The best book I read last year, and I think the only book that ever actually CHANGED me. I don't remember Columbine well except for the image of Patrick getting pulled out of the window - I was 12 and very, very sheltered. So I went out and bought the book out of curiosity, and was completely wrecked by it. I don't recommend it to people because I think I was a little messed up after reading it. I couldn't think about anything else or talk about anything else. At one point I was reading on the plane and I had to go to the bathroom and THROW UP because I was so, so upset. Which, you know... I should have been.
oh mannn i am in for it. i'm still in the first third, all emotional and soggy-eyed and remembering how my 13year old brain was processing all this shit. when i'm done we can process together. omg. cam i am going to die. ughhh.
You're the fourth person I've seen recommend this book and a part of me really wants to read it and a part of me really really doesn't. That part is the person who was born in Denver and has lived there for the past five years. That's the person who sees how the events of that day STILL effect the city. The capitol building here still puts up a big blue ribbon every April and EVERYONE in this city knows where they were on that day, what they were doing when the heard the news. (Hell, I remember where I was when I heard and I was living in Indiana at the time. And, as you've said, you remember, too.) I'm just afraid I'll spend the entire time a complete and utter wreck. :-/
I'm just afraid I'll spend the entire time a complete and utter wreck. :-/
omg you absolutely will. i am not even a third through and i am A MESS. cullen takes so much time to show us the people involved -- who they were, what was important to them. one big long extended group obituary/memorial/tribute. SO SAD.
if you ever read into the wild, it's that same style of writing. getting right down to the level of the incident, cutting out all the media frenzy and ballooned panic, and walking through minute by minute. see the school, see the mountains, see the faces, hear the words, feel the feelings.
I actually went down to Barnes and Noble earlier and bought it. Assuming I don't sleep on the plane tomorrow (I probably will) I'll get started on it. An will probably spend the entire time crying.
honey omg. yes. i am 100 pages in and FUCKED. but it is incredible. if you care about what happened, it totally needs to be read. invaluable research and honest, compassionate recounting of that entire event and resulting media frenzy. you will love it.
It's one of the most powerful books I have ever read, it really is. I couldn't put it down - I read it on the train ride from DC to NYC and, god -- I was with my Jessup team and they were all like "Sofia, come join us, why are you looking so haunted, blah blah" but I couldn't stop reading and thinking and reading... it changed the way I looked Columbine FUNDAMENTALLY. I'm so glad it gave you closure, in a way, hon... and I agree, everyone should read it.
it changed the way I looked Columbine FUNDAMENTALLY.
so huge, i am so glad you said this. that alone gives this book all of the talk it needs to be a necessary read. the effed up thing about columbine was that it immediately became a National Project, where it instantly had to be defined and explained and then SHOWN IN EXCRUCIATING DETAIL on every news station in america. there were instantly all of these generalizations made, and so much was shown where i was like, wtf why is this on primetime news. watching kids sneaking out of the building while the gunmen were still inside? i was 13 and STILL was like --- why are they showing this?
i don't even know, i can't wait to machine through it, i am so happy it exists, and is so honest.
I've had this book on my amazon wish list for ages, without ever coming close to buying it. Ages ago I read 'The Holocaust' by Martin Gilbert [my favourite historian] which mixes historical narrative with personal accounts and while it was interesting it was probably one of the most grueling and horrific experiences I've ever had.
That said, I think that book did change me and maybe I should just get over being to much of a 'fraidy cat to read this one.
I'm glad this book was able to do something for you though. That's pretty powerful stuff.
update -- it took me six hours to read the first hundred pages. kept having to break out of the trance, walk around the house, digest, etc. INTENSE. the reality of what happened, put against news reports, put against my own fumbly memory. jarring and emotional experience.
that being said, i still recommend!
not sure i could read personal accounts of the holocaust. UGH. i remember seeing video from it in high school and i've still got those images hanging out in my head. night was about my threshold, i think. sweet jesus.
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AMAZING book.
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omg you absolutely will. i am not even a third through and i am A MESS. cullen takes so much time to show us the people involved -- who they were, what was important to them. one big long extended group obituary/memorial/tribute. SO SAD.
if you ever read into the wild, it's that same style of writing. getting right down to the level of the incident, cutting out all the media frenzy and ballooned panic, and walking through minute by minute. see the school, see the mountains, see the faces, hear the words, feel the feelings.
god; nothing was ever so sad or so necessary.
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so huge, i am so glad you said this. that alone gives this book all of the talk it needs to be a necessary read. the effed up thing about columbine was that it immediately became a National Project, where it instantly had to be defined and explained and then SHOWN IN EXCRUCIATING DETAIL on every news station in america. there were instantly all of these generalizations made, and so much was shown where i was like, wtf why is this on primetime news. watching kids sneaking out of the building while the gunmen were still inside? i was 13 and STILL was like --- why are they showing this?
i don't even know, i can't wait to machine through it, i am so happy it exists, and is so honest.
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That said, I think that book did change me and maybe I should just get over being to much of a 'fraidy cat to read this one.
I'm glad this book was able to do something for you though. That's pretty powerful stuff.
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that being said, i still recommend!
not sure i could read personal accounts of the holocaust. UGH. i remember seeing video from it in high school and i've still got those images hanging out in my head. night was about my threshold, i think. sweet jesus.
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