Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

63 reviews

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Genocide, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Bullying, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Classism

kt2e56's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Not as good as the original trilogy, but a good read regardless. I think my biggest issues are with the fact that its central character is someone we already know from the future. I

t seems like Collins had to go back on quite a bit in order to make this narrative fit in with what she already told us in the original trilogy. 

I’d say that some other issues with this book are that most of the characters are just…flat. Dr. Gaul with her ridiculous nursery rhymes is too cartoonish of a villain, Lucy Gray is a manic pixie dream girl (which on the one hand makes sense because we’re seeing her from Snow’s POV, but that doesn’t make her any less grating), the rest of the Covey and their weird country bumpkin way of life are equally as grating and Snow himself has zero shades of gray. He’s awful all the way through (I’ll get back to this).

The most interesting characters by far are Sejanus Plinth and Dean Highbottom, both of whom I kind of wish had been the POV characters for this prequel.

BUT I will say that in terms of politics and big picture ideas, this book is way more ambitious than the original trilogy. Yes, Snow is a bit one note but I *do* actually appreciate that. He’s a fascist, point blank. He’s an elitist bigot whose family has fallen on hard luck but we don’t ever have to feel sympathy for him because he STILL clings to that bigotry even though it’s glaringly obvious that The Capitol is to blame for his family’s trauma. It’s also VERY interesting that Collins doesn’t even attempt to hide the links between fascism and misogyny. 

Let’s talk real world for a second and how commonplace it is for alt-right young men to be drawn to their worldviews because of an innate sense of entitlement not only with wealth and the economy but with women as well. A big part of fascism is controlling women. It’s never a surprise when an alt-right extremist has a history of domestic violence. Never.

And Collins making it abundantly obvious that Coriolanus doesn’t truly LOVE Lucy Gray but seeks to own and possess her is actually really great. There’s no love story here. We know Lucy Gray is doomed from the moment she’s in his clutches. He wouldn’t have done ANYTHING for her if he didn’t want to fuck her so badly tbh.  This was so obviously going to end one way and I’m glad that Collins didn’t chicken out and went for it and avoided giving him a change of heart although I wish she wasn’t so ambiguous with it. 

The ending as a whole was another issue for me. It felt a bit rushed and convoluted and I wish Snow’s meeting with Highbottom was stretched out just a little more as opposed to stuffed into the epilogue.

All in all though, this was a solid read and I’m sure I’ll be seeing the movie in the Fall. I’m curious if Collins will be expanding even further on this world or not… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Trafficking, and Gaslighting

dativa's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Finding !!! connections with the rest of the books like clues here and there is so cool. And Snow really

becomes himself in this one. It's really amazing watching the depths of his evil be created, tested, and affirmed so young

. I... am hoping that the

singing

will feel natural in the film; that tends to take me out of it sometimes, but I see how integral it is to the whole thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

It is a heavy read in the sense of understanding the ways it is explicitly and implicitly exposing real life; something like watching a Black Mirror episode I guess.

kate_has_book_thoughts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

angelsfw's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: War

booksemmahasread's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and War

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

nadialonso's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Vomit

tesslaah's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The character development of Snow is so well done that he seems like a whole new person by the end while also having never truly changed. While many characters influence him, Snow is ultimately the one who makes his own choices to who he becomes. Collins does a great job of making a young Snow likeable enough that you’re rooting for him, but it’s still clear that he is & will be the unlikeable villain you come to know in the Hunger Games trilogy. There are many clever & thoughtful references & call backs (forwards?) to the trilogy that readers will really appreciate but you could also love this book without ever having read the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Violence, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cannibalism, Death of parent, and War

bethsreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

While this prequel was not as good as the trilogy in my opinion, it was definitely enjoyable and still offered new and insightful perspectives to a fascinating dystopian world. 

One of the best elements, for me, were the references to the previous trilogy. This is not just because they are a beloved series for me, but because Collins calls back to moments, symbols, and songs, in order to deepen their meaning. It would have been very easy for her to throw in reference after reference, just for the sake of it (and for fan service), but it felt so much better having the reference be an uncovering of a history, which in turn deepens and enriches the story we all know so well. 

My main disappointment is that I feel like Coriolanus Snow was a bit too caring. We all know he turns into an evil man who condones and does atrocious things, and while I think it’s interesting to place him in more of a grey area and have him be more complex than just evil, I wanted more in the way of understanding what brought him to become such a true villain. Yes, he is arrogant, self-absorbed, racist/classist, and clearly indoctrinated by war propaganda and it’s aftermath, but I wanted to really understand what pushed him to be a sociopath. He cares about other people more than I expected, though granted in the way a narcissist would for most of the people around him, but he has more empathy and morality than I think he would have, considering who he becomes. I can see how under the future tutelage of Dr. Gaul he could be grow into a monster, but he hated her and thought her evil for most of the book, so it’s hard to understand him becoming so much like her. 

Some other gripes were that the pacing felt a bit disjointed and some important events/plot points were a bit convoluted or rushed. I also thought that a key part of the ending

(his ending with Lucy Grey)

was slightly confusing and I wanted more from it. 

Overall I enjoyed it and think it will make a great film!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Suicide attempt

cryoshia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

snowbaird has no chemistry, sorry to say it. snowjanus had more chemistry...

but i'll still be seated for rachel zegler as lucy gray baird! star of the show!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Blood

Minor: Death, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder