Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

This is the July Monthly Group Read discussion of Sunrise on the Reaping (Hunger Games #0.5) by Suzanne Collins. This book can be used to fulfill prompt #5 A book with a snake on the cover or in the title
World Snake Day is July 16 2025!

Dubhease is the “sibilant superstar” who has graciously volunteered to lead this discussion! Thank you so very much!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏

HERE is a listing of potential discussion questions. These are meant to not only help those who volunteer to facilitate these monthly discussions but also to provide ideas for members participating in discussions!

Every person reads at a different pace, so please use spoiler tags if you are sharing any plot-related surprises. This allows others to decide whether this information might reveal surprising information they have not yet read. It can also be helpful to other readers if you post the location within the book noting your progress (chapter and/or page number). That way, if someone else has read that far they can go ahead and open the spoiler, but if not, they'll know to skip it for now and return later...

TO ADD SPOILER TAGS:
Use this for spoilers, just remove the spaces:
< spoiler > write your spoiler here and close with < / spoiler >

Posts here should only be contributions to discussion about this book. 😊

Welcome everyone.

Here are some non-spoiler, pre-reading questions:

1. Have you read the original Hunger Games trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ?

2. For those of us who read the previous books, it was revealed who wins the games in this book, how the winner defeated the other last tribute standing, and even what came after the games.

How do you feel reading a prequel or watching a prequel movie, when you know how it's going to end?

3. If the hunger games was a real TV show, do you think anyone would watch it?

Chapters 1-4 thoughts
(view spoiler)[
Haymitch was born on July 4 and that's reaping day. Interesting.

I'm not much of a drinker - great ironic foreshadowing.

The Covey is back. Haymitch mentions she's a Baird. So, is Lucy Gray her mother? Is this why no one remembers her because she died in childbirth?

So Haymitch wasn't initially picked. I'm not sure why the murdered kid didn't count? If the goal is to have kids killed to make the districts pay - mission accomplished. Now I'm wondering how many other reapings over the years they had to re-film?

Druscilla seems like a bargain basement Effie. Whipping tributes - even Maysilee - before she has to go on TV?

Did Suzanne Collins hate her father? Why is this the third protagonist without a father? Katniss, Snow (who also didn't have a mother), and now Haymitch. (hide spoiler)]

I'm finished with Part 1! I'm enjoying this - took a little bit to get going for me, but now I'm hooked.

1. Have you read the original Hunger Games trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? Yes, read them all - but years ago now!

2. For those of us who read the previous books, it was revealed who wins the games in this book, how the winner defeated the other last tribute standing, and even what came after the games.

How do you feel reading a prequel or watching a prequel movie, when you know how it's going to end?

If you just mean because it's Haymitch's story and obviously we know he wins in order to mentor Katniss & Peta, I'm ok with it. I don't remember all the details from the previous books because he has been decades(?) since I read them originally. I'm really enjoying getting a deeper click into Haymitch's story.

3. If the hunger games was a real TV show, do you think anyone would watch it?
Unfortunately yes

1. Have you read the original Hunger Games trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ?
Yep, I read them when they were first coming out. Haven't done a reread, so I wonder if I'll miss some of the easter eggs

2. For those of us who read the previous books, it was revealed who wins the games in this book, how the winner defeated the other last tribute standing, and even what came after the games.

How do you feel reading a prequel or watching a prequel movie, when you know how it's going to end?
I'm not normally drawn to prequels, but I think for this book since we don't know all the details it's still really interesting. I think if a story is good enough, it doesn't matter if you know the ending.

3. If the hunger games was a real TV show, do you think anyone would watch it?
I first thought this question was if I would watch it- which no. But would anyone? Yeah, I think there would be lots of people who watch out of morbid fascination, and then it would become the new normal for a lot of people.

I just finished chapter 16

(view spoiler)[ We only hit the games in chapter 15.
- I'm glad they got through a high kill in the first day as there are way too many tributes to keep track of.
- Fake Lou Lou was scary, but I'm glad Haymitch put her out of her misery quickly
- Is Lenore getting killed off by peace keepers? (hide spoiler)]

I have to pick up the pace in this book as it's due back next weekend.

I was thinking that I would totally read a collection of novellas about Beetee's games, Finnick's, or Mags. I'm not sure any of them have a whole book in them, but a collection of short books could be fun.

Up to chapter 20

(view spoiler)[ Stripping a 12 year old down to bone? This might be the worst death in the 4 games we've had to read about. How was Beetee so functional in Catching Fire?

Haymitch talked about having to kill 2 people in "self-defense" (as they were attacking him. (hide spoiler)]

Is there self-defense in the Hunger Games? If the goal is to be last tribute standing, is there a moral difference between attacking or defending?

I finished the book today.

(view spoiler)[It got more and more gruesome as we got to the end. I'm not sure how they can make this movie without it getting a R rating for brutal violence - decapitating 12 year olds and holding their head up like a psycho. Silka with the axe in her head. Burning people alive.

Also, I knew the ending was going to be a downer because Haymitch literally told them in Catching Fire that they murdered his whole family. But there is a difference between a quick bullet to the head and burning people alive or letting Haymitch give Lenore a poisoned gumdrop.

Also, stop ruining Edgar Allen Poe for people. (hide spoiler)]

Thank you so much for leading, Dubhease!