Reviews

The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater

smsaks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

jerrilea's review against another edition

5.0

I’m not much of a non-fiction reader, but I loved this book. Dashka Slater did a beautiful job of carefully telling Sasha and Richard’s separate stories, which gives the reader the chance to empathize with both young people, as well as their collective story. This tragedy could have had a much different ending if it weren’t for the power of empathy and forgiveness. Slater’s depth of understanding of the LGTBQ community and the depth she went through to ensure all parties were comfortable with the pronouns and words used was impressive.

salyarmor's review against another edition

1.0

Based on a true story. Tbh I just didn’t enjoy the book at all. I think it was poorly organized & SO MUCH EXTRA information that was just unnecessary. It took away from the real story and the impact. I wish it would have focused more on what happened (event/trial) and less on social issues. Overall, the book was poorly written.

jenniegarcian's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

3.5

daisyroberds's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

3.0

manta_moony's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

I really loved the way everyone’s stories were pieced together. There was also segments that contained information pertaining to the story to help give the reader perspective which was really helpful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Bullying, Death, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Blood, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Racial slurs and Suicide

fairy_k's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

robin812's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

thepetitepunk's review against another edition

5.0

Disturbing, heartbreaking. But Dashka Slater does a great job of humanizing—these are real people, who were children at the time.

jess_mango's review against another edition

4.0

A true crime book for the young adult set (and adults too!). The 57 Bus tells of an event several years ago where a 16 year old boy set the skirt of a non-binary teen, Sasha, on fire. The two teens didn't know each other, but this event on Oakland Public Transportation linked them. The author dives into each of their lives to show their perspectives and also discusses the trial, Sasha's recovery, and the public reaction to the incident.

This is a great book to understand the impact of what a teen might perceive as a funny prank can be in actuality.

This book counts towards the 2020 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge Task #1: A YA Non-fiction book