Joel’s Comments (group member since Sep 06, 2011)

Joel’s comments from the MHS AP Language group.

Amanda I could not agree with you more, this story was a bit like a fairy tale. At the beginning of the book Reece talks about how he was always a loner, how he never had a serious relationship, not even in high school. He could not ever hold down friends. But then one day at work he starts talking to this girl who does not think he is crazy when everyone else does. She accepts the fact that he has scars all over him and shows that her skin is inked too, only with actual ink. When she finds his diary she is not freaked out by it, but rather falls in love with it because it enables her to tell the truth about her life. That she is a murder too. They kill people together, get a new identity, plastic surgery, and live a normal life after that. What blows my mind out of the water even more is how the killing acts as a remedy for him. At the beginning he was talking as if a crazy person, but after killing more and more people he acts as if his world is clearing up, that is now able to read people. And to top that off, after 13 killings he is able to just stop. In the past he wrote how exilerating the kills were, how he loved them. And now he just stops as if experimenting with a new cereal. This book was a great read, but it does seem a bit much.
One question I have is how much of this story is fiction? I know that towards the end of the book he started mentioning that some parts were made up. However, the rest of his book seems pretty non-fictional, it was just recapping what he had did. In the intro there is a preview that states that this is a book about 12 murders in Sydney in 2007. I used google to see if I could find info on it, but I could not. I’m guessing this is a fictional story of a man writing a fictional story about killing people.

For our last book club discussion we had to read pages 100 to 150. I have to say this section threw me for a loop. I’m sure you guys can relate, like when you are reading you predict what is going to happen and usually you end up right, at least I do. But this time I was completely wrong. On page 100 Reece is paranoid because he is worried that the investigators will find out as he states, “Well, I survived another day at work and there is no sign of any investigation touching me." (100) I guessed that he was going to break up with Barbara due to him being so secretive and also because of his constant paranoia. I also thought it was going to all fall apart when she came over her his house for the first time. I had a feeling she would find his journal which I was right about, but I thought he might kill her if she did, being that he is a serial killer. He would probably just name it “Research”.
I was scratching my head when I read that she liked his diary, how he liked how she liked it, and how she was a serial killer herself. What are the chances of that? I do not really approve of their killing, but I can justify her killing a lot more than I can for Reece. Her stepfather raped her and that was the only she would really be able to move on. And the old people, because she worked with them and she realized how much they suffer by living prolonged lives. I in a way think it was noble putting a stop to their misery. If i was her though I would be careful. She seems way too keen to want to get involved with Reece and his murders. Anything could go wrong, and if it does then it will just drag her down with him. I personally feel that neither of them are thinking long term, they’re just living in the moment hoping for the best.

Sad to say that I think my prediction was wrong, half wrong. I was right that he is starting to really like Barbara. He even states that she is his “girlfriend” (81), and that she is one of the few to actually see his scars. Reece claims that he is truly happy with her, and that he can trust her, however he is not. After killing the Bishop and the Roman Catholic priest he is freaking out, he feels that he is going to get caught which is causing him to lie to her. Reece keeps stating that it is just “research”(66) that he is normal, however any normal person would give up killing especially if it is causing him to have to take pills to relax and spend time with what matters. I’m sure he’s not capable of doing that, I feel that he is in too deep and that he just calls it research to cover up for the fact that he has the need to continue to kill. He states that killing gives him a “gritty sensation” (89) a “immense satisfaction” (89). I feel that he is going to really mess up with relationship, and get caught.

For our second time reading we had to read from pages 50 to 100. During this section the book gets even better. I thought the first fifty pages were extremely good, I stand corrected. It seems that the pressure is finally getting to to him as he states, “All day I was sweating and trembling, constantly looking over my shoulder for a police team.” (53) I thought he would never get nervous after a kill. Every time he seems so confident and in a way ignorant to the consequences, but I stand corrected. Maybe this will be a transition for him. He might stop killing because he is afraid of what happens, but I highly doubt that.
I thought it was extremely clever how he used his victim’s blood to write religious messages on the walls. Not only did it make the crime scene look ten times worse, but it also confused the media as well as the detective who are on the case. What also seemed to work in his favor was the woman who talked to the media about how her pastor said she should have sex with him or she would not be safe. After seeing her address on tv, he went and killed her and wrote on the walls of her apartment in blood. It would seem that he is unstoppable, but I feel like there is one person that he would stop for, Barbara.
Barbara clearly likes him as he clearly likes her. She even calls him by his first name of Reece as he happily exclaims, “She is not as plain as I first thought or am I becoming biased. i must admit that I have taken to using the lunchroom a lot more in the week or so as I like talking to her and she calls me by my name, Reece. It's music to my ears after all the years of being mocked with 'Shooter' at work." I feel that if push comes down to shove and he will pick her over finishing his book.

I do not think I mentioned it earlier, but I love how he is a mailman. It seems like the perfect job for a serial killer. All you do all day is bring mail to people’ houses. Depending on the size of your city, you know where majority of the people live, what streets are which, and if anything happens what way to get out the fastest. I can connect this idea to the show The Walking Dead. In one episode one of the characters had to get help everyone else out of the city before the zombies got them, and he has brilliant at it. It was like he knew the city like the back of his hand. After they were safe one of the main characters asked him what he did before the epidemic and he said he was a pizza deliverer. Which goes back to my point of how useful a that skill of knowing his environment can be.
The more and more I read the more I think of how genius this man is. His fourth kill was terrible, but smart. Originally he had planned to kill Gary and Penny, but then they decided to invite another quest. He really wanted to kill two people at once, but he had never anticipated three. Instead of backing down like any other person would of done, he saw it as a challenge and went full forward into it. I loved how he premeditated everything, his parents visit to get her sleeping medicine then put into their favorite wine, then pretend that he did not like it so he would not have to drink. Pure genius. I feel like right now he feels on top of the world, and pretty soon he is going to get sloppy and mess up.

For our third and last book club book we are reading Diary of a Serial Killer by Cameron Lee. This is the story of the main chacater who has adopted the name Shooter after an embarrassing accident who has been diagnosed with mental disorders. After searching for help, he found writing, something that calmed him down, and in a way kept him sane. From writing he met his best friend Tania... his laptop. I find it pretty sad, he stated that he never really friends that he was all alone as he is now. Do you think that could have of been the cause for his insanity? I do somewhat but I feel that even if he did have friends he would of ended up the same way. On page six he talks about how he had a girlfriend, one that he seemed to like too, but she left him because of due to her getting “ bored with me writing at every opportunity rather than sitting beside her watching television, wearing that same glazed look”. It seems that writing did not help his, but rather harmed him. He his obsession of wanting to be a writer made him try to do something different to write a story that no other writer had written before. The story of someone becoming a serial killer. Personally I would never go that far to get a book published, but that is just me.
I find it fascinating how in tone to his surroundings he is. It seems that he has everything planned out. For example the murder of the old woman. He found his murder weapon the “water pipe” (9). I thought it was crazy how he bought watermelons to practice and how he used him job as a mail carrier to get close to her. Even how he executed it. It was all planned out so carefully. I guess that is what makes him a psychopath. How killing people does not seem to shock him. One thing that I have noticed among all of the psychopath books we have read is how each and every one has a problem with their parents. His mother seems to be overbearing, his aunt has sexual relations with him when he was a child and his father is to passive. All aspects that make him who he is.

Paige I swear I ask myself that question every time I read how come nobody saw this coming? I feel if people paid more attention all of this could have been avoided. After watching the video you posted Paige I trouble believing their face. I don’t know about you guys, but as I read the book I imagined two monsters as Eric and Dylan, I knew they were people, but I just associated their behavior to that of something that would fit the characterization. After watching the video and seeing their face I had to take a moment to say to myself, “Wait they are people.” It still blows my mind that anyone could be capable of causing so much destruction and enjoying it so much. What is even more mind blowing is their intellect level these two students were top of their class if anybody could cause such a catastrophe it would be them. In the last chapter of the book chapter 53 At the Broken Places Cullen talks about how it took “eight and a half years” to finish their work with Columbine on top of that it took millions of dollars to compensate for the destruction to the building as well as to the people who were involved in the act. These two boys would have been proud of their “achievement”.
However all the destruction and endless grief that I personally thought would never come to an end actually did. On page 356 Cullen talks about how the students at Columbine would stop calling the shooting by the school’s name. Even Mr. D’s life got back on track as he got reengaged to his wife. Even Patrick Ireland pulled through in chapter 49 Ready to be Done as he went to college and found a girl named Kacie Lancaster. The moral is that the even was horrendous, but people bounce back no matter what is thrown their way.
I cannot help but to think though, what if all of this happens again. A chain effect. One reason why Eric wanted to do a school shooting was because he was trying to out due a previous one, which he and Dylan had, however what if someone is researching the columbine attack and is planning a bigger one? If is a scary thought, but one worth consideration.

I agree with you on the apologizing to everyone part, to make matters worth, not many people or anyone at all really accepted them. At first the police took them out of their mailing process and used them as evidence. These poor people were trying to plead for forgiveness for something that they did not due, and it seems that nobody wants to hear them out. On the other hand I can see why. I feel extremely sorry for these kids as well as the families who were affected by the shooting at Columbine. It just seems that they are not able to find peace due to the media constantly bothering them. On page 273 Cullen writes about how the students feel that their identities have been taken away as he expresses their sorrow, “Their school was a symbol of mass murder. They have been cast as bullies or snotty rich brats.” (272) I can infer that the only thing that these students want is to return to their lives. It is not right to label the entire school body by the act of two psychopaths. What was needed was counseling and coming together as people, but instead they are doing the opposite. They are turning away from each other, they are filing lawsuits. An example of this would be on page people to take care of each other instead they are focusing on lawsuits. In chapter 41 The Parents Group where parents for example the father of Lance Kirklin exclaims how “that’s criminal” (353). He is referring to how the money was being split up between the wounded. Parents wanted to sue each other for money, but luckily they were given donations from the Healing Fund.
Dylan and Eric had really shaken everyone as they had planned to, one thing I do not understand is how nobody put two and two together. On page 280 Cullen talks about how Eric “Frequently made his research do double duty for both schoolwork and his master plan” (Columbine 280) He would write papers, recite poetry, and create dialogs on such graphic things for example murder and killing people. On top of his blog, it is somewhat scary that they got away with all of it when the evidence was right in from of everyone.

Amanda in your response you ask a question that lingers in my mind as I read. You asked, how could people be so ruthless? It is pretty frightening to know that all of this had happened. It boggles my mind to think that there are people out there that have the will to kill others, and it is hard to tell them apart from everyone else. For example they were both able to purchase guns from gun shoes and a few of them were not traceable. I guess there were signs out there for example on pg 188 Cullen talks about Eric’s blog online where he explains all the things he hates for example when he says he hates “[country] music” as well as “R rated movies”. He also creates a page that represents the after mass of a genocide and exclaims his love for it and wishes that something like that was actually possible. These signs were anything but subtle, but there were not as noticeable. I feel that there was less security on the Internet back then, and definitely lighter gun regulation. I feel that if they tried something like this today they would not have such a high success.

One thing that I found incredible is how the school shooting had brought everyone together. Starting on page 177 the chapter called JesusJesusJesus talks about how people turned to religion as a way to vent. How political leaders of the time like VP Al Gore as well as Christian pop star Amy Grant came to support. The church remained open for the students as a sanctuary to just get away and feel safe. I can connect this to 9/11. After that terrible accident it seemed that the whole nation came together. There were American flags everywhere and people seemed to really open up to one another.

After reading After and Before and the Downward Spiral I was really able to understand the background to the whole incident. The text was not as fast pace, or flashy, but important all the same. In After and Before the reader are given background on Eric and Dylan’s life. On page 111 chapter 21 begins, First Memories. Cullen brings us way back to the time when Eric was a “military brat” (112). He explains how Eric’s dad was part of Cullen explains how his father did not settle for misbehavior, how he and his brother were brought up intro a strict family. Personally I feel that his up-bringing was his downfall. I feel that if he grew up in one location with parents with a “normal” occupation then he would not have turned out the way he did. I feel that Eric was exposed to war thoughts, guns and all the things that a child should not have been. He was a child and probably took a liking to the idea of war and weapons early on, which he grew up into.

Starting on page 126, Cullen begins the chapter “Gifted Boy” by talking about how “brilliant” (126) Dylan was. He explains how he had enrolled in a “Challenging High Intellectual Potential Students” (126) program in third grade. Unlike Eric he had a stable life. It seemed like he had it all going for him, but Cullen does reflect on his temper that was first displayed while fishing for frogs on a trip with friends. I feel that this was the first sign. Dylan was never able to have others laugh at him, he constantly felt judged. He never wanted to kill anyone besides himself, but the pressure pushed him overboard.

Neither of them fit in, they both felt that nobody saw they so they defied society. Students would wear preppy clothing, while they wore trench coats. I feel that the killings were not something that they felt was needed to say. But rather something to make people see them. I hate to defend them they were crazy, but I feel that they were just lost. I wonder if they could live a normal life if they saw someone for help?

What does all of this say about gun regulation? I know on the turn pike out of Boston there is a billboard that pokes fun at how easy it is to obtain a gun. https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o...
But its not a joke, as one can see their friend was able to purchase bullets at eighteen and even Dylan’s prom date was able to buy them guns. If there was more regulation on gun selling than I feel that this whole catastrophe could have been avoided.

I have to say this book is really interesting. Usually when I open up a book it takes a while to get interesting, but this one, its like action from page one. Dave Cullen is an amazing writer, as the two boys were attacking their peers I felt like I was right there with them. One thing that really hit me was the part about Patrick Ireland. I was talking to Paige earlier about him, how he got shot in the head and is now brain damaged. Before that I was reading just to read. I did not have any emotion towards what was happening, but after reading about him, it really hit me. Innocent people’s lives were ruined that day. It was moving.

I am still unsure of what exactly the what is. I remember Achak's father explaining the story about the humans and how God gave them the choice of the what or something else, and how he brings it up throughout the book, but I do not remember him fully explaining it.