Title: This Is Where It Ends
Author: Marieke Nijkamp
Genre: YA/Contemporary
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
10:00 a.m. The principal of Opportunity 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 a.m. The auditorium doors won’t open.
10:05 a.m. Someone starts shooting.
Told from four different perspectives over the span of fifty-four harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.
My Thoughts
This is not an easy book to review. I’d heard very different views on it, so went into it with an open mind. I don’t think it’s an easy topic to handle, and think that might be part of the problem. I liked the idea of it taking place over the space of an hour, and I liked the way it switched from different students perspectives. I also liked that there were a couple of LGBT characters, one of them being one of the characters we follow.
The problem I had was that there doesn’t seem to be any point to it all. I kept thinking that maybe the point is that there is no point, as things like this happen and we look for a reason and rarely find one. But I just can’t see why you would want to write or read a book like this. I came away from it thinking I’d just wasted time that I could have spent reading something else. I love to read a book that entertains me, makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me jump when I hear noises in the dark. This one just didn’t make me feel anything. We see enough senseless violence on the news that I don’t want to see it in my books too. And if it is in a book, then I want an explanation for it.
Sorry if this seems a bit of a rant, but this one just wasn’t for me. Don’t get me wrong, I think it was well written and I may check out the authors next book. But this is one book that I won’t be recommending to everyone.
I’d love to hear if any of you have read this and what your thoughts are. Was it a love it or hate it book for you?
a pretty wonderful book 
Nice review, you make a fair point (punny?) 🙂 I’ve seen some reviews that really rave about the book but yes, on a topic like this, you really expect depth and more, more, more…
As a side note, every time I see this tittle, I think of a Stone Sour song 30/30-150, cause in the lyrics it has ‘this is where it ends’ … earworm! 🙂
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It’s such a difficult subject and I felt that if a teen were reading this, then they’d have more questions than answers. I think I need to read something light and fluffy now. 🙂
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You make another good point yet again… writing for younger audiences must be really difficult ’cause they need to be guided a lot more in terms of good/evil, choices, options, etc so they can efficiently make up their own world discovering minds… hmm.. not saying that younger people are not capable of that, but it’s a fact that many topics are complex and have so many sides that they really need to be all shown… heck, I;’m hitting 30 and I’m still discovering new angles to topics I never thought about considering… Interesting!
To light a fluffy! 🙂 Cheers!
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I should read this as it’s written by a Dutch author who’s basically flabbergasted about making it onto the NYT book list herself out of nowhere, but…I just never really felt like picking it up *shrugs*. Judging by your review, I should follow my gut and continue to stay away from it ;).
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It’s had very mixed reviews. I don’t get the love for it. If you want to give it a go then see if your library has it, as I wouldn’t recommend spending your money on it to be disappointed.
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Library it is. Some day. Not likely this year 😀
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Oh that is really annoying! I have to feel *something* when you read a book!
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Great review! I haven’t read this yet, and I’m not sure I want to read it anymore mainly because I think topics like these are so sensitive. They need to be handled properly, and books involving them need to exist with a good reason apart from just the shock value. Shame that you thought there wasn’t a point to it – I don’t think I’d be able to handle it. Have you read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult? It’s my favorite book about school shootings- I thought it was handled extremely well. 🙂
~ Aimal @ Bookshelves & Paperbacks
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I’ve not read Nineteen Minutes. I have heard about it, so I might add it to my TBR. I’ve got so much to read. 🙂
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