Reviews

Parkland: Birth of a Movement by Dave Cullen

raegold's review against another edition

4.0

Very different from his Columbine book, as Cullen puts focus on the kids and not the killer in this one. I remember feeling so proud of these kids. They deserve all of the recognition.

s_kirby's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

cassiecraycray's review against another edition

dark emotional informative slow-paced

4.5

This was wonderfully put together. 
Its starts with the Tragedy that happened to these kids on February 14th, but it becomes so much more. 
It touches on a few groups and projects that started as a result of the tragedy but a big focus was on March For Our Lives, since it was created and lead by the students of MSD. It also goes into how they were able to network with other communities and amplify voices that get looked over. It ended with the general election that happened that year and how the kids tried to make a difference, how they felt and their thoughts with some of the progress they were able to make. 
I'm so in awe of those kids and all they were able to accomplish after everything they went through. It proves that hope can come from the darkest places. 

lisettemarie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, and Child death

stinkyfacegrace's review against another edition

4.0

I don’t think you need to read Columbine before you read this, but I’m personally very glad I did. Cullen’s choices regarding how he told this story and what aspects to focus on are so different from Columbine; for me, this illustrated how much has changed in 20 years better than anything actually written in the book.

hnells's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

This was a really moving look into the March for Our Lives movement that arose after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. I liked Cullen's book on Columbine, so I decided to read this one as well and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was far more about the students building a movement than it was about the actual shooting itself. I really appreciated Cullen's inside perspective on the intricacies and difficulties of building a national movement as (mostly) high-school-age kids, and I found myself tearing up more than once at the enormity of what they were able to accomplish in the wake of their collective trauma.

bk2149's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

nataliem1017's review against another edition

3.0

3.5

God I’m finally finished with this fucking book !!!

It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it. I actually did like it a lot but it took me foreverrrrr to get through since I had to read it for school and I didn’t feel like it. It’s just towards the middle there is a lot on policy and details that felt overdone? I don’t really know how to describe it but I became pretty disinterested towards the middle. It was really cool to read about this movement and it’s super impressive that the entire march for our lives rally and organization was founded entirely by people my age. But it lost a bit of steam towards the middle chunk of the book which made me not wanna read it and fall behind on my assigned readings rip.
I liked this book but I just got bored of it for a while. I may just not be a nonfiction girlie, but I think I just need to find the right nonfiction for me.

Excited to return to tog finally

budgies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

carolinebiehn's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0