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Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down: A Haunting Coming-of-Age Thriller About American Teenagers After a School Shooting
The lives of four teenagers are capsized by a shocking school shooting and its aftermath in this powerful debut novel, a coming-of-age story with the haunting power of Station Eleven and the bittersweet poignancy of Everything I Never Told You.
As members of the yearbook committee, Nick, Zola, Matt, and Christina are eager to capture all the memorable moments of their junior year at Lewis and Clark High School—the plays and football games, dances and fund-drives, teachers and classes that are the epicenter of their teenage lives. But how do you document a horrific tragedy—a deadly school shooting by a classmate?
Struggling to comprehend this cataclysmic event—and propelled by a sense of responsibility to the town, their parents, and their school—these four "lucky" survivors vow to honor the memories of those lost, and also, the memories forgotten in the shadow of violence. But the shooting is only the first inexplicable trauma to rock their small suburban St. Louis town. A series of mysterious house fires have hit the families of the victims one by one, pushing the grieving town to the edge.
Nick, the son of the lead detective investigating the events, plunges into the case on his own, scouring the Internet to uncover what could cause a fire with no evident starting point. As their friend pulls farther away, Matt and Christina battle to save damaged relationships, while Zola fights to keep herself together.
A story of grief, community, and family, of the search for understanding and normalcy in the wake of devastating loss, Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down explores profound questions about resiliency, memory, and recovery that brilliantly illuminate the deepest recesses of the human heart.
As members of the yearbook committee, Nick, Zola, Matt, and Christina are eager to capture all the memorable moments of their junior year at Lewis and Clark High School—the plays and football games, dances and fund-drives, teachers and classes that are the epicenter of their teenage lives. But how do you document a horrific tragedy—a deadly school shooting by a classmate?
Struggling to comprehend this cataclysmic event—and propelled by a sense of responsibility to the town, their parents, and their school—these four "lucky" survivors vow to honor the memories of those lost, and also, the memories forgotten in the shadow of violence. But the shooting is only the first inexplicable trauma to rock their small suburban St. Louis town. A series of mysterious house fires have hit the families of the victims one by one, pushing the grieving town to the edge.
Nick, the son of the lead detective investigating the events, plunges into the case on his own, scouring the Internet to uncover what could cause a fire with no evident starting point. As their friend pulls farther away, Matt and Christina battle to save damaged relationships, while Zola fights to keep herself together.
A story of grief, community, and family, of the search for understanding and normalcy in the wake of devastating loss, Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down explores profound questions about resiliency, memory, and recovery that brilliantly illuminate the deepest recesses of the human heart.
384 pages, Paperback
First published October 4, 2016
64 people are currently reading
2686 people want to read
About the author
Anne Valente
20 books150 followersAnne Valente is the author of two novels, The Desert Sky Before Us (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2019) and Our Hearts Will Burn US Down (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2016), as well as the short story collection, By Light We Knew Our Names (Dzanc Books, 2014). She is also the author of the fiction chapbook, An Elegy for Mathematics (Bull City Press, 2017). Her fiction appears in One Story, American Short Fiction, The Kenyon Review and The Chicago Tribune, and her essays appear in The Believer and The Washington Post. Originally from St. Louis, she teaches creative writing and literature at Hamilton College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
July 31, 2019
I selected this book a number of months ago from a bargain bin and found it to be one of those reads where I want to tell you EVERYTHING or NOTHING. It kept me absolutely riveted and turning the pages and nothing short of a natural disaster could have distracted me from my reading experience.
This is the aftermath of a school shooting from the viewpoint of four teenage students in their St. Louis community. Not a light topic as it deals very much with grief and how it can consume people in different ways. What kept me enthralled was the mysterious fires that begin to crop up almost immediately after and appear to be targeting the families of the victims. I marvel at the way Anne Valente weaves her story but also felt a bit disappointed by the end. It's that type of conundrum that we readers find ourselves to be in from time to time. Suffice it to say, Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down is not a book that I shall soon forget.
Goodreads review published 23/07/19
This is the aftermath of a school shooting from the viewpoint of four teenage students in their St. Louis community. Not a light topic as it deals very much with grief and how it can consume people in different ways. What kept me enthralled was the mysterious fires that begin to crop up almost immediately after and appear to be targeting the families of the victims. I marvel at the way Anne Valente weaves her story but also felt a bit disappointed by the end. It's that type of conundrum that we readers find ourselves to be in from time to time. Suffice it to say, Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down is not a book that I shall soon forget.
Goodreads review published 23/07/19
November 4, 2020
Actual Rating: 3.75
This book is so hard to review, for so many different reasons. Firstly, I love that this book (kind of) addresses the about school shootings - something that has been plaguing America in recent years and definitely needs to be discussed more.
Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down describes the aftermath of a mass school shooting. It follows Nick, Zola, Matt, and Christina, as they all struggle to deal with the scars that they will have for the rest of their lives. But it's not over. One by one, the homes of the classmates who had lost their lives in the shooting go up in flames, and families are broken, once again.
Matt, Nick, Zola, and Christina, all deal with these events each in their own ways, and recovering is much harder than they would have anticipated, especially when there are so many questions still left unanswered.
I thought that the characters in this were very three dimensional, and it was definitely easy to feel the grief that they were struggling to overcome. Because there were four main characters, their personalities were evident in the way they dealt with their situations. I won't lie - there were moments where I was annoyed with how a character acted, but I had to remind myself about their situation, and once I stepped back, it was very easy to understand why they were acting the way they did.
The plot for this, when I stop and think about it, really doesn't encompass much, because the majority of the story focused on emotions, which I think was just as powerful. I do have a little issue with the ending of the story, which is left pretty open-ended. Normally, I have no problem with endings that are left for interpretation, but I feel like the ending of this left me more confused than anything. I usually have no problem suspending my disbelief, but I think, because the story was set in such a realistic setting, the second it departed from that near the end, I became a little lost, especially when the story left my questions unanswered.
Okay, now to the main thing that boosted my high review. The writing style. It is so powerful, so touching, and it was the one thing that really kept me reading the story. This book is also divided into several sections that are not all storytelling, such as character profiles, news articles, and even images, and I think these also helped in allowing me to get into the story. The writing style was extremely consistent throughout, and it really allowed me to feel the gut-wrenching pain that the main characters were experiencing.
Overall, what I would say is this: read this book for the writing style. Definitely. But after being so emotionally invested in all the characters, I am still a little disappointed in the ending.
This book is so hard to review, for so many different reasons. Firstly, I love that this book (kind of) addresses the about school shootings - something that has been plaguing America in recent years and definitely needs to be discussed more.
Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down describes the aftermath of a mass school shooting. It follows Nick, Zola, Matt, and Christina, as they all struggle to deal with the scars that they will have for the rest of their lives. But it's not over. One by one, the homes of the classmates who had lost their lives in the shooting go up in flames, and families are broken, once again.
Matt, Nick, Zola, and Christina, all deal with these events each in their own ways, and recovering is much harder than they would have anticipated, especially when there are so many questions still left unanswered.
I thought that the characters in this were very three dimensional, and it was definitely easy to feel the grief that they were struggling to overcome. Because there were four main characters, their personalities were evident in the way they dealt with their situations. I won't lie - there were moments where I was annoyed with how a character acted, but I had to remind myself about their situation, and once I stepped back, it was very easy to understand why they were acting the way they did.
The plot for this, when I stop and think about it, really doesn't encompass much, because the majority of the story focused on emotions, which I think was just as powerful. I do have a little issue with the ending of the story, which is left pretty open-ended. Normally, I have no problem with endings that are left for interpretation, but I feel like the ending of this left me more confused than anything. I usually have no problem suspending my disbelief, but I think, because the story was set in such a realistic setting, the second it departed from that near the end, I became a little lost, especially when the story left my questions unanswered.
Okay, now to the main thing that boosted my high review. The writing style. It is so powerful, so touching, and it was the one thing that really kept me reading the story. This book is also divided into several sections that are not all storytelling, such as character profiles, news articles, and even images, and I think these also helped in allowing me to get into the story. The writing style was extremely consistent throughout, and it really allowed me to feel the gut-wrenching pain that the main characters were experiencing.
Overall, what I would say is this: read this book for the writing style. Definitely. But after being so emotionally invested in all the characters, I am still a little disappointed in the ending.
October 12, 2016
I really struggled to finish this book, I was very close to DNF but I guess I was curious and stuck with it even though I was skimming through it by the end. First of all, the story is very disturbing: the aftermath of a high school shooting, the horrendous images and sounds that haunt the survivors- it really is terrifying and very depressing. Then the whole community's grief, only made worse by a series of seemingly unexplainable fires. It was just too much- layer upon layer upon layer of death, destruction, chaos and more and more grief. Without getting to know anything about the shooter and his movitations, the story simply got stuck in a never ending cycle of grief and misery and not even the twist at the end really makes up for it.
As to how the story is actually written: well, it felt very disjointed. All the chapters use "we" as a narrator, which includes the four main characters: Matt, Nick, Christina and Zola but at the same time we get different POVs from each of them in a very chaotic way. There's close to no dialogue at all and what little there is simply repeats the same thing: How are we going to get through this, how can we move on...I would have appreciated more character development instead of the spiral of grief and sadness that invades every sentence.
Obviously with such a premise you know you're not going to get rainbows and ponies but this was too grim and all over the place.
Over all, 2 stars are all I'm willing to give it and if you decide to read it, please remember that it's very disturbing and depressing so make sure you're in the right mood for it.
As to how the story is actually written: well, it felt very disjointed. All the chapters use "we" as a narrator, which includes the four main characters: Matt, Nick, Christina and Zola but at the same time we get different POVs from each of them in a very chaotic way. There's close to no dialogue at all and what little there is simply repeats the same thing: How are we going to get through this, how can we move on...I would have appreciated more character development instead of the spiral of grief and sadness that invades every sentence.
Obviously with such a premise you know you're not going to get rainbows and ponies but this was too grim and all over the place.
Over all, 2 stars are all I'm willing to give it and if you decide to read it, please remember that it's very disturbing and depressing so make sure you're in the right mood for it.
October 9, 2016
3.5 stars. This book was a very intense and disturbing read for me. There is a mass killing at a high school. As the shooter makes his way through the hallways four juniors on the yearbook team take refuge under desks, behind doors, hoping the gunman doesn't target them. In the aftermath of the shootings these four students try to come to terms with what they saw and how do they now go on with everyday life. In addition to the mass shooting the houses and occupants of the deceased teens are burning down with no explanation. The story was very sad and haunting as lives of the survivors would never be the same. Just too much sorrow in their young lives and too many unanswered questions. Well written but very very depressing.
November 21, 2016
3.5 stars Valente's writing was thoughtful and beautiful while describing some truly horrific events surrounding a school shooting. I found it a hard but important read. Thanks to Goodreads' First Reads, I received an uncorrected proof copy of this novel.
December 28, 2016
3.75 stars. So heartbreaking and the writing is UNF.
November 1, 2016
OUR HEARTS WILL BURN US DOWN is a poignant portrait of grief, told in the collective voice through the eyes of four best friends after a mass school shooting. While the story was not poorly written, the writing style was distracting at times, the novel was lacking in character development, and the mystery woven throughout was ultimately unfulfilling.
I can understand the publisher's comparison to Station Eleven, one of my favorite novels, albeit a weak one. Zola, Matt, Nick, and Christina are all trying to come to terms with what they experienced within the walls of their high school. As part of the yearbook staff, they feel the pressure and weight of responsibility to adequately recount and memorialize the classmates and staff who were gunned down. But they lack the personal connection and memory of the very subject they're trying desperately to remember, much like in Station Eleven.
The subject matter in this novel is disturbing and horrifying to imagine. The emotional response from the four main characters and the tangible, heavy grief felt by everyone was portrayed very honestly. I think the author did a beautiful job portraying those feelings, as confusing as they were for everyone involved. Each person dealt with things differently.
Nick drowned himself in research, desperate to find an explanation for what was happening. Christina tried to find comfort in the arms of a boyfriend who didn't want her when her father and mother were too busy to provide it to her. Zola, the one who witnessed the most horror directly, refused to talk about it to anyone. While Matt, held tight to his parents and grilled his dad for answers, who worked closely with the police's forensics department.
This novel could be described as a cross between a coming-of-age literary fiction novel and a mystery. But neither of these elements were executed well enough to be compelling and evoke the emotional response I was hoping for. The subject matter alone is emotionally haunting and heart-breaking. For a character-driven novel such as this to be effective, there needs to be great character development. While there was some development, there wasn't enough for me to connect with, and none of these characters were compelling to me.
While the novel wasn't poorly written, the writing style was very distracting and it took me a really long time find my reading rhythm. The writing very introspective, which I don't mind per se, but it was too much. The long list of items, character profiles, newspaper articles, and long narrative passages of the teens' feelings that were likely meant to add atmosphere, nuance, and emotion often felt unnecessary.
The unexplained house fires that only multiplied as the story moved forward was what kept me reading this novel. I wanted to know what was causing these things to happen. It was an interesting twist, as it only seemed worsen everyone's unsettling feelings. No one is allowed to start to heal because people keep dying. The answer to the mystery was yet another unsatisfying element to this story.
* I received an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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getting-even
August 16, 2017Is this the most chunderous book title ever penned? Or is it this author’s previous, By Light We Knew Our Names? There is something about that first-person plural that makes me recoil at the cloying horror . . .
May 27, 2017
I can't believe I struggled through this mess of jangling sentence fragments and plot holes to see how this writer planned to resolve the mysteries, only to discover she never had any intention of doing so.
October 21, 2016
The premise was intriguing: four high school friends survive a Colombine-like shooting and have to come to terms with the event that changed their lives. But the book couldn't quite convince me, even though the writing was good. There was too much that irked me: the author chose to tell the story mostly in the first person plural (the 'we-POV' seems to be a thing among young writers at the moment), alternating with chapters in which one of the four friends' perspective was central (he/she) which didn't give each of the four much individuality, or distinguishable voice; the fact that the plot centers around an additional 'attack' (after the shooting the houses of the 28 victims' families are burnt down one by one, and they all die in the fire) adding an almost gothic twist to the story which didn't seem to fit; the rather stereotypical description of the psychological effects of the shooting (boyfriends get mean, others resort to sex, nobody talks, everybody is 'fine' etc); the postmodern quirk to add chapters with short essays about relevant facts, like burn temperatures, the workings of the human body as well as newspaper articles and the short texts the four friends write about their murdered classmates for the yearbook (I didn't particularly care for tricks like that when postmodernism was still considered hip).
In the end, the story and the characters remained unmemorable.
2.5*
In the end, the story and the characters remained unmemorable.
2.5*
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2017
What the heck did I just read? Seriously I am so confused right now. I was expecting to find out who was starting all of the fires. But to my surprise, it never actually tells you. You are just left wondering while the characters just seem to move on and dont even care after they stop. And for the characters themselves, they were completely underdeveloped and boring. The writing style was so long winded it made the book very boring as well. It seems to me that the author was just throwing anything in there to make the book longer. Especially with the "A brief history of" chapters which add absolutly nothing to the story other than to fill pages. Halfway through the book, I ended up skipping those chapters completly because it was like reading textbook facts. And for the "twist" at the end, that was not a twist since it mentioned it probably 100 times throughout the book. I wish I could burn this book from my memory!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 16, 2017
I barely finished this. The beginning of the book was the school shooting, but that was just the first chapter or two. The rest was about four friends who work on the yearbook staff and it skips around from each of their points of view. They all sounded exactly the same. Not much character development and not much story left after the shooting.
January 24, 2018
This book, oy. I’ve read a lot of school-violence themed books since reading the nonfiction book Columbine. Most of them are insightful explorations of the topic that delve into the emotional struggles and triumphs of those who survive. Not this book. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who happens on this review, but I was livid at the conclusion. I literally yelled, “You have got to be fucking kidding me!” In traffic. The people in the next car stared. It was awkward. Just no.
October 11, 2016
This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I read it in one sitting which was a saying of seven or eight hours in the middle of the night and I didn't get to bed until two or 3 AM because of the book it was incredible it was wonderful it was dark and twisted but it was really really important and he will hear more about it on my channel for sure
September 12, 2017
The premise had me more than intrigued. I made it to about the halfway point but I just could not continue. Although I liked the characters to that point, the writing style was a bit clunky for my taste. It made it difficult to keep all the characters straight and I just couldn't follow the flow. Others may like the writing style but I found myself at odds with it and struggling through each page. I would have liked to see it through and have seen how it concludes but I after more than 2 weeks struggling to sludge through the writing style, I decided it was time to pass. I'm disappointed but my TBR pile is just too backlogged to commit any more time to this one. :(
April 23, 2018
As members of the yearbook committee, Nick, Zola, Matt, and Christina are eager to capture all the memorable moments of their junior year at Lewis and Clark High School—the plays and football games, dances and fund-drives, teachers and classes that are the epicenter of their teenage lives. But how do you document a horrific tragedy—a deadly school shooting by a classmate?
It’s October 8, 2003 when loner, Caleb Raynor, enters Lewis and Clark High School in a suburb of St. Louis and kills 35 people, including the principal, librarian, janitor, and 28 students.
I’ve read books about school shootings in the past, but this one was extremely different. It was interesting too, because it is based more in the St. Louis area, and all of the areas around that I’m familiar with and it was interesting to read it with that perspective.
The story follows the four students as they try to process how they feel and what exactly happened at Lewis and Clark High School and figure out a way to document their junior year in their yearbook.
The reason this book is so different from others about school shootings is this one doesn’t really focus on the shooting itself. It doesn’t take place during or even before the shooting, nor does it focus on the shooter. What I really enjoyed about this book is how the author centered the story around these four teenagers after the shooting took place as they tried to piece together what their lives are now.
Each student represents a different experience as well as different high school issues that usually occur during those years, whether it be sex, friendship, or being gay. The author did a really good job with representing those issues while also developing the characters and how they dealt with the aftermath of the school shooting.
Onto the part I didn’t particularly enjoy. A few days after the shooting the home of one of the victims burns to ashes, killing the parents inside. goes up in flames, killing her parents inside. A few days after that, there’s another fire, which is later followed by another. Now the four students are faced with even more tragedy they don’t understand.
I disliked the part of the fires. I think the book would have been phenomenal without that added to it. I feel like it took away from what the students were feeling and how they coped after the shooting. I will say it was an interesting twist, but the story would have held its own without it.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and the characters were well done and I found myself caring for them and hoping they would find some kind of peace in their lives.
It’s October 8, 2003 when loner, Caleb Raynor, enters Lewis and Clark High School in a suburb of St. Louis and kills 35 people, including the principal, librarian, janitor, and 28 students.
I’ve read books about school shootings in the past, but this one was extremely different. It was interesting too, because it is based more in the St. Louis area, and all of the areas around that I’m familiar with and it was interesting to read it with that perspective.
The story follows the four students as they try to process how they feel and what exactly happened at Lewis and Clark High School and figure out a way to document their junior year in their yearbook.
The reason this book is so different from others about school shootings is this one doesn’t really focus on the shooting itself. It doesn’t take place during or even before the shooting, nor does it focus on the shooter. What I really enjoyed about this book is how the author centered the story around these four teenagers after the shooting took place as they tried to piece together what their lives are now.
Each student represents a different experience as well as different high school issues that usually occur during those years, whether it be sex, friendship, or being gay. The author did a really good job with representing those issues while also developing the characters and how they dealt with the aftermath of the school shooting.
Onto the part I didn’t particularly enjoy. A few days after the shooting the home of one of the victims burns to ashes, killing the parents inside. goes up in flames, killing her parents inside. A few days after that, there’s another fire, which is later followed by another. Now the four students are faced with even more tragedy they don’t understand.
I disliked the part of the fires. I think the book would have been phenomenal without that added to it. I feel like it took away from what the students were feeling and how they coped after the shooting. I will say it was an interesting twist, but the story would have held its own without it.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and the characters were well done and I found myself caring for them and hoping they would find some kind of peace in their lives.
November 6, 2016
I guess I just need to stop reading books about teenagers completely. It's entirely possible the low rating here is largely because of personal bias. But I thought this book, centered around a high school mass shooting and subsequent related house fires, was potentially a book for adults. But it was not--at least, not for this adult. Maybe it's because I'm a half a life removed from the sixteen year old main characters, but I really think this book could've cut about half of the content right out and have been a better read. Of course, it's totally faithful to what teenagers are actually like; one hundred percent in their heads, wholly consumed with all the new emotions and feelings about their friends, their relationships, etc. And understandably more after a tragedy like the one described. But my God, their internal dialogue would be better described as an interminable dialogue! I had to skim the second half of the book. And I only did that much because I wanted to know the answer to the mystery: why were all the victims' houses and families burning to the ground? Spoiler alert: As an actual concept, I found this idea, frankly, stupid. If it was supposed to be "literary" and I was supposed to enjoy the poignancy of it, or find it deep and revelatory... I didn't. This may be a great book for teenagers (older teenagers--there are discussions of sex, sex scenes, masturbation descriptions, including a gay teenage couple).
So, in summary, this was a book with an audience in mind that I was not a part of. If this was intentional, I would have appreciated a "YA" indicator somewhere--then I would have known to avoid it, and the author could have avoided this one star rating. I saw later in a separate area (or maybe this has been added after I saw the description) that it was billed as a coming-of-age story, and had I seen this earlier, I would not have requested an ARC.
**I received a free advance copy of this book in exchange for this obviously unbiased review.**
So, in summary, this was a book with an audience in mind that I was not a part of. If this was intentional, I would have appreciated a "YA" indicator somewhere--then I would have known to avoid it, and the author could have avoided this one star rating. I saw later in a separate area (or maybe this has been added after I saw the description) that it was billed as a coming-of-age story, and had I seen this earlier, I would not have requested an ARC.
**I received a free advance copy of this book in exchange for this obviously unbiased review.**
November 27, 2016
Any book about a school shooting would be a difficult read, but I thought this book was amazing in its ability to describe the impact of such an event on the lives of all involved. I thought it was difficult and heartbreaking and tremendous.
As someone who grew up attending high school in St. Louis, I have to say that the author captured that experience so perfectly that I was immensely moved by her descriptions of it.
As someone who grew up attending high school in St. Louis, I have to say that the author captured that experience so perfectly that I was immensely moved by her descriptions of it.
February 9, 2019
A book about the aftermath of a school shooting could have been interesting. There was also a mystery involving fires destroying the houses of the shooting victims. Unfortunately, I found the writing style so unbearable that I will never find out who set the fires. It was very repetitive and full of sentence fragments. This was not for me and I doubt that I would try this author again. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
September 6, 2019
Repetitive, repetitive, repetitive. I had a hard time staying focused. The ending was anti-climatic. Save yourself the time. I now know why this was at the dollar store. :(
February 1, 2018
“Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down”
Written by Anne Valente
Review written by Diana Iozzia
I have to give myself a lot of credit for being able to get through this book. I always feel a bit unkind for writing negative reviews, but I just didn’t enjoy the book. As this hobby goes, I come across great books and I come across books I just don’t want to finish. This book took me four days to get through, and honestly, I’m surprised I finished it that quickly. Some books I can finish in two hours. Picking up this book felt like picking up a boulder.
This book is sad, for the first 40 pages. After the unsettling and horrifying shooting, we’re subjected to poor, jumbled writing that’s so repetitive, it could have a drinking game attached to it. Drink every time Matt wishes he could talk to Tyler. Take a shot the eighteen times he describes in detail the girl’s body that he saw bleed out. When Zola and Christina have a weird gay moment. When Christina is mad at her jerk boyfriend. When Zola thinks about how she wishes she could take pictures, but it’s always during inappropriate moments, like the four funerals we read in deep detail. The storytelling is sort of diary-like, terrible first-person collective narration, that sounds like a long-winded graduation speech. We don’t know how to move on from this. Our town will never be the same. We want to know why this happened. We feel lost. And then, the characters’ prose is told in third person. It’s not as if the four characters are describing a particularly uncomfortable sex scene, it’s only told through Nick’s perspective. I don’t understand this dream-state, marijuana high-like narrative.
There are so many lists in this book. The groceries that one of the characters used to make fajitas. The smells in Autumn. The items left behind in fires (2x). My next gripe is also certain chapters. They begin with “The Brief History Of”... They describe autopsy procedures, arson investigations, what bodies look like post-mortem, how the brain forms memories, definitions of fire investigation terms, how crime scenes are collected and catalogued. It’s so unnecessary. I can imagine it would be a 30 second montage in NCIS, but in this book, these are long chapters that aren’t necessary. If I wanted to know more about how police officers determine arson, I’d Google it! (Or you know, read an actual non-fiction, scholarly book, rather than just have it summarized through the fictional perspective of a sixteen year-old).
The main premise following the shooting is the recovery of the students in the town. Our main characters are Matt, Christina, Zola, and Nick. They are the yearbook crew of their high school, struggling to memorialize the students and administration lost in the tragedy. I was originally fascinated by this premise, I hadn't ever thought what the yearbook committee's job would be like after such a horrible tragedy. Also, a completely unnecessary plot of arson: the houses belonging to all of the juniors who were killed in the shooting are burning down and killing the family members inside. The worst part is the useless police force. They decide that someone is clearly burning down the houses of the families affected. When do they start considering who's next? After about 5 families are killed. Do they fix the problem? Do they put the families into protective custody? Do they do anything? No. This is a useless plot point, and it just makes the story aggravating. If the author wanted us to hate her book, she's succeeded.
Back to the dialogue. As I mentioned, the narrative is a bit appalling. I think the worst is just some of the actual quotes. I'm including them, just so you can understand my reasoning. We have a super important memory of one character recognizing his classmate's mother, because she once brought cupcakes late to a birthday party.
"His mouth a knife. His tongue and a picture frame and a slammed car door."
"Christina grabbed a rock and pulled back her arm and hurled it at Ryan's window. A rock the size of a plum. A tangerine, an apple."
The conclusion of this book absolutely ruins me. I struggled and it pained me to read every page of this, but the conclusion just made me want to burn this book to the ground. I don’t recommend it. If you’re looking for a book with sentiments about school shootings, please look elsewhere. I highly recommend "Only Child" by Rhiannon Navin.
I received a complementary copy for reviewing purposes. Thank you to William Morrow for the opportunity.
Written by Anne Valente
Review written by Diana Iozzia
I have to give myself a lot of credit for being able to get through this book. I always feel a bit unkind for writing negative reviews, but I just didn’t enjoy the book. As this hobby goes, I come across great books and I come across books I just don’t want to finish. This book took me four days to get through, and honestly, I’m surprised I finished it that quickly. Some books I can finish in two hours. Picking up this book felt like picking up a boulder.
This book is sad, for the first 40 pages. After the unsettling and horrifying shooting, we’re subjected to poor, jumbled writing that’s so repetitive, it could have a drinking game attached to it. Drink every time Matt wishes he could talk to Tyler. Take a shot the eighteen times he describes in detail the girl’s body that he saw bleed out. When Zola and Christina have a weird gay moment. When Christina is mad at her jerk boyfriend. When Zola thinks about how she wishes she could take pictures, but it’s always during inappropriate moments, like the four funerals we read in deep detail. The storytelling is sort of diary-like, terrible first-person collective narration, that sounds like a long-winded graduation speech. We don’t know how to move on from this. Our town will never be the same. We want to know why this happened. We feel lost. And then, the characters’ prose is told in third person. It’s not as if the four characters are describing a particularly uncomfortable sex scene, it’s only told through Nick’s perspective. I don’t understand this dream-state, marijuana high-like narrative.
There are so many lists in this book. The groceries that one of the characters used to make fajitas. The smells in Autumn. The items left behind in fires (2x). My next gripe is also certain chapters. They begin with “The Brief History Of”... They describe autopsy procedures, arson investigations, what bodies look like post-mortem, how the brain forms memories, definitions of fire investigation terms, how crime scenes are collected and catalogued. It’s so unnecessary. I can imagine it would be a 30 second montage in NCIS, but in this book, these are long chapters that aren’t necessary. If I wanted to know more about how police officers determine arson, I’d Google it! (Or you know, read an actual non-fiction, scholarly book, rather than just have it summarized through the fictional perspective of a sixteen year-old).
The main premise following the shooting is the recovery of the students in the town. Our main characters are Matt, Christina, Zola, and Nick. They are the yearbook crew of their high school, struggling to memorialize the students and administration lost in the tragedy. I was originally fascinated by this premise, I hadn't ever thought what the yearbook committee's job would be like after such a horrible tragedy. Also, a completely unnecessary plot of arson: the houses belonging to all of the juniors who were killed in the shooting are burning down and killing the family members inside. The worst part is the useless police force. They decide that someone is clearly burning down the houses of the families affected. When do they start considering who's next? After about 5 families are killed. Do they fix the problem? Do they put the families into protective custody? Do they do anything? No. This is a useless plot point, and it just makes the story aggravating. If the author wanted us to hate her book, she's succeeded.
Back to the dialogue. As I mentioned, the narrative is a bit appalling. I think the worst is just some of the actual quotes. I'm including them, just so you can understand my reasoning. We have a super important memory of one character recognizing his classmate's mother, because she once brought cupcakes late to a birthday party.
"His mouth a knife. His tongue and a picture frame and a slammed car door."
"Christina grabbed a rock and pulled back her arm and hurled it at Ryan's window. A rock the size of a plum. A tangerine, an apple."
The conclusion of this book absolutely ruins me. I struggled and it pained me to read every page of this, but the conclusion just made me want to burn this book to the ground. I don’t recommend it. If you’re looking for a book with sentiments about school shootings, please look elsewhere. I highly recommend "Only Child" by Rhiannon Navin.
I received a complementary copy for reviewing purposes. Thank you to William Morrow for the opportunity.
May 7, 2017
Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down shows so much exceptional writing. Valente is clearly a talented writer with great ideas. The plot of this novel is a solid idea. The prose is beautiful at times. And yet the whole novel is such a great disappointment. I hate to say it as there are novels that are horrible in so many ways and this work does not belong among them. Yet, I didn’t enjoy Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down at all.
This novel just has too many quirks to succeed. The narrative constantly delves in ramblings about pop culture or the news. Perhaps these are meant to show the author did her research. Or perhaps, more meaningfully, they highlight how the world keeps spinning despite the tragedies at the heart of the novel. Regardless of the reasons, it doesn’t work. It disrupts the forward movement and is very out of place. Every five pages there are comments about the war in Iraq and the baseball season. “Will they ever find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?” Does it matter in any way for the plot of this novel? Even if this entire novel is all some allegory for the war in Iraq or something, it does not work.
The other big problem is the characters. Their reactions aren’t believable. Their interactions with one another seem forced. They’re about as multi-dimensional as the pages they people. I couldn’t relate. They felt completely like caricatures.
And then there were issues with overall believability. The way the community, the students, and the police react to the events that take place didn’t seem logical. The existence of this yearbook staff—four juniors without mention of a faculty advisor—who meet in places like bookstores to discuss the yearbook. It all felt so unnatural.
And yet, the writing can be so brilliant at times. Ugghhh. I hate writing these kinds of review.
On the plus side, I did like the ending. Guaranteed, some will find it lacking, but I thought it was satisfying. It provides enough of an answer and it captures some of the best writing in the novel.
Overall, I strongly disliked this novel. And yet I can’t completely write it off. I’d even read something from this author again if I were given the chance. But if I recognize some of the same quirks in that future work, I’m telling myself now, I will give up before reaching the end.
This novel just has too many quirks to succeed. The narrative constantly delves in ramblings about pop culture or the news. Perhaps these are meant to show the author did her research. Or perhaps, more meaningfully, they highlight how the world keeps spinning despite the tragedies at the heart of the novel. Regardless of the reasons, it doesn’t work. It disrupts the forward movement and is very out of place. Every five pages there are comments about the war in Iraq and the baseball season. “Will they ever find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?” Does it matter in any way for the plot of this novel? Even if this entire novel is all some allegory for the war in Iraq or something, it does not work.
The other big problem is the characters. Their reactions aren’t believable. Their interactions with one another seem forced. They’re about as multi-dimensional as the pages they people. I couldn’t relate. They felt completely like caricatures.
And then there were issues with overall believability. The way the community, the students, and the police react to the events that take place didn’t seem logical. The existence of this yearbook staff—four juniors without mention of a faculty advisor—who meet in places like bookstores to discuss the yearbook. It all felt so unnatural.
And yet, the writing can be so brilliant at times. Ugghhh. I hate writing these kinds of review.
On the plus side, I did like the ending. Guaranteed, some will find it lacking, but I thought it was satisfying. It provides enough of an answer and it captures some of the best writing in the novel.
Overall, I strongly disliked this novel. And yet I can’t completely write it off. I’d even read something from this author again if I were given the chance. But if I recognize some of the same quirks in that future work, I’m telling myself now, I will give up before reaching the end.
September 27, 2020
Con un lenguaje emotivo como en By Light We Knew Our Names, Valente toca temas increíblemente difíciles. Creo que todo el tiempo estaba pensando en el sufrimiento de toda la comunidad, aumentado por el constante uso de "nosotros".
El libro es confuso, aunque supongo que logra generar un ambiente similar de distracción, desconexión e irrealidad en una situación tan dolorosa.
El libro es confuso, aunque supongo que logra generar un ambiente similar de distracción, desconexión e irrealidad en una situación tan dolorosa.
December 22, 2024
Wow. Incredibly written. My first book by this author - mystery, romance, grief, uncertainty. She did it all!! I recommend this book to anyone. Slow start but so hard to put down!
February 10, 2023
A powerful exploration of the unrelenting horror of a school shooting - The terror of the event, the traumatic processing that follows, and the burning grief that may be impossible to survive.
Both grounded in reality and floating through symbolism, Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down is a provocative piece of literature that will haunt the reader long after that last page has been turned.
Both grounded in reality and floating through symbolism, Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down is a provocative piece of literature that will haunt the reader long after that last page has been turned.
September 21, 2017
Every once in a while, I come across a book that hits the perfect note between "I have something to say" and "Let me tell you a story." This was one of those books. The inescapable thought I had while reading was that this school shooting is not unique. This shooter is not unique. In America, there's a new incident every week. If we're lucky enough not to be touched directly by these events, we go numb after a while out of self-preservation. This book rips the Novacaine from our hands and asks us to confront the reality of the lives lost, because these characters and their experiences are not abstract. Everything in here is brutally real, even the more supernatural elements.
This book is not easily categorizable by any means, with genre or otherwise. In speaking with the author, the word that came up was "intangibility," and that sounds right. The book is concerned the power of intangible emotions, namely intense grief, and the horrific effects of bottling up such emotions, writ large. Within the first few pages, it becomes clear that the memory of the shooting never leaves these characters, and it's confirmed again in the beautiful final chapters, where our narrators say they've tried to forget and move on, move away, and haven't entirely succeeded. The first-person plural voice was especially striking. It felt like the voice of a community as a whole, struggling to heal in the midst of further tragedies.
Though I've had days to gather my thoughts, I'm still a little at a loss for how to articulate it. It was beautiful and resonant and exactly the book I believe everyone should read. Yes, it's hard and intense and I definitely cried several times, but it also served to wake me up and remind me that mass violence is not a problem for tomorrow, but today.
This book is not easily categorizable by any means, with genre or otherwise. In speaking with the author, the word that came up was "intangibility," and that sounds right. The book is concerned the power of intangible emotions, namely intense grief, and the horrific effects of bottling up such emotions, writ large. Within the first few pages, it becomes clear that the memory of the shooting never leaves these characters, and it's confirmed again in the beautiful final chapters, where our narrators say they've tried to forget and move on, move away, and haven't entirely succeeded. The first-person plural voice was especially striking. It felt like the voice of a community as a whole, struggling to heal in the midst of further tragedies.
Though I've had days to gather my thoughts, I'm still a little at a loss for how to articulate it. It was beautiful and resonant and exactly the book I believe everyone should read. Yes, it's hard and intense and I definitely cried several times, but it also served to wake me up and remind me that mass violence is not a problem for tomorrow, but today.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2017
Heartbreaking and painful, but beautifully rendered, this novel of a school shooting and it's aftermath through the eyes of four students will have readers hooked. Alternatively told through the omniscient "we" and through individual lenses of four yearbook club staffers, the whole story is slowly pieced together, where each of them were in the building, how they were affected, how they grieved, and how they came together to try and chronicle an indescribable event. As if the aftermath of the shooting that claimed over 20 students wasn't enough, a string of house fires ignite throughout the community, only affecting the parents and families of those that lost teenagers in the school shooting. These four, courageous, broken, questioning teens try to piece together their own and their community's sorrows. A wonderful read, not for the faint of heart.
I received this book for free from Librarything Giveaways in return for my honest, unbiased review.
I received this book for free from Librarything Giveaways in return for my honest, unbiased review.
September 24, 2016
Very interesting look at the aftermath of a fictional school shooting. It focuses on the people left alive and the impacts it has on their lives and relationships. I found the relationship between one character and his father very touching and the dynamics between the four main characters kept me locked into the story.
I felt the house fire storyline was an attempt to add physical drama that wasn't needed I would have liked more character and less mystery about arson. The twist at the end was not very satisfying. I had figured out it was gonna be what it was about a third of the way in.
On the strength of the characters and their inner stories, I would recommend this book.
I received this book as a GoodReads giveaway.
I felt the house fire storyline was an attempt to add physical drama that wasn't needed I would have liked more character and less mystery about arson. The twist at the end was not very satisfying. I had figured out it was gonna be what it was about a third of the way in.
On the strength of the characters and their inner stories, I would recommend this book.
I received this book as a GoodReads giveaway.
August 3, 2019
This would have been better as a (longer) short story. The school shooting subject matter is gripping but the emotional exploration just drags on. Of course the concentric circles of those affected are devastated -- that goes without saying (yet I'm saying it) -- but too much time in the minds of those people causes the story to lose impact. Again, would have made a terrific short story.
June 25, 2022
This was recommended from Atticus review to bring insight into school shootings. Anne Valente does a masterful job with research and insight.
I'm giving this 3 1/2 stars because of the ending... I understand what she was doing but it didn't quite work for me.. Still recommend
I'm giving this 3 1/2 stars because of the ending... I understand what she was doing but it didn't quite work for me.. Still recommend
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