Saturday, September 03, 2016

A Mother's Reckoning - Sue Klebold

Sue Klebold is the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the two teenagers at Columbine High school who in 1999 killed twelve students, wounded many more and then killed themselves.  At the beginning of the book Sue talks about how she initially thought her son was one of the children and how shocked her and her family were when they found out that he and his friend had planned and carried out this shocking act.

It is interesting to find out her perspective, as often it is easy for us to blame the family - what did they know?  Did they not suspect anything?  Did they not bring him up right?  Was he allowed access to guns and weapons?  Was he bullied?  And really this just seemed to be a normal kid with normal parents who plotted and planned with his friend and maybe in hindsight we can see clues more easily.  

I was a bit surprised by the community response.  Many people showed their tolerance and acts of kindness to the Klebold family, while many more were angry threatening family and friends and you have to admire them for staying in the same town afterwards.

Certainly a book I have been thinking about days after reading it and I am sure I will think about it for the years ahead. 5/5

1 comment:

Saku said...

I'll definitely have to look for this book. I tend to like true crime but hearing of an incident I remember well from the mother's perspective would be very interesting.