellious vibes, but they’re so deep inside now that because it’s through his pain, that it takes someone like Katniss to unleash them. I love the desert tundra idea, and there’s no food except for people. The only thing I might change is maybe there’s a watering hole, but there’s one, you know? Yeah. It’s like a game of that.
Like the cornucopia, there’s no cornucopia there. It’s just water. It’s like, oh shit. There’s nothing. It’s like Survivor, basically.
There’s nothing here except water, and you have to I mean, we made a much better book, honestly. That’s what you’re saying. You gotta Rambo it. So you gotta make all of your you know, maybe you find a knife or you get a knife or something like that, but then all of your other weapons you have to craft yourself. And it’s Lord of the Flies meets Rambo.
Yes. I’m I’m into this. Where where where money Where’s that? Kid with glasses is, like, cutting someone’s face up with his broken glasses because that’s all he has for a weapon? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This could’ve gotten dark and awesome.
I love this. I I I honestly I don’t even know what else would I wanna talk about after this. Like and that’s it. That’s the highlight of the the whole episode to me. I’m glad we got here.
Yeah. Yeah. Did you wanna you didn’t wanna cast anyone? No. Absolutely not.
Yeah. Fuck this. Alright. So, Keith, who is this book for and what are you I think if you didn’t read the first book, or the second or third, then maybe you’re like, oh, this is an interesting book about I’ve I’ve never seen any of this stuff happen before. Or maybe you’re like short term memory loss and you just forgot about the old books.
Yeah. It’s for that person. I would give it a 1.5. It was so fun being in the air the place for a little bit but my anger, much like Hey Mitch’s anger after the the, action of the Hunger Games, soon took hold and, I couldn’t I couldn’t get out of it. And then to end it with a slap in the face of just poetry slammed down your throat, that that put the the cherry on top.
The the poisonous cherry candy on top. Yeah. I think this book is for people who really just can’t get enough of the Hunger Games universe. Read all the books a hundred times, and you watch the movies, you love the movies, you got them on DVD, Blu ray, all that thing, then I’m sure you’ll get something out of this book, and you’ll enjoy it just by the fact that you’re you’re there. You know?
It’s even like me watching the the Hobbit trilogies for Lord of the Rings. They’re not good movies whatsoever, and they’re they’re they’re actually pretty bad. But I’ve rewatched them just because I’ve enjoyed being back somewhat in Middle Earth. So Gotcha. Yeah.
I could understand it. But for me and and the other casual Hunger Games fans out there, it’s it’s probably a pass. I gave it a two. I think that was probably a little generous, but it wasn’t First Light Wins or something where I was like, this is maybe the dumbest book I’ve ever read, and it’s new. Like, this was at least derivative, so it gets two points from it being derivative.
This brought the original Hunger Games down one point. I think the original Hunger Games, when I first read it, was, like, a five. It was, like, not good, and now it’s a four after this book because they ruined that book. So Wow. So it’s it’s one minus point from that book and this book.
Yikes. Yeah. Yikes. That hurts. Yeah.
Well, they ruined the, like, the characters. So Yeah. Yeah. They ruined your favorite character Yeah. Image.
For sure. Alright. Well, that was Sunrise on the Reaping. If you enjoyed it, I would really I’d wanna know. So please let us know if you did because I wanna know what.
I looked up bad reviews after it or, people shitting on it after it took for catharsis. Yeah. So, like, I need this. And I’m sure there were lots. There wasn’t that many, but they’re also exactly basically what I was, like, thinking.
And they’re like, there’s there’s no new characters. It’s just stupid as, like, the exact same book. I was like, yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Beat it to me. Alright, Keith. Where we going next? So we have a another, murder mystery not murder mystery, thriller esque book, The Housemaid by Freda McFadden.
This one’s pretty popular out there Mhmm. On the streets. So it’s a quicker one. Reference, excuse me, a a recommendation from the SGF. Yes.
Correct. We’ll get on that one soon here. Alright, Keith. Well, I’ll catch you for, the house made, and thanks to y’all for listening to Sunrise on the Reaping. Indeed.
Alrighty. Alright. Bye now.
