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dev921's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Racial slurs, Suicide, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
aliciafeliz's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Mass/school shootings
Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Sexual violence
ninaceb's review
Graphic: Gun violence and Violence
Moderate: Rape and Racial slurs
haloblues's review
3.0
Oof. I actually have no idea how to review this one -- it's the first non-fiction book I've read in what's probably years, and definitely the first one I've reviewed on here, so my general approach to reviews doesn't stand here (I can't exactly present stars based on how entertaining a plot and how likeable the characters were). But I've been experiencing an unprecedented craving for non-fiction and educational materials lately, a big part of which is true crime, and when I saw this I knew I had to read it, not least of which is because as a Scottish person I knew much less about it than my American friends did, and all of my knowledge came from the rumours and exaggerations that were debunked by precisely this book.
I barely put it down for days. It was informative, detailed, absorbing and thoughtful, taking care to go through each of the misconceptions and warped 'facts' one by one and pick them apart to get at the truth, even when that truth wasn't what people wanted to hear. There were a few parts that seemed contradictory -- referring to Eric as popular and 'only below the football team' on the social hierarchy only to say that most of the school didn't know he or Dylan later; saying Eric got "lots and lots of chicks" only to then detail their struggles finding girls/dates and Eric in particular's disinterest in relationships; saying the boys were not bullied at all when classmate accounts and the observations of Sue Klebold said otherwise -- but overall it seemed extremely well-researched and tightly bound by fact. The chronology could get confusing at times; it had a habit throughout the entire book of jumping between chronicling Eric and Dylan's escalation leading up to Columbine, the actual events at the school on the day, and the reactions and responses after the fact, often with no introduction or warning, so it was occasionally jarring to go from the shooting to immediate discussion of the boys getting ready for prom.
But regardless, I know far more about this than I did before reading it, and I found myself emotionally invested in the winding detail of the unfolding events and thinking of it when I had to be elsewhere, eager to get back to reading. I'm moving onto Sue Klebold's own book next, in the hopes of gaining yet another fresh perspective on everything that happened.
Graphic: Child death, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Suicide, Sexism, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
greenan26's review
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Mental illness, Death, Gun violence, Child death, Toxic friendship, and Suicide
Moderate: Racism, Antisemitism, Homophobia, and Racial slurs
appledaxh's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Murder, Blood, Child death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Mass/school shootings
Minor: Racial slurs and Racism
msradiosilence's review
Graphic: Murder, Racism, Alcohol, Grief, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, Ableism, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Suicide, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Blood, Medical content, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Drug use, and Bullying
brookey8888's review
4.0
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Child death, Gore, Murder, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexism, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry
librarymouse's review
3.5
I find it very unsettling that so many pastors used the tragedy is an excuse to recruit people. Whilr I understand the idea that church can be comforting, the ways that they went about it feels predatory.
The actions of the police in terms of not following up on the repeated warnings about Eric Harris, and the willful destruction of evidence and dragging their feet in releasing their report is reprehensible.
While incredibly informative, and thoughtfully written I don't know that I would recommend this book.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Death of parent, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and War
Moderate: Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape
Minor: Bullying and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
laketwentytwo's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Bullying