A review by readabookorfive
That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger
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.