A review by hannahpewee
Columbine by Dave Cullen

5.0

This book was captivating from start to finish! It may sound awful, but when I started this book, I worried that it would be a dry, drawn-out account overloaded with facts. Thankfully, it’s not that at all! While it is packed to the brim with information and research, it also features so much emotion and reflection. It makes for a fast-paced read that feels as much as a documentary as it does a dramatic novel.

I can’t help but compare this to In Cold Blood (which I just finished recently), as both document the crimes perpetrated by two men that forever changed communities. With all respect to Capote, I feel that this book handled the nuances of the crime more effectively. My biggest gripe with In Cold Blood is that the horror of the crime felt downplayed, and the killers seemed over-sympathized with to the point that the victims took a backseat in their own murder. Cullen, on the other hand, has a great balance. While he does let us into these killers’ heads and see them as human beings, he doesn’t stray from the awful things they did, and he spends almost just as much time detailing the plights of the victims and survivors.

All in all, this was a great read. Informative and harrowing, I’d recommend it to anyone curious to learn more about this tragic event.