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myiahjay's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm
savreads28's review
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Cursing, Death, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Mental illness, War, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
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
dubtronius15's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Murder and Suicide
carolinebiehn's review
5.0
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Grief, Child death, Gun violence, Murder, Death of parent, and Bullying
shakira19's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Grief, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Suicide, Violence, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Mass/school shootings
toxxicwasste's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Blood, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gaslighting, Child death, Grief, Toxic friendship, Genocide, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death of parent, Antisemitism, Alcohol, Bullying, and Sexual content
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Hate crime, Racism, and Rape
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