Info                                                                      

Adult Contemporary Fiction
Washington Square Press

Summary

A small ordinary town is turned upside down with a teenage boy goes on a shooting rampage at his high school.

Thoughts

What I liked most about this book was that the author got deep into everyone’s point of view, including the parents of the teen who was the shooter. When a school shooting happens, we often don’t consider what it must be like for the parent of the shooter. I also liked that the book dealt with the problem of bullying. My emotions changed so much through the book; on the one hand, I was angry at the teen shooter for what he did, but on the other it was hard not to sympathize with him because of the intense bullying he suffered.

Even though this isn’t specially a teen book, I think teens would enjoy it. I read in an article that some schools have adapted parts of the book to use in their anti-bullying curriculum.

Through the entire read, I thought of Columbine, as I was just out of high school when it happened, and I remember it impacted me deeply. I often wondered about certain aspects of those involved in terms of psychology. Even though Picoult’s book is fiction, she did a lot of research, including interviewing those involved in previous U.S. high school shootings. This made the book feel more real and intense.

For an interesting read on what goes on in the minds of those involved when a school shooting occurs, I recommend Picoult’s book.