jaxindahouse's review against another edition
Not fast enough paced for me and pretty boring.
titanic's review against another edition
1.0
So, let's talk about this book shall we.
This book follows a girl named Lee, who witnessed her best friend Sarah get killed in a school shooting. After her death, Sarah becomes a martyr, supposedly standing up to a shooter and sticking to her religion by saying she 'believes Jesus is watching over her right now.' Which is all fine and dandy, until you realise that the author seems to have taking a large amount of inspiration for this book from what has to be the most (unfortunately, I don't know a better word for it) famous school shooting of them all. Columbine.
During the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre, a seventeen year old girl named Rachel Scott was the first victim to die. She was shot four times on the lawn of her school. She did not talk to her shooters. But word went around that she defended her faith, and that's why she died. (It's not confirmed who, or if, someone actually did defend their faith that day, but the two more likely suspects are Cassie Bernall and Valeen Schnurr) but after the shooting, everyone turned Rachel Scott into a martyr, ignoring the facts, the witnesses, and encouraged this myth about Scott.
And this book pretty much copies this event. I was reading this book and noticing so many similarities between the Scott case, and Kody's fictionalised version and a few bits stood out. There was the parents making a book from Sarah's diary entries (You can literally purchase Rachel Scott's diary entries on Amazon), the book potentially becoming a movie (There's a fictional but not told as fictional movie about Rachel Scott's death), and the song written about her (You only have to Google songs about Rachel Scott and a whole list comes up that literally links you to a Spotify album). So I could clearly see that Kody Keplinger was potentially inspired by the Scott case.
But that wasn't my only problem with the book. The main character was insufferable. She constantly talked about having side effects from the shooting (aka PTSD) but the moment someone doesn't want to write a stupid letter about what happened to them on that day, she gets frustrated and mad. It took her 189 pages to realise that not everyone feels comfortable talking about the shooting. Not everyone wants to bring up that day. Three years isn't that long of a time to get over something so horrific, and scarring, yet she pretty much demanded Miles write one and got so angry every time he didn't want to.
Then we come to the most confusing moment I found whilst reading this book (and I probably went into to much detail and that's why I tagged this as spoilers). Let me introduce the characters.
Sarah - Martyr, dead, necklace believed to belong to her but it didn't.
Lee - 1/2 bathroom survivor. Annoying.
Kellie - 1/2 bathroom survivor. Not annoying. The actual owner of the necklace.
[REDACTED] - Shooter.
Scene: School bathroom. All three girls are aware of each other being in the bathroom. Kellie hears gunshots and tells Sarah and Lee to hide, to which they do in THE SAME STALL. Remember this. Kellie then trips, loses her necklace and hides in a different stall. Redacted comes in and shoots at Kellie and she's bleeding on the floor when Redacted notices the necklace, a cross btw, on the floor and is essentially, 'Whose is this? Ew it's ugly, and do you think Jesus is watching over you?' Now after this happened, Sarah and Lee, who if you remembered were together in the same stall, get shot and Sarah dies. RIP. Then Redacted leaves to continue shooting elsewhere.
Now, the confusion comes in, and I'm sorry I know I had a major build up before getting to it, it's worth it I promise, Lee eventually finds out that it was Kellie who was talking to the killer. And she says, and I quote 'I'd never even considered that it might have been Kellie's [necklace], even though she was the only other person in the bathroom with Sarah and me when the shooting happened.' So if she knew it wasn't Sarah who talked to the killer, because she was in the same cubical and literally witnessed her death, why wouldn't her next step go to Kellie? Because she's a goth and doesn't fit the Christian stereotype? If there are only four people in the room, and two of you aren't talking, I'm gonna assume the other two voices I could hear are the two others in the room. Yet the author made this into such a major mind fuck for Lee and for the life of me I can't figure out why.
Now I guess I should mention some of the bits I liked, which were not a lot. I liked that the main character was Asexual, although I hated how she got with Miles in the end. It seemed to just erase her sexual preferences (not saying that all Asexuals don't have relationships, it just felt like the author wanted to be appealing to the LGBT+ community whilst also pandering to the readers who enjoy girl falls in love with boy next door troupes). I liked that one of the main characters Denny was blind and black, and he was probably the best bits of the book. Especially when Glitter his guide dog was involved. His parts were just way more interesting, everything else in this book I seemed to read with a groaning, monotone voice but his had some oomph to it.
And so that concludes my very messy, and not proof read, review. It's probably terrible but in my opinion, so is this book so they're very deserving of each other. Have fun, and if you've read this far I'm sorry but that's what, three or four minutes you're not getting back of your life. They belong to me now. Unlucky.
This book follows a girl named Lee, who witnessed her best friend Sarah get killed in a school shooting. After her death, Sarah becomes a martyr, supposedly standing up to a shooter and sticking to her religion by saying she 'believes Jesus is watching over her right now.' Which is all fine and dandy, until you realise that the author seems to have taking a large amount of inspiration for this book from what has to be the most (unfortunately, I don't know a better word for it) famous school shooting of them all. Columbine.
During the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre, a seventeen year old girl named Rachel Scott was the first victim to die. She was shot four times on the lawn of her school. She did not talk to her shooters. But word went around that she defended her faith, and that's why she died. (It's not confirmed who, or if, someone actually did defend their faith that day, but the two more likely suspects are Cassie Bernall and Valeen Schnurr) but after the shooting, everyone turned Rachel Scott into a martyr, ignoring the facts, the witnesses, and encouraged this myth about Scott.
And this book pretty much copies this event. I was reading this book and noticing so many similarities between the Scott case, and Kody's fictionalised version and a few bits stood out. There was the parents making a book from Sarah's diary entries (You can literally purchase Rachel Scott's diary entries on Amazon), the book potentially becoming a movie (There's a fictional but not told as fictional movie about Rachel Scott's death), and the song written about her (You only have to Google songs about Rachel Scott and a whole list comes up that literally links you to a Spotify album). So I could clearly see that Kody Keplinger was potentially inspired by the Scott case.
But that wasn't my only problem with the book. The main character was insufferable. She constantly talked about having side effects from the shooting (aka PTSD) but the moment someone doesn't want to write a stupid letter about what happened to them on that day, she gets frustrated and mad. It took her 189 pages to realise that not everyone feels comfortable talking about the shooting. Not everyone wants to bring up that day. Three years isn't that long of a time to get over something so horrific, and scarring, yet she pretty much demanded Miles write one and got so angry every time he didn't want to.
Then we come to the most confusing moment I found whilst reading this book (and I probably went into to much detail and that's why I tagged this as spoilers). Let me introduce the characters.
Sarah - Martyr, dead, necklace believed to belong to her but it didn't.
Lee - 1/2 bathroom survivor. Annoying.
Kellie - 1/2 bathroom survivor. Not annoying. The actual owner of the necklace.
[REDACTED] - Shooter.
Scene: School bathroom. All three girls are aware of each other being in the bathroom. Kellie hears gunshots and tells Sarah and Lee to hide, to which they do in THE SAME STALL. Remember this. Kellie then trips, loses her necklace and hides in a different stall. Redacted comes in and shoots at Kellie and she's bleeding on the floor when Redacted notices the necklace, a cross btw, on the floor and is essentially, 'Whose is this? Ew it's ugly, and do you think Jesus is watching over you?' Now after this happened, Sarah and Lee, who if you remembered were together in the same stall, get shot and Sarah dies. RIP. Then Redacted leaves to continue shooting elsewhere.
Now, the confusion comes in, and I'm sorry I know I had a major build up before getting to it, it's worth it I promise, Lee eventually finds out that it was Kellie who was talking to the killer. And she says, and I quote 'I'd never even considered that it might have been Kellie's [necklace], even though she was the only other person in the bathroom with Sarah and me when the shooting happened.' So if she knew it wasn't Sarah who talked to the killer, because she was in the same cubical and literally witnessed her death, why wouldn't her next step go to Kellie? Because she's a goth and doesn't fit the Christian stereotype? If there are only four people in the room, and two of you aren't talking, I'm gonna assume the other two voices I could hear are the two others in the room. Yet the author made this into such a major mind fuck for Lee and for the life of me I can't figure out why.
Now I guess I should mention some of the bits I liked, which were not a lot. I liked that the main character was Asexual, although I hated how she got with Miles in the end. It seemed to just erase her sexual preferences (not saying that all Asexuals don't have relationships, it just felt like the author wanted to be appealing to the LGBT+ community whilst also pandering to the readers who enjoy girl falls in love with boy next door troupes). I liked that one of the main characters Denny was blind and black, and he was probably the best bits of the book. Especially when Glitter his guide dog was involved. His parts were just way more interesting, everything else in this book I seemed to read with a groaning, monotone voice but his had some oomph to it.
And so that concludes my very messy, and not proof read, review. It's probably terrible but in my opinion, so is this book so they're very deserving of each other. Have fun, and if you've read this far I'm sorry but that's what, three or four minutes you're not getting back of your life. They belong to me now. Unlucky.
heathssm's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
backshelfbooks's review against another edition
4.0
To me, this book is everything that contemporary young adult novels should be. It feels real and honest, and has characters you wish you knew in high school. On top of that, this book has some really strong, important themes discussed as subplots, and even under the surface of the main plot. The book reads like a mystery, but isn't a thriller, and I loved that. The relationships between the characters are raw and real, and their decisions and interactions feel true to the characters.
This is a book I would not only recommend, but one that I would read again and again.
This is a book I would not only recommend, but one that I would read again and again.
theenbybookworm's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I really enjoyed this!!! So interesting and well-formatted. Apparently, this is based off of a true story, which I had not known before. I got it at my school book fair! Such a great book. I typically reach for those super long fantasy books (500-600 pages or so) in a series, but this was definitely a good change of pace to take a break from the longer books, since it’s about half (maybe less, considering the chapters are so short, which always makes the book more pages than the actual word count would require, since there are so many of the chapter titles that take up like 1/3 of the page) of what I usually read. A good break after finishing a ten book series 😅 (each about 500-ish pages).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings
This is literally entirely based around a school shooting (9 people died, and only 6 who ended up in the same room as the shooter at some point during the shooting made it out alive - none of them yet having the full picture), so if this triggers you, I definitely would not recommend for you, specifically.synkdive's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Violence, Racism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Bullying
Minor: Cursing
cbri's review against another edition
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tabitalk's review against another edition
3.0
To anyone who would ‘like’ to get a feel of the fear the kids endured. There’s a movie called: Run Hide Fight. Its about a school shooting.
scrollsofdragons's review against another edition
2.0
Not the sort of book a anti religious person like me should read because I'm pretty sure how the Christians acted in this novel was not Christian behaviour whatsoever, they were just painted in a bad light. I was expecting more of a thriller but it was just about a lie wrapped up in faith and the main character was just not that interesting.
readabookorfive's review against another edition
5.0
4.5/5
Trigger Warnings: gun violence, panic attacks, signs of PTSD
I want Sarah to be remembered, but I want her to be remembered for the person she truly was, not the person the world wants her to be
That’s Not What Happened is a raw, emotional, character driven novel focusing on the survivors of a school shooting so as you can imagine, it is one of the heaviest books I’ve ever read. Luckily, I have never and will never be in the situation these kids were in and can obviously not speak for the representation of people who have been through it but I thought it was such a raw and emotional novel that should be read more.
One of my favourite things about the story is that we never know the shooters name, intentions or anything like that, all we know is that he’s sixteen, he’s a boy and he took his own life after causing the shooting. The novel doesn’t paint him as this tragic teenager with this tragic backstory and doesn’t give him any attention at all and that’s one thing I especially hate about the media in these situations is they focus on who the shooter is but why do they deserve that attention? They don’t. Another thing I appreciated was that these kids weren’t afraid to say hey these people that were tragically taken weren’t all saints all of the time.
This novel was just so incredible and heartbreaking, I cried a few times reading this especially during Miles’ letter and him talking about what was really going on during the shooting and I thought it was so powerful. I also thought the overarching story about Sarah and how things weren’t what people really wanted to believe.
I really liked all of the survivors, I thought the way their stories were portrayed and then them writing the reality of what really happened was so well done and so powerful and shows that not everything is how the media wants us to think it is in these situations. This novel just highlighted so many important points about not only the subject matter but the aftermath of how it’s reported and talked about by people who don’t know anything about what happened.
I really liked the fact we had an asexual main character although I thought the way it was put into the book kind of felt like it was just slotted in when it needed to be and just didn’t really feel natural in the way that it was portrayed but I am glad that we have another book with ace rep in it!
Overall, I thought that That’s Not What Happened is a fantastic novel that discusses so many important things and does it in a sensitive way and respects people who have been in that situation. I definitely want to pick up more of the authors books and I hope more people read this one.
Trigger Warnings: gun violence, panic attacks, signs of PTSD
I want Sarah to be remembered, but I want her to be remembered for the person she truly was, not the person the world wants her to be
That’s Not What Happened is a raw, emotional, character driven novel focusing on the survivors of a school shooting so as you can imagine, it is one of the heaviest books I’ve ever read. Luckily, I have never and will never be in the situation these kids were in and can obviously not speak for the representation of people who have been through it but I thought it was such a raw and emotional novel that should be read more.
One of my favourite things about the story is that we never know the shooters name, intentions or anything like that, all we know is that he’s sixteen, he’s a boy and he took his own life after causing the shooting. The novel doesn’t paint him as this tragic teenager with this tragic backstory and doesn’t give him any attention at all and that’s one thing I especially hate about the media in these situations is they focus on who the shooter is but why do they deserve that attention? They don’t. Another thing I appreciated was that these kids weren’t afraid to say hey these people that were tragically taken weren’t all saints all of the time.
This novel was just so incredible and heartbreaking, I cried a few times reading this especially during Miles’ letter and him talking about what was really going on during the shooting and I thought it was so powerful. I also thought the overarching story about Sarah and how things weren’t what people really wanted to believe.
I really liked all of the survivors, I thought the way their stories were portrayed and then them writing the reality of what really happened was so well done and so powerful and shows that not everything is how the media wants us to think it is in these situations. This novel just highlighted so many important points about not only the subject matter but the aftermath of how it’s reported and talked about by people who don’t know anything about what happened.
I really liked the fact we had an asexual main character although I thought the way it was put into the book kind of felt like it was just slotted in when it needed to be and just didn’t really feel natural in the way that it was portrayed but I am glad that we have another book with ace rep in it!
Overall, I thought that That’s Not What Happened is a fantastic novel that discusses so many important things and does it in a sensitive way and respects people who have been in that situation. I definitely want to pick up more of the authors books and I hope more people read this one.