This is book is worth four stars, though I don't know "I really liked it" is quite the way to express my feelings about it. Dave Cullen's research on This is book is worth four stars, though I don't know "I really liked it" is quite the way to express my feelings about it. Dave Cullen's research on the lives and personality of Eric Harris and Derek Klebold and their reasons for the Columbine shootings is fascinating and scary and disturbing. Part of me wanted to understand them, and part of me wanted to get as far away from them as possible. I'm glad I read it, but I was also really glad to finish it. ...more
I really, really liked this book. Unlike some, I was a fan of the margin notes. A little distracting, maybe, but many gave a sense of skipping to the I really, really liked this book. Unlike some, I was a fan of the margin notes. A little distracting, maybe, but many gave a sense of skipping to the end that I loved, as I am a professed skip-to-the-end-to-make-sure-it-ends-the-way-I-want kind of reader. I liked the characters, I liked the period, I liked the storyline. However, I do agree with many other posters, there are just too many storylines! Maybe this could be a trilogy - Lydia and Henry, Lydia fights the flu epidemic and Lydia fights Q.D. soda. I'd read all three!
My biggest complaint is that the book didn't really end so much as it just..... stopped. I think the conclusions were supposed to be gleaned from the sidenotes, but I kind of felt like I was just left hanging. And I also didn't feel like Q.D. really redeemd himself. My final verdict - good book, but I'd like Ms. Goldberg to come back and finish it!...more
I could only give this one 3 stars because it is so very hard to read about so much human misery and cruelty. Living in my comfortable, happy, shelterI could only give this one 3 stars because it is so very hard to read about so much human misery and cruelty. Living in my comfortable, happy, sheltered, suburban home in 2010, I really can't comprehend the physical hardships those men endured, not to mention how people could treat others, even conquered captives, and especially fellow prisoners the way the POWs in the Phillipines were treated. Thank you so much to the authors for seeing the soldiers' stories through to some happiness and healing in their lives. Truly a book to make you appreciate the sacrificies made by our soldiers and inspire gratitude for the country and day and age we live in....more