In Dave Cullen's simply but chillingly titled "Columbine", we get an exhaustive look into the lives of these young killers as well as those involved in and affected by the Columbine shootings. Cullen was a young reporter covering the Columbine shootings in 1999 and has extensively researched these events over the past ten years. This story is told from a gripping third person point of view. The actual events of April 20, 1999, are replayed minute by minute very early on in the book. This retelling is horrific, graphic, and hard to get through at times. Initially, it leaves you thinking what monsters these two teenagers must have been to mindlessly kill so many innocent people. But after Cullen shocks you with the actual account of events, he begins to attempt to answer the questions as to why. The result is a harrowing read that anybody who has ever been a teenager should be able to relate to. It will rehash what it feels like to be young and confused and naive. However, by the end of the book, Cullen is able to make some sense of the senseless.
If you go into this book with hopes of reading about how horrible these two individuals were, you may want to skip this one. But if you want a true, accurate, and sympathetic look into this sad downward spiral, this book is not to be missed.
To understand a monster, you must first be able to sympathize with it.
