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Jun 23, 2018white_wolf_80 rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I only gave it as high of a score as I did because I appreciated the fact that the author included an LGBTQ+ couple (tbh this was the best part of the book for me). Otherwise this book was just kind of. . . meh. I personally do not like books that change perspective (I know the author just wanted to show multiple povs and how the different characters experienced it) and for me this just made it a more difficult read. I feel like what the author was trying to portray was good, but especially when addressing such a serious and relevant topic it’s hard to get things across in a respectful and realistic way. The plot itself I feel like is okay, I just feel like it could have been executed much better. Also, I feel like the book almost?? romanticized?? school shootings?? As a high school student I just felt like the author did not really address this very serious issue in the best way possible?? It was almost like the author was trying to justify??? the incident?? Like, I get it, the shooter has a sob story, but it just felt like something was off? Like ya the shooter is a person and has his own reasons for doing what he’s doing, but it almost felt like the author expected to sympathize with the shooter? (like when someone says a shooting can be prevented if bullying stops... like no... just get rid of guns bby). I just felt like the story didn’t really address the real issue about teens having access to guns and gun control? Maybe it’s just me but my belief is that in general shooters are kind of glorified, and that by giving a face and a name it kind of gives other violent/like-minded people someone to look up to/imitate. This book kind of reinforced that idea for me. Idk, I just think that the author could have illustrated her point in a much better way. I’m going to be completely honest and say that I didn’t even read the whole thing. I got maybe 40 pages in when I realized that it would be too painful to force myself to read the whole thing, and that frankly, it wasn’t worth it. I skimmed the rest of the book to see what would happen and to read the action and ending. If I get desperate I’ll try to force myself through it, but maybe another time lol. The writing itself was okay. The plot relied to heavily on teenage romance though, and the characters had virtually no personalities (the little information about the characters personalities came solely from what we knew about their relationships with others). We were given a lot of useless facts that had nothing to do with the actual story. The action was exciting though, and possibly the one redeemable quality about this book. I will admit that it was a sad book (the ending is a bit of a tear-jerker). But, overall it was mediocre. Conclusion: I’m sure if you are able to read books with multiple povs, and you are willing to sit through the slower bits then this is a decent read, it just wasnt for me. The story is important, just executed poorly. It was especially dissapointing because I came in with high expectations. I do respect the author for her attempt at addressing such a serious matter, and I definitely respect her for including some queer characters. Overall though, I found this book to be mediocre at best, and I just wasn’t able to get into it. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.