The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Week 3

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

This section was crazy! I couldn't believe everything that happened!

It was really hard to read about all of the deaths during the games. It is just so unbelievable that people watched all of that violence and weren't really affected. I can't imagine seeing one person die, much less a whole arena of children. It was sickening that when the games started, Marcus was displayed broken and bloody in the arena. That was disgusting. I just couldn't believe that Dr. Gaul could go that far and do such a heinous thing. Lamina seemed like an early front runner to the games since she killed Marcus and set herself up on that pole. I thought it was really hard to read about Jessop's end. It was so scary to see how he acted after he became rabid. It was interesting, throughout the chapters that described the games, to experience the games through the eyes of Coriolanus, an outsider. In the original trilogy, we experience the games through Katniss who is participating in them. Her perspective made the games more intense and showed just how harrowing they were for the tributes. In this book, the games were still scary and gory, but I found it harder to really experience them since we were watching from the sidelines. What did you think of the fact that we only saw the games through Coriolanus's eyes? 

What do you think of Sejanus? I understand that he feels guilty since he used to live in District 2 and now he is part of the Capitol machine. But, he is making really erratic choices and has put other people in danger. It was so shocking when he sneaked into the arena. And, it was surprising that Coriolanus had to be the one to go get him. I was sure one of them was going to be killed. I keep thinking that Coriolanus is not a terribly strong person, and he doesn't seem to be a violent person, but when his back is up against the wall, he is able to defend himself. It's interesting to see how different he was when he was younger versus how he is in the later trilogy. He is definitely very concerned about himself over all other people. Do you think that he will eventually choose himself over Lucy Gray? Do you think he will be faced with that choice? 

Clemensia seemed to be mostly recovered by the end of this section, although it was obviously scary for her to see snakes in the arena. I still can't believe a teacher would have let a student be attacked by a bunch of snakes. It was sad how she treated her tribute, though. It was sad that she wouldn't give him food or water. 

One of the craziest parts in this section was the part when Lucy charmed the snakes. Obviously, the snakes didn't attack Lucy because Coriolanus put her hankie in the snake box. But, it was still a really cool visual to imagine her coming out of the tunnels with all of the snakes swirling all over her. I bet the people watching were stunned! It would be so shocking to see a person with a skirt of snakes! Check out the clip below if you want to see how that scene played out in the movie. 

Lucy would not have been able to win had Coriolanus not pulled the stunt with the snakes or given her the poison. Did you think it was fair that he was immediately punished as soon as the games ended? We know that Coriolanus is going to become a Peacekeeper. What do you think that will entail? Do you think he will do a good job? What do you think will happen to his family with him gone? 

I hope you enjoy finishing the book for next week! I look forward to reading your thoughts about the book so far in the comments!