Customer Reviews

Burn

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cameron Grady is a loner, and with good reason. His freshman year has just been one misery after another ever since he went to the school's sports orientation night and the coach thought he was a girl. Now he's known as Cameron Diaz and forced to "map out his day with survival being the only objective." But there's physical and mental survival, and after an incident in the boys' locker room, Cameron's psyche doesn't survive, and he commits an unspeakable act against the boy who witnessed his shame.

This is a hard novel to write about. Not because it isn't powerful and challenging, but because it is so utterly terrifying. It's a middle of the night, one-sitting sort of book. It's completely realistic, but you wish it weren't. I want to feel great compassion for Cameron Grady, but I'm not sure he deserves my compassion. How can a character be both the hero and the villain? This is the balance beam that Suzanne Phillips has her readers walk. Burn, along with Living Dead Girl and Freeze Frame, will probably be amongst the most talked about literature of the season.

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"You're ours Grady.....This is just the beginning."

The horrors of high school are real; just ask Cameron Grady.

Freshman year at Madison High School has been the most miserable experience of Cameron's life. The bullying begins the first day of class. Rich Patterson and the rest of his jock friends zero in their radar and Cameron becomes #1 on their hit list.

The "Red Coats" taunt Cameron, calling him Cameron Diaz and stalking him in the hallways. High school becomes a war zone for Grady. The lines between reality and fiction begin to blur, and Cameron finds himself "checking out" from time to time. Cameron also begins to experiment with fire; an obsession that proves to be dangerous.

Unlike most stories, Cameron's does not have a happy ending, but it's real - it's life. Life is not always full of happy endings.

Suzanne Phillips has created a gripping novel that discusses extremely tough issues. Cameron deals with both physical and sexual abuse, bullying, and post-traumatic stress. Many teenagers may be unfamiliar with post-traumatic stress disorder, and this novel does an excellent job of shedding some light on the subject.

BURN is a well-written story that may be difficult to read at times, but the message is clear. Teenagers face hardships on a daily basis. These problems can range from getting into a fight with their parents to being subjected to some kind of abuse. They all want someone they can confide in - Cameron finds that person, but it's a little too late for him.

Reviewed by: LadyJay

Although this story requires much imagination when it comes to the actual murder, the pliht of it is so that I was requiredto let out a few tears. This breathtaking novel will have you reeling. It is raw and completely credible in that bullying is much more present in school than some people let it be. Bravo! Also check out Suzanne's other stunning novel, Chloe Doe!

Meet Cameron, he's a runner, a math wiz, and the victim. Due to one incident and mistake made by a teacher, his life in high school is horrible. He's teased, tormented and beat up regularly. This story is told by him and the author did a great job of making the reader love him. This is a very sad story that is more and more common. Cameron is the weak and Patterson is the strong. His grades will go downhill, his "best friend" leaves him stranded, and he soon discovers that he's disconnecting. It doesn't take long before he starts thinking of revenge. When it happens though, it's not against the monster that's been terrifying him for the entire year.

I was so hoping Cameron would get his revenge on the bully and was disappointed that he didn't. However, after living his life with him, I don't hold any ill will against him or his actions. This kid was hurting and bullies like the one he was dealing with should all be removed forcibly. It was great to see that no adult ever seemed to notice that Cameron needed help more than he needed scolding. Where exactly were all the adult figures when he was getting beaten daily? Why didn't his mother try harder to find out what was wrong.

Great book, sad story, and a page turner. I read it in a day.

In one word - wow!!!

Burn, written by Suzanne Phillips is one of the most timely books I have read in recent years. Although I don't have children in school, I have heard some absolute horror stories about students bullying and being bullied - it has become epidemic in some schools!

Of course, living in Montreal - the land of school killings - unfortunately, this subject matter was very close to my heart.

I instantly felt both sadness and horror for our main character who has been targeted by the "Red Coats" as being an easy prey to bully. True to reality, Cameron keeps it all inside - and begins to slowly but surely disintegrates - until he ends up no longer living in the present.

As he disassociates more and more, he ends up committing the ultimate act.

Burn is written in a sensitive, but yet realistic voice - truly echoing the pain and horror that everyone involves experiences.

The author makes sure to portray all of the sides of Cameron and slowly guides us through his psychotic break. As I mentioned, I felt sorry for him, but I also hated what he did.

It must be very difficult for an author to write this type of book - the main character is far from being a hero or sympathetic - yet, all of the characters and the plot work extremely well together.

I loved this book.

What a powerful story of the result of bullying. The author's background as a special education English teacher in San Diego serves her well.

This book started out strong but went a little too far past the point of believability.
The author does a good job of framing Cameron as a target, a boy who does not want to give in to the bullies yet has no way to fight back. The bullying, Cameron's feelings about it, and the adults' reaction to it (namely not wanting to see the severity of what is really happening in the school) all come off as authentic.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Even Cameron's attack of the boy even smaller and more helpless than he is is believable. However, the idea that the coach would leave Cameron alone in the locker room after what had just happened to him and Cameron's ability to ***SERIOUS SPOILER ALERT*** beat someone to death using only the lock from his gym locker was really hard to swallow.
The aftermath of the killing was well done, but I just couldn't get past the fact that after what happened to Cameron at the hands of Rich, the coach would leave him alone for so long and that Cameron even had the strength to do it seeing where such a big deal was made in the book about his small size and lack of upper body strength.
This one oversight kept the book from being great.