the saddest hunger games book yet? - bonus chapter: sunrise on the reaping by suzanne collins

if you can understand what we're saying through the tears, then in this episode you will find a heartfelt and nostaliga-tinged chat about Suzanne Collins's latest release, Sunrise on the Reaping. we talk all about Panem's 50th Hunger Games (the second Quarter Quell!), things that made us cry, Haymitch's role in the games, our favourite quotes, fan theories, easter eggs and some more things that made us cry. pop your headphones on and strap in for an emotional and very spoiler-filled episode of Sunrise on the Reaping.

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Transcript

Laura 0:00

I think the odds are the highest they've ever been that I'm gonna cry in an episode.

Bridget 0:04

Hello and welcome to a Talk Lit Get Hit bonus chapter. The little book chats in between the big ones. We'll talk about reading, authors, and have discussions with people who, like us, can't shut up about books.

Laura 0:16

We might get sidetracked and talk about literally anything else, but this is a bonus chapter we wrote just for you. This episode we are dipping into a much awaited, but thankfully not long-awaited prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. We are, of course, talking about Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. Hello, Bridget. Hello Laura, how are you? I am distraught.

Bridget 0:40

Yes, I have a new title for this book, Sunrise on the Weeping.

Laura 0:44

Oh, that's good, because that was me during this book. It was me too.

Bridget 0:50

I was reading it on the veranda last night. I was wrapped up in a blanket. It was quite cold. My hands were frozen and the tears, they were moving too fast to freeze. But Brian secretly took a video of me reading it because I was just making these like guttural noises, like, oh god. Silently sobbing. And then I just like turn a page.

Laura 1:13

Just a quick note before we get started, we are going to be discussing Sunrise on the Reaping, the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and the entire Hunger Games trilogy in detail with a lot of crying. And if you would like to avoid spoilers for any of the above, your time to pause the episode is now, hit subscribe and come back when you're done. Okay, well, I feel like we've already well established some sort of emotional ties to this book, but if we could cast our minds back to when news of this prequel first broke, how are you feeling?

Bridget 1:44

I think at the time I was excited, but also sort of just like, oh yeah, cool, I might read that. I think since then there's been a lot of Hunger Games content on my TikTok, and I have been eating it up.

Laura 1:56

The edits are so good, and the edits that Lionsgate do are so great as well. Like the film company.

Bridget 2:02

And it's heartbreaking to watch them. The people that make those edits are talented. They need to be given jobs. Sorry, the children that make those so good. They're like, sorry, I'm late posting. I had maths class. I love it.

Laura 2:17

How about you? I know you were excited. Yeah, I was excited, but I do think I probably had a bit of a feeling of like, can she keep it up? Because, you know, I think sometimes you see authors like, you know, maybe a film franchise has a resurgence 20 years after the fact or whatever. And it just doesn't hit the same. And I was kind of on the fence about liking the ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I know at the end of our episode, I was like, you know what? Actually, I've come around. It's good, it's smart, I love this character, blah, blah, blah. And I I love how it furthered the lore of the Hunger Games. But I think my knee-jerk reaction after I read it was kind of like, uh, it was alright. I don't think I told you this, but I did finally watch the movie a couple of weeks ago. And I have to say, and I hate to say, I didn't really like it. Oh, that's a shame. I felt like it was very long. It was.

Bridget 3:07

I think it might have been a little bit too long.

Laura 3:10

I mean, it had the same pacing as the book. But I think the book was better for the fact that you're inside Snow's head.

Bridget 3:16

Yes, I think that is what is missing. But in the book, I mean I liked Lucy Gray, but I think that Rachel Zegler did such an amazing job at portraying her. I think I just like listening to her singing. I do like listening to her singing. And she's so beautiful. I did enjoy the movie. Actually, it's funny that you talk about the episode because I was going to say that I feel like I've come on a bit of a Hunger Games journey since we recorded that episode. I think at the time I hadn't read the original trilogy for quite a few years. And I think when I read them first, I just thought, oh yeah, cool. And I think I read them quite a few years apart. So I didn't quite get the same impact that I definitely got the second time around. And so I said some things in that episode, I'm sure, about Cory Alanis, especially, that were pretty forgiving of his behaviour. I think I said, like, I could fix him, something like that. And then I read the books and I was like, oh shit. I went on record saying that. But I mean, I sort of stand by it based on that book and like the edits as well. There's like that one edit of him that's just amazing. But this is my formal apology to everyone I offended by saying that about Coriolanus, and I think this is a take back see of that. Because he's a bad man, and I just didn't know how bad he was. Oh, Bridget. I think we all knew. No, but I had just forgotten. I think I hadn't read the books for a long time. I've never seen the movies. I can't remember. Did you reread the books before we read The Ballad of No? Oh, I read. Well that explains it. Then I read the the next three. So that sort of like, you know, gave me a few uh insights that I was missing.

Laura 4:52

Okay, yeah, that's some more intel. How did you feel about Hamich before this book?

Bridget 4:57

Hamich was my favorite character, I think, in the original trilogy. I was intrigued by his constant bad mood, but also sort of roguish charms at the same time. How about you? What did you feel about Hamish?

Laura 5:08

Yeah, I agree. I think he's probably one of my favourite characters. And I guess it wasn't until I started to read this book that I realized how little about him I actually knew. And so it's interesting that he made such an impression on me, but I think what it was was how, you know, we get this idea of how horrific the games has to be through Katniss and Peter. And so you have some sort of sense of, you know, okay, well, Hamich has clearly lived through an extremely traumatic event, and that's why he is how he is. I mean, I knew that we heard about his Hunger Games. I knew that it was the second quarter quell and that it was the 50th Hunger Games, but even then I was like a little hazy on what his games looked like and what happened in them. And I know we got told that, but I was like, you know what? I'm gonna purposely not look up anything and I'm just gonna find it all out fresh in this book.

Bridget 5:57

I think his character in the original books is a really important one because I think when you have these sort of books where there's like a young person who's going to fix everything and, you know, start the revolution or whatever, and there's always these well-meaning older people who are, you know, wise and they're all-knowing and and they're there as like mentors and whatever, he has an important role to play where he is just completely like lost at sea, but he's still trying his best to show up for them. And I think without him, it sort of takes a little bit of the seriousness away because constantly, as you're reading, you're thinking, what happened to this man and what must he have seen? Like he has gone through this for 25 years and like all the things we know now. It's his birthday present every year, he's got to relive this every year.

Laura 6:40

Oh, he's gonna make me cry.

Bridget 6:43

And I think it adds so much to the original story.

Laura 6:47

It adds so much. I've got to pull myself together. There are so many cameos from characters that we know. I actually don't know how I'm gonna get through this episode.

Bridget 6:59

Because you you like literally just finished the book, so you're still fresh in that.

Laura 7:03

Yeah. Yeah. Even so, I think I'd be crying. I was trying to tell Brown about it last night, and I was crying, and you know, I was reading it at work in front of people, and I was crying. It just completely swept me off my feet. But all that to say, there are so many characters from the original trilogy that we get to find out more about in this games and find out all of the connections that they have to one another and the connections that they have to Hey Mitch that weren't written in the Hunger Games, and it just makes the story so much more rich and so much more heartbreaking.

Bridget 7:36

I've been seeing a lot of people on TikTok say that this is like fan service or it was unnecessary, and I completely disagree. I think that this book added so much richness, and I think that when we have a prequel like this, then of course we're going to be reading about characters that we already know. Otherwise, what's the point of reading a prequel? Because it's not going to add anything. It might as well just be like a new series or a new story or something. Like using Wiris and BD and um Mags, for example, their contribution in this book and how Hamich feels about them in this book makes so much sense. And how he says at the end that Katniss is just like him. And it like makes so much sense why she would immediately gravitate towards these people when she goes in for the third quarter quelf. And it just I'm sorry, I'm crying again. Oh god. But it it is so sad. I think with a lot of YA books in particular, they sort of shy away from the absolute atrocities that are committed in war and by people in power and all of these things. But in this book, you see a 12-year-old boy who has his flesh ripped off him by squirrels. That was horrific. Filmed for his father who was made to watch. Absolutely horrific. That's why it's so important, I think, because it's not afraid to show those things. Because even though the idea of mutts and whatever is, you know, like science fiction or whatever, things that are horrific happen every day around the world. And it's all too easy for people to just live their lives and not think about it. It's also an important story to tell because Katniss succeeded in the 75th year, but Hamich didn't. How many other people didn't as well? And so I think with these kinds of books, you know, everyone says the right thing, like Fayra, I just ran. All of these things seem all too lucky, but this has been going on how many times has someone tried to do this?

Laura 9:28

Yes, that is such a great point. And I think ties into a couple of things that I have in my mind. And the first is that quote, I don't know if we made it up or if we genuinely read it somewhere. It feels like it floats around on TikTok, but that quote that's like, Suzanne Collins doesn't write something unless she has something to say. And so I feel like when this was coming out, there were lots of whispers about, you know, what's she trying to say with this book? But she hammers these themes into us. There is a quote where she said, 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 a part of a continuum. Does that make it all pointless?

Bridget 10:07

Another thing that I thought was really interesting was when Hamich asked Beattie what would break the arena, and he said, time. And it that's true, a revolution doesn't start overnight. It has to have groundwork and it has to have people that are willing to put in the hard yards. And I mean, as he said, she was luckier or smarter than better than he was. And it was just the right time for her to be able to do that. It wouldn't have been possible without the sacrifices of people like Hamich and Wirus and BT and Mags, and all of those people. Phoenix.

Laura 10:39

Yeah, there's another quote where she says, and that's part of our trouble, thinking things are inevitable, not believing change is possible.

Bridget 10:45

And just because something has always been that way doesn't mean that it has to always be that way.

Laura 10:50

So we've already mentioned Wiris, BD, Mags, but one of the cameos that completely took me out was Effie.

Bridget 10:58

Me too, because when I was reading The Hunger Games, I was like, I want Effie and Hamish to get together. I mean, I don't really want that now, but I do sort of appreciate their friendship. And I also remember when Katniss was reaped that Hamish drunkenly went up to try to hug her, and I was like, why? She seems like she sucks. But this makes so much sense. Even though she had swallowed the propaganda like Hookline and Sinker, she still cared for them in a weird way.

Laura 11:22

Yeah. And I can't remember if this is just me forgetting or not reading properly, but I don't think that connection between Effie and Hamish was ever fully explained. Like it might have said, oh, she was there for Hamish's hunger games or something. But the role that she played and kind of the humanity that she showed him just completely broke me.

Bridget 11:42

I don't know.

Laura 11:43

I'm hanging on by a thread, Richard. Something that you were just saying about when he goes up and hugs her drunkenly is another kind of conversation that I've seen floating around online, and that is around like how much Suzanne Collins had planned and how much she let the actors know. Was this entire universe and these connections between characters thought out in one go? Or is she making up, you know, Sunrise on the Reaping and the Ballad of Song Birds and Snakes after the fact?

Bridget 12:11

It is so interesting to think about that. I was thinking last night, does she have an idea what happened in every single Hunger Games? Like, are there a few more that she's sort of sketched out to keep track of? Like obviously, she would have done Mags and Wires and all of those. She has those ideas, but I wonder how far she actually has gone. But I also kind of think, does it matter if she wrote them before or if it was always planned? Because I think it doesn't change my read on it. Like if she came out tomorrow and said, Oh yeah, I didn't plan it. I just wrote it because it would fit in well. I don't think I would change my mind about it that much.

Laura 12:42

Yeah, I agree. I don't think it really matters. And also kind of back to what you were saying earlier about people saying, you know, these appearances was fan service. Uh, to that I would say, like, think about the smallness of this world and who these people are. They are victors. They're like one of one. And the world that they exist in is this like tribute, arena, victor, mentor world. There's not many of them. And so it makes sense that they're cropping up in each other's stories again and again. I didn't do any sort of reread of the series before reading this book. And something that struck me immediately was when they're kind of setting up the lore of the hunger games, and Hamish is just explaining that there'll be twice as many kids reaped this year as previous years. And I was like, kids? And I thought, oh, this must have been the thing they did in the olden days. And then was like, hang on a minute, no, that's been the plot the whole time. That is the point. And was just like struck all over again about how horrible, like just the sheer horror of that.

Bridget 13:40

There was a line that came immediately after they had to do it for the filming, and somebody on the stage was handing out glasses of champagne and went to give one to Hamish and then remembered that he was a child. Oh, not for the children. That was so clever to show that they can't have alcohol, but they can go and kill each other and be killed.

Laura 13:59

Yeah, and obviously I mentioned I've been crying a lot throughout reading this book, and it would just kind of sneak up on me and take me by surprise, like these little lines here and there. And I think almost every time what it was was, and I'll probably make myself cry now, but just these children being so kind to each other in spite of all of it.

Bridget 14:23

I have three that I wrote down that I thought were especially subworthy, and it's weird because they're all like nearly a hundred pages apart. I've got page 82, 283, and 380, and all of them just really hit me. I'll try to read them. It's okay. This is just after Luella has died and Wyatt has recalculated their odds or said that, you know, she never really was factoring in anyway. And Hamich says, Her body's not even cold, and he's reduced her to a number. But she was not a number. She was a little girl I met on the day she was born, when Mr. McCoy, his face alight with joy, held her up at the window for all us kids to see. A terrible dark grief begins to well up inside me, threatening to drown me, but I force it back down. Swallow the sadness, clamp a lid on it, damn it up. They will not use my tears for their entertainment. And I think we didn't really get that feeling in the ballad of Songbirds and Stace, because obviously it's a book from Coriolanus' perspective. But even Lucy Grey, like she wasn't really in the District 12 community as much as she was in the covey. I think also Katniss, like she was a bit of a loner. And obviously Peter didn't die in the books, but if she had known Rue, let's say, from when she was a baby, I think that we would have gotten that same sort of sadness from there. I think pretty much any interaction with Maisley towards the end of the book just absolutely wrecked me. She killed me. She was my favourite character in the book, and I think it's really sad that her contribution has sort of gone unnoticed up until this point. The part where they were like I'm gonna cry, but when he sort of asked her if she would be his sister, and she said, Yes, I'll be your sister. And and then she said, I keep wondering, will Mary Lee still be a twin after I'm gone? It's just so sad. And then any reference to Sid just broke me. Um and then of course, knowing what we know about Mary Lee and the mocking J Pin and Katniss's mother, lovely full circle moments there. And then I mean that like just the last I don't know how many pages, I it was just a constant, I don't know, crime after crime. Um the words on the page were just ruining me, and and having the the Raven poem like interspersed throughout that was just absolutely incredible. But I think on the last page before the epilogue, Hamich says, And so I remain forever trapped in my chamber. I am so desperate to forget, to escape the grief, the aching loneliness, the loss of those I love. There are no mementos of them. All are burned or buried. I work on forgetting their voices, their faces, their laughs. Even in my head, my language becomes dull and flat, stripped of the colour and music of yesterday. And it's just so I mean, duh, but it's so sad because he in this book he is alive with personality, he's got a great sense of humour, he's thoughtful about other people, he doesn't drink, he helps out his family. And then you see what he's reduced to in the later books. It's horrific. And then I just start to think about all of the little things that President Snow did. You know, he starved Lenore Duff, so there was nothing for her to vomit. He fed Hamish milk and bread for weeks, so he had the antidote. Horrific. So horrific.

Laura 17:40

I didn't know what else we would find out about Snow, but I loved the development of his character in this book. He was so repulsive when he was like staggering around Plutarch's after the quote unquote bad oysters with the blood and disgusting stuff coming out of his mouth. I find him genuinely terrifying, and I don't find myself saying that very often about villains in film or in books. A section that I thought was really interesting was when he I mean, we as the reader know he was kind of revealing his own relationship to one of the cubby. And he says, She's delightful to look at, swishes around in bright colours and sings like a mocking jay. You love her, and oh how she seems to love you. Except sometimes you wonder because her plans don't include you at all. And I was really thinking about this throughout the book, and I was wondering, you know, what would eventuate. And I mean the reality was so much more horrific than I could have ever imagined. But I was kind of thinking, like, oh, maybe she will go off on her own. I mean, that in itself would have been so interesting because that idea of losing Lucy Grey or not being able to control Lucy Grey is what sent Coriolanus into that spiral in the first place. And I think it would have been interesting to see the difference between he and Hamid. You know, the difference in them as a man or or whatever it may be. And then ultimately he does lose Lenore Dove in the most awful way possible. And he's still not reduced to snow, you know? Like he's he's reduced to nothing, but he's still a good person.

Bridget 19:13

The ending did take me by surprise, which is funny because throughout the whole book, I was waiting for her to be brought into the arena, and the gumdrops didn't even cross my mind until he noticed that she was poisoned. Poison is his weapon of choice. We have been told that time and time again. We saw with the oysters, we saw everything in the arena. Everything was leading up to that moment.

Laura 19:33

And I wonder if that's part of the message that she's trying to push as well. You know, like the answer is right there in front of you. Like everybody's telling you who they are. Yes. You just have to open your eyes and see it. This comes from the Hunger Games wiki, which I do have to say is not as good as The Twilight Wiki. In a statement published by the Associated Press, Suzanne Collins stated that the book was inspired by the writings of philosopher David Hume. And we do have one of those quotes at the beginning of the book, which I think is worth reading out. Sunrise on the Reaping was particularly inspired by David Hume's idea of implicit submission. In his words, the easiness with which many are governed by the few. The quote at the start of the book is Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few, and the implicit submission with which men resign their own sentiments and passion to those of their rulers. When we inquire by what means this wonder is affected, we shall find that, as force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is therefore on opinion only that government is founded, and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular. And then actually there is one other quote from David Hume at the start of the book that is essentially what Hamish and Lenore are talking about, and it says that the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition and implies no more contradiction than the affirmation that it will rise.

Bridget 20:58

In the acknowledgments, Suzanne also mentions David Hume, and she says that I wish my dad was here to see that our discussions on David Hume inspired Sunrise on the Reaping. I also particularly liked the way that she ended her acknowledgement. She said to all my wonderful readers, Thanks for once again returning to Pan Am and investing in these characters and their struggles, even when you know the eventual outcome. The snow may fall, but the sun also rises.

Laura 21:24

Which is very nice. Speaking of Pan Am, do you have any more clarity on picturing the districts and the arena than you have in previous novels? No, I don't.

Bridget 21:36

I saw a TikTok about this the other day, and it was someone showing the actual map of Pan Am. And then you swipe to see what they thought. And what they thought was like similar to what I was thinking. So what I was thinking is that all of the districts are in a line, starting with the capital and ending at 12. And that's why the train journey takes so freaking long because they've got to go all the way down all of the districts. And pick up all of the tributes. But I still don't really get it. I mean, I know it's like loosely the United States, but I don't know.

Laura 22:07

I know. I'm laughing because that's exactly how I pictured it too. And like each district is just like a perfect circle or something. And then the games is no bigger than like a couple of football fields chucked together, but there's also mountains.

Bridget 22:20

Yes, and I still don't quite understand how the arena works and like where it is. Maybe if I watch the movie, it might give me more of a thing, but I mean, I don't know. I've seen a lot of edits and it just looks like they're in a tube and they go up into the arena and then they're there. I don't really get it.

Laura 22:36

I mean, I guess you don't really get to see the connection between the tubes and like where the arena is. Or maybe you do when I just forgot. But I mean the the movies are helpful visually, but not in terms of mapping, you know, no cartographical benefits there, if that's a word. Another thing that I realized, I mean, apart from being Hamich's birthday, I realised it's obviously 4th of July, like Independence Day. Oh, I did not realize that. Which is bleak. That is bleak. And I wondered if again she was always planning for that to be Hamish's birthday. I can't remember if it was in the Hunger Games or if she was like, oh, this is another layer of bleakness I can add.

Bridget 23:15

When I was thinking about this episode, I thought that it was gonna be a little bit of an emotional one. So I was on the hunt for something light to keep our spirits high and you know, ready to not spend the whole episode drowning in her own tears. And I came across this TikTok by Andy underscore Messety. I have seen a few since, so I'm not quite sure who the original creator was. But basically he's written, I haven't read Sunrise and the Reaping yet. Tell me what happens in a way I won't understand until I do. And as we say time and time again, people are so funny. I'll just read a few of them out. Hamich skipping his chores gone wrong. Snow and Hamich bond over their taste in women. Worst birthday party ever. Hamish adopts six kids and one zombie. Hamich throws rocks at Katniss's parents. Britney Spears wearing the snake. Hamich is much better at keeping geese than he is at doves. So that's a sad one. Red Die 40 isn't good for you. And the last one, what is the janitor doing mopping in here?

Laura 24:25

Oh, those are good.

Bridget 24:27

They are good.

Laura 24:28

TikTok comments are the best and the worst part of TikTok. One other thing that I found, I don't know if funny is the right word, but vaguely amusing in this book was some elements of the covey. And I think this is more of a personal problem because I do find songs on the whole in books to be very embarrassing. And I do find people who are really earnest about music to be a little bit embarrassing, which again I think is a personal hang-up of mine because I can be that way too. But a line crack me up is when Hech is in Plutarch's house and he gets the phone call and he's connected to Lenore Dove. And it comes out that she's been arrested. And she says, last night for playing music, I guess I went a little crazy when they gave me that one in train and took my toon box over to the Justice Building. They hadn't pulled the stage down yet. I just did a few songs and I just like the thought with a toon box. Toon box. Going over, going ham. Just going ham with in whatever way that means to you. Just going so musically freaky. I'm thinking throw it back to you. Woo! Everybody now. But like being arrested for toon box.

Bridget 25:48

I just went a little crazy. Like walking through the prison, like line of hardened criminals. What are you in here for? Playing my toon box.

Laura 25:58

Getting arrested for music so unhinged, it's criminal. That was probably like the only thing that gave me a little bit of in this book. So I think that's like a very, very good innings. And I will say that I enjoyed this furtherment of the covey. I found them, to be honest, I found them more embarrassing in the last one. Yeah. Stop singing. Stop having special names. Put some shoes on. For God's sake. I hate hippies. Okay. God damn. Beatnik. Stop moving around so much. Just stay still. But yeah, I really liked this and I liked the confirmation of a connection to Katniss. I don't know if you saw me when I was reading this, just before we recorded this, but in the epilogue, my face crumpled. Like when that connection with Katniss came, which says, I first saw the girl at the hob when she was just a baby. Burdock was so proud of her. He toted her around everywhere. After he died in that mine explosion, hint, hint, hint, hint, hint, she started coming alone, trading the odd squirrel or rabbit. Tough and smart, her hair and two braids. Reminding me for all the world of Ellen McCoy. My sweetheart. Oh my god. Ah, I'm fine now. And after she volunteered for the games, that nickname wouldn't help but slip out. Wait, I think I really have to try to suffer through this last bit. I didn't want to let them in. I didn't want to let them in, her and Peter, but the walls of a person's heart are not impregnable. Not if they have ever known love. That's what Lenore Duff says anyway. Oh my god. So many tears.

Bridget 28:05

I think the epilogue really adds a lot to the book. I think we've in the past been quite critical of many epilogues, and I think they're all for very valid reasons. The way that he talks about Lenore Dove is always in the present tense in the epilogue, and it's so sad. When he says, I know one thing though, the Capitol can never take Lenore Dove from me again. They never really did in the first place. Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping, and she is the most precious thing I've ever known. When I tell her that, she always says, I love you like all fire, and I reply, I love you like all fire too.

Laura 28:41

I hope you guys have enjoyed 30 minutes of us crying. Oh my god. Oh god, it's just it gave me so much. Yeah. It was so good. I don't know where she could go from here.

Bridget 28:56

Like, do you think she will write another book? I want something about Plutarch because I think so much was hinted at in this one. I think after this I might read the series again just to see what else I can glean from that story because he was really interesting to me. I think I might also read Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes again because I don't really remember much about, you know, his Hilaria Heavensby. The stylus people they were sort of alluding to their relatives and people, and I would like to know a little bit more because I just can't quite remember.

Laura 29:26

Side note, I loved the snake frog guy. Same.

Bridget 29:31

He was insane. In the audiobook, he had a really great accent. I can't really remember what it was, but it was just like, Where's my stylus? Where where's my tributes? And walking in with his snake in his jeans.

Laura 29:46

That's such a good idea about Plutarch. I really didn't know because I actually like even at the start of this book when we were going through the sort of like, yep, that's me, at the reaping of the hunger games kind of thing. I was like, this kind of feels a little bit like, I don't know, every Spider-Man movie ever, where we get the like, oh, and then I was bitten by a spider and I, whoa, what are these new powers kind of thing? And I was like, oh man. I don't think I would be that interested in reading, for example, Finnic's Hunger Games or something like that.

Bridget 30:16

I had the same thought. I thought immediately went to Finnic, because I think a lot of people do, but I don't want that either. I want something from the other side.

Laura 30:24

I don't think I really care for a covey specific story, but I would like to know a little bit more about them. Like what happened in between Lucy Greybear to Hey Mitch was quite a big jump. And I don't think they're really mentioned whatsoever by the time Katniss rolls around, apart from the fact that they're her distant relatives. I don't know, like bloodlines die out and like, you know, the songs. I guess I liked that. Like it's it's evident that District 12 has been so stomped down that these songs have become like folklore, like they're banned. Nobody talks about these people anymore. I'd be intrigued if that was addressed in some further story.

Bridget 31:01

I don't think I want a story about the covey like pre-all of this. I don't want them like, you know, ragtag bunch of kids travelling around singing their songs.

Laura 31:11

And I don't think I ever want a story about how we got here in the first place. Like No.

Bridget 31:16

Yeah, no, neither.

Laura 31:18

What does it change? I've kind of cried myself into a corner and I don't really know what else to say, but I did find some funny reviews on Goodreads that I think could sum things up nicely. It's from Eden Yonis. I genuinely cannot do this. I seriously cannot do this. Please, someone spare me from this pain. I know too much. I think that's a perfect summary of the book.

Bridget 31:41

And it's a perfect summary of the episode, and it's a perfect way to end the episode. We know too much. Our book for June is Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings. Have your say on what we read next by keeping an eye on the link in our show notes and on our socials. Make sure you subscribe to the show. And if you want to be on the same page as us, follow us at talklit.get on Instagram and TikTok.