Sunrise on the Reaping Chapter 10 sees Haymitch, Maysilee and Wyatt get acquainted with ‘Fake Louella’. At the end of the chapter, Haymitch is paid a surprise visit from Beetee during the night.

FYI: This review is part of a series where I review one chapter of Sunrise on the Reaping each day as I read along. You can find the full collection of my Sunrise on the Reaping reviews for each chapter here.

What Happens in Chapter 10 of Sunrise on the Reaping?

The chapter picks up with Haymitch meeting ‘Fake Louella’ who he instantly recognises as not being the real Louella. Fake Louella is a body double of Louella which Snow explains is to keep the facade of a perfect quarter quell. As Haymitch leaves his meeting with Snow, Plutarch states that he does not approve of this.

Haymitch has a strong disdain for Fake Louella as her presence brings up a lot of grief for him as well as freaks him out. Fake Louella says limited words and has an uneasiness to her. When Fake Louella is introduced to the others in Haymitch’s apartment, Mags is quick to recognise the girl’s pain and offers her food, of which she devours. This is when Haymitch realises that she has been starved and her strange persona is simply a result of Capitol programming.

Haymitch and Maysilee coin the nickname ‘Lou Lou’ for Fake Louella in order to help Haymitch move past his discomfort of calling her Louella. The tributes go to sleep and in the middle of the night Haymitch is awoken. He notices that all signs of power within his room are gone. Beetee opens the door using potatoes as a light source and asks Haymitch if he is serious about breaking the arena. Haymitch responds yes and Beetee explains that Wiress has turned off the power in the building so that cameras cannot tape their discussion, however, this does mean their time to talk is limited. Beetee goes on to say that the way to break the arena is to drown it.

Review – What Did I Think of Chapter 10?

Chapter 10 is interesting as we really see the extent of the Snow’s cruelty in a really weird way. The body double of Louella is a really interesting character and the way in which her character was humanised after meeting Mags was quite a refreshing take/twist on the whole ‘clone’ thing as often in other stories a clone is just a surface level character with the sole purpose of being a clone. I think it will definitely be interesting to see how ‘Lou Lou’ plays out within the arena.

I really loved seeing how Mags fully understood Lou Lou from the get-go and how she immediately started to care for her as she did the others. Beetee’s visit at the end of the chapter was cool to see and the revelation that the plan is to drown the arena makes it sound like the 50th Hunger Games might just be the most difficult one yet for the tributes.

Discussion – What Do We Think The Purpose of ‘Lou Lou’ Is?

Lou Lou’s entrance of course makes for a fun twist and an on-brand cruel punishment from Snow, but I have a strong feeling her inclusion in this story will likely have a greater purpose.

We get the sense that she has been deeply traumatised by the Capitol and that she has been ‘programmed’ in a way similar to Peeta being hijacked. Perhaps we will see her return to her old self in some ways as the story progresses and maybe even truly become a ‘sweetheart’ in Haymitch’s eyes the same way the real Louella was?

There is the possibility that she might also be some form of ‘spy’ that Snow is using to keep a close eye on Haymitch – one of which he can turn off at anytime (hence Mag’s mentioning the machine keeping her alive). I really hope that she has some joy before her likely demise later on and I think she will at least definitely help us learn a lot more about the Capitol’s ‘programming’.

What are your thoughts?

That wraps up my thoughts on Chapter 10! What did you think of the chapter? Let me know in the comments below.