Tuesday, April 5, 2016

ARE YOU LISTENING? A MOTHER'S RECKONING: A REVIEW

WELCOME TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S" 
ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY" 
I AM EXCITED TO SHARE WITH YOU ABOUT 
THIS RECENT AUDIO BOOK I RECEIVED
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A MOTHER'S RECKONING
LIVING IN THE AFTERMATH OF TRAGEDY
READ BY AUTHOR SUE KLEBOLD
BY SUE KLEBOLD

ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK:
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Over the course of minutes, they would kill twelve students and a teacher and wound twenty-four others before taking their own lives.

For the last sixteen years, Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, has lived with the indescribable grief and shame of that day. How could her child, the promising young man she had loved and raised, be responsible for such horror? And how, as his mother, had she not known something was wrong? Were there subtle signs she had missed? What, if anything, could she have done differently?

These are questions that Klebold has grappled with every day since the Columbine tragedy. In A Mother’s Reckoning, she chronicles with unflinching honesty her journey as a mother trying to come to terms with the incomprehensible. In the hope that the insights and understanding she has gained may help other families recognize when a child is in distress, she tells her story in full, drawing upon her personal journals, the videos and writings that Dylan left behind, and on countless interviews with mental health experts.

Filled with hard-won wisdom and compassion, A Mother’s Reckoning is a powerful and haunting book that sheds light on one of the most pressing issues of our time. And with fresh wounds from the recent Newtown and Charleston shootings, never has the need for understanding been more urgent.

All author profits from the book will be donated to research and to charitable organizations focusing on mental health issues.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sue Klebold is the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the two shooters at Columbine High School in 1999 who killed 13 people before ending their own lives, a tragedy that saddened and galvanized the nation. She has spent the last 15 years excavating every detail of her family life, and trying to understand the crucial intersection between mental health problems and violence. Instead of becoming paralyzed by her grief and remorse, she has become a passionate and effective agent working tirelessly to advance mental health awareness and intervention. ~ Penguin Random House
Photo: © J-K Photography
              
 PRAISE FOR A MOTHER'S RECKONING:
“…[U]nimaginably detailed, raw, minute-by-minute, illuminating, and just plain gripping. It’s also the most extraordinary testament–to honesty, love, pain, doubt, and resilience.… This book is nothing less than a public service. I beseech you to read it.” – Bruce Feiller

“As people read Sue’s memoir, what they will find is that her book is honest, and her pain genuine.  Her story may be uncomfortable to read, but it will raise awareness about brain health and the importance of early identification and intervention to maintain it.  If people listen to her – to all that she has experienced, and to how this has changed her – they will be quicker to respond to depression in young people, to the suicidal thinking that can accompany it, and to the rage that can build almost unnoticed in young people when the people who truly and completely love and care for them are distracted by other challenges in life.”
—Paul Gionfriddo, President and CEO of Mental Health America

“Required reading for all parents of adolescents…soul-piercingly honest, written with bravery and intelligence… A book of nobility and importance.”
–The Times

 “Reading this book as a critic is hard; reading it as a parent is devastating….I imagine snippets of my own young children in Dylan Klebold, shades of my parenting in Sue and Tom.  I suspect that many families will find their own parallels….This book’s insights are painful and necessary and its contradictions inevitable.”
—Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post

 “[Sue Klebold’s book] reads as if she had written it under oath, while trying to answer, honestly and completely, an urgent question: What could a parent have done to prevent this tragedy?…
She earns our pity, our empathy and, often, our admiration; and yet the book’s ultimate purpose is to serve as a cautionary tale, not an exoneration.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“[T]he parenting book everyone should read.”
—Parents.com

 “I believe Sue Klebold.  So will you.”
—LA Times

“At times her story is so chilling you want to turn away, but Klebold’s compassion and honesty –and realization that parents and institutions must work to discover kids’ hidden suffering-will keep you riveted.”
—People.com


“This book which can be tough to read in places is an important one. It helps us arrive at a new understanding of how Columbine happened and, in the process, may help avert other tragedies.” Rated: A. —Entertainment Weekly 
 
MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
A MOTHER'S RECKONING caught my attention right away. I was curious about what the mother of one of the shooters would have to say as I remember Columbine but not much about the parents of the killers. Sue Klebold tells an honest and eye opening story of what happened to her and her family and friends that many probably don't know as most news concentrated on the victims, as expected. I found it very interesting when she went back and talked about how Dylan was raised and how much he was loved; just a normal kid to her. I did myself, however, see some signs that I would have questioned but unless I walked in Sue Klebold's shoes, how can I really know? There were times the story was disturbing but mostly it was interesting and eye-opening. I found the story has stayed with me since reading it but I admit that I was eager to move on to another book that was lighter after this one. I think it is important for parents especially to read a book like this to see just what can happen to their kids who grow up in a normal, happy household...or so they think.

5 comments:

Steve Capell said...

I can't imagine what Sue Klebold has gone through. I read a detail account of what happened that day and it was absolutely gut wrenching. I would love to listen to Sue's account as well. Thanks for the opportunity.

steven.capell@gmail.com

Carol N Wong said...

I read a book about a girl whose boyfriend shot a lot of people in high school. The torture that she went through was so horrible. I cried for her. I picked up a much lighter book for the next one. I had been emotionally drained.

Margie said...

This would be an absolutely devastating experience for a mother. I certainly applaud her for writing this book and trying to advance mental health awareness.

Sue Farrell said...

This must have been a terribly hard book for a mother to write. I can't even imagine how she is still hurting.

rubynreba said...

I remember so well hearing about the tragedy. I admire the mother for sharing her story.

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