“To realize it’s not really about Kirby now, it’s about what’s left. And if you don’t deal with it, it will deal with you.”
–Violent Ends
Violent Ends follows the story of a school shooting, covering it from 17 different points of view. Instead of following the shooting itself, the different stories focus on the aftermath and the way that the shooting affects the victims. It only took Kirby Matheson 22 minutes to kill 6 students and injure 5 others before taking his own life. Featuring a variety of well-known young adult authors, all the characters are related through one thing: Kirby Matheson.
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. It lets you get to know the setting, the high school culture, the other students involved, and the community surrounding the school. 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.
Overall, I liked some of the chapters, but all together the book didn’t quite work for me.
3/5 stars