Wow. Picoult's books are so intense. She's a great story teller and weaves such great stories. They are always on the ethical line and in most cases cross the ethical line many times over. This book is about a small town in NH where a school shooting takes place (mimicked after Columbine). The shooter who is a student, Peter, doesn't end his own life and is tried by the courts.
Picoult takes you back and forth through time to when Peter was little and shows a lot of his experiences through school. Of course he's constantly picked on and bullied by the other kids in school and he's a loner and likes video games. You also get to see his mom and dad's point of view. It's heartbreaking for them going through this and the mom keeps racking her brain as to what she could have done better. Picoult has obviously done tons of research on bullying, the court systems and traumatic events like these.
I won't give away more details in case some of the gals in book club read my blog before we meet in a couple of weeks. We'll have tons to talk about. I will say, get out your box of tissues and get ready for an emotional roller coaster ride.
This book made me reexamine Columbine and Ron and I actually went to the Columbine Memorial which is in Clement Park off of Bowles in Littleton (right by the school). It was moving--I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face. Talk about powerful...
Columbine for me will be like the assassination of JFK for my parents and now what 9/11 is like for our generation as well. You remember where you were when you found out about these events. I'll always remember watching on TV the images of kids running out of the school with their hands on top of their heads and just how shocking the whole thing was for not only the Denver community and the state of Colorado, but for our nation. It used to be that schools and churches were safe places to go, unfortunately that's just not the case anymore.
It was an intense read and I'm glad I read it.
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