Reviews

Parkland: Birth of a Movement by Dave Cullen

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

wingover's review against another edition

4.0

I didn’t realize this book was mostly about the activism of the survivors after the attack but it’s amazing what they accomplished.

carolineinthelibrary's review against another edition

5.0

Wow. I read Dave Cullen's Columbine and was so excited to see he had written a new book on Parkland. I've always been curious what he would say about mass shootings and school violence. While Columbine was sullen and gritty, Parkland is uplifting and full of hope. It's exciting to see what the survivors of Parkland have done to engage the younger generations in politics and in fighting for their lives. This was a fascinating book about the journey these students have been on since surviving the MSD shooting.

jessisabella's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5