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A review by greenlivingaudioworm
Columbine by Dave Cullen
4.0
"Human memory can be erratic. We tend to record fragments: gunshots, explosions, trench coats, terror, sirens, screams. Images come back jumbled, but we crave coherence, so we trim them, adjust details, and assemble everything together in a story that makes sense."
Columbine is one of those books I've been wanting to read for quite some time now. I remember when Columbine happened and how much that changed school culture not only for my generation but for future generations as well. Eric and Dylan have, sadly, inspired many other mass shooters. Going back to Columbine and learning more about where Eric and Dylan got their ideas and how calculated their attack was both terrifying and interesting at the same time. It is clear with how this book was written and structured that author [a:Dave Cullen|1116816|Dave Cullen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544996699p2/1116816.jpg] spent a lot of time researching this book and all of the different pieces that both led up to the attacks on April 20, 1999, but he also spent a lot of time researching the after effects of this day and how the students, staff, family, and community were all changed because of the actions of Eric and Dylan.
Nonfiction books can often be really challenging for me, especially if I listen to them on audio. One thing I loved about the structure of this book was that for most of it, it alternated chapters between what Dylan and Eric were planning and a chapter of someone else involved in the Columbine tragedy. This helped break up the story for me into more manageable chunks that weren't so heavy on one side of the tragedy. You definitely want to be in the right frame of mind when reading this book because it is very heavy. As much as one can enjoy a story about a national tragedy, I did enjoy this story and how well researched it was. I will definitely read other books written by Cullen in the future.
TW: school shootings, murder, death, grief, violence, suicide, mental illness, bullying, death of a parent, racial slurs, sexual assault
Columbine is one of those books I've been wanting to read for quite some time now. I remember when Columbine happened and how much that changed school culture not only for my generation but for future generations as well. Eric and Dylan have, sadly, inspired many other mass shooters. Going back to Columbine and learning more about where Eric and Dylan got their ideas and how calculated their attack was both terrifying and interesting at the same time. It is clear with how this book was written and structured that author [a:Dave Cullen|1116816|Dave Cullen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544996699p2/1116816.jpg] spent a lot of time researching this book and all of the different pieces that both led up to the attacks on April 20, 1999, but he also spent a lot of time researching the after effects of this day and how the students, staff, family, and community were all changed because of the actions of Eric and Dylan.
Nonfiction books can often be really challenging for me, especially if I listen to them on audio. One thing I loved about the structure of this book was that for most of it, it alternated chapters between what Dylan and Eric were planning and a chapter of someone else involved in the Columbine tragedy. This helped break up the story for me into more manageable chunks that weren't so heavy on one side of the tragedy. You definitely want to be in the right frame of mind when reading this book because it is very heavy. As much as one can enjoy a story about a national tragedy, I did enjoy this story and how well researched it was. I will definitely read other books written by Cullen in the future.
TW: school shootings, murder, death, grief, violence, suicide, mental illness, bullying, death of a parent, racial slurs, sexual assault