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Endgame
A new town, a new school, a new start. That's what fourteen-year-old Gray Wilton believes as he chants, "It's gonna be better, gonna be better here." But it doesn't take long for Gray to realize that nothing's going to change--there are bullies in every school, and he's always their punching bag. Their brutal words, physical abuse, and emotional torture escalate until Gray feels trapped in a world where he has no control, no support systems, and no way out--until the day he enters the halls of Greenford High School with his father's semiautomatic in hand.
Award-winning novelist Nancy Garden, author of the groundbreaking novel Annie on My Mind , once again goes out on a limb, this time to show readers the cruelty of bullying and the devastating effects it can have.
Award-winning novelist Nancy Garden, author of the groundbreaking novel Annie on My Mind , once again goes out on a limb, this time to show readers the cruelty of bullying and the devastating effects it can have.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2006
34 people are currently reading
1442 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Garden
44 books460 followersA versatile writer, Nancy Garden has published books for children as well as for teens, nonfiction as well as fiction. But her novel Annie on My Mind, the story of two high school girls who fall in love with each other, has brought her more attention than she wanted when it was burned in front of the Kansas City School Board building in 1993 and banned from school library shelves in Olathe, Kansas, as well as other school districts. A group of high school students and their parents in Olathe had to sue the school board in federal district court in order to get the book back on the library shelves. Today the book is as controversial as ever, in spite of its being viewed by many as one of the most important books written for teens in the past forty years. In 2003 the American Library Association gave the Margaret A. Edwards Award to Nancy Garden for lifetime achievement.
In Remembrance: Nancy Garden
In Remembrance: Nancy Garden
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
March 7, 2008
I read this randomly. I went into my library at my school and randomly chose it. It is my new favorite book. I can relate to the problem Gray has, bullies. I have been a victim of bulling since I was a young child. We are both bullied by jocks and I can relate to him. There are days that are good and then there are the days where I want to kill every single person who ever laughed AT me. This hit home for me and I cried when I read it. I was terrified to laughed at the humor in the book because of the problems Gray had endured. What with the death of his best friend, Barker, and how his father almost said her wished Gray died instead, I would want to kill myself too. Now I'm not saying I'm going to kill myself, 'cause I'm not, but he felt TRAPPED in his house, his life, his school. Nobody was helping him. His favorite teacher actually laughed when he saw Zorro, the bully, messing with Gray. That is not helpful. I understand what Gray went through.
June 13, 2012
Horrible book. Not horrible because it's about a school shooting, but for every other reason. It's the writing that's offensive. And the simplicity of the character's motivations. Oh, yeah, he also plays violent video games, which, of course, makes him shoot classmates. Nancy Garden uses every trite convenience/contrivance to get us to the "climax" that was given away to any person who looked at the front cover of the book.
November 6, 2009
I liked this book for the insight that it offered me as a teacher of middle school students and what they expect from us in bullying situations. I don't know what I would've done differently if I was Gray's teacher, but the story gave me a lot to think about.
Gray is probably representative of so many kids these days, but he just took it to the next level when he didn't think anyone could or would help him. He was a likable character and I really liked how Garden made the ending so realistic and believable to what would probably happen in real life. It lets kids know that violence is not an "out" or the magic wand to cure everything, and hopefully it lets them know that they need to keep trying to get the adults in their lives to help them.
I think everyone that has any contact with middle or high school students should read this book.
Gray is probably representative of so many kids these days, but he just took it to the next level when he didn't think anyone could or would help him. He was a likable character and I really liked how Garden made the ending so realistic and believable to what would probably happen in real life. It lets kids know that violence is not an "out" or the magic wand to cure everything, and hopefully it lets them know that they need to keep trying to get the adults in their lives to help them.
I think everyone that has any contact with middle or high school students should read this book.
November 28, 2023
Bleak. So very bleak.
At times ENDGAME brilliantly depicts the loss of hope Gray as his attempts to find pleasure in life are continually squelched by an emotionally abusive father, a mother who won’t stand up for him and high school bullies.
As Gray related the story of what led to him perpetrate a school shooting to his attorney, I began to wonder about the reliability of his narration. Was his perception compromised by years of torment or was his perception deteriorating? I believe Gray to be honest.
For about 75% of the book, I wanted Gray to be sentenced to a psychiatric facility instead of prison. By the last chapter, I still wanted a chance for Gray to have a life outside after confinement. I think throughout the course of ENDGAME, if Gray had reached out, perhaps he could have been saved from committing a miss shooting, however, I also understand why nothing in his life experience taught him an adult could effectively help.
ENDGAME kept me thinking long after finishing the book. While Gray pulled the trigger, a number of people helped metaphorically load the gun.
At times ENDGAME brilliantly depicts the loss of hope Gray as his attempts to find pleasure in life are continually squelched by an emotionally abusive father, a mother who won’t stand up for him and high school bullies.
As Gray related the story of what led to him perpetrate a school shooting to his attorney, I began to wonder about the reliability of his narration. Was his perception compromised by years of torment or was his perception deteriorating? I believe Gray to be honest.
For about 75% of the book, I wanted Gray to be sentenced to a psychiatric facility instead of prison. By the last chapter, I still wanted a chance for Gray to have a life outside after confinement. I think throughout the course of ENDGAME, if Gray had reached out, perhaps he could have been saved from committing a miss shooting, however, I also understand why nothing in his life experience taught him an adult could effectively help.
ENDGAME kept me thinking long after finishing the book. While Gray pulled the trigger, a number of people helped metaphorically load the gun.
July 14, 2008
Many of my regular readers will give this book four or five stars. Many of them will relate to Gray Wilton, the main character, who is relentlessly tourtured by bullies and who feels like he needs to solve all of his problems alone. The will connect to the feeling that no one in the adult world is really there for them, and that events in their life might just be hopeless. I hurt for him, and as I was reading, I hoped that these things did not happen in my school.
Although my students won't like the ending, I think the conclusion served the purpose and audience of the story. They can relate, but they won't like it. As much of my younger students don't want to admit this, I think it is a common characteristic of teens to hope and believe that someone or something will always come along to save them from a bad situation and make everything OK. They don't quite understand that consequences for bad decisions can be severe in the adult world and that not everything can be made to "go away".
What I couldn't quite believe was Gray's family and the events that brought him to a new school. The story boasts a horribly narrow minded, unsupportive, and abusive father, a weak, sympathetic, but not helpful mother, and a perfect yet compassionate but certainly not protective older brother. Blah.
Much of the early suspense was built around a incident that happened at Gray's other school and the underlying cause of why the family moved to a new town. The reader spends many chapters waiting to know exactly what that incident was, and how it will shed light on why the family acts like they do towards the protagonist. We also expect it to be a precursor to the ending, which we know from the first chapter will land the main character in a juvenile detention center awaiting a trial. But no, the discovery is very anti climatic.
But the character is real. His confused mind is real. And his reaction to abuse is real. I think it is a good book to recommend to anyone in high school. Hopefully they will have the same reaction as I did. They will pay more attention to what goes on in the halls of their schools.
Although my students won't like the ending, I think the conclusion served the purpose and audience of the story. They can relate, but they won't like it. As much of my younger students don't want to admit this, I think it is a common characteristic of teens to hope and believe that someone or something will always come along to save them from a bad situation and make everything OK. They don't quite understand that consequences for bad decisions can be severe in the adult world and that not everything can be made to "go away".
What I couldn't quite believe was Gray's family and the events that brought him to a new school. The story boasts a horribly narrow minded, unsupportive, and abusive father, a weak, sympathetic, but not helpful mother, and a perfect yet compassionate but certainly not protective older brother. Blah.
Much of the early suspense was built around a incident that happened at Gray's other school and the underlying cause of why the family moved to a new town. The reader spends many chapters waiting to know exactly what that incident was, and how it will shed light on why the family acts like they do towards the protagonist. We also expect it to be a precursor to the ending, which we know from the first chapter will land the main character in a juvenile detention center awaiting a trial. But no, the discovery is very anti climatic.
But the character is real. His confused mind is real. And his reaction to abuse is real. I think it is a good book to recommend to anyone in high school. Hopefully they will have the same reaction as I did. They will pay more attention to what goes on in the halls of their schools.
January 13, 2009
After bullying incidents lead him to carry a knife to school, Gray Wilton finds himself suspended, and uprooted. Starting High School with a clean slate, and in a new town, he hopes that somehow things will be better in Connecticut. Maybe he can try harder, maybe the kids will be nicer, maybe his father will understand.
But though he makes some friends, and joins the school band, where he can play drums, it doesn’t take long for the bullies to find him. Teachers look the other way. Ignoring them doesn’t make them stop, fighting back only makes it worse, telling makes it worst of all. His father is just as angry, his life seems just as hopeless.
Throughout Gray’s story we feel his pain, and see the world through his eyes, and understand how he came to feel so low. And yet even with all said and done he doesn’t seem quite able to understand what’s truly happened, what he’s really done, the impact of his actions.
A sincere look into the everyday events of teenage life, and how the actions of those around us can escalate from harmless to deadly when carefully averted eyes refuse to see.
But though he makes some friends, and joins the school band, where he can play drums, it doesn’t take long for the bullies to find him. Teachers look the other way. Ignoring them doesn’t make them stop, fighting back only makes it worse, telling makes it worst of all. His father is just as angry, his life seems just as hopeless.
Throughout Gray’s story we feel his pain, and see the world through his eyes, and understand how he came to feel so low. And yet even with all said and done he doesn’t seem quite able to understand what’s truly happened, what he’s really done, the impact of his actions.
A sincere look into the everyday events of teenage life, and how the actions of those around us can escalate from harmless to deadly when carefully averted eyes refuse to see.
June 8, 2010
Wow. All I can say is there needs to be a cure for bullying. Seriously. Bullying these days isn't just some big dopey person pushing a kid around who can be stopped with a punch in the nose anymore than hazing is just forcing people to swallow a fish.
These days it's serious, it's intense cruelty that can follow a kid home to places like Facebook and the like.
Something has to be done.
That aside, this book was powerful, disturbing and sad. It shows that bullying can lead to things like suicide and school shootings.
Something really must be done about it.
These days it's serious, it's intense cruelty that can follow a kid home to places like Facebook and the like.
Something has to be done.
That aside, this book was powerful, disturbing and sad. It shows that bullying can lead to things like suicide and school shootings.
Something really must be done about it.
March 14, 2023
The author does a wonderful job capturing the readers attention, pulling you and empathizing with the main character. Helps paint a portrait of how people can get to such a low spot resorting in such lethal methods but also highlights how quickly accidents happen and the consequences of our actions.
This book is about a young boy, Grayson who was bullied in middle school and despite a fresh start in high school, in a different state, finds himself the targets of bullies again.
His father constantly discounts Grayson’s feelings, talks poorly of his interest and talents (music) stating it will never get him a real - or the “right” - job. The one thing that makes him feel happy his father speaks poorly of, disrespects and claims it’s not good enough. His dad refers to him as his #2 son which implies he’s not good and lesser than his older brother or lesser than. At school he gets the same sorts of messages just with extra torment and added humiliation amongst his peers.
The bullies, who happened to be jocks were praised, applauded and looked up to and treated as royalty. Of course, the “zero tolerance” rules didn’t apply to the jocks and teachers often turned an eye, downplayed what they saw, or dismissed the victims feelings ignoring the pain and turmoil it caused. There was one teacher Grayson liked but after witnessing this teacher laugh when he broke up a bullying incident, Grayson began to lose all hope and trust that confiding in an adult would help.
He begins feeling hopeless like there’s no point. Feeling as though no adults could help because when he and his friend who also got bullied did reach out to the principal they were dismissed and told “well, just try to fit in better.”
Although this isn’t a true story, it may as well be because this unjust, unsafe and horrible environment is exactly what contributes to violence in schools. What contributes to kids feeling like there are no other options because nobody is listening. When excuses are made and people aren’t held accountable. The people who are supposed to care and be protectors are the ones who turn a blind eye and fail to create and enforce the safe, caring environments. When kids do reach out and tell an adult these adults need to listen and listen to understand and not to just respond. Take these kids seriously and ensure the bullying stops without perpetuating it even more.
This book is about a young boy, Grayson who was bullied in middle school and despite a fresh start in high school, in a different state, finds himself the targets of bullies again.
His father constantly discounts Grayson’s feelings, talks poorly of his interest and talents (music) stating it will never get him a real - or the “right” - job. The one thing that makes him feel happy his father speaks poorly of, disrespects and claims it’s not good enough. His dad refers to him as his #2 son which implies he’s not good and lesser than his older brother or lesser than. At school he gets the same sorts of messages just with extra torment and added humiliation amongst his peers.
The bullies, who happened to be jocks were praised, applauded and looked up to and treated as royalty. Of course, the “zero tolerance” rules didn’t apply to the jocks and teachers often turned an eye, downplayed what they saw, or dismissed the victims feelings ignoring the pain and turmoil it caused. There was one teacher Grayson liked but after witnessing this teacher laugh when he broke up a bullying incident, Grayson began to lose all hope and trust that confiding in an adult would help.
He begins feeling hopeless like there’s no point. Feeling as though no adults could help because when he and his friend who also got bullied did reach out to the principal they were dismissed and told “well, just try to fit in better.”
Although this isn’t a true story, it may as well be because this unjust, unsafe and horrible environment is exactly what contributes to violence in schools. What contributes to kids feeling like there are no other options because nobody is listening. When excuses are made and people aren’t held accountable. The people who are supposed to care and be protectors are the ones who turn a blind eye and fail to create and enforce the safe, caring environments. When kids do reach out and tell an adult these adults need to listen and listen to understand and not to just respond. Take these kids seriously and ensure the bullying stops without perpetuating it even more.
December 12, 2020
For fourteen-year-old Gray Wilton, all he wanted was to be left alone and not bullied. When his parents tell him and his older brother they are moving, he thinks this is my chance, my chance to make the bad into something good. The first day at Greenford High and Gray is praying for the best, but he regrets to find out the truth. Bullies are everywhere, and gray seems to be at the center of it wherever he seems to go. Without any control or any support from his family, Gray falls to depression, and the worst possible escapes begin to circle in his head. One constant escape lays over and over and that next day Gray brings his dads semi-automatic to school the next day, numb to any feeling or regret.
December 22, 2015
This book is intense and impressive and very grim. The author actually made me see things-- up to a point-- from the view of a teenager who is in jail for a school shooting. The writing style itself is a little clunky, but the character development intrigued me.
Gray is trying his best to start over in a new town. But some things never seem to change-- like being unable to please his father, no matter how hard he tries, or the fact that he invariably seems to be a magnet for school bullies.
While the reader can't sympathize with his final actions, I think we do see how Gray is brought to the point of mental breakdown, as everything he cares about is slowly taken away from him over the course of a school year. His pain and bitterness are so raw, and the cruelty of those around him highlights the fact that this kind of violence doesn't occur in a vacuum. At so many points, other people had the opportunity to make a critical difference in this boy's life-- and none of them did. He becomes nothing more than a tragedy, and by the end of the book we cannot relate to him at all, almost as though he is no longer human.
Gray is trying his best to start over in a new town. But some things never seem to change-- like being unable to please his father, no matter how hard he tries, or the fact that he invariably seems to be a magnet for school bullies.
While the reader can't sympathize with his final actions, I think we do see how Gray is brought to the point of mental breakdown, as everything he cares about is slowly taken away from him over the course of a school year. His pain and bitterness are so raw, and the cruelty of those around him highlights the fact that this kind of violence doesn't occur in a vacuum. At so many points, other people had the opportunity to make a critical difference in this boy's life-- and none of them did. He becomes nothing more than a tragedy, and by the end of the book we cannot relate to him at all, almost as though he is no longer human.
May 15, 2009
Perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't read it on the heels of Freeze Frame, another book about an emotionally numb teen boy who has killed when the book opens, then recalls the events leading up to the tragic event. Both books suffer from detached protagonists who take a hundred pages to warm up to, and Garden's Gray Wilton was the more remote. By the end, I was caught up in the tragedy of the shooting, but the first 150 pages were slow going.
There are some things to recommend "Endgame": it is easy to follow, the characters are distinct. Because Gray is a freshman, it probably works best as a novel for 8th-10th graders.
There are some things to recommend "Endgame": it is easy to follow, the characters are distinct. Because Gray is a freshman, it probably works best as a novel for 8th-10th graders.
May 4, 2012
14 yr Gray & his family have moved to a new town, new school, but Gray cannot overcome a flaw that allows others to pick on him. He was already suspended from his last school for bringing a knife. But taunting words & deeds take their toll on Gray-he doesn't share w/those in charge- and Gray once again resorts to violence to end the teasing. Excellent scary read-neat set-up with interview from jail with lawyer.
September 8, 2011
Much as I hate to do it, this subject has been done so much better by so many others - kid bullied then shoots up school - but still, it's Nancy Garden of Annie on My Mind. Just kills me. I just didn't give a crap about the kid being bullied, the kid himself not the bullying part, so when the verdict comes,....spoiler alert......
I don't care and I'm happy he gets what he deserves.
I don't care and I'm happy he gets what he deserves.
December 27, 2009
I read this story right after completing Jodi Picoult's "19 Minutes" - both deal with school shootings instigated by alienated boys who were victimized by crass bullies. While there are many similarities between these two books, they are both worth reading.
May 23, 2009
SUCH a happy ending. this book was filled with so much sunshine and love that i could just burst into tears!
(major sarcasm)
i recommend it if you wanna get depressed.
(major sarcasm)
i recommend it if you wanna get depressed.
November 15, 2012
I thought the book was very good and had a very good plot to it. it was sad toward the end but it had a very good storyline.
February 24, 2021
A first person narrative about a fourteen-year-old teenager who is bullied at school, told retrospectively in interviews with his legal counsel in the present, while being held in a juvenile detention centre awaiting trial for murder.
But this story about Gray doesn't seem to me to be by the same author as Annie On My Mind (1982).
Annie On My Mind sensitively handled the same-sex inclinations and love of a teenage girl, addressing the hypocrisy of the modern world, the reactionary parents and teachers, and in particular a conservative headmistress. Pitching the emotional tenor of such pieces is a fine skill, and Annie convinced me of the problems of 'public opinion' in a largely white conservative heteronormal world, but didn't manipulate me into anger against the conservative type. Instead, Garden guided her story so that our sympathies were evoked through Annie's sensitivity, and in particular because Annie was a smart everyday girl who just so happened to fall in love with another smart sensitive girl.
However, in Endgame, Garden doesn't steer this line. What she does is offer caricatures and manipulation. You’re meant to have sympathy for the teenager who's good at music, but who can't even be honest about the problems he's facing from the archetypal school bullies. This is because the dad tends to anger and occasional violence, and the mum is too cowed to stand up to the father and steer a reasonable course at home. The older brother, who would certainly have heard about the bullying at school, does nothing to help or intervene. The teachers, who are surely now trained to see the flags of such perennial problems at school, do nothing to stop it, and some even turn a blind eye because the bullies are the popular varsity jocks. And the friend who is also bullied takes it lying down, because that's how you’re 'supposed' to deal with trouble at school, not grass. Stiff upper lip, despite split upper lip.
Alll of this, and much more, becomes an issue, because every single support group supposed to be either trained (guidance counselling, teachers, form teachers) or in the picture (parents, brother, friends) fails him. But he also fails himself. Not that I don't understand. I used to carry a knife around for a year after I was beaten up by a group of thugs, whom the CID couldn't prosecute, because I was too concussed to identify them. That was foolish and wrong. I also witnessed severe bullying at school from people I knew and was able to put a stop to it, but not until the brutal act had just been committed. That was difficult. So I know a bit about the subject first hand from two perspectives. But on neither occasion did all support groups let me down. My dad was angry that I had put myself in the position that I could be assaulted, but he was there to pick me up. My deputy head threatened me with a beating if I didn't give up the names of the two bullies I knew, one of whom I knew was severely bullied by his father, and who I found at home confiding in my mum one afternoon. Both situations could have forced me to go completely quiet, become uncooperative, and even withdraw with a very angry grudge. It took years before that anger over being assaulted went away. I was there.
But what makes me angry about the story Garden paints is not the injustice of all those failures of systems and parents, but that the characters are all caricatures, because nobody is that stupid, that reactive, that reactionary. Judges, maybe, I'll grant - but they have probably had all empathy burned out long ago, seeing such brutal thuggery and violence for so long every day for decades. But not every responsible person in the story? And no point at which the pattern wasn't recognised by someone? I simply do not believe it. The authoritarian world isn’t that unanimously purblind. Nor do I accept that Gray, who is not bright like Annie, would pretend that nothing was wrong to his parents simply because his father 'got mad', or from some vague fear that his mother would. It's all too skewed, all of it.
I am not convinced, and feel manipulated, and am disappointed. This is a weak novel which did not evoke my sympathy, because it was not credible.
But this story about Gray doesn't seem to me to be by the same author as Annie On My Mind (1982).
Annie On My Mind sensitively handled the same-sex inclinations and love of a teenage girl, addressing the hypocrisy of the modern world, the reactionary parents and teachers, and in particular a conservative headmistress. Pitching the emotional tenor of such pieces is a fine skill, and Annie convinced me of the problems of 'public opinion' in a largely white conservative heteronormal world, but didn't manipulate me into anger against the conservative type. Instead, Garden guided her story so that our sympathies were evoked through Annie's sensitivity, and in particular because Annie was a smart everyday girl who just so happened to fall in love with another smart sensitive girl.
However, in Endgame, Garden doesn't steer this line. What she does is offer caricatures and manipulation. You’re meant to have sympathy for the teenager who's good at music, but who can't even be honest about the problems he's facing from the archetypal school bullies. This is because the dad tends to anger and occasional violence, and the mum is too cowed to stand up to the father and steer a reasonable course at home. The older brother, who would certainly have heard about the bullying at school, does nothing to help or intervene. The teachers, who are surely now trained to see the flags of such perennial problems at school, do nothing to stop it, and some even turn a blind eye because the bullies are the popular varsity jocks. And the friend who is also bullied takes it lying down, because that's how you’re 'supposed' to deal with trouble at school, not grass. Stiff upper lip, despite split upper lip.
Alll of this, and much more, becomes an issue, because every single support group supposed to be either trained (guidance counselling, teachers, form teachers) or in the picture (parents, brother, friends) fails him. But he also fails himself. Not that I don't understand. I used to carry a knife around for a year after I was beaten up by a group of thugs, whom the CID couldn't prosecute, because I was too concussed to identify them. That was foolish and wrong. I also witnessed severe bullying at school from people I knew and was able to put a stop to it, but not until the brutal act had just been committed. That was difficult. So I know a bit about the subject first hand from two perspectives. But on neither occasion did all support groups let me down. My dad was angry that I had put myself in the position that I could be assaulted, but he was there to pick me up. My deputy head threatened me with a beating if I didn't give up the names of the two bullies I knew, one of whom I knew was severely bullied by his father, and who I found at home confiding in my mum one afternoon. Both situations could have forced me to go completely quiet, become uncooperative, and even withdraw with a very angry grudge. It took years before that anger over being assaulted went away. I was there.
But what makes me angry about the story Garden paints is not the injustice of all those failures of systems and parents, but that the characters are all caricatures, because nobody is that stupid, that reactive, that reactionary. Judges, maybe, I'll grant - but they have probably had all empathy burned out long ago, seeing such brutal thuggery and violence for so long every day for decades. But not every responsible person in the story? And no point at which the pattern wasn't recognised by someone? I simply do not believe it. The authoritarian world isn’t that unanimously purblind. Nor do I accept that Gray, who is not bright like Annie, would pretend that nothing was wrong to his parents simply because his father 'got mad', or from some vague fear that his mother would. It's all too skewed, all of it.
I am not convinced, and feel manipulated, and am disappointed. This is a weak novel which did not evoke my sympathy, because it was not credible.
November 5, 2020
After reading this book, I'm kind of lost. The book cover already spoils the ending which I don't like. For me, the story was too generic with a stereotypical jock bullies nerds kind of thing. The main character is hard to deal with since he has absolutely 0 self confidence and does nothing about the bullying. While I did find the filler and side plots in this story kind of interesting, it took a very long time for the book to make me sympathize with the main character. I do admit, I started to tear up toward end as Gray starts to lose everything he loves. Oh, but the ENDING, the ending REALLY killed it for me. As someone who hates sad endings this is my least favorite part of the book. I knew the author intended the ending to be grim and that this book was really just meant to try to show readers the perspective of a school shooter, but I do not like sad endings. Especially when the ending was so rough. Gray just has an anxiety attack during his sentence and that's it? That's the whole book? Near the end there was actually build up where I could feel myself get emotional and sympathetic for Gray where I just wanted him to be understood. But no, apparently all that build up and it just falls flat. In general, if you are someone who hates sad endings and grim books, this is definitely not for you.
April 1, 2023
First of all, I want to point out that I'd like to rate this novel with 3,5 stars if it were possible, but since it isn't I can't bring myself to 4. Since there is a lot of good literature out there that covers this delicate topic, I was really looking forward to this piece since it's from the view of the shooter - a perspective that's shunned for a lot of reasons, socially, artistically and morally. I have read quite a bunch of novels on the topic and got invested in this one. It's mainly about the "How could this have happened?" than the actual shooting for a good reason: A good amount of killing sprees, with some exceptions, are due to a lot of unhappy factors coming together with the worst of timing.
There's trouble at home, trouble at school, trouble within the mind of a hormonal teenager who doesn't know how to cope. In this case, it's 14 y/o Gray and he's very aware that what's building up inside of him is dangerous and shouldn't be given attention. And yet, he snaps. But as mentioned, that's not important. We already know this is gonna happen. This novel provides a close-up on the causes that can lead to a tragedy without being sensational about the actual and sad ending of it all. We all know that America doesn't like to deal with causes, though. With prevention and improving a horrifying trend. So, if you want some insight of the life of a bullied kid who feels cornered and how everything goes wrong from then on, take this book.
Some of the bullying left a bitter taste in my mouth because it was quite familiar and I knew it from my school (what's a good thing I suppose). The writing style is very satisfying and I totally bought that this is told from the POV of a 14 y/o boy going through a lot. But I've got some issues with the interview part, what's basically the beginning of the book. Gray is interviewed by his lawyer for his defence in court and those parts always ripped me out of the whole story. Maybe that was the whole intention behind it, but I can say that I didn't like the interruptions and would've been fine with Gray just telling his story. It felt a little pointless that they always needed to change the tape and had to inform the reader about that. It didn't elevate the story.
The ending is quite something - imagine you have read this whole book, suffering with the main character, and you're at the risk of finding yourself overly empathizing with him by the end. To be honest, the effect was quite intriguing. It takes a moment to get out of the horrified-witness-state so you're able to be objective again and see Gray not only as a victim of bullying, but also the villain he grew into. Sure, he says that Zorro was the cause for all of this and he's to blame and technically, he's right in some way. His parents, too. But Zorro didn't make him pick up a gun and take it to school. No one made Gray do that and that's the whole point. There's a certain amount of Empathy, even Sympathy you can bring up for the shooter, but that doesn't change that he's a prick who ruined and took lives just because he wanted to, and then blamed someone else.
As I said, I'd like to give this book 3,5 Stars - it doesn't reach the same level of VIOLENT ENDS for an example though, a book that really gripped me in so many ways. Give it a read, it's worth it.
There's trouble at home, trouble at school, trouble within the mind of a hormonal teenager who doesn't know how to cope. In this case, it's 14 y/o Gray and he's very aware that what's building up inside of him is dangerous and shouldn't be given attention. And yet, he snaps. But as mentioned, that's not important. We already know this is gonna happen. This novel provides a close-up on the causes that can lead to a tragedy without being sensational about the actual and sad ending of it all. We all know that America doesn't like to deal with causes, though. With prevention and improving a horrifying trend. So, if you want some insight of the life of a bullied kid who feels cornered and how everything goes wrong from then on, take this book.
Some of the bullying left a bitter taste in my mouth because it was quite familiar and I knew it from my school (what's a good thing I suppose). The writing style is very satisfying and I totally bought that this is told from the POV of a 14 y/o boy going through a lot. But I've got some issues with the interview part, what's basically the beginning of the book. Gray is interviewed by his lawyer for his defence in court and those parts always ripped me out of the whole story. Maybe that was the whole intention behind it, but I can say that I didn't like the interruptions and would've been fine with Gray just telling his story. It felt a little pointless that they always needed to change the tape and had to inform the reader about that. It didn't elevate the story.
The ending is quite something - imagine you have read this whole book, suffering with the main character, and you're at the risk of finding yourself overly empathizing with him by the end. To be honest, the effect was quite intriguing. It takes a moment to get out of the horrified-witness-state so you're able to be objective again and see Gray not only as a victim of bullying, but also the villain he grew into. Sure, he says that Zorro was the cause for all of this and he's to blame and technically, he's right in some way. His parents, too. But Zorro didn't make him pick up a gun and take it to school. No one made Gray do that and that's the whole point. There's a certain amount of Empathy, even Sympathy you can bring up for the shooter, but that doesn't change that he's a prick who ruined and took lives just because he wanted to, and then blamed someone else.
As I said, I'd like to give this book 3,5 Stars - it doesn't reach the same level of VIOLENT ENDS for an example though, a book that really gripped me in so many ways. Give it a read, it's worth it.
February 25, 2018
The author creates an extremely abused character and then seems to feel no sympathy for him in the end. I didn't expect for Gray to not face a harsh sentence for murdering four of his classmates and seriously injuring a fifth (with only one of his victims being one of his tormentors,) but for the book to end how and where it did seemed cruel. Gray didn't really get a conclusion, and since this was his story, that didn't seem fair to him or the reader. I would have liked to know how he fared in prison - it would have only taken a chapter or two more to let us know - I imagine he would have killed himself... but we don't really get to know.
I guess this story is nothing more than a tragedy. None of the characters had a happy ending, but none of them were likable either, so I guess I won't lose sleep over it.
I guess this story is nothing more than a tragedy. None of the characters had a happy ending, but none of them were likable either, so I guess I won't lose sleep over it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2023
Very underwhelming. Not the worst book I’ve ever read but certainly not the best. I could never really get “hooked” on the book. I wasn’t a big fan of the slow, somewhat awkward writing style and I feel that Gray's motivations were a bit too simplified. I would’ve preferred it to just be Gray telling his story rather than it being in the format of an interview, it ruins the immersion.
Despite this, I have to at least commend the author for trying to tell a story like this from the shooter’s perspective. Gray's suffering makes you empathize with him, while it obviously doesn’t excuse his actions, you can see how that kind of bullying can drive a person to a breaking point.
Overall, this book was ok. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this book is offensive, but I feel like this issue could’ve and has (Nineteen Minutes for example) been handled better.
Despite this, I have to at least commend the author for trying to tell a story like this from the shooter’s perspective. Gray's suffering makes you empathize with him, while it obviously doesn’t excuse his actions, you can see how that kind of bullying can drive a person to a breaking point.
Overall, this book was ok. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this book is offensive, but I feel like this issue could’ve and has (Nineteen Minutes for example) been handled better.
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October 12, 2023“Endgame” By Nancy Garden is a fiction book about a 15 year old boy named Gray. The book starts off with Gray in some sort of hexagon shaped cell. He was supposedly charged with murder. Then The whole book becomes a big flashback of everything that has gotten home up to the point he is now. I kind of like this book although it does have some things I don’t like, for example at the beginning of the book it kind of doesn’t give us any hint of why, when or who. also it just skips some parts that should be in the Book, like a court scene maybe where they argue or some drama happens in there. But the whole book is basically just a big flashback of everything that has gotten him to the point he is currently. But overall it's a great book, it is scary, it is a mystery and it has a lot of suspense.
June 9, 2022
I rated Endgame four stars because the book was kind of predictable and you already know what it would be leading up to. One reason I feel this way is because in the beginning of the book it starts off with Gray in a detention center and a lawyer coming to meet him which makes you believe that he probably did something bad. When Gray starts talking to his lawyer and revealing what happened and why it happened it made me feel like this book is not that bad and the book actually got interesting. This book is important to me because it's about an event that happens a lot in the real world and is a sensitive topic to some people. I would definitely read another book from this author to see what other topics the author writes about.
November 6, 2024
Yeah, not as good as I remember it being. This feels like a parody of a book about a school shooting (I have yet to read a single book about a school shooting that doesn't feel like a parody of itself) and it also doesn't help that Nancy Garden was not very good at writing dialogue (anytime someone says "dammit" in the middle of a sentence, it feels like the author is struggling to fill up the runtime).
But I did appreciate the gradual downward spiral; things got a little worse and worse until everything exploded. And that ending still leaves me with a pit in my stomach. Not terrible, but not great.
But I did appreciate the gradual downward spiral; things got a little worse and worse until everything exploded. And that ending still leaves me with a pit in my stomach. Not terrible, but not great.
October 2, 2017
I found the book very interesting. I enjoyed how the author portrayed the characters. My favorite character in the book was Gray. The reason I like Gray is, because he was a little brother, like me. He never really felt like he would be as good as his big brother. I loved how the author made the plot twist very interesting. I loved the ups and downs of the book. One page would be so boring that you want to quit reading the book, but other pages you couldn't put the book down.
July 11, 2021
I really didn't know where this was going, because it felt really uncomfortable to be reading a fictional book still, but from the perspective of a school shooter. You really got into his mind and how terribly abused, depressed and neglected he was feeling and that wars with his own terrible actions so you're left feelings sympathy for the shooter, which is confusing, but then again, he's a person too with feelings and a life before he did this terrible thing. Lots of emotions!
June 5, 2017
This was a good book because it had a lot of wow moments. The book was about a kid named Gray that recently moved to a new state to start a new life but he ends up getting bullied. Gray gets bullied for his whole year and ends up doing something pretty bad to his bullies. I liked this book because it had a lot of suspense and I like books with suspense
January 16, 2024
You mean bullies, overpaid teachers, and abusive shitty parents, aren't good for a child typically? Wow who'd have thought.
Oh, and
Oh, and
April 2, 2018
The subject of this story is so important and I'm not trying to say that it isn't. I just feel like the writing could have been way better and that the characters weren't as dynamic as they could have been.
April 4, 2020
The book seemed cliche and stereotypical at first, but towards the end the writing really picked up, and I really was made to understand the emotions and thoughts behind a tragic event such as this one.
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