Columbine - Dave Cullen

I don't know if everyone does this, but whenever I read a book, I like to picture the setting and characters in my head. When I read Columbine, I picture Homestead. 

The similarities between the two are eerie and a little unnerving. Suburban. Around 2,000 students. Affluent neighborhood. Despite the brown brick building with green glass on the cover of the book, I saw the white halls of Homestead. 

Columbine is a detailed account of the Columbine Massacre, the deadliest high school shooting in America. But Columbine's not just a police report. It's a story. It follows the lives of the killers, the victims, and the witnesses and leads up to the shooting. It fleshes out people, not just characters, and it's a lot different from just watching it on television. On television, these people are faces. You don't know anything about them. They're distant. One of the successes in Columbine is convincing the reader that Eric Harris, one of the shooters, could've been the kid who served you pizza and Dylan Klebold, the other shooter, could've been your prom date. 

When reading Columbine, it's difficult not to put yourself into the incident. I found myself thinking about where I would be at around 11:19 (for reference, I'd be in the art room), what I'd do once the shootings began (sit around oblivious for a while, drawing), what I'd do once I was aware of the shootings (hide in a cupboard or climb out the waist-level windows), and whether or not I'd survive (probably because the majority of deaths happened in areas with lots of students). I then thought about everyone I knew with A lunch. They would've been the likely targets. I thought about which of my friends would likely be in the library (where a lot of people were attacked by the shooters). I thought about the actual victims at Columbine I thought about my parents' reactions. Would they try to call me? Would I call back? Or would that be too dangerous? Would I be bused to a safe place and frantically search for my parents? Would they find me? 

But the biggest question in my mind, and what I imagine was in the minds of everyone who read this, was why? Eric and Dylan led reasonably good lives. They had friends, they weren't outcasts, they were smart, they had futures. So why? Honestly, I'm not really sure yet. Because I have to stop reading and do other homework. But nonetheless. 

There was a lot of mystery surrounding Columbine. And thanks to our instant gratification-based society, we had to know who, how many, and why immediately after (and during) the massacre. To satisfy this need, there was false information. Suddenly, there were hundreds of shooters with an array of personal problems that ranged from playing violent videogames to being Goth to being the victims of bullying. 

I really can't wait to pick up this book again. It is engaging. It is informative. I really want to know why Columbine happened and how it affected the community afterwards.