Reviews with content warning for Violence - That's Not What Happened

This book made me sob dealing with its themes of trauma, grief, guilt, and taking control of your own narrative. This book has some cool stuff to say of how important is the truth in the end. Is it better to give people that lost loved ones a sense of comfort? Or to be true to who people actually were? I Fall somewhere between where I think it’s fine to let people believe what they want but not at the cost of hurting someone else like in this book with Kellie. However, a favorite theme of mine from this book is Lee discussing how she hates that once people are dead they’re put on a pedestal and people refuse to be truthful about their flaws. This dehumanizes them and is unfair to their memory and to people still alive. That’s always been something I dislike as well. Last but not least I thought the book was building to a dark turn with Miles and I’m very glad that wasn’t the case in the end. This was a good, but triggering read so beware.

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kamilahlove's review

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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wastingtime1994's review

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challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is, unsurprisingly, a difficult book to read. But more surprisingly, it’s a difficult book to finish.
The “big twist” is hyped up far too much in the beginning - to the point where I nearly forgot there was a plot to begin with. When it’s revealed halfway through, the entire book loses steam. I dragged myself to the end, and while I’m happy I did, it looked bleak for a moment.
The timeline can also be confusing, as it jumps between different years with little explanation or warning.

However, overall I would recommend it. It’s very reflective regarding the resilience of teenagers, the impacts of PTSD, the importance (or not?) of the truth, and the reality of religion in America. 3.5/5.0

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brookey8888's review

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

First of all we love an asexual queen!! So that being said there is a ton of different representation in this and I can’t speak for most of them, but I didn’t find anything wrong with it. As for the story it doesn’t really focus on the shooting but the aftermath of it. Which I thought was important. Also it never gives the killer a name or the spotlight which I also thought was good. I thought it was interesting how religion played apart in this. I don’t think this is like the greatest book or the greatest book about a school shooting but I think it is well done.

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