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maddy_elizabeth11919's review against another edition
5.0
This book so unlike any other. I absolutely loved how each different perspective truly felt like just that, different. Each perspective in this book is written by a different author. It truly feels like you are reading different perspectives. I also loved how well they discussed the issue of school shootings. I thought this book was a great read.
mary7974's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lindseyslittlelibrary's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 star read for me. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives and the variety of writing styles. Over all you should pick it up - just know some chapters may be better than others.
eliathereader's review against another edition
4.0
Çoğu hikayeyi çok beğenerek okudum. School shooting konusuna farklı açılardan yaklaşmayı çok iyi başarmış. Bazı yazarların öyküleri harikaydı en çok sevdiğim 2 öykü Neal & Brendan Shusterman ile Mindi Scott'un yazdığı öykülerdi. İyi bir çalışma olmuş.
owlbird's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
trayceebee's review
4.0
This book tells the story of a school shooting, but from 17 different perspectives (none of which are that of the shooter). It was interesting, going inside the days and hours leading up to the shooting, or those following the shooting. It really gave some good insights into how people may have viewed the shooter, before the event happened.... things that maybe led to his "breakdown," if you will; things that made it hard for some to believe he would be capable of this, while others found it completely plausible...
However, I found it went on a bit too long. I found myself with three or so chapters left, and I'd pretty much lost interest. I guess it might be because each chapter, focusing on a different person, is written by a different author. So, while I'm able to follow the flashbacks and the current events of a story written by one author (or two collaborating together), this book had a bit more of a choppy feel to it. I appreciated the skills of each author--they were all very good, as writers. I just found myself thinking, "Okay, I get it. Are we done yet?"
Still, I'd recommend this to anyone else interested in this particular topic, or to anyone who's read anything by one or more of those authors.
However, I found it went on a bit too long. I found myself with three or so chapters left, and I'd pretty much lost interest. I guess it might be because each chapter, focusing on a different person, is written by a different author. So, while I'm able to follow the flashbacks and the current events of a story written by one author (or two collaborating together), this book had a bit more of a choppy feel to it. I appreciated the skills of each author--they were all very good, as writers. I just found myself thinking, "Okay, I get it. Are we done yet?"
Still, I'd recommend this to anyone else interested in this particular topic, or to anyone who's read anything by one or more of those authors.
briannethebookworm's review against another edition
4.0
Definitely one of the more interesting books I've read this year. I really liked how all the characters were connected and played a part in Kirby's life in different ways before the shooting. There's even a point of view from the gun he used, something I thought was really unique. I'm going to use that chapter to talk about point of view and personification next year in my class!
We never know Kirby's point of view, but I didn't feel bothered by that, as I think that's realistic of many real life situations. How could anyone know what possessed someone to kill their classmates? I thought it was the right decision to leave that up to our interpretation.
We never know Kirby's point of view, but I didn't feel bothered by that, as I think that's realistic of many real life situations. How could anyone know what possessed someone to kill their classmates? I thought it was the right decision to leave that up to our interpretation.
girlinthepages's review
5.0
When I was at ALA this summer, I was pitched this book by an editor at Simon & Schuster when I asked specifically for heavier contemporary recommendations. The editor had worked on the collection himself and was SO excited about it, and it's one of those instances in which I'm seriously glad that I asked for recommendations because it may not have been a title I would have picked up myself. I'm so glad that I spoke with that editor at ALA because this book is so intense and so bold in what it does: it doesn't essentialize the story of the shooting into a single monstrous act and serve as a morality tale. Rather, it aims to examine the various contributing factors, events, and relationships that could drive someone to such a desperate act, and, as stated in the preface of the book, to get a better understanding of all the people who could potentially grow to be a person capable of such acts of violence.
Told from 17 points of view from 17 YA authors, Violent Ends explores a school shooting from peripheral perspectives of the shooter's classmates, neighbors, teachers and more. The short stories range in length and levity, with some chapters seeming surface level, featuring classmates who only caught a glance of Kirby the morning of the tragedy and were touched by grief only through the grief of others, and others featuring victims who met their demise at the end of the barrel of his gun. While the writing style and quality did vary across the short stories, the book did an incredible job painting a multifaceted picture of Kirby Matheson. Some perspectives had me repulsed by the bullying and cruelty he was capable of, others had me empathetic to the cruelty he suffered at the hands of others, and still others made me undeniably like him for the noble and caring gestures he did for those who he truly considered friends. It makes it impossible to paint him wholly as evil, but it also makes it impossible to excuse his behavior.
This anthology forces the reader to confront the idea that there are too many variables in life for one person's actions to be defined by a single news story or adjective. This book is incredibly important because it depicts that there are so many actions that humans participate in every day (loving, hating, bullying, rejecting, accepting, etc.) that may seem inconsequential at the time but how such actions can build up a person, or tear them down to their darkest motivations. It demands accountability out of the characters, including Kirby. It doesn't absolve characters of their actions, but forces them to think about them in the wake of a tragedy, once it's already too late. It pushes the boundaries of themes such as violence and assault and hatred in the YA genre, but do to that it can also facilitate a dialogue about such issues, too.
While this book is a solid five stars for me due to its overall content and what it sets out to do, the stories do vary in quality. Some were hard to read but powerful in their message, while others seemed disorganized and wouldn't have impacted the anthology had they not been included. Some that were particularly powerful were "Survival Instinct" by Tom Leveen, "The Greenest Grass" by Delilah S. Dawson, Feet First by Margie Gelbwasser, and "Hypothetical Time Travel" by Mindi Scott. I think this anthology has different stories that will resonate with different readers, but I'm confident there will be at least one that will get under your skin and make you think about grief, about death, about circumstance, and about the different types of evil in the world.
Overall: Violent Ends takes an unorthodox approach to a school shooting, in that it doesn't portray the shooter solely as a monster. Through short stories by seventeen different authors, it examines the circumstances that drive people to such devastatingly chaotic choices in life, and examines the fallout for many different types of characters, from direct victims to those who stayed home sick that fateful day. Some stories are uncomfortable to read, some will make you angry, or confused, or undeniably empathetic. This book seeks to look at tragedy in a way that paints a fuller picture of the perpetrator and how things may have been different, rather than using scare tactics to try to suppress a copycat crime. With school shootings happening more often, and attracting more and more of the wrong kind of media attention each time, I think this book is incredibly important to help readers, especially teenagers and young adults, examine what such a tragedy means to different people on different levels, and how important perspective can be.
This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages
Told from 17 points of view from 17 YA authors, Violent Ends explores a school shooting from peripheral perspectives of the shooter's classmates, neighbors, teachers and more. The short stories range in length and levity, with some chapters seeming surface level, featuring classmates who only caught a glance of Kirby the morning of the tragedy and were touched by grief only through the grief of others, and others featuring victims who met their demise at the end of the barrel of his gun. While the writing style and quality did vary across the short stories, the book did an incredible job painting a multifaceted picture of Kirby Matheson. Some perspectives had me repulsed by the bullying and cruelty he was capable of, others had me empathetic to the cruelty he suffered at the hands of others, and still others made me undeniably like him for the noble and caring gestures he did for those who he truly considered friends. It makes it impossible to paint him wholly as evil, but it also makes it impossible to excuse his behavior.
This anthology forces the reader to confront the idea that there are too many variables in life for one person's actions to be defined by a single news story or adjective. This book is incredibly important because it depicts that there are so many actions that humans participate in every day (loving, hating, bullying, rejecting, accepting, etc.) that may seem inconsequential at the time but how such actions can build up a person, or tear them down to their darkest motivations. It demands accountability out of the characters, including Kirby. It doesn't absolve characters of their actions, but forces them to think about them in the wake of a tragedy, once it's already too late. It pushes the boundaries of themes such as violence and assault and hatred in the YA genre, but do to that it can also facilitate a dialogue about such issues, too.
While this book is a solid five stars for me due to its overall content and what it sets out to do, the stories do vary in quality. Some were hard to read but powerful in their message, while others seemed disorganized and wouldn't have impacted the anthology had they not been included. Some that were particularly powerful were "Survival Instinct" by Tom Leveen, "The Greenest Grass" by Delilah S. Dawson, Feet First by Margie Gelbwasser, and "Hypothetical Time Travel" by Mindi Scott. I think this anthology has different stories that will resonate with different readers, but I'm confident there will be at least one that will get under your skin and make you think about grief, about death, about circumstance, and about the different types of evil in the world.
Overall: Violent Ends takes an unorthodox approach to a school shooting, in that it doesn't portray the shooter solely as a monster. Through short stories by seventeen different authors, it examines the circumstances that drive people to such devastatingly chaotic choices in life, and examines the fallout for many different types of characters, from direct victims to those who stayed home sick that fateful day. Some stories are uncomfortable to read, some will make you angry, or confused, or undeniably empathetic. This book seeks to look at tragedy in a way that paints a fuller picture of the perpetrator and how things may have been different, rather than using scare tactics to try to suppress a copycat crime. With school shootings happening more often, and attracting more and more of the wrong kind of media attention each time, I think this book is incredibly important to help readers, especially teenagers and young adults, examine what such a tragedy means to different people on different levels, and how important perspective can be.
This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages