The book that I read was pretty complicated to discuss in class. The novel talks about the lives of six people, two teenagers, and the adults that are in their lives. It goes back and forth between the past, present, and future. Within each of those chapters the author gives different points of view for each character.
The story is about a school shooting. It discusses the events that lead to the shooting, the shooting itself, and then the trial of the boy who shot the nine students and one teacher that day.
When I first started reading the book and then writing the report I was thinking that I would write about the in-groups and out-groups of high school and how when you are part of the out-group, which the boy shooter was, it could drive him to the extreme, in his case, the shooting. But it wasn't only him who felt as if he was in the out-group and felt pressure but Josie, the young female in the novel, who was in the in-group had put a lot of pressures on herself. Which in the end we find out the outcome of what she was going through, and how that played out during the school shooting.
Then I found an article we had read about stigmatization, which everyone can relate to on some level at some point in their lives. So I found that would be the concentration of my report, along with in-groups and out-groups.
I thought that it was important to the story hearing all the points of views of each character, you find out a lot of the contributing factors of their behaviors in relation to one another and how it affects each of the characters. I really enjoyed this book, it doesn't based off a specific school shooting but it definitely gives insight into the bullying that goes on and how important certain friendships and relationships are. The novel also gives insight to suicide and mental health and how someone can hide those things from the world. But that there are a few people who recognize the truth in others.
Leave a comment