This Is Where It Ends (edición 2019)

I was disappointed with this book. I felt like it was too big of a topic to tackle in one novel.

Also, I was not a fan of the four characters that was followed. I did not feel any connection with any of these characters nor did I really want to. ( )

What is it?
This Is Where It Ends, by Marieke Nijkamp, takes place over 54 minutes of time during a high school shooting, switching narrative perspectives each chapter to highlight how each character is dealing with uncertainty in his or her life at school and outside of school. Characters in This Is Where it Ends are juggling their personal uncertainties as well as the uncertainty of survival while a classmate goes on a killing spree in their high school.

Should you read it?
YES! This book was really hard to put down. The chapters switched perspectives of students experiencing a high school shooting from different areas of a high school. As a reader, you get into the minds and hearts of most of the characters because of this. Each character is unique, as is their role not only in high school, but each character has a connection and influence to the unraveling that is happening during the shooting. I would not recommend this reading for students under 9th grade. The descriptions of violent scenes are quite blunt and not censored at all. Bullets go through body parts, throats are slit, and there's a lot of death. There isn't a lot of figurative language or description that glorifies the violence, but there is a lot of violence and death that would not be appropriate for younger or less mature readers. There are a few f-bombs and some derogatory slang, too. The characters, their connections, and how they respond to the actions around them really make this book an intense read.

The cover of the edition I read is above.

Want to know more about the author and her research in writing this story? Check out this interview: https://latinosinkidlit.com/2016/01/18/qa-with-debut-author-marieke-nijkamp-abou... ( )

This was a miss for me; 2.5 peaches. I may or may not be compelled to write a review. I'm going to sleep on it.

This is Where it Ends is the miss of the month for me. I struggled to take in the first 50 pages with its slew of characters, changing viewpoints, and info-dumping. In hindsight, I should have quit while I was ahead, but I restarted and felt confident enough to keep going the second time and so saw it through to the end.

Although the theme of a school shooting is an intense one, I was bored when reading this. I had no attachment to the characters who felt fake and forced, as did their connections to each other. I read that this author is part of an initiative for inclusive YA publishing, and quite frankly, was left feeling that this goal ended up taking over the story to the point where all else was lost. Tokenism is not the road to inclusivity. ( )

NetGalley gave me advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I've sat on this review because the timing felt wrong. How do you talk about such a complicated subject in at the start of a new semester? How do you recommend a book about a school massacre to anyone, knowing it is one of the biggest fears of a parent of a student?

I'm also overdue in this review, in part because I don't know where to leave the rating, as my emotions are mixed. I requested it because, darn it, I was intrigued. I liked the concept of the story being told from the point of four different people. It was intense. It was gripping. The cast of characters was diverse. It was good, but it could have been better.

On one hand, it was an oversimplified explanation of why someone would do a Columbine-like shooting, and that is a disappointment to the families of all affected by real-life tragedy, because I don't believe it is as simple as good or evil. It's so much more complex.

But in the end, the way the characters were developed (or the lack thereof) was what bothered me. I wanted to know what pushed Tyler to the breaking point. The characters were diverse, sure,but handled a bit stereotypically.

This is a BIG subject, and parts were just handled too lightly. I read this in fits and starts, because I honestly didn't want these characters living inside my head as I drove into the school drop-off line. It DID stick with me - I'll be honest about that.

This is a book meant for teens, and maybe a teen wouldn't have issues with the generalizations like I did. Yes, I did stick with it, because I needed to see how it played out, but in the end, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it.


( )

This book is basically about a school shooting that happens in Alabama. It is told from four different pov's namely- Claire, Autumn, Sylvia & Tomás. The book shuffles between these pov's which allow the reader to understand exactly what's going on and also makes them aware of the relationships between these four and the shooter. So the book starts pretty tame with just another day at school and teenagers dealing with teenage problems. It basically goes like this: Autumn wants to go to dance-school but her dad doesn't want her to go because her mom died in an accident and she was also in dance school and her dad is a drunk and he beats her up.Claire is on the track team and her sister Tracy enlisted in the army so she and the guy that she likes Chris also want to enlist but she's not really sure of whether she wants to enlist. She thinks she has to do it 'cause everyone wants her to. Sylvia's mother has dementia and she barely remembers her and her brother Tomás and she is also Autumn's secret girlfriend and she wants to support Autumn's dance-school dream but she also doesn't want her to leave her alone in this town 'cause she hated it a year and she also wants to go to Brown University 'cause she's super smart.Tomás is not-so-awesome at studies and is trying to break into a teacher's office to steal papers. (So glad that's over). Above is how the whole book is: rushed and mostly a rant. Personally, I failed to connect with any of the characters because there's barely any time to do that as the story just escalates within a few pages. To be honest, I loved the premise of the book and the overall story with the whole revenge-plot and the shooting but I wished there were more pages given to the character development and their individual stories. The whole book for me passed by in a blur and I realized I barely understood the characters and I honestly hated that. ( )