"You can't count on things happening tomorrow just because they happened in the past. It's faulty logic." "Is it?" I say. "Because it's kind of how peo"You can't count on things happening tomorrow just because they happened in the past. It's faulty logic." "Is it?" I say. "Because it's kind of how people plan out their lives." "And that's part of our trouble. Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible."
if suzanne is that adamant about only writing prequels i think she should do Gregor next - the one and only kafka retelling.
so, listen. prequels, right. should still add something to the story. Ballad, for example, which everyone except me hated, gave us a deep insight into Snow's psyche and backstory and also told how the games became the version that they are today (with today i mean during the original hunger games timeline - obviously). that's interesting, that's bold, that's fun. there were still on-the-edge-of-my-seat-moments even though i knew where the story was going.
sunrise on the reaping on the other hand ... gave us nothing new.
it's neither a tale about how a fucked up concept became even more fucked up nor is it a tale of hope. because it can't be. the rebellions and the uprising all happen years later in the original trilogy so there's literally nowhere for this prequel story to go. even when you try to raise the stakes and introduce some anti-establishment plot, it just cannot happen. it cannot come to any kind of satisfying conclusion. this entire book falls flat because of that.
like, we can keep picking hunger games at random and telling the stories of the the 21st games, 30th, the 48th, the 53th. we can keep telling the stories of all the survivors. we could do finnick's games. johanna's. beetee's. but there's no point because they add nothing of substance and value to the series. everything we need to know about them, we already learned during the main series and quite frankly for the main point of the series as a whole - those basic things we already know are enough. everything else belongs in the realm of fanfiction. and while i haven't read any hunger games fanfic, i'm sure there's probably a fanfic writer out there that has told haymitch's story in a way more satisfying and interesting way.
haymitch's entire character in this just falls flat. his love story is just a rehashing of snow's love story. his character ambitions katniss' ambitions. this entire book is just a combination of the original prequel and the main series and it just feels like one of those boring episodes at the end of a 500 episode sitcom where they bring every character back and show some throwback scenes. this book has no point. it introduces nothing, it accomplishes nothing. and it knows that because it abruptly ends in a two page epilogue from after the main-series conclusion because an epilogue from immediately after this book's plot line would be pointless (the epilogue is still pointless but that's because Mockingjay's epilogue was already perfect).
the writing also feels very juvenile in this one which is weird because the original books were very well written so idk if the writing requirement for YA have changed or if suzanne was as bored writing this as i was reading it and decided effort is for losers.
TL;DR: if you have always wanted to read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" but in a worse format this is the book for you (there was absolutely no reason to quote the entire thing. especially not intermittently. none.)...more
sick on vacation and this was lying around in the airbnb. would probably never have read it otherwise. wouldn’t have mattered either way; i found it tsick on vacation and this was lying around in the airbnb. would probably never have read it otherwise. wouldn’t have mattered either way; i found it to be just ok....more
”But these two, they were in it together. They were laughing.” “And you remember that.” “I do.” “Because you want that?” “Because I realized that that’s w”But these two, they were in it together. They were laughing.” “And you remember that.” “I do.” “Because you want that?” “Because I realized that that’s what life requires. When it gets messy and difficult and unglamorous. That kind of partnership.” “And we don’t have that.”
many characters, very messy, but oddly touching ...more
if you don’t want to read this in one sitting, you might as well just not read it at all cause it’s so very much vibe based that if you interrupt the if you don’t want to read this in one sitting, you might as well just not read it at all cause it’s so very much vibe based that if you interrupt the vibes with anything else for even one second, they are gone and will not return to you ever again. you should also preferably read this in some kind of sensory deprivation tank where no-one can bother you cause if - hypothetically - you can hear your neighbour speaking VERY LOUDLY in the background this will once again interrupt the vibes and at this point maybe just give up on reading as a whole.
there’s this genre of horror movies/books that don’t really follow a cleanly recognisable plot and are just all over the place but have such a discomforting mood that you leave them feeling scared and uncomfortable and confused about why you’re scared and uncomfortable (*cough* I Saw The TV Glow *cough*). i THINK that’s what was supposed to happen to me here. but between taking two days to finish reading and my neighbours incessant loud talking this just fell flat to me and instead of leaving me scared and confused it left me bored. and with a headache. i am blameless in this....more
“I know my husband. I know the sharpness of his gaze. I know his perceptiveness and the precision of his associations of ideas. I know the ease with w“I know my husband. I know the sharpness of his gaze. I know his perceptiveness and the precision of his associations of ideas. I know the ease with which he manages to encapsulate a person in one or two phrases. I have to face facts: the man I’ve been married to for more than ten years thinks of me as a clementine.“
asked my boyfriend and he said i’m a lime which hell yeah love is real ...more
"I wanted to say: Build in me a lighthouse. Be guided by the love I feel for you, for the safety I want to offer. Put knives in your wheels and leave "I wanted to say: Build in me a lighthouse. Be guided by the love I feel for you, for the safety I want to offer. Put knives in your wheels and leave the truck until it's ticketed and towed. Move your bags into my room and stay. Find a job at a record store, become a security guard at the Met, don't work at all, and we can live off my twelve-an-hour as you make every record you've wanted to. We can take it slow; we can move fast. You can leave me and come back. You can be exactly who you are or you can be what you've always wanted to be. You can sell that gold twisted band, and we can find a studio in Queens, and I can cut your hair every other month. Let's live off rice and beans, oranges when they're in season. Let's make friends and forget them for days and weeks at a time. Let's ward off all of the terror with talk. Let's make love over and over, until our ribs hurt and we think we're tired of it, then do it once more, just to see if there's still life to be made. It's all here, it's now if we want it to be. Time, distance, they're no longer the problem. The problem is courage. The courage I need and the courage you want. We can find it in each other, I swear. I swear, if you'll just let me show you."
i was told that saying it's gay and sad is not a good summary of a book, but it is gay and it is sad and what more could you want...more