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Thoughts & Prayers
Claire, Eleanor, and Brezzen have little in common. Except for the fact that a year ago, they all hid under the same staircase and heard the shots that took the lives of some of their classmates and a teacher.
Now, each one copes with the trauma as best as they can as the world around them keeps moving. Thoughts and Prayers is a story about gun violence, but more importantly it is the story of what happens after the reporters leave and the news cycle moves on to the next tragedy. It is the story of three unforgettable teens who feel forgotten.
Acclaimed author Bryan Bliss has made a place for himself writing books that face difficult and emotional topics head on with nuance, empathy, and a deft hand. Thoughts and Prayers is an extraordinary novel that explores what it means to heal and to feel safe in a world that constantly chooses violence.
Now, each one copes with the trauma as best as they can as the world around them keeps moving. Thoughts and Prayers is a story about gun violence, but more importantly it is the story of what happens after the reporters leave and the news cycle moves on to the next tragedy. It is the story of three unforgettable teens who feel forgotten.
Acclaimed author Bryan Bliss has made a place for himself writing books that face difficult and emotional topics head on with nuance, empathy, and a deft hand. Thoughts and Prayers is an extraordinary novel that explores what it means to heal and to feel safe in a world that constantly chooses violence.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published September 29, 2020
27 people are currently reading
2834 people want to read
About the author
Bryan Bliss
13 books130 followersBryan Bliss is the author of No Parking at the End Times, Meet Me Here, and We’ll Fly Away, which was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award. He lives in Saint Paul, MN with his family.
You can visit him online at www.bryanbliss.com and on Facebook and Twitter.
You can visit him online at www.bryanbliss.com and on Facebook and Twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
September 30, 2020
1.5 STARS
What a disappointment. THOUGHTS & PRAYERS was one of my most anticipated books of the month and it turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of the year.
THOUGHTS & PRAYERS is basically three different, separate stories about high schoolers who survived a school shooting. Each part covers one student, one year later. I believe Bryan Bliss wanted to illustrate how each survivor had different reactions to the event, but he failed to make me care about any of the kids. None of the characters felt like authentic people, they felt like Characters Written For A Very Special Book that turned out to be not special at all. Additionally, the two female characters seemed obviously written by a male. Some men write wonderful female characters. Others write girls as if they’re boys who happen to be girls, not that either fit into a stereotype, but certain mannerisms, styles of communication and nuances are more typical of girls than boys. Women writers generally give female characters more depth. The point is, I don’t want to think, “I can tell a man wrote this.” I don’t want to think about the writer at all when I’m reading.
I didn’t like anything about the book but the premise.
What a disappointment. THOUGHTS & PRAYERS was one of my most anticipated books of the month and it turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of the year.
THOUGHTS & PRAYERS is basically three different, separate stories about high schoolers who survived a school shooting. Each part covers one student, one year later. I believe Bryan Bliss wanted to illustrate how each survivor had different reactions to the event, but he failed to make me care about any of the kids. None of the characters felt like authentic people, they felt like Characters Written For A Very Special Book that turned out to be not special at all. Additionally, the two female characters seemed obviously written by a male. Some men write wonderful female characters. Others write girls as if they’re boys who happen to be girls, not that either fit into a stereotype, but certain mannerisms, styles of communication and nuances are more typical of girls than boys. Women writers generally give female characters more depth. The point is, I don’t want to think, “I can tell a man wrote this.” I don’t want to think about the writer at all when I’m reading.
I didn’t like anything about the book but the premise.
July 16, 2020
I was a bit hesitant to read this book simply because, as an educator, school shootings are a possibility in my line of work. I went in blind, hoping for the worst and I was pleasantly surprised!
This book was gut-wrenching, hopeful, sad and full of redemption. I think Bryan did an excellent job at really encapsulating the fear and paralyzing effects of living through an unspeakable trauma! We got to see the change Claire, Brezzen and Eleanor went through emotionally, mentally and physically after such a tragedy and what was so heartbreaking was that I felt their pain!
As far as introducing this book into my classroom or recommending it to students, I don't know if I would put too much focus on what caused the trauma but the power in feeling all the feelings, seeking the help and not letting something hold you back. People move on and life goes on but it's okay to take the time to invest in yourself to heal and to grow from those terrible experiences.
The beauty that unfolded in this story was the path each of the characters took to heal. In their own time, they each starting healing through therapy, role playing and being a voice for the voiceless!
This book was gut-wrenching, hopeful, sad and full of redemption. I think Bryan did an excellent job at really encapsulating the fear and paralyzing effects of living through an unspeakable trauma! We got to see the change Claire, Brezzen and Eleanor went through emotionally, mentally and physically after such a tragedy and what was so heartbreaking was that I felt their pain!
As far as introducing this book into my classroom or recommending it to students, I don't know if I would put too much focus on what caused the trauma but the power in feeling all the feelings, seeking the help and not letting something hold you back. People move on and life goes on but it's okay to take the time to invest in yourself to heal and to grow from those terrible experiences.
The beauty that unfolded in this story was the path each of the characters took to heal. In their own time, they each starting healing through therapy, role playing and being a voice for the voiceless!
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December 27, 2020Claire, Eleanor, and Brezzan all survived the shooting at Ford High School. This is each of their stories one year later. Claire has moved across the country; Eleanor has become an activist; Brezzan has been staying home and is now being asked to return. All three experience PTSD and the ways their fears and traumas play out showcases how complex the impact of such violence can have on every single person.
Though Claire and Eleanor know each other, none of the stories are connected. It's essentially three character studies, but they're all utterly fascinating and compelling. We know exactly what happened. What we don't know is how they function or move forward.
As always, it's well written, well paced, and and insightful read by Bliss.
Though Claire and Eleanor know each other, none of the stories are connected. It's essentially three character studies, but they're all utterly fascinating and compelling. We know exactly what happened. What we don't know is how they function or move forward.
As always, it's well written, well paced, and and insightful read by Bliss.
July 2, 2022
This book was very hard to read. As a student, I go to school with the possibility of a school shooting occurring. As someone who is going to be a future teacher, I am scared to go into the profession because of that. It is currently 39 days since Uvalde and I think that probably had an impact on the difficulty of getting through this read. Please make sure that you are okay to read this first, mentally and physically. Also, if you ever need to talk about any of the subject matter discussed in this book, make sure there is someone you trust to listen.
September 9, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and review Bryan Bliss' new novel out on 9/29!
Thoughts & Prayers by Bryan Bliss is a three-part novel that comes out at the end of September. This story follows three characters, Eleanor, Brendan and Claire a year after they survived a shooting at their high school and hid under a stairwell together.
I wanted this book to be so much more than it was. The topic was handled very well, as it is an emotional and delicate topic, but it felt like I was reading three different short stories, with no connection, and with nothing really happening. Each part seemed to deal with a different type of diagnosis in how they handled their grief. For example, we see PTSD in Claire, anger and resentment in Eleanor, and OCD in Brendan.
The first part follows our character Claire, who moved to Minnesota with her brother, who is a pro-skater, after the shooting. We follow her as she is processing the trauma and meets a group of guys at the skate park who befriend her and one of them, who is slightly disturbed, is also going through his own trauma so they connect. Claire is constantly on edge, making sure she can always see her closest exit and tries to avoid riding the bus and crowds at all cost, as it reminds her of the shooting and gives her some PTSD flashbacks. We see her struggle with her friendship with Dark because he presents himself as.. well, dark and refers to her PTSD as "The Monster" while connecting it with her love for the novel Frankenstein. Her story was the least connected with the other two, especially since she moved away. She mentions Eleanor once and how they use to be close friends.
The second part follows Eleanor, who is by far the best character of the three. She is a spitfire and a huge advocate for what she believes in, and doesn't let anyone tear her down. She is the "activist" out of the three and protested guns immediately after the shooting - causing a rise in her environment and lots of debating. She seems to have a lot of anger and resentment towards what happened, and to herself. Her story had the most action and had the best story line. I felt like of the three, hers truly flew by and I wish I had gotten more about her. She mentions Claire a few times but nothing about Brendan.
The third part follows Brendan, who goes by his Wizards & Warriors (a rip off of Dungeons and Dragons) name of Brazzen. To him, his world is a fantasy game. He refers to his friends as their characters, and his therapist. He carries a dice with him that he is constantly rolling in all avenues of his life to help make him feel "safe" and make decisions. He seemed to have a lot of OCD that was related to his trauma. He was very focused on this dice and when he wasn't able to roll it, we would see a glimpse of him having a bit of a panic attack. His story was very odd to me, and confusing. It was however, the most connected to the other two characters as he mentions both Claire and Eleanor several times.
I think I wanted more with this story and was expecting it to be different. It was interesting to see how the survivors were managing since the shooting but it felt like the three stories were so disconnected with one another that it felt more as if I was reading three short stories that did not relate. I felt like things were dragged out a little too and there was not much going on in any of the chapters, aside from Eleanor's. Overall the story felt very meh to me, which was disappointing because it is an important topic that should be discussed and explored.
Thoughts & Prayers by Bryan Bliss is a three-part novel that comes out at the end of September. This story follows three characters, Eleanor, Brendan and Claire a year after they survived a shooting at their high school and hid under a stairwell together.
I wanted this book to be so much more than it was. The topic was handled very well, as it is an emotional and delicate topic, but it felt like I was reading three different short stories, with no connection, and with nothing really happening. Each part seemed to deal with a different type of diagnosis in how they handled their grief. For example, we see PTSD in Claire, anger and resentment in Eleanor, and OCD in Brendan.
The first part follows our character Claire, who moved to Minnesota with her brother, who is a pro-skater, after the shooting. We follow her as she is processing the trauma and meets a group of guys at the skate park who befriend her and one of them, who is slightly disturbed, is also going through his own trauma so they connect. Claire is constantly on edge, making sure she can always see her closest exit and tries to avoid riding the bus and crowds at all cost, as it reminds her of the shooting and gives her some PTSD flashbacks. We see her struggle with her friendship with Dark because he presents himself as.. well, dark and refers to her PTSD as "The Monster" while connecting it with her love for the novel Frankenstein. Her story was the least connected with the other two, especially since she moved away. She mentions Eleanor once and how they use to be close friends.
The second part follows Eleanor, who is by far the best character of the three. She is a spitfire and a huge advocate for what she believes in, and doesn't let anyone tear her down. She is the "activist" out of the three and protested guns immediately after the shooting - causing a rise in her environment and lots of debating. She seems to have a lot of anger and resentment towards what happened, and to herself. Her story had the most action and had the best story line. I felt like of the three, hers truly flew by and I wish I had gotten more about her. She mentions Claire a few times but nothing about Brendan.
The third part follows Brendan, who goes by his Wizards & Warriors (a rip off of Dungeons and Dragons) name of Brazzen. To him, his world is a fantasy game. He refers to his friends as their characters, and his therapist. He carries a dice with him that he is constantly rolling in all avenues of his life to help make him feel "safe" and make decisions. He seemed to have a lot of OCD that was related to his trauma. He was very focused on this dice and when he wasn't able to roll it, we would see a glimpse of him having a bit of a panic attack. His story was very odd to me, and confusing. It was however, the most connected to the other two characters as he mentions both Claire and Eleanor several times.
I think I wanted more with this story and was expecting it to be different. It was interesting to see how the survivors were managing since the shooting but it felt like the three stories were so disconnected with one another that it felt more as if I was reading three short stories that did not relate. I felt like things were dragged out a little too and there was not much going on in any of the chapters, aside from Eleanor's. Overall the story felt very meh to me, which was disappointing because it is an important topic that should be discussed and explored.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2020
DNF at 77%. You can ask me that why didn't I finish it, since I had only a bit more to go. See, I had no patience, there were many awesome books out there that I had yet to read and I figured this book wasn't worth that much time.
I didn't really know anything about this book. I picked it up on a whim, without giving it any thought. Now, I realize that was a mistake.
Thoughts and prayers is a story told in three parts. Each part gives the narrative of a different person who survived a gun shooting. While this book gives a great insight on school shootings and their aftermath, I didn't like how it was written. For me, this book could have been great if the author focused on a single character alone. I really liked the first part, told from the perspective of Claire. But the next two parts didn't add up.
When you read the synopsis of the book,it sounds REALLY interesting, but trust me, this book could have been a LOT better and could have depicted the several paths towards healing.
I would prefer The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson over this.
Not a recommended read. (My second DNF of the year and I'm upset at myself)
I didn't really know anything about this book. I picked it up on a whim, without giving it any thought. Now, I realize that was a mistake.
Thoughts and prayers is a story told in three parts. Each part gives the narrative of a different person who survived a gun shooting. While this book gives a great insight on school shootings and their aftermath, I didn't like how it was written. For me, this book could have been great if the author focused on a single character alone. I really liked the first part, told from the perspective of Claire. But the next two parts didn't add up.
When you read the synopsis of the book,it sounds REALLY interesting, but trust me, this book could have been a LOT better and could have depicted the several paths towards healing.
I would prefer The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson over this.
Not a recommended read. (My second DNF of the year and I'm upset at myself)
September 22, 2020
Sadly, I expected more of this book and it didn’t deliver. It is one year after a school shooting, and the story checks in on three survivors to see how they are doing. These three survivors huddled together under a stairwell during the shooting. So, it was disappointing that the follow-up with them was three separate short stories.
However, the individual stories were realistic in revealing how each of the survivors was dealing with the aftermath of the incident. Each has some form of psychological damage that needed attention. But each story left me empty – and bored.
However, the individual stories were realistic in revealing how each of the survivors was dealing with the aftermath of the incident. Each has some form of psychological damage that needed attention. But each story left me empty – and bored.
June 3, 2020
Claire, Eleanor, and Brendan all survived the shooting at their high school but a year later they are still grappling with trauma. Claire and her older brother have moved to the upper Midwest, where Claire begins to heal when she meets a boy who is also a trauma survivor. Eleanor focuses outward, becoming a face for gun control that makes her a target for classmates who strongly support or viciously oppose her position. Brendan is paralyzed by fear until his love of role playing games provides a way for him to re-enter school as if it is a new campaign. An intriguing and original look at the aftermath of a school shooting. E-ARC provided by Edelweiss.
February 25, 2022
I liked this more than I thought I would. My favorite was the second story. I felt as if it was the most developed and thought out. I do wish these stories were more connected and we get more of the actual backstory. It did lack without that, but otherwise I enjoyed it.
November 11, 2021
This book covered such an important topic and it was shown well, but the execution of the book definitely could have been better. The only character I connected with at all was Eleanor, and I felt like all the characters' stories all seemed extremely unfinished. It felt only like a collection of short stories about a character I barely got to know and the character development was bad because it was so obvious. I read this because I really liked the blurb and the title but besides that it was quite meh
November 29, 2020
Once again, Bryan Bliss has completely nailed it. Big, ugly, very relevant topics in a very real, very poignant, very accessible way. This book, told in three parts from the perspective of three students who hid together under the stairs at school during an attack by a shooter. Instead of focusing on the event and the shooter, which so often happens, Bliss works his writing magic by revealing the very real aftermath on the children who endure such a traumatic horror.
The placating phrase “thoughts and prayers” reveals how very little thoughts and prayers do to help stop the very real problem of gun violence and mass shootings, as well as aid survivors of those shootings. Claire, Eleanor, and Brezzen all help readers understand how complex and varied reactions from young people are to the horrors they have experienced. This book speaks to those challenges and the lifetime of difficulties they’ll face as a result of their experiences.
This is a must for school libraries and teen readers. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy!
The placating phrase “thoughts and prayers” reveals how very little thoughts and prayers do to help stop the very real problem of gun violence and mass shootings, as well as aid survivors of those shootings. Claire, Eleanor, and Brezzen all help readers understand how complex and varied reactions from young people are to the horrors they have experienced. This book speaks to those challenges and the lifetime of difficulties they’ll face as a result of their experiences.
This is a must for school libraries and teen readers. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy!
August 25, 2020
The title of this book is what grabbed my attention. “Thoughts & Prayers.” How sick are we of hearing that phrase every time there’s a school shooting? “Thoughts and prayers to the family. We’re not going to try to do a literal thing about gun control, but I’m so sorry this happened to you!” “Thoughts and prayers to the family. We cannot BELIEVE this keeps happening, especially since we’ve done absolutely NOTHING to try to stop it! Such a shame so many children have to die, but this is America and we have the right to bear arms! We love our guns and we deserve them! I love my gun so much I want to shove it up my ass!!!!”
I digress.
(Sorry, can you tell I hate guns?)
Anyway. This book is split into three different perspectives. Claire, Eleanor and Brezzen. By the end, we realize their stories are all connected. They all hid under the same stairwell during a shooting at their school. Each character’s trauma plays out in different ways.
Claire, clearly suffering from PTSD, moved away with her brother and tried to put it all behind her. Her trauma was very apparent and I had a hard time connecting with her because of it. Well, not because she was traumatized. Of course she was? Due to the third person narration, I couldn’t gleam much about her personality, so she kind of fell flat for me. I was intrigued by her new friends, but we didn’t get to know them as much as I’d hoped.
Eleanor was the most interesting character to follow and I vibed with her the most. After the shooting, she started making shirts that read “FUCK GUNS!” and wearing them to school every day. The school board and teachers weren’t really doing anything to address gun control,the emotional trauma that countless students were facing, and the severe harassment that was happening to Eleanor because she dared to speak out (GASP. No way?) They wanted her to stop protesting and “making a scene.” Eleanor’s perspective really fit into the title “Thoughts and Prayers.” I would’ve loved to read more about her journey. I would have also loved to throw most of the adults in her life into an active volcano due to their lack of empathy. :)
Brezzen took a year off from school after the shooting and threw himself headfirst emotionally into Dungeons and Dragons. This was how he learned to cope. Every person in his real life became a character. He carried around his die (Dice? Die? There’s an actual D&D term for it but it’s slipping my mind, oops) and had to roll for initiative every time he was faced with a decision. He eventually goes back to school and reunites with some old D&D pals. Brezzen is easy to root for and I enjoyed his character.
I think this is an important book. I think I would’ve liked it more if it was just one perspective because I feel like I didn’t have enough time to fall into the character’s brains, but it was still good. They all took different paths to heal (some healthy, some unhealthy) which made it very realistic. School shootings need to be taken seriously. Changes in gun control NEED to be made. Books such as this one can spark the conversations we need to get the ball rolling. Thoughts and prayers just aren’t going to cut it.
Thanks to Greenwillow Books and Netgalley for sending this ARC to me in exchange for an honest review.
I digress.
(Sorry, can you tell I hate guns?)
Anyway. This book is split into three different perspectives. Claire, Eleanor and Brezzen. By the end, we realize their stories are all connected. They all hid under the same stairwell during a shooting at their school. Each character’s trauma plays out in different ways.
Claire, clearly suffering from PTSD, moved away with her brother and tried to put it all behind her. Her trauma was very apparent and I had a hard time connecting with her because of it. Well, not because she was traumatized. Of course she was? Due to the third person narration, I couldn’t gleam much about her personality, so she kind of fell flat for me. I was intrigued by her new friends, but we didn’t get to know them as much as I’d hoped.
Eleanor was the most interesting character to follow and I vibed with her the most. After the shooting, she started making shirts that read “FUCK GUNS!” and wearing them to school every day. The school board and teachers weren’t really doing anything to address gun control,the emotional trauma that countless students were facing, and the severe harassment that was happening to Eleanor because she dared to speak out (GASP. No way?) They wanted her to stop protesting and “making a scene.” Eleanor’s perspective really fit into the title “Thoughts and Prayers.” I would’ve loved to read more about her journey. I would have also loved to throw most of the adults in her life into an active volcano due to their lack of empathy. :)
Brezzen took a year off from school after the shooting and threw himself headfirst emotionally into Dungeons and Dragons. This was how he learned to cope. Every person in his real life became a character. He carried around his die (Dice? Die? There’s an actual D&D term for it but it’s slipping my mind, oops) and had to roll for initiative every time he was faced with a decision. He eventually goes back to school and reunites with some old D&D pals. Brezzen is easy to root for and I enjoyed his character.
I think this is an important book. I think I would’ve liked it more if it was just one perspective because I feel like I didn’t have enough time to fall into the character’s brains, but it was still good. They all took different paths to heal (some healthy, some unhealthy) which made it very realistic. School shootings need to be taken seriously. Changes in gun control NEED to be made. Books such as this one can spark the conversations we need to get the ball rolling. Thoughts and prayers just aren’t going to cut it.
Thanks to Greenwillow Books and Netgalley for sending this ARC to me in exchange for an honest review.
August 28, 2024
I struggled with how I wanted to rate this. Because this book is just eh, it’s not terrible but not amazing either. It was on the fence of being both, like a little bit more each way and it could have been a terrible read or an amazing read. Sadly, it kind of just fell flat and in the area of meh.
The book covers a very heavy topic, a school shooting. Although, it doesn’t really go into much detail about the actual shooting. You hear about the characters trauma from the event, you hear about the noise of the bullets, you hear about the victims. So I guess yes it’s discussed throughout, it’s just not graphic detail or like very descriptive of the shooting. Which I’m not bashing, it didn’t have to go into dark or graphic details to get its point across. Just putting this out there since school shootings are such a trigger warning, there’s a heads up for yall.
The book is broken down into three parts, each part is the story of a character who was under a stairwell during the shooting a year prior. All three characters are suffering from the aftermath of the shooting in three very different ways. Claire is part one, she’s moved away from the town into a new state and has extreme PTSD and is having a hard time not seeing everything and everyone as a threat or dangerous. Part two is Eleanor, dealing with being the face of a revolution against guns. She’s dealing with sticking to her morals and facing people who want her head on a stake for wearing a shirt that says “f*** guns”. The third and final part focuses on Brezzen, a boy who took the year off of school and is caught up in the real world and a fantasy game (like dungeons & dragons), using the game to tackle the problems in his real life as well. You don’t get a whole lot of back story to these three main characters and sometimes the book makes it all feel like they are being victimized or shamed by the authors account. Yes I get it’s a work of fiction, but still. There’s no right way to feel after a traumatic thing, so I dunno really what defines being broken over a school shooting if that makes sense. There’s not a lot of background for the characters and parts of the stories they have kind of get boring at times. Personally, I like part two the best, Eleanor had the best story and it kept me way more interested. I’m going to break down the parts below.
Part 1:
Derrick, Dr. Palmer, and Leg and God (yup skater boy nicknames) are definitely the best characters in this part. The character Dark (yup his nickname) was actually just terrible I didn’t really enjoy his character or any input he had to the story. My favorite part is probably when they are at the skate park and God and Leg help Claire catch a line and truly skate on her own, it’s wholesome and probably one of the most exciting parts of the section. I liked when Dr. Palmer told Claire, “I guess I’m saying, we all get a chance to heal. Nothing stays broken forever. It may not look the same as it did before, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t strong…isn’t okay”. Again, the main character and her third person narrative was meh, but it did have some other characters who definitely saved it just a bit.
Part 2:
My personal favorite. I liked the story that’s told, I liked Eleanor and her parents, mainly her dad. I think that it is definitely the most interesting story and has a cool and different twist on life after. My favorite part is when her dad tells Eleanor, “I see everything I wanted to be, but never could. And I see the strongest person I know.”(her dad when he looks at Eleanor). That was actually cute and wholesome. I know that this whole book is a work of fiction but I definitely was left with some like what the heck moments or questions. Like for example, these shirts go on sale in this part, like at night a sale of the shirts happens, the literal next days boys at her school are wearing these shirts. What’s up with the shipping? Plus what a terrible reflection of the school, if they’re wearing inappropriate shirts to an after school game wouldn’t you do your job and just turn them away? Again, this is where the author kind of shifts the blame onto the characters!
Part 3:
I was confused for a hot second on who was who in this book. The characters all go by the names they use when they play the books version of dungeons and dragons. So I was definitely mixed up on whose character was who or who they were to the story at the start. For example, this section/part irked me cause his therapist is one of his friends who outside of therapy plays the game as his game master. Like what, no way in any world would your therapist be your friend, that’s just not okay. So it was confusing for that to be added on. Especially when the author said he got advice on this book from actual therapists and childhood trauma experts. Like I’ll give him respect for reaching out, but half of it just seems still so far fetched and so far from reality that it’s like who really proof read some parts. Like no way a therapist saw this and was like oh totally we hangout and play games on the weekends and nights with one of our patients? Whack.
So that’s my review pretty much summed up. For how much credit the author gives at the end, I was honesty kind of shocked he didn’t actually interview or reach out or credit any actual survivors of a school shooting. I feel like this could have been much better or realistic or just even more thoughtful had he got actual insight from someone whose been through it. Obviously I know it be a hard subject to talk about as a survivor, but there’s unfortunately plenty of survivors and a lot of them are outspoken and passionate about reforms and the stories they have. Definitely feel like he could have asked or at least gave actual survivors more credit. But maybe that’s just petty of me. The whole book is kind of eh, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. I feel like the parts could have been better done and more connected. The book sleeves make it seem as if they will be more connected. Besides knowing they survived together under the stairs, very briefly and hardly are the other characters mentioned in the parts. It kind of just fell short of a stand out read for me, which sucks!
The book covers a very heavy topic, a school shooting. Although, it doesn’t really go into much detail about the actual shooting. You hear about the characters trauma from the event, you hear about the noise of the bullets, you hear about the victims. So I guess yes it’s discussed throughout, it’s just not graphic detail or like very descriptive of the shooting. Which I’m not bashing, it didn’t have to go into dark or graphic details to get its point across. Just putting this out there since school shootings are such a trigger warning, there’s a heads up for yall.
The book is broken down into three parts, each part is the story of a character who was under a stairwell during the shooting a year prior. All three characters are suffering from the aftermath of the shooting in three very different ways. Claire is part one, she’s moved away from the town into a new state and has extreme PTSD and is having a hard time not seeing everything and everyone as a threat or dangerous. Part two is Eleanor, dealing with being the face of a revolution against guns. She’s dealing with sticking to her morals and facing people who want her head on a stake for wearing a shirt that says “f*** guns”. The third and final part focuses on Brezzen, a boy who took the year off of school and is caught up in the real world and a fantasy game (like dungeons & dragons), using the game to tackle the problems in his real life as well. You don’t get a whole lot of back story to these three main characters and sometimes the book makes it all feel like they are being victimized or shamed by the authors account. Yes I get it’s a work of fiction, but still. There’s no right way to feel after a traumatic thing, so I dunno really what defines being broken over a school shooting if that makes sense. There’s not a lot of background for the characters and parts of the stories they have kind of get boring at times. Personally, I like part two the best, Eleanor had the best story and it kept me way more interested. I’m going to break down the parts below.
Part 1:
Derrick, Dr. Palmer, and Leg and God (yup skater boy nicknames) are definitely the best characters in this part. The character Dark (yup his nickname) was actually just terrible I didn’t really enjoy his character or any input he had to the story. My favorite part is probably when they are at the skate park and God and Leg help Claire catch a line and truly skate on her own, it’s wholesome and probably one of the most exciting parts of the section. I liked when Dr. Palmer told Claire, “I guess I’m saying, we all get a chance to heal. Nothing stays broken forever. It may not look the same as it did before, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t strong…isn’t okay”. Again, the main character and her third person narrative was meh, but it did have some other characters who definitely saved it just a bit.
Part 2:
My personal favorite. I liked the story that’s told, I liked Eleanor and her parents, mainly her dad. I think that it is definitely the most interesting story and has a cool and different twist on life after. My favorite part is when her dad tells Eleanor, “I see everything I wanted to be, but never could. And I see the strongest person I know.”(her dad when he looks at Eleanor). That was actually cute and wholesome. I know that this whole book is a work of fiction but I definitely was left with some like what the heck moments or questions. Like for example, these shirts go on sale in this part, like at night a sale of the shirts happens, the literal next days boys at her school are wearing these shirts. What’s up with the shipping? Plus what a terrible reflection of the school, if they’re wearing inappropriate shirts to an after school game wouldn’t you do your job and just turn them away? Again, this is where the author kind of shifts the blame onto the characters!
Part 3:
I was confused for a hot second on who was who in this book. The characters all go by the names they use when they play the books version of dungeons and dragons. So I was definitely mixed up on whose character was who or who they were to the story at the start. For example, this section/part irked me cause his therapist is one of his friends who outside of therapy plays the game as his game master. Like what, no way in any world would your therapist be your friend, that’s just not okay. So it was confusing for that to be added on. Especially when the author said he got advice on this book from actual therapists and childhood trauma experts. Like I’ll give him respect for reaching out, but half of it just seems still so far fetched and so far from reality that it’s like who really proof read some parts. Like no way a therapist saw this and was like oh totally we hangout and play games on the weekends and nights with one of our patients? Whack.
So that’s my review pretty much summed up. For how much credit the author gives at the end, I was honesty kind of shocked he didn’t actually interview or reach out or credit any actual survivors of a school shooting. I feel like this could have been much better or realistic or just even more thoughtful had he got actual insight from someone whose been through it. Obviously I know it be a hard subject to talk about as a survivor, but there’s unfortunately plenty of survivors and a lot of them are outspoken and passionate about reforms and the stories they have. Definitely feel like he could have asked or at least gave actual survivors more credit. But maybe that’s just petty of me. The whole book is kind of eh, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. I feel like the parts could have been better done and more connected. The book sleeves make it seem as if they will be more connected. Besides knowing they survived together under the stairs, very briefly and hardly are the other characters mentioned in the parts. It kind of just fell short of a stand out read for me, which sucks!
January 1, 2025
Three high schoolers are crammed under a stairway, hiding from a particularly unambitious shooter. This book documents the sorta recoveries of these three -- two girls, and a boy.
It seems a shame to give such an ambitious, well-meaning and obviously well-researched book less than five stars, but the book did go on far too long. The third student's story was superfluous. It wasn't much different from the first student's story.
The three students separate after they emerge from the staircase and never meet each other again. That is a bit strange. The boy has has absolutely zero interest in the girls, and vice versa. The first and third student's stories are told in third person.
The second student's story -- where the book should've ended -- was told in first person, perhaps because she's the only one of the three who is sure of herself and confident. She's hated by her school and community for wearing a homemade tee shirt saying FUCK GUNS right after the shootings.
She's vilified online by a website called Right-wing Watch. Unfortunately, there ALREADY IS a website called that, which is the exact opposite of how it's portrayed in this book. So much research went into child trauma recovery ... and yet the author couldn't do Google one of the most prominent left wing websites in the last dozen years?
The book is anchored by a prose poem which was short ... but still just a touch overkill.
The author is apparently a Christian and a youth pastor -- two qualities I despise in a human being -- yet this book is in no way religious.
One more thing -- there is a role playing game called Wizards & Warriors here. Why didn't the author call it Dungeons & Dragons? Because he'd have had a huge lawsuit up his ass. Wizards of the Coast are bastards that way.
I am so done with school shooting fiction for a while.
It seems a shame to give such an ambitious, well-meaning and obviously well-researched book less than five stars, but the book did go on far too long. The third student's story was superfluous. It wasn't much different from the first student's story.
The three students separate after they emerge from the staircase and never meet each other again. That is a bit strange. The boy has has absolutely zero interest in the girls, and vice versa. The first and third student's stories are told in third person.
The second student's story -- where the book should've ended -- was told in first person, perhaps because she's the only one of the three who is sure of herself and confident. She's hated by her school and community for wearing a homemade tee shirt saying FUCK GUNS right after the shootings.
She's vilified online by a website called Right-wing Watch. Unfortunately, there ALREADY IS a website called that, which is the exact opposite of how it's portrayed in this book. So much research went into child trauma recovery ... and yet the author couldn't do Google one of the most prominent left wing websites in the last dozen years?
The book is anchored by a prose poem which was short ... but still just a touch overkill.
The author is apparently a Christian and a youth pastor -- two qualities I despise in a human being -- yet this book is in no way religious.
One more thing -- there is a role playing game called Wizards & Warriors here. Why didn't the author call it Dungeons & Dragons? Because he'd have had a huge lawsuit up his ass. Wizards of the Coast are bastards that way.
I am so done with school shooting fiction for a while.
August 11, 2021
The title perfectly burns those who say they are sending thoughts and prayers after yet another gun shooting, but that's all they are willing to do. The story explores three separate teens in the aftermath (a year later) of them surviving a school shooting. All three experience the trauma in different ways - depression, rage, activism, moving, homeschooling, and gaming to live in a make believe world rather than the real world. The stories don't actually intersect, but all three students attended the same school. Don't expect tidy resolutions and recovery. These students are still healing. That's what makes this story ring so true - everyone experiences tragedy in different ways. Kudos to the author for not focusing on the shooter or the shooting. Instead, Bliss shows us the horror, the pain, the trauma, the messiness left behind when we are supposedly safe because we survived. This might be difficult for readers to accept, but it's real, very real. I wish the three students were connected more closely (than hiding under the stairs at school during the shooting) because this feels like three short stories rather than a novel. I don't know how the author could do this without feeling contrived, but I still wanted one story, not three. I cannot imagine how anyone could read this novel without questioning why we continue to allow school shooting to happen and why we treat our school children as consumables. (Don't argue with me here; this is not the place for that.) The author also does a good job condemning the media who follow the story until a new one comes along that offers more titillation. Readers will undoubtedly make connections to Sandy Hook and Parkland.
October 29, 2024
A very strong work of fiction about three high school students who have survived a school shooting. The book is divided into thirds. In the first third we meet Claire--the way she is coping in the aftermath is by skateboarding and her and her brother have moved away. The incident is haunting her, however. She sees potential violence all around her and has panic attacks. In the second third we meet Eleanor--the way she is coping in the aftermath is by being a basketball star at the school where the shooting happened. After the shooting, she started a movement to protest guns. That stance provoked unexpected negative consequences including being bullied by fellow students and adults alike. In the third third we meet Brezzen/Brendan who has been off of school for a long time after the crisis. He is now ready to return to school. The way he copes is by playing a game which sounds similar to Dungeons and Dragons. He is very attached to a die that he carries with him so that he can roll it and get a feeling about how much power he has for potential situations. Wow! This book clearly delineated strategies for resiliency and makes me think how everyone involved is scarred for life...tough recurring topic...:(
May 12, 2020
Got to read this through a free copy from Edelweiss :D (reseña en inglés porque creo que va a ser mucho más útil para lectores de habla inglesa que para nosotres, les que hablamos español).
Let me get something straight from the beginning: I'm from Argentina. We don't have mass shootings, even less mass school shootings. In fact, I googled it because I'm almost 25 years old and couldn't remember a single one-- and found that the first Latin America mass school shooting happened in Argentina in 2004. We didn't have a mass school shooting since then, and if I googled more I might discover we didn't have many mass shootings in general, before and after that.
Having said that, I requested this book because even if we don't have them, we know about USA mass (school) shootings. I live-read about the Parkland mass school shooting in 2018 on Twitter, and follow some of the survivors on social media because of their fight against gun violence. I read on Wikipedia about these events, analysis on the perpetrator(s), about the aftermath of victims' families and survivors, and how these experiences changed them.
But -thank God- I don't know anything about mass shootings.
The book has three parts, each of them told in the perspective of two girls and one boy, respectively. All three of them hid together under a staircase a year ago, when someone started shooting their classmates on the hallway.
The first part is about Claire, a survivor that decided to move out of town after what happened. She and her brother, a now-retired professional skater since he decided to look after his sister after their parents died, survive day by day with Claire clearly having PTSD.
This is the only story that I didn't like that much. I don't think the third person narration does much for this character and her story, since she clearly has feelings we as readers can't access, and her reactions to and experiences with her new friends -Dark, Legs and my personal favorite, God- were kinda lost for me. It also felt as an unfinished story since it had so much more to explore! We just started getting into Dark's life and problems when the first part ended, but we can't get into them because it's not about him, it's not about their friendship, so we miss that as well. I also don't think the Frankestein and the Monster idea was 100% well executed; it felt kinda disconnected to the rest of the story, so it didn't do much for me as a reader.
But then we get into Eleanor's story-- and I truly liked it! I like Eleanor, could connect with her and her problems, and cheered for her when everyone else didn't. The narration switches to first person for this story and I think it gets better because now we got access to her feelings and thoughts, even when she didn't want to have them-- she wanted all of it to end, she wanted to kind of get over everything like the rest of the schools seemed to do. Even when her parents and her boyfriend tried really hard to understand her, they couldn't. Her boyfriend is also a survivor, but he wasn't hidden under that staircase while hearing the shooting and people dying. He doesn't /get/ it.
And last but not least, my favorite story of the three: the Brezzen's story.
After a year of hiding in his house and being homeschooled, Brendan's parents and psychologist decided that it's time for him to try and go back to school. He refuses at first, but his psychologist, who's been playing Wizard's & Warriors with him, helps him get into this adventure kind of as a quest for his character. He goes back to school with his hand-drawn map, reunites with some of his friends and has to spend his school hours in the same place a year ago someone shoot and killed four people. He even has to go through the same corridor, the same staircase.
I was a little confused at first because I have literally zero experience with Dungeon & Dragons kind of games, but once I started to get the slang I 100% got into the story. I loved how the game and strategy helped him go through some things and how anxiety-driven some of the scenes were. Brendan rolling the dice was great, since I recognized myself doing things with my hands when I start getting anxious, mostly at social gatherings.
I honestly think this is a really good book. I really enjoyed the writing and even if I didn't like Claire's story, I could totally /see/ her. Her reaction to some of their friends' actions, words or drawings were real and reflected the PTSD she's going through. I could see some of the survivor's fight in Eleanor's story and the reaction she ignited in some ignorant, violence-driven people. And I think Brendan's story is the best, because its coping mechanisms were great, and real, and authetic, and even enjoyable, because you cheered for him and wanted him to get better, to face his fears, to look at Medusa in the eye and say "I'm afraid and that's okay!!!" to her face.
Also, they all appear in each other's story, and that was a great detail.
I'm glad I read this book and I'm thankful that mass school shootings are accesible to young readers through fiction. You don't have to physically experience it (and I hope no one else has to, ever) to demand stricter gun regulations, fight for the end of gun violence and for a better mental universal healthcare. We all stand with survivors, we all ask for the same thing. And in the author's words, with a little bit of s spoiler for the acknowledgments: "I want to thank everyone who, like me, has had enough. The survivors. The activists. The everyday people who simple won't let this keep happening. Keep going. Keep going. We can fix this."
Let me get something straight from the beginning: I'm from Argentina. We don't have mass shootings, even less mass school shootings. In fact, I googled it because I'm almost 25 years old and couldn't remember a single one-- and found that the first Latin America mass school shooting happened in Argentina in 2004. We didn't have a mass school shooting since then, and if I googled more I might discover we didn't have many mass shootings in general, before and after that.
Having said that, I requested this book because even if we don't have them, we know about USA mass (school) shootings. I live-read about the Parkland mass school shooting in 2018 on Twitter, and follow some of the survivors on social media because of their fight against gun violence. I read on Wikipedia about these events, analysis on the perpetrator(s), about the aftermath of victims' families and survivors, and how these experiences changed them.
But -thank God- I don't know anything about mass shootings.
The book has three parts, each of them told in the perspective of two girls and one boy, respectively. All three of them hid together under a staircase a year ago, when someone started shooting their classmates on the hallway.
The first part is about Claire, a survivor that decided to move out of town after what happened. She and her brother, a now-retired professional skater since he decided to look after his sister after their parents died, survive day by day with Claire clearly having PTSD.
This is the only story that I didn't like that much. I don't think the third person narration does much for this character and her story, since she clearly has feelings we as readers can't access, and her reactions to and experiences with her new friends -Dark, Legs and my personal favorite, God- were kinda lost for me. It also felt as an unfinished story since it had so much more to explore! We just started getting into Dark's life and problems when the first part ended, but we can't get into them because it's not about him, it's not about their friendship, so we miss that as well. I also don't think the Frankestein and the Monster idea was 100% well executed; it felt kinda disconnected to the rest of the story, so it didn't do much for me as a reader.
But then we get into Eleanor's story-- and I truly liked it! I like Eleanor, could connect with her and her problems, and cheered for her when everyone else didn't. The narration switches to first person for this story and I think it gets better because now we got access to her feelings and thoughts, even when she didn't want to have them-- she wanted all of it to end, she wanted to kind of get over everything like the rest of the schools seemed to do. Even when her parents and her boyfriend tried really hard to understand her, they couldn't. Her boyfriend is also a survivor, but he wasn't hidden under that staircase while hearing the shooting and people dying. He doesn't /get/ it.
And last but not least, my favorite story of the three: the Brezzen's story.
After a year of hiding in his house and being homeschooled, Brendan's parents and psychologist decided that it's time for him to try and go back to school. He refuses at first, but his psychologist, who's been playing Wizard's & Warriors with him, helps him get into this adventure kind of as a quest for his character. He goes back to school with his hand-drawn map, reunites with some of his friends and has to spend his school hours in the same place a year ago someone shoot and killed four people. He even has to go through the same corridor, the same staircase.
I was a little confused at first because I have literally zero experience with Dungeon & Dragons kind of games, but once I started to get the slang I 100% got into the story. I loved how the game and strategy helped him go through some things and how anxiety-driven some of the scenes were. Brendan rolling the dice was great, since I recognized myself doing things with my hands when I start getting anxious, mostly at social gatherings.
I honestly think this is a really good book. I really enjoyed the writing and even if I didn't like Claire's story, I could totally /see/ her. Her reaction to some of their friends' actions, words or drawings were real and reflected the PTSD she's going through. I could see some of the survivor's fight in Eleanor's story and the reaction she ignited in some ignorant, violence-driven people. And I think Brendan's story is the best, because its coping mechanisms were great, and real, and authetic, and even enjoyable, because you cheered for him and wanted him to get better, to face his fears, to look at Medusa in the eye and say "I'm afraid and that's okay!!!" to her face.
Also, they all appear in each other's story, and that was a great detail.
I'm glad I read this book and I'm thankful that mass school shootings are accesible to young readers through fiction. You don't have to physically experience it (and I hope no one else has to, ever) to demand stricter gun regulations, fight for the end of gun violence and for a better mental universal healthcare. We all stand with survivors, we all ask for the same thing. And in the author's words, with a little bit of s spoiler for the acknowledgments: "I want to thank everyone who, like me, has had enough. The survivors. The activists. The everyday people who simple won't let this keep happening. Keep going. Keep going. We can fix this."
September 28, 2022
Reading this book is an effort for me to understand this world we've inherited. I was in high school when Columbine happened. And now my kids do active shooter drills at their elementary schools. This isn't the world I wanted. I really enjoyed this book, how we were able to see that horrible day from three different perspectives and a glimpse into their world. Watching them each find ways to deal with the past that keeps forcing itself into the present. But it hits too close to home for me to ever read it again.
October 26, 2020
Three narratives follow survivors of a school shooting. Claire's panic attacks and PTSD was so bad she and her older brother/guardian moved, but when Claire befriends three boys at the skate park, she begins to see warning signs in one of them. Eleanor was best known for the anti-gun t-shirts she wore after the shooting, only now she's become a target from the pro-gun population. Brezzen has dealt with the shooting by retreating into a D&D-like world.
This wasn't what I expected, but in a good way, where the victims and their recovery arcs are the main focus rather than the violence of the act itself. Claire and Brezzen's reactions were somewhat similar, with Eleanor's outspokenness a point between them. It was great to see the variety of ways a person could react to such an awful event, as these narratives apparently aren't "newsworthy." But so many have been affected by school shootings that it is important for their narratives to be shown.
This wasn't what I expected, but in a good way, where the victims and their recovery arcs are the main focus rather than the violence of the act itself. Claire and Brezzen's reactions were somewhat similar, with Eleanor's outspokenness a point between them. It was great to see the variety of ways a person could react to such an awful event, as these narratives apparently aren't "newsworthy." But so many have been affected by school shootings that it is important for their narratives to be shown.
June 13, 2024
I don't really have any complaints. I think it would've been cool though so see further into the future just to know that the characters were all okay. Also woulda been cool if they like met up at the end or something
May 7, 2023
the title is kind of weird and doesn't really fit the book
March 1, 2021
I read this 400 page book in one sitting. I think it is highly underrated. This novel told in three parts (pretty much three separate novellas in one setting). I just wish the stories were a little more connected.
January 16, 2021
Having been in high school myself when Columbine happened, and observing firsthand how that incident forever changed how schools are run and students interact with each other, I've always had an interest in books involving school shootings. Bryan Bliss's Thoughts & Prayers is one of the newest titles in the genre to explore the aftermath of a school shooting and its effect on three students.
Claire has moved away from her hometown where the shooting occurred, but finds she is having difficulty adjusting to her new school due to the past trauma. Eleanor brazenly spoke out about the gun violence at her school, but is now paying the consequence of sharing her views. And Brezzen has been hiding away at home since the shooting, lost in a world of Wizards & Warriors, a role-playing game. All three students witnessed the shooting firsthand, and hid under a staircase together, but are now dealing with the reverberations in their own way, which is told in three separate parts in Thoughts & Prayers.
While Thoughts & Prayers had some insightful bits, I found the book overall to fall flat and be void of emotion. As a reader, I felt distanced from all of these characters, and never really got a firm grasp on how the shooting affected them, nor what the experience was like for them - all we are shown is how they are now. Sure Bliss touches on these topics, but not in a meaningful way, making this book less impactful than it could have been for such a charged topic.
Additionally, I found Thoughts & Prayers to be biased and left-leaning. Guns are bad and at fault, Christians are strange and out of touch, and Republicans are rednecks and extremists. I didn't care for Bliss's obvious prejudice toward a collective people who hold a certain set of beliefs, and was disappointed that all three parts of his novel presented such people in the same way. His story would have held more depth and provided a wider lens had he wrote one of his characters to have come from a conservative family. As it stands, I found his novel to lack perspective.
Claire has moved away from her hometown where the shooting occurred, but finds she is having difficulty adjusting to her new school due to the past trauma. Eleanor brazenly spoke out about the gun violence at her school, but is now paying the consequence of sharing her views. And Brezzen has been hiding away at home since the shooting, lost in a world of Wizards & Warriors, a role-playing game. All three students witnessed the shooting firsthand, and hid under a staircase together, but are now dealing with the reverberations in their own way, which is told in three separate parts in Thoughts & Prayers.
While Thoughts & Prayers had some insightful bits, I found the book overall to fall flat and be void of emotion. As a reader, I felt distanced from all of these characters, and never really got a firm grasp on how the shooting affected them, nor what the experience was like for them - all we are shown is how they are now. Sure Bliss touches on these topics, but not in a meaningful way, making this book less impactful than it could have been for such a charged topic.
Additionally, I found Thoughts & Prayers to be biased and left-leaning. Guns are bad and at fault, Christians are strange and out of touch, and Republicans are rednecks and extremists. I didn't care for Bliss's obvious prejudice toward a collective people who hold a certain set of beliefs, and was disappointed that all three parts of his novel presented such people in the same way. His story would have held more depth and provided a wider lens had he wrote one of his characters to have come from a conservative family. As it stands, I found his novel to lack perspective.
November 4, 2020
What an odd little book. A great concept- it's not often that we have a book that focuses on the mental health aftermath of a school shooting. But at the same time, it wasn't cohesive. It's three separate stories. I really liked the first one and got very invested in the characters (despite their silly names) and was a little upset when I finished that part. I couldn't bring myself to care much about the characters in part two, and by the time I got to part three, I just wanted it to be over. I feel like it's wasted potential. I'm not sure why the author chose to write the book this way- maybe he had some really great ideas for three separate stories, but not enough to spin them into three separate books? Or maybe there wasn't enough there to link everything together in a way that I think would be easier to read. I'm not sure. But I'd like to revisit Claire and the boys from part one. I liked them.
September 29, 2023
- overall ; i liked the simplistic writing style and how it was written as the characters thoughts so i could really feel like i was in their brain while they were processing by whatever was happening to or around them. i think the pacing was a bit odd in some parts, but it got better when i got to eleanor’s part. i also enjoyed the little poems at the end of each part. 3.5 stars because although i did enjoy it, it could’ve been better, you know?
- part one ; i liked the similarities between claire and dark, and how their dynamic and relationship was written. i sort of think they’re like two sides of the same coin– both victims of different things but dark’s experiences makes him angry and makes him want to lash out at the people that makes him feel this way and claire’s experience makes her want to hide away and not be seen so she can’t have another traumatic experience like the school shooting happen again. i think that’s why it kind of works well that claire thinks that dark was or is gonna do something to the school, it also works well because it really makes claire’s anxiety more present because she’s wondering if she’s overthinking things or if she’s in danger which is also another contrast to dark and claire because dark hates being seen as ‘dangerous.’ and the frankenstein book references, them fighting a similar or the same monster and that leading to them understanding each other made their two stories kind of come together. ( i do think that dark was too quick to forgive her though, even though she wasn’t necessarily in the wrong, it just made his anger feel artificial, especially since he was already fighting the authorities at his school to let him like stay there and all. ) i like how claire’s anxiety was depicted and the little ( breathing, breathing ) because it was like a sort of physical description of her calming herself down so i could feel her anxiety with her in a way. i also like how just normal things set her off like getting on the school bus instead of it being only actual worrying things like dark’s drawings. i also liked how she didn’t immediately become better and that it kind of shows that healing is not linear and everything because it made claire’s part more realistic. the only thing i wish i could read about more is dark. i wish i could’ve gotten more about him instead of the brief like recap that leg and god gave. dark could’ve been more interesting if his experiences were written or talked about in the book because i wanna understand his thought process and everything. the major thing i liked was dark in contrast to claire.
- part two ; i liked eleanor’s personality and her story more than claire’s, and i think part of the reason is because eleanor’s trauma response to the things she’s experiencing is anger rather than anxiety like claire. i feel like eleanor’s experiences is more interesting and it captured my attention more than the first part because i felt more for her than i did for claire, even though both of their trauma responses are valid. the way something like the shirt she wore follows her everywhere even though it should be understandable because she experienced a school shooting is really sad but it is realistic. i also think the way eleanor felt throughout her part was more in depth than claire’s was and i could feel more for her, and because i felt more for her i could sympathize more. i liked how well written the parts about the people around eleanor felt like she was gonna have a breakdown at any second and how the news and the right-wingers and everybody else bled through her response as well, because to me it felt like some of the people that thought she was gonna have another meltdown were waiting for it to happen just like the right wingers and them. i like that her part ended with her not getting intimidated by the people who were making fun of her and the people who were against her. i also liked that even though she’s depicted as a strong person, she also has moments of doubt and weakness during all of this because it makes her feel more real to me. even through all her doubts and stuff, she didn’t back down from what she believed and she didn’t let it discourse even though it was affecting her and the people around her a lot and i think that it’s really nice. there wasn’t much i disliked with her part.
- part three; at first i wasn’t sure about how to feel about how brezzen’s story was written as a sort of depiction of wizards and warriors, but the way his trauma response is written in connection to the game made me understand how his thought process worked a lot more. i like how his therapy sessions with dr. ivy were set up as a wizards and warriors game session to make him feel more comfortable it felt like during the whole time he was at home and processing what happened to him during the school shooting, the game was his only constant and dr. ivy meeting him halfway was sweet to read. i like how brezzen thinks that the school is a dungeon because he forgot it was safe for him to be there and his brain related that unsafety he felt to dungeons in the game. because of that connected, rolling for initiative made him more confident in going to unsafe territory. i liked seeing his confidence waver whenever he was at school because i feel very similarly with my anxiety and depression, and it makes me feel seen. i also like near the end that he realized for himself that he had to make an effort to be at school even though he knows it would be much easier to be at home because he would forget that school is safe.
- part one ; i liked the similarities between claire and dark, and how their dynamic and relationship was written. i sort of think they’re like two sides of the same coin– both victims of different things but dark’s experiences makes him angry and makes him want to lash out at the people that makes him feel this way and claire’s experience makes her want to hide away and not be seen so she can’t have another traumatic experience like the school shooting happen again. i think that’s why it kind of works well that claire thinks that dark was or is gonna do something to the school, it also works well because it really makes claire’s anxiety more present because she’s wondering if she’s overthinking things or if she’s in danger which is also another contrast to dark and claire because dark hates being seen as ‘dangerous.’ and the frankenstein book references, them fighting a similar or the same monster and that leading to them understanding each other made their two stories kind of come together. ( i do think that dark was too quick to forgive her though, even though she wasn’t necessarily in the wrong, it just made his anger feel artificial, especially since he was already fighting the authorities at his school to let him like stay there and all. ) i like how claire’s anxiety was depicted and the little ( breathing, breathing ) because it was like a sort of physical description of her calming herself down so i could feel her anxiety with her in a way. i also like how just normal things set her off like getting on the school bus instead of it being only actual worrying things like dark’s drawings. i also liked how she didn’t immediately become better and that it kind of shows that healing is not linear and everything because it made claire’s part more realistic. the only thing i wish i could read about more is dark. i wish i could’ve gotten more about him instead of the brief like recap that leg and god gave. dark could’ve been more interesting if his experiences were written or talked about in the book because i wanna understand his thought process and everything. the major thing i liked was dark in contrast to claire.
- part two ; i liked eleanor’s personality and her story more than claire’s, and i think part of the reason is because eleanor’s trauma response to the things she’s experiencing is anger rather than anxiety like claire. i feel like eleanor’s experiences is more interesting and it captured my attention more than the first part because i felt more for her than i did for claire, even though both of their trauma responses are valid. the way something like the shirt she wore follows her everywhere even though it should be understandable because she experienced a school shooting is really sad but it is realistic. i also think the way eleanor felt throughout her part was more in depth than claire’s was and i could feel more for her, and because i felt more for her i could sympathize more. i liked how well written the parts about the people around eleanor felt like she was gonna have a breakdown at any second and how the news and the right-wingers and everybody else bled through her response as well, because to me it felt like some of the people that thought she was gonna have another meltdown were waiting for it to happen just like the right wingers and them. i like that her part ended with her not getting intimidated by the people who were making fun of her and the people who were against her. i also liked that even though she’s depicted as a strong person, she also has moments of doubt and weakness during all of this because it makes her feel more real to me. even through all her doubts and stuff, she didn’t back down from what she believed and she didn’t let it discourse even though it was affecting her and the people around her a lot and i think that it’s really nice. there wasn’t much i disliked with her part.
- part three; at first i wasn’t sure about how to feel about how brezzen’s story was written as a sort of depiction of wizards and warriors, but the way his trauma response is written in connection to the game made me understand how his thought process worked a lot more. i like how his therapy sessions with dr. ivy were set up as a wizards and warriors game session to make him feel more comfortable it felt like during the whole time he was at home and processing what happened to him during the school shooting, the game was his only constant and dr. ivy meeting him halfway was sweet to read. i like how brezzen thinks that the school is a dungeon because he forgot it was safe for him to be there and his brain related that unsafety he felt to dungeons in the game. because of that connected, rolling for initiative made him more confident in going to unsafe territory. i liked seeing his confidence waver whenever he was at school because i feel very similarly with my anxiety and depression, and it makes me feel seen. i also like near the end that he realized for himself that he had to make an effort to be at school even though he knows it would be much easier to be at home because he would forget that school is safe.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2020
Thank goodness for this book. It is beautiful, insightful, reflective, powerful and conveys so much with such a simple, non-preachy style. Three teenagers. Three separate stories. And yet their lives crossed for just a few moments on one fateful day under a school staircase.
Claire, Eleanor and Brezzen survived the school shooting that killed a teacher and fellow classmates. They have each continued their lives, coping with the trauma and fallout in their own ways.
Thoughts & Prayers starts with Claire and her story. Part one starts with Claire and her brother having made a new life after moving towns. Claire is about to start at a new school. Each morning, she and her brother escape to a local skating park after hours - it’s the only time Claire can move without thinking about everyone around her and constantly scanning the environment. She meets three guys at the park, Leg, God and Dark. They seem like they could become friends, they are supportive of her need for space, cope with her panic attacks. But as she spends more time with them, there seems to be something wrong, a little off, with Dark and Claire knows the risks of not speaking up. Claire has an intriguing story and it brings such a powerful message of how hard it is to do the right thing - to even know what the right thing is. She risks everything to speak out, just as she would risk everything by staying silent. Her story is also about the debilitating panic, fear and gamut of emotions that can occur after experiencing such a traumatic event.
Eleanor stars in part two of this book. She is strong and determined. After being the target of hate and vilification for months, she has taken a step back from actively calling for gun control. What started as a need to speak out and reflect her own anger and grief, a simple message on a simple t-shirt, her face, her story and her message were picked up as a message against guns and now the people who disagree with her have targeted and threatened her. She just wants it all to go away, so she can go back to her life, go out with her boyfriend, but the threats are becoming more active and the anger and the pain hasn’t gone away. Her story is about the anger. About speaking out and the pain that comes with doing so. It’s about the people around you not understanding and about taking the risks so that history doesn’t continue to repeat.
Brezzen also survived. He hasn’t returned to school since the event, has disconnected with his group of friends and instead homeschool and spends hours coordinating campaigns in role play games. When his parents suggest it is time to go back to school, Brezzen has to draw upon every ability and strength and magical object at his disposal to make it back onto the school grounds and face the teachers and students. His is a story of bravery, of learning to work with what you’ve got, to accept help and to reach out to others. It is such a positive reflection of therapy, of bravery. I loved Brezzen’s character, and see him reflected in so many of my students.
Can I just say, what an amazing cast of adults there is in this book. Aside from the media, and gun-pro idiots, and the naive principal (okay, so there are a lot of unsupportive or unequipped adults, too) each of our three main characters is surrounded by strong, supportive, amazing adults. It offers a spec of hope for humanity. Would that all survivors had such supportive, understanding brothers, parents, therapists and teachers in their lives. I loved that Bliss included these adults in the story.
This is an insightful story about trauma, recovery, surviving. It would be perfect as a class novel and addresses gun violence by looking at the aftermath the survivors face each and every day.
The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.
Find more reviews, reading age guides, content advisory, and recommendations on my blog Madison's Library
Claire, Eleanor and Brezzen survived the school shooting that killed a teacher and fellow classmates. They have each continued their lives, coping with the trauma and fallout in their own ways.
Thoughts & Prayers starts with Claire and her story. Part one starts with Claire and her brother having made a new life after moving towns. Claire is about to start at a new school. Each morning, she and her brother escape to a local skating park after hours - it’s the only time Claire can move without thinking about everyone around her and constantly scanning the environment. She meets three guys at the park, Leg, God and Dark. They seem like they could become friends, they are supportive of her need for space, cope with her panic attacks. But as she spends more time with them, there seems to be something wrong, a little off, with Dark and Claire knows the risks of not speaking up. Claire has an intriguing story and it brings such a powerful message of how hard it is to do the right thing - to even know what the right thing is. She risks everything to speak out, just as she would risk everything by staying silent. Her story is also about the debilitating panic, fear and gamut of emotions that can occur after experiencing such a traumatic event.
Eleanor stars in part two of this book. She is strong and determined. After being the target of hate and vilification for months, she has taken a step back from actively calling for gun control. What started as a need to speak out and reflect her own anger and grief, a simple message on a simple t-shirt, her face, her story and her message were picked up as a message against guns and now the people who disagree with her have targeted and threatened her. She just wants it all to go away, so she can go back to her life, go out with her boyfriend, but the threats are becoming more active and the anger and the pain hasn’t gone away. Her story is about the anger. About speaking out and the pain that comes with doing so. It’s about the people around you not understanding and about taking the risks so that history doesn’t continue to repeat.
Brezzen also survived. He hasn’t returned to school since the event, has disconnected with his group of friends and instead homeschool and spends hours coordinating campaigns in role play games. When his parents suggest it is time to go back to school, Brezzen has to draw upon every ability and strength and magical object at his disposal to make it back onto the school grounds and face the teachers and students. His is a story of bravery, of learning to work with what you’ve got, to accept help and to reach out to others. It is such a positive reflection of therapy, of bravery. I loved Brezzen’s character, and see him reflected in so many of my students.
Can I just say, what an amazing cast of adults there is in this book. Aside from the media, and gun-pro idiots, and the naive principal (okay, so there are a lot of unsupportive or unequipped adults, too) each of our three main characters is surrounded by strong, supportive, amazing adults. It offers a spec of hope for humanity. Would that all survivors had such supportive, understanding brothers, parents, therapists and teachers in their lives. I loved that Bliss included these adults in the story.
This is an insightful story about trauma, recovery, surviving. It would be perfect as a class novel and addresses gun violence by looking at the aftermath the survivors face each and every day.
The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.
Find more reviews, reading age guides, content advisory, and recommendations on my blog Madison's Library
February 18, 2025
I am honestly surprised this book has as low of a Goodreads rating as it does. Is it the best thing ever written? No. In fact, it is quite simplistic in its voice and seems to be geared towards a young adult audience. However, I think it does a very good job at tackling a difficult subject matter in the exact voice of the people who go through horrific events like this: high schoolers.
Thoughts and Prayers chronicles the aftermath about 9 months after a fatal school shooting that took the lives of three classmates and one teacher. The actual shooting is only briefly described in a couple of flashbacks, the majority of the book deals with how three high schoolers are grappling with their trauma after hiding under a staircase during the event.
This novel reads like three novellas in one book. Each part follows a different high schooler: Claire, who moved to another state after the shooting; Eleanor, who has unintentionally become the fact of an anti-gun movement in a very Republican (read: pro-gun) state/city; and Brezzen (aka Brendan), a nerd who copes by thinking of his school as a Dungeons and Dragons game.
Each of them are dealing with their trauma very differently, but none are wrong. They also have very distinct emotions. It seems like Bliss separates the three most obvious emotions into each character: fear, anger, and depression. Claire is the embodiment of fear. Everywhere she goes, she sees danger and it controls her life. Her main outlet is skating, and she meets three other high school boys/outcasts who bring her into their circle. However, she has to face her fear when one of her new friends shows outward signs of anger at high school. Eleanor is anger. She unintentionally (and undesirably) gets plastered across news outlets for wearing a F**K GUNS shirt to school post-shooting. Because of this, right-wing "news" outlets and gun-toting "members of society" threaten her; her only true support is her boyfriend and parents, none of the adults of the school seem to think it is a huge issue. Brezzan is depression (though I would say Claire shows this too). He, through his withdrawal post-shooting, has lost his two best friends and worries about re-entering school. He withdraws into a fantasy world in order to get him through the day.
I think the way Bliss handled this was very well done. He breaks down the emotions and trauma into bits and pieces that the reader can understand, empathize with, and put themselves in the shoes of. His novel isn't tied into a nice little package where everything is unicorns and rainbows and all the people suddenly get along because of this tragedy. Instead, it is realistic, with each character working through their own trauma and healing process at a pace that is right for them, showing that there isn't any right way to feel, there isn't any right way to heal.
Well done, Bryan Bliss.
Thoughts and Prayers chronicles the aftermath about 9 months after a fatal school shooting that took the lives of three classmates and one teacher. The actual shooting is only briefly described in a couple of flashbacks, the majority of the book deals with how three high schoolers are grappling with their trauma after hiding under a staircase during the event.
This novel reads like three novellas in one book. Each part follows a different high schooler: Claire, who moved to another state after the shooting; Eleanor, who has unintentionally become the fact of an anti-gun movement in a very Republican (read: pro-gun) state/city; and Brezzen (aka Brendan), a nerd who copes by thinking of his school as a Dungeons and Dragons game.
Each of them are dealing with their trauma very differently, but none are wrong. They also have very distinct emotions. It seems like Bliss separates the three most obvious emotions into each character: fear, anger, and depression. Claire is the embodiment of fear. Everywhere she goes, she sees danger and it controls her life. Her main outlet is skating, and she meets three other high school boys/outcasts who bring her into their circle. However, she has to face her fear when one of her new friends shows outward signs of anger at high school. Eleanor is anger. She unintentionally (and undesirably) gets plastered across news outlets for wearing a F**K GUNS shirt to school post-shooting. Because of this, right-wing "news" outlets and gun-toting "members of society" threaten her; her only true support is her boyfriend and parents, none of the adults of the school seem to think it is a huge issue. Brezzan is depression (though I would say Claire shows this too). He, through his withdrawal post-shooting, has lost his two best friends and worries about re-entering school. He withdraws into a fantasy world in order to get him through the day.
I think the way Bliss handled this was very well done. He breaks down the emotions and trauma into bits and pieces that the reader can understand, empathize with, and put themselves in the shoes of. His novel isn't tied into a nice little package where everything is unicorns and rainbows and all the people suddenly get along because of this tragedy. Instead, it is realistic, with each character working through their own trauma and healing process at a pace that is right for them, showing that there isn't any right way to feel, there isn't any right way to heal.
Well done, Bryan Bliss.
September 14, 2020
I went into "Thoughts & Prayers" with an equal amount of high expectations and fear for an unrealistic positive spin. Thankfully this book didn't focus on "trying to understand" the shooter's perspective or in telling a cute little story about how activism and a sound argument can change people's minds and hearts easily.
Instead, this book chose to focus on the aftermath for people that were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was all the more heartbreaking and meaningful for me as a reader for it.
"Thoughts & Prayers" is divided into three parts, each one focusing on the experiences of one person which had its pros and cons for me.
I liked seeing that everyone's reaction to a tragedy being different is valid and so is the amount of time it takes someone to be ready to get help and start on the path of healing. On the other hand, the short time we are able to spend with each character was one of my least favorite parts, mainly when it came to the way each story ended because there was little to none overlapping of the characters. We were with the characters through the worst part and then the moment the first sign of healing appeared we left them knowing we would never see them again.
Bryan Bliss was able to create not only great characters but believable teenagers which is something a lot of adults writing YA fail at. I loved to see the awkwardness, the feeling of being lost, the importance of friendships that are being created and destroyed when most characters are at the verge of adulthood while navigating their trauma, the difference being lucky enough to have a supportive family can make…
There was only one thing I disliked about this book: Bryan wrote two amazing (and I mean that in every sense of the word) female characters and he made them strong, interesting, smart but all three characters had only male friends in their closest circles. On one hand, it was wonderful to see boys being supportive, offering and looking for advice, talking about their feelings, caring for their friends and family in a way that boys are not usually allowed in books and real life but on the other hand, I really hated that there were no moments of sisterhood, no girls standing up for other girls, barely any mention of misogyny. It felt a bit like the "I'm not like the other girls" trope and I thought that everyone was passed that.
This was an incredibly well research book mostly when it came to the descriptions of depression, PTSD, and other mental health consequences of something awful happening as well as other people's reactions to it and how they will try to stifle change at any cost, including people's, including children's lives.
Thank you to Greenwillow Books and Edelweiss+ for this DRC.
Instead, this book chose to focus on the aftermath for people that were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was all the more heartbreaking and meaningful for me as a reader for it.
"Thoughts & Prayers" is divided into three parts, each one focusing on the experiences of one person which had its pros and cons for me.
I liked seeing that everyone's reaction to a tragedy being different is valid and so is the amount of time it takes someone to be ready to get help and start on the path of healing. On the other hand, the short time we are able to spend with each character was one of my least favorite parts, mainly when it came to the way each story ended because there was little to none overlapping of the characters. We were with the characters through the worst part and then the moment the first sign of healing appeared we left them knowing we would never see them again.
Bryan Bliss was able to create not only great characters but believable teenagers which is something a lot of adults writing YA fail at. I loved to see the awkwardness, the feeling of being lost, the importance of friendships that are being created and destroyed when most characters are at the verge of adulthood while navigating their trauma, the difference being lucky enough to have a supportive family can make…
There was only one thing I disliked about this book: Bryan wrote two amazing (and I mean that in every sense of the word) female characters and he made them strong, interesting, smart but all three characters had only male friends in their closest circles. On one hand, it was wonderful to see boys being supportive, offering and looking for advice, talking about their feelings, caring for their friends and family in a way that boys are not usually allowed in books and real life but on the other hand, I really hated that there were no moments of sisterhood, no girls standing up for other girls, barely any mention of misogyny. It felt a bit like the "I'm not like the other girls" trope and I thought that everyone was passed that.
This was an incredibly well research book mostly when it came to the descriptions of depression, PTSD, and other mental health consequences of something awful happening as well as other people's reactions to it and how they will try to stifle change at any cost, including people's, including children's lives.
Thank you to Greenwillow Books and Edelweiss+ for this DRC.
April 4, 2021
I saw this on this shelf at the library and I tried to walk by it. Tried to ignore the fact that I'd seen it at all and knew, without reading the synopsis, exactly what it was about. But I couldn't. I knew that this would be an important read because this phrase "thoughts and prayers" is now desperately meaningless in this country. It's a throw-away phrase that we toss out as a collective when we want people to think we actually care but when it comes down to it, we don't care enough to do more than utter or type this useless phrase. That's why I had to read this book. Because I had to have seared into my brain what a school or mass shooting really means - not just the day of or the handful of days after but for the weeks, months and years of the lives of those directly affected by these massacres. This was an important read and I'm glad I didn't just walk by and let the falsehood of that phrase solidify in my brain.
Despite it being an impossible topic, Bliss makes it very readable by bringing us into the minds and lives of 3 students who huddled together under the stairs during a school shooting. Each one is coping or not coping in their own, unique way reminding us that pain will out in some way or other and that just because things may look "normal " from the outside, it can feel like anything but on the inside.
This is a good read that I recommend to anyone for whom the phrase "thoughts and prayers" simply isn't enough.
Despite it being an impossible topic, Bliss makes it very readable by bringing us into the minds and lives of 3 students who huddled together under the stairs during a school shooting. Each one is coping or not coping in their own, unique way reminding us that pain will out in some way or other and that just because things may look "normal " from the outside, it can feel like anything but on the inside.
This is a good read that I recommend to anyone for whom the phrase "thoughts and prayers" simply isn't enough.
March 8, 2022
This is basically three novellas, connected only by one tragic event the three main characters experienced together: they were huddled together under a staircase during a school shooting. The shooting is never really discussed, not in any detail, but rather the aftermath and how the mental health of our survivors is affected by the event. Claire is the hardest to connect to, as she’s not open or conversational as a character. She’s receded into herself and hides from the reader. Eleanor, by contrast, is outgoing and angry and rebellious. She isn’t sad about the shooting—she’s pissed off. And Brezzen is the one I related to the most as a nerd, a gamer, and a former teacher. He retreats into a bargain brand D&D, relying on dice roles and characters to navigate a world he doesn’t fit into anymore. I love that his psychiatrist takes on the role of GM to help him through, using loot to encourage his growth IRL. But mostly, I loved his teacher who reminds him a D20 isn’t always initiative, preparing for battle. Sometimes it’s a saving roll. Sometimes it’s an ability check. And Brezzen realizes his abilities are far better than he remembered, even if sometimes he rolls low.
Mental health is not often discussed, especially in terms of the ongoing and lengthy struggles with PTSD. This author handled it beautifully and created case studies of the various ways PTSD can manifest. Kids would do well to read this as a lesson in empathy.
Mental health is not often discussed, especially in terms of the ongoing and lengthy struggles with PTSD. This author handled it beautifully and created case studies of the various ways PTSD can manifest. Kids would do well to read this as a lesson in empathy.
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