2016, ARC review, Book Review

[Review] This Is Where It Ends — Marieke Nijkamp

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Book Title                  This Is Where It Ends
Author:                        Marieke Nijkamp
Number of pages:  292

Synopsis:

this is where it ends - marieke nijkamp - book cover10:00 a.m.: The principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.: The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03 a.m.: The auditorium doors won’t open.

10:05 a.m.: Someone starts shooting.

Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

(re: Goodreads @ This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp)

Should this book be picked up? the tl;dr review:

– A timely novel giving life to social circles shared by school shooters. However, the shooter isn’t given a voice
– Multi POV narrative; uses twitter, blog posts, flashblacks
– Set in Alabama and raises questions per the demographics and the representation of diverse inclusion of the physically disabled, LGBTQIA+, cultural (Spanish, Middle Eastern), mentally ill
– Some scenes overdramatized with cinematic flair
– Lacking motivation for the shooter and doesn’t really provide solid reasons as to why

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Initial Thoughts

This book join the ranks of most underwhelming titles I’ve read in 2015 (release is in 2016). Cover’s great, though.

Full disclosure: I received an e-ARC of This Is Where It Ends from Netgalley. I extend thanks to SourceBooks Fire for providing me the opportunity to review this book. 

Afterthoughts:

Premise

When an assembly ends at Opportunity High, students make like bandits to the exit; some hoping to get a quick smoke in before the next class, others wishing to linger with their friends. But the doors don’t open…except for one, and standing between freedom is a student with a gun.

Setting

The Alabama town Opportunity High is set at is pretty plain. In a way, it allows readers to draw from personal experience and imagery of school layouts.

But setting is more than just infrastructure. It very much regards the heart of a community; the stakeholders being pivotal to how this story is sold. That’s where things become muddled. It’s fine that the perpetrator locked the school population in the auditorium but locking every single student and teacher etc. etc. etc. EXCEPT for the convenient narrators is utter nonsense (e.g. track & field team and random students rummaging through the administrative office).

Could it happen? Yeah.

But to have everything and everyone so conveniently placed? Shut the front door.

You’re telling me there aren’t people who’d skip an assembly or are already detoured elsewhere (considering it’s the same mundane speech year in-and-out)? That only one janitor works the shift? That there was no one who saw this kid fucking chain up the doors in preparation for doomsday? That no one in this day and age had a mobile device or a mind to call police instead of Tweeting about it?

These variables make the situation read so black and white with no room for anything external to exist. These are just some aspects that killed the promise of this story to come alive.

Narration/Characters

This Is Where It Ends falls on its own sword gun-wound on one basis: when the choice is made to withhold the gunman’s voice, readers are only able to understand through filtered glasses. And when characters continually preach the shooters’ evilness, it does not assert the underlying motivation to carry out these acts. I’m not looking for redeeming qualities but that doesn’t mean their psyche isn’t critical to the story. All I got was a hollow villain and an unfairly one-sided story that chooses to dismiss the psychology of its central character.

And that’s a problem.

There’s an opinion that we shouldn’t fanfare a gunman for their actions as it feeds unnecessary fame. I get that. But without the shooters POV, the complexity between character dynamics just isn’t there. With flashbacks, these memories only promote victimization in an attempt to tug the reader’s heartstrings. Sure the shooter is an asshole but manipulating the story to continually reinforce the time-bomb is not something that should be decided for the reader. It would be more compelling to show the mental breakdown rather than witness it through an individuals biases.

I can’t even begin to acknowledge the inclusion of the physically disabled, LGBTQIA+, and cultural diversity with all this other smoke being blown in my face. For what it’s worth, it’s great that these characters exist even if the small-town U.S. vibes would suggest otherwise (I combed through state demographics). My concerns with the representation revolve around how these characters felt boxed into their specialness; as if they held a damn neon sign that read: “statistic is over here!” Representation is one thing but realistic fulfillment is another.

But let’s get to the what-the-fuck-is-this part.

There are scenes dramatized as if the intent was to stretch the story for cinematic flair. This may be a spoiler but you deserve to know. Some kids had the opportunity to find safety outside with the cops as the shooter did not know where they could have gone. So, apparently, the rational thing to do is to run deeper into the school and hide out—as if they were playing Hide and Seek. I shit you not. Is this some reverse psychology bullshit? It makes no sense. I won’t even begin to rant about how the gunman didn’t even reload once in three-quarters of the novel after shooting up x victims (let alone his seemingly perfect accuracy toward everyone except the protagonists).

Overall

Here’s the thing: I don’t have to read Marieke Nijkamp’s This Is Where It Ends to feel shitty for such a controversial and important topic. But for a character heavy story spanning four POVs, the gray areas need to engross me over-and-beyond the suspenseful nature of the conflict; otherwise, the entire point isn’t any different beyond the headlines we see in the news. Don’t get me wrong, this book has it’s moments of hope. It’s the why that’s unsupported and proves underwhelming. At least give us an epilogue manifesto or something, I don’t know.

Cheers,
Joey

connect: afterthoughtAn // twitter  |  anotherafterthought // goodreads

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35 thoughts on “[Review] This Is Where It Ends — Marieke Nijkamp”

  1. Wow. Whether or not you liked this book, your review is excellent. It’s hard enough hearing about real life school shootings almost weekly. I’m not sure I want to read this now. Thanks for giving us all your 2 cents!

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    1. With all of the exposure school shootings have maintained as a narrative of North American culture, it wouldn’t be right for me to say to NOT read this book. But rather if you do find interest in it in the future to go borrow it instead. I’ve heard there are better options tackling this theme though…so.

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  2. I can’t believe you didn’t know that protagonists all live inside a special death-proof bubble that prevents them from ever dying…

    Ugh but the flat characterization of the shooter bothers me because, presumably that’s what the book is trying to explore? I don’t know but I rage with you.

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  4. This book sounds terrible. Can I counter recommend one that’s good? A while back I read a book called Hate List, by Jennifer Brown that also tackles the subject of school shootings. It takes place after the fact. It’s about a girl who is dealing with the fact her boyfriend shot and killed a load of kids at their school (and then killed himself), based off of a list they wrote together of students they didn’t like. She did not know what his plans were. What I liked so much about that book is that, as well as engaging with the terror and the grief that comes with these horrendous shootings, it was also about coming to terms with the actions of the shooter himself. It’s much easier for us not to think of these people as actual people because their actions are so horrifying. We do it because it’s simpler, but it’s not the truth. Often these people have families and loved ones just like anyone else, and Hate List looks at that too.

    This was an epic ramble of a comment! It’s just that this book had a really profound effect on me and it seems like it achieved much of what the book you’re reviewing failed to.

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    2. You wouldn’t be the first (or last) person who’s recommended Jennifer Brown’s Hate List.

      I think in the end, I just wasn’t emotionally invested as I think I should have been. Maybe that’s a strike against how this multi-narrative POV came across.

      But thank your for your candor on selling Hate List to me. I will definitely consider adding that to my pile if I ever find myself gravitating to a book that tackles school shootings.

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  5. Oh dear. I’m just starting this one and had such high hopes. I’ve never read a book about a school shooting before, but I definitely see the pitfalls of not have the gunman as a POV character. We’ll see how I end up liking it though. Great review!

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    1. I just skimmed your review, Emily, and I’m glad to see you enjoyed it more than I did!

      I think it was the antagonizing of the shooter that just didn’t work for me. Even providing an epilogue manifesto would have surely bumped this book up to a 2 probably. Because at least I would get to know him more than just some random jaded-was-bullied-kid-against-the-world.

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  7. I cannot even read this review, but your rating makes me nervous, I am pretty excited for this book, I’ll have to come back to this review for a laugh when I get my hands on it.

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  8. ANNNNND of course I read this review. It was amazing, I won’t be reading this one. Thank you. I must point out, though, that your use of the word hadicapped is problematic. Disabled is preferred. And I hate when characters are not more than how they are marginalized as you said with boxed into their specialness, that pissed me off and I haven’t even touched it yet. Amazing cover, how disappointing.

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    1. Thanks for letting me know about the handicapped vs disabled. In truth, most of what I saw growing up was actually labeled as handicapped, and I’m guessing there’s been a shift for the better. Will definitely amend the content!

      I’d love to know what you think of this book though, Wesaun!

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  13. Aww! I saw this and thought “I’m so jealous you got an ARC for this!” But sorry it was underwhelming! It’s such a shame, because I was so interested in the premise.

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