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53 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Raw, honest book, April 5, 2003
I'm a 46-year-old former high school teacher with no ties to Colorado or Columbine. I'm not a Columbine junkie--haven't read any other books on the subject and didn't know any more about it than any other American who watches and reads the news. I read this book in three sittings in less than 24 hours. It's a compelling story written in plain, raw prose that makes no pretense to literary merit. I'm perfectly willing to believe that this isn't "the last word" on the subject, that it looks at things from only one perspective, and may even be somewhat self-serving. But so what? What we need to reach understanding is direct, honest accounts from _different_ perspectives, and that's what I found here. Obviously, the author (who was involved in, and scarred by, the event) has been trying to work out his culpability, his feelings, and tell his story--genuinely searching for explanations and meaning--and this book is the fruit of his effort. The person he describes himself to have been will be familiar to most teachers, a part angry, part goofy punk who is both rebellious and thoughtful and bright. He describes the toxic atmosphere of the school. Large high schools can be awful places--he compares it socially to a prison yard, something I have no trouble believing. The main interest of this book to readers, however, is Brooks's gradual discovery of what might be called the realities of adult politics--the inept, self-justifying Sheriff, the injustices perpetuated by a shocked community attempting to assign blame, the understandable desire of the authorities to make it all go away, the efforts of many interest groups to appropriate the event for their own purposes, and, eventually, the kids' rejection by hardened politicians who see it only as a small facet of a larger issue they've already made up their minds about. This is the disillusion we all face entering adulthood, but made brutally sudden and shocking for the author by the murders. He seems to have done a good job of handling it all in the aftermath--although the book describes a teenager, it's written from the perspective of an adult. In fact I hope Brown becomes a politician someday...it's clear that his values have been formed in the crucible of this experience. I picked up this book on impulse, and it's a very quick read, but I'm glad I read it. I may even seek out other books on the subject now.
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
REQUIRED READING FOR LITTLETON COMMUNITY, November 15, 2002
By A Customer
This book is a must read, but I expect that most people in the Littleton community will be so threatened by it, that not only will they not read it, but they will make it worth their while to condemn it. I implore the Littleton community to read this book with an open mind and an open heart. I live in the Littleton community and have for several years. My children have graduated from school and have moved on with their lives. For those of you in the community who think that Brooks Brown is out of line, perhaps he has touched a nerve in you that you would prefer to go untapped. If you find yourself furious with Brown, it would behoove you to pull back and try to gain some insight as to why you are reacting this way. What you find may surprise you. After all, anger stems from fear. What I am about to say is shocking, but it is fact.
A year after Columbine a 16 year old in the Littleton community
received a death threat while at school. The threat was from a
classmate. The classmate called the 16 year old's home. The
parent's were told that their 16 year old would die that very
day. The kid's car would blow up ( it was parked on school
grounds) and anyone within a 500 yard radius would be killed.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Dept. was called. The kid con-
fessed and was booked with a Class 6 felony. There was no bomb. However, the lack of concern on the part of
the police was disturbing. They refused to search the boy's
home, even though the boy was known to brag about knowing how
to make pipe bombs. The Jeffco authorities were also informed
that the kid had brought a knife to school several times. Two
months later, the 16 year old received another threat. Again th
Jefferson County Police were disturbingly bored by it all. Shocking, isn't it? By the way, the kid was put in the
Diversion Program and transferred to another Jeffco school.
The police could have prevented the killings at Columbine and a
year later they were no more interested in preventing another
one from happening. This I don't understand. There are "no easy answers" as to why our culture in America is
so violent. One problem that does contribute is that adults simply do not listen to the children. We adutlts think we know
better because we are older. It's not too late to start listening
and we can begin by reading this book with an open mind and an
open heart. We owe at least that much to those children who died
that day at Columbine. We owe it to the children who survived
but were left with physical and or emotional scars. We owe it to
our children to protect them. Let's start by being willing to hear the truth, painful though it may be. I applaud Brooks Brown for having the courage to speak up. I
applaud him for his efforts in seeking the truth. It's time for
the adults to follow his lead. Don't shy away from the truth. The
truth is the only path to genuine healing for this community.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Info you won't find anywhere else, December 31, 2007
What this book offers is a unique perspective that you will not get from the media or other parents who wrote books about their deceased children. Some are mad that Brooks Brown didn't offer a concrete solution to the shootings, therefore his motives for this book must be completely self-serving. I think that these one-star reviews are undeserved. The charges that Brooks wrote this book for the money are ridiculous, because it is almost impossible to make money from a book, unless you are as big as Stephen King. You will read that Brown believes that it would be wrong to place blame on one thing for what happened (such as music, video games or gun control, the "easy" answers), so he offers several events that combined led up to the tragedy: The police for ignoring the warning signs a year before the shootings, the staff at Columbine for ignoring the bullying, and the parents (Eric's especially) for not opening their eyes. There is also some hard-to-find information, such as what Eric's Doom levels were like, the stuff that was on his website, discussions of the basement tapes and what day-to-day interaction with the killers was like. This makes Brown's book different from all the others.
It is clear that Brown wants as much accurate information as possible to be available, as well as to defend himself against the false charges lobbed at him from the police department who knew that they had dropped the ball in preventing the attack. Yes, a lot of the book is about Brown's life, but it all ties into what led up to the shootings. I did not read anything that was extraneous or uninteresting. In fact, this book seems to have the most credibility of anything I've read about Columbine. There are a few books in existence that try to turn the victims into martyrs for their faith, when religion had nothing to do with the shootings. No Easy Answers is much more believable, because like life, the answer is not always wrapped up neatly with a little bow. Highly recommended.
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