I don't even know how to tell you my feelings on this book. I've read a few anthology books written by various authors, but THIS by far is the best. It FELT like one story, it wasn't choppy, and a lot of the chapters related back to characters in other chapters.

My question is HOW?? How did these 17 authors pull this off? It had to be a coordination nightmare-- and I give Shaun David Hutchinson so much credit for pulling this together so seamlessly.

What I thought this book did really good (and where books like This is Where it Ends failed) was to humanize everyone involved. Not to say that I think school shooters and other murders should be sympathized with, but I think the issue is bigger than good and bad/black and white-- and far more complicated than "he's just evil" in most cases.

I wanted to know WHO Kirby Matheson was and what brought him to the point where he would do something like this? I don't think I got all those answers, but I did get to see multiple sides of his character and a much more believable portrait of a boy who winds up being a killer. I also got to know so many people in his life and how they were affected by it.

My favorite stories in the book:

Presumed Destroyed (Neal Shusterman and Brendan Shusterman)-- which gives us the perspective of the GUN. It was genius in my opinion.

Grooming Habits (Elisa Nader)-- which was the chapter of a stalker and SO mindfucked me.

Survival Instinct (Tom Leveen)-- which was about an abused girl and made me feel SO much.

History Lessons (Courtney Summers)-- the final chapter, which left me with so many questions, and also made me realize that Courtney Summers is SO good at writing an unlikable teenage boy.

OVERALL: HUGE YES!! This book blew me away-- most anthology books have fallen flat for me, but this one was full of LIFE. So creative, so unique, so well-written and pulled together. I loved how it flowed and almost felt like it could have been written by one author instead of 17. Recommend to anyone who doesn't have problems reading about super tough stuff like this.

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Heartbreaking and really well done. ( )

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. ( )

I thought the premise of this book was fascinating; having so many points of view gives you a lot of perspectives on one particular situation. Each of the different authors gives all the characters a unique voice following their unique writing style. My favorite aspect of the story was these different voices, reflecting an actual high school community.

Though I liked the anthology aspect of this book, I'm not sure this particular kind of story lends itself to this style of writing. I enjoyed the different voices included, but I didn't feel like I could get invested in any of the characters specifically. Since I'm someone who reads for character, the small snippets didn't allow me to get invested in their story.

The subject matter also felt a bit out of touch to me, especially given how much attention school shootings have gotten in the media lately. It felt as though it lacked diversity, and any characters who were from diverse backgrounds and such are the ones that were killed. It is a sensitive topic that wasn't quite dealt with in the right way, in my opinion.

Read more on my blog at between-the-shelves.com! ( )

I'm not usually a fan of short story collections, but I really couldn't pass this one up, and I am glad that I didn't! This book contains seventeen different stories, all centered around one event - a student named Kirby Matheson walked into a school one day and killed five other students and a teacher before killing himself. Each person (actually one of the stories was told from the gun's perspective, which was super unique and interesting) is somehow touched by the tragedy - Kirby's sister, Kirby's friends, Kirby's former neighbor, the kid who used to live in Kirby's house before the Mathesons moved in, etc.

If you are a fan of linear stories, this is not the book for you. Some of the stories are set before the shooting, and some are set after, and there is no order to them. And if you NEED to know why Kirby decided to go into a pep rally with a gun, you may not enjoy this book either, because the reader is never told WHY. There is no story from Kirby's point of view. There is no story that says "I know that Kirby did this because of ______" (although a few different stories feature characters who believe that they might have been the cause, or at least led up to it).

I think the best thing about this book is that it portrays Kirby Matheson (who, like I said, never gives his own point of view) as a complex person. To some, he's a jerk; to others, he's a savior. To some, he is a friend; to others, he's an enemy. He kills random people he doesn't even know - Billie Palermo, for example, a recent transfer student who is also transgender - and doesn't kill people who have been unkind or downright cruel to him (he doesn't shoot Nate, a kid who beat him up and tormented him, but kills Nate's best friend in front of him). He tells one person to not come to school on the day of the shooting (she isn't aware of why until later) and deliberately sets up another girl to keep her away from the pep rally, and yet Kirby is also okay with his own sister being in the pep rally and potentially being in the path of his bullets.

I highly recommend this book. ( )