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lcl_reads's reviews
148 reviews
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.75
Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives by Gary Younge
A perfect encapsulation of the tragically unremarkableness of a randomly chosen day where another ten children were killed from gun violence.
This book is not about solutions, nor does it pick cases that are well-known, rather it confronts that gun violence is so normalized and common, that on any given day it is barely a blip on most people's radar.
The writing for this one was on point (I'm a sucker for narrative journalism). I appreciated the way Younge centered the stories of the children and their families, while also adding context and commentary as necessary.
I also really appreciated his criticism of exceptionalism, which is something I have thought about a lot. Because of the concept of this book, many of the children killed were not "perfect" or as he says "angels." Most of them were teenage boys, doing the things teenage boys do (that all kids do because they are young and reckless and pushing boundaries and exploring their world), but that is the complexity of life and death.
None of their deaths were any less significant than the stories that hit the news cycle and in some ways the telling of them is even more cruical because they highlight just how normalized gun violence has become and it is that normalization that sets the stage for the big, noteworthy stories of gun violence.
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
5.0
A perfect encapsulation of the tragically unremarkableness of a randomly chosen day where another ten children were killed from gun violence.
This book is not about solutions, nor does it pick cases that are well-known, rather it confronts that gun violence is so normalized and common, that on any given day it is barely a blip on most people's radar.
The writing for this one was on point (I'm a sucker for narrative journalism). I appreciated the way Younge centered the stories of the children and their families, while also adding context and commentary as necessary.
I also really appreciated his criticism of exceptionalism, which is something I have thought about a lot. Because of the concept of this book, many of the children killed were not "perfect" or as he says "angels." Most of them were teenage boys, doing the things teenage boys do (that all kids do because they are young and reckless and pushing boundaries and exploring their world), but that is the complexity of life and death.
None of their deaths were any less significant than the stories that hit the news cycle and in some ways the telling of them is even more cruical because they highlight just how normalized gun violence has become and it is that normalization that sets the stage for the big, noteworthy stories of gun violence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, and Mass/school shootings