April 25, 2016

Review: This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp (Jan. 2016)
285 pages
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: I received this book as a gift for my birthday!
Purchase: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository
My Rating:
Goodreads Summary: 10:00 a.m.
The principal of Opportunity, Alabama's high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.
The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03
The auditorium doors won't open.

10:05
Someone starts shooting.

Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

My Review

This is Where it Ends made me tremble with a million different feelings. The synopsis did prepare me for an intense read, but I still don't think I was ready.

This is going to be a tough book to write about. School shootings are terrible tragedies that occur way too often. I really wish some kids were not so afraid to speak up about others and about themselves if they are having a tough time, but I know it is more complex than that. Mental illness is not properly addressed in our society and people should not feel ashamed to ask for help, but that isn't always the case. I don't want to go on a long rant about this so now so I shall just focus on the book.

This Is Where It Ends will stay with me for a quite a while. We get 54 harrowing minutes of a school shooting told from four different perspectives. Each teen has a close connection to the shooter, and each point of view will break your heart. One minute these kids' lives were all about just worrying about school and college until disaster struck. I could feel the tension of the kids stuck in the auditorium with the shooter, and with the ones forced to be outside and feeling helpless to help their friends and family.

This book is well written and the characters are real. You have to be in a certain frame of mind to read this one. It will make you cry.

8 comments:

  1. I really want to read this book because it has such a powerful meaning and I think it would be a great change from cutesy contemporaries and fast-paced fantasies. I also want to see how author develops the characters under a span of so little time. Interesting review I really want to pick this up next.

    Alex @ The Book's Buzz

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a very interesting and intense book. I hope you give it a try!

      Delete
  2. This sounds like an important read. Mass shootings are tragic realities and the issues underlying them seem so complex and difficult to address -- but really, desperately need to addressed. I wish I had the answers, but having more books about these difficult subjects definitely can't hurt.

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  3. Great review! I really liked this book too and still often think about it. You are absolutely right though, this is a book that you need to be in a certain frame of mind to read.

    Traci @ The Reading Geek

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  4. I don't know if I want to pick this one up. I have heard it is a well written story but at the same time it seems like it might be too heavy for me at least in my current reading moods! Great Review!

    Ashley @ The Quiet Concert

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You definitely have to be in a certain mood to read it.

      Delete

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