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Subtitle: Living In the Aftermath of Tragedy by Susan Klebold.

This is the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the two shooters that perpetrated the Columbine High School massacre in April 1999. Her book is not about asking the public to forgive her son nor is it about trying to seek pity. Quite the opposite, she clearly states that there were ways of interacting with her very troubled son that she wishes she had done differently and it sheds light on the handling and stigma of "brain health" issues in the United States.

Unfortunately, I think most of us at SI will relate to her bewilderment and sheer grief when she discovers that the person she thought she knew as her son was not really who he had become, and that her perception of their relationship was far from reality.

ETA: all proceeds of the book will be donated to research on teen depression and suicide prevention.

[This message edited by JellyGirl84 at 10:51 PM, February 17th (Wednesday)]

I read a bit about Klebold's family in Andrew Solomon's book Far From the Tree (which has some really depressing and uncomfortable subject matter, so don't read it unless your mental health is in a good place - I was not able to read every chapter). It described the difficulty of coming to terms with what their son had done and how complicated their grief was, particularly since people assumed that Klebold's actions were a result of his upbringing.

Andrew Solomon wrote the foreword for A Mother's Reckoning and his book is mentioned a few times throughout. I thought it went without saying that this could be a difficult read for some. So, yes Hawke, I agree that people should be cautious. Based on your description of Solomon's book, A Mother's Reckoning seems much the same.

However I will say that there are not any gore-y details. At most, in one chapter Sue writes about the massacre timeline in the same way it was shared with her husband and her by the police, which was direct but without too much detail for concern that they could t handle it.

Still, for anyone that spends time with adolescents, it is an especially intriguing read and may hopefully help parents/guardians/educators to see red flags in children (and adults) that otherwise may have gone unnoticed.

[This message edited by JellyGirl84 at 12:02 AM, February 19th (Friday)]