This Is Where It Ends - Marieke Nijkamp
Synopsis
A school shooting takes place over the course of 54 minutes and the events are told from four different perspectives.
Review
I liked that it showed a school shooting essentially in real time, and that it was told from the perspective of people who were close to the shooter. So really, it should have been an interesting, heart-breaking, deep-felt book.
But it wasn't. In all honesty, it's an affront to everyone who has had to experience the horror of a shooting.
I felt like it completely lacked emotional resonance. It was like I was reading a description of events, and being told what characters were feeling, but I couldn't feel the fear and terror and guilt. And when characters died (not a spoiler because it's a shooting; people die), it was sad in that I know it's sad when people die, but it didn't pack a punch because I wasn't invested in the characters.
The book was very short, and I know the point was to keep it within the 54 minutes of the actual shooting. But it needed to be filled out more, and not just with random flashbacks to give the backstory. I wanted to feel the tension and fear.
The book lacked details. How the air smelled, the ringing in their ears after the gun went off, heck, even what type of gun it was! I didn't know if it was a handgun or a rifle or what. I feel like the author has never actually shot a gun. If you're shooting a gun in an enclosed space like that, it is loud. The air would smell like smoke and metal. And the shooter reloaded his magazine like once, but shot 39 people? And he had ridiculous accuracy.
Also, the shooter has every single person in the school trapped in an auditorium, literally hundreds of people, and yet no one could get close to him or ambush him? If you storm someone with a gun, en masse, yes people may get shot but if you keep pushing and you go fast enough from different directions, you can stop them. Instead everyone just literally sat around and waited to get shot. Admittedly, I've never been in that situation and I know that the terror would be paralyzing, but again, I couldn't sense that.
And the characters. Man alive. So many problems. They were all so bland, even though they were dressed up to be exciting. They have no flaws. They all sound the same. It's like a bunch of cupcakes that have been dyed fun colors and covered in sprinkles, but when you bite in there's no taste.
First, I'm all for diverse characters; people of color, LGBT, people with disabilities, etc. But in this book, it felt like they were just thrown in there so they could market the book as having queer main characters. I definitely didn't feel any sort of romantic relationship between the two girls. They just seemed like friends, and not even that great of friends. And then there was a random kid from Afghanistan and two Latinos. In rural Alabama. And all the viewpoint characters had huge tragedies occurring in their lives. It was like the author just made up a bunch of characteristics that sound good and then threw them into the story, where they didn't really fit. Plus the characters make stupid choices, like a character having a chance to escape the school and going back inside to confront the shooter. What?!
At one point, it is revealed (and it seriously comes out of nowhere) that a character raped another character. But it's mentioned almost in passing, a single sentence, with NO emotional impact or effect that we can see. Just it happened and so the girl was afraid of the guy, but we're only told that. We don't see it. I mean... Come on! Also, throwing in sexual assault just to give a character some "depth" is so, sooooo bad.
And the shooter. This was the book's biggest failing. You can't ever justify someone shooting innocent people, but it is so important to understand how and why they got to the point where they did that. This book completely misses the mark. The shooter is a Bad Person and even though he hid it well he's always been a Bad Person and that's why he shot people. There's some drivel about how he feels abandoned, but it's just a hollow, one-sided "reason" behind him being Bad.
This book really could have been a tense, gripping novel and really explored the psychology and emotions behind a school shooting. But we're left with a flat, emotionless description of an event.
If you want a book that does a good job exploring the crazy mess behind a school shooting, read Luckiest Girl Alive.
Rating
I give this book 1.5 stars
Details
Genre: YA
Language: Some strong language
Sex: None except above mentioned rape reference
Violence: Lots of people get shot.
Synopsis
A school shooting takes place over the course of 54 minutes and the events are told from four different perspectives.
Review
I liked that it showed a school shooting essentially in real time, and that it was told from the perspective of people who were close to the shooter. So really, it should have been an interesting, heart-breaking, deep-felt book.
But it wasn't. In all honesty, it's an affront to everyone who has had to experience the horror of a shooting.
I felt like it completely lacked emotional resonance. It was like I was reading a description of events, and being told what characters were feeling, but I couldn't feel the fear and terror and guilt. And when characters died (not a spoiler because it's a shooting; people die), it was sad in that I know it's sad when people die, but it didn't pack a punch because I wasn't invested in the characters.
The book was very short, and I know the point was to keep it within the 54 minutes of the actual shooting. But it needed to be filled out more, and not just with random flashbacks to give the backstory. I wanted to feel the tension and fear.
The book lacked details. How the air smelled, the ringing in their ears after the gun went off, heck, even what type of gun it was! I didn't know if it was a handgun or a rifle or what. I feel like the author has never actually shot a gun. If you're shooting a gun in an enclosed space like that, it is loud. The air would smell like smoke and metal. And the shooter reloaded his magazine like once, but shot 39 people? And he had ridiculous accuracy.
Also, the shooter has every single person in the school trapped in an auditorium, literally hundreds of people, and yet no one could get close to him or ambush him? If you storm someone with a gun, en masse, yes people may get shot but if you keep pushing and you go fast enough from different directions, you can stop them. Instead everyone just literally sat around and waited to get shot. Admittedly, I've never been in that situation and I know that the terror would be paralyzing, but again, I couldn't sense that.
And the characters. Man alive. So many problems. They were all so bland, even though they were dressed up to be exciting. They have no flaws. They all sound the same. It's like a bunch of cupcakes that have been dyed fun colors and covered in sprinkles, but when you bite in there's no taste.
First, I'm all for diverse characters; people of color, LGBT, people with disabilities, etc. But in this book, it felt like they were just thrown in there so they could market the book as having queer main characters. I definitely didn't feel any sort of romantic relationship between the two girls. They just seemed like friends, and not even that great of friends. And then there was a random kid from Afghanistan and two Latinos. In rural Alabama. And all the viewpoint characters had huge tragedies occurring in their lives. It was like the author just made up a bunch of characteristics that sound good and then threw them into the story, where they didn't really fit. Plus the characters make stupid choices, like a character having a chance to escape the school and going back inside to confront the shooter. What?!
At one point, it is revealed (and it seriously comes out of nowhere) that a character raped another character. But it's mentioned almost in passing, a single sentence, with NO emotional impact or effect that we can see. Just it happened and so the girl was afraid of the guy, but we're only told that. We don't see it. I mean... Come on! Also, throwing in sexual assault just to give a character some "depth" is so, sooooo bad.
And the shooter. This was the book's biggest failing. You can't ever justify someone shooting innocent people, but it is so important to understand how and why they got to the point where they did that. This book completely misses the mark. The shooter is a Bad Person and even though he hid it well he's always been a Bad Person and that's why he shot people. There's some drivel about how he feels abandoned, but it's just a hollow, one-sided "reason" behind him being Bad.
This book really could have been a tense, gripping novel and really explored the psychology and emotions behind a school shooting. But we're left with a flat, emotionless description of an event.
If you want a book that does a good job exploring the crazy mess behind a school shooting, read Luckiest Girl Alive.
Rating
I give this book 1.5 stars
Details
Genre: YA
Language: Some strong language
Sex: None except above mentioned rape reference
Violence: Lots of people get shot.
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