Helpful Score: 4
This book takes place in Broken Branch, Iowa--a small town with a small school. On the day before Spring Break, a gunman walks into the school, enters a classroom, and holds the teacher and students hostage.
The story is told from 6 (if I remember correctly) points of view--the mother of students at the school who is recovering from an accident in Arizona, her father, who is estranged from her, her oldest child, a police officer, a teacher, and a police officer at the school. Some of these characters are more interesting than others. I found myself more interested in the teacher's viewpoint and the child's. Through the telling, you learn about the complicated family dynamics that exist among the main family.
Being a schoolteacher myself who has experienced a lockdown (although nothing even remotely as scary as a gunman at my school--thank God!), I was more fascinated by the way that the community tried to cope with the children being held hostage, as well as the bravery the teacher displayed.
This is NOT a story about bullied teens or disaffected youth shooting up a school. It is more of a mystery about who the shooter is (he is not revealed until very late in the book). There are no Columbine style multiple shootings either.
I enjoyed this more than I liked Gudenkauf's last book and I was kept turning the pages to see who the shooter was. Enjoyable.
The story is told from 6 (if I remember correctly) points of view--the mother of students at the school who is recovering from an accident in Arizona, her father, who is estranged from her, her oldest child, a police officer, a teacher, and a police officer at the school. Some of these characters are more interesting than others. I found myself more interested in the teacher's viewpoint and the child's. Through the telling, you learn about the complicated family dynamics that exist among the main family.
Being a schoolteacher myself who has experienced a lockdown (although nothing even remotely as scary as a gunman at my school--thank God!), I was more fascinated by the way that the community tried to cope with the children being held hostage, as well as the bravery the teacher displayed.
This is NOT a story about bullied teens or disaffected youth shooting up a school. It is more of a mystery about who the shooter is (he is not revealed until very late in the book). There are no Columbine style multiple shootings either.
I enjoyed this more than I liked Gudenkauf's last book and I was kept turning the pages to see who the shooter was. Enjoyable.
Helpful Score: 2
Gudenkauf's One Breath Away was an interesting story told in an interesting way. The action--a gunman who breaks into a school and holds teachers and students hostage--takes place in a small town in Iowa over the course of one day. The story is told from multiple points of view: a teacher; a police officer; Augie, a student who is trapped in the school with her little brother, P.J., and Augie and P.J.'s grandfather. Part of the novel deals with trying to identify the gunman and his agenda. The other part of the novel delves into the backstories of the teacher, police officer and Augie's family. Good read.
Another great book from a fantastic author!
Definitely my least favorite of her three books. There was so much back story that I started not to care what was going on in the present day. I just didn't have any interest in the characters.
Once again I've read a book that I feel should have more than a five star rating. It puzzles me a little that it has an overall rating 3.98 rating.
Maybe that's because of the subject. This book deals with a school hostage situation and once I started it I could put it down.
It takes place in a small community, where a gunman has taken a classroom hostage at gunpoint. In the book you find out the background of one of the teachers, one of the long time families. The daughter of which left home long ago and swore never to return, but after a bad accident she sent her children to live with her parents while she recuperates. It also tells of the female police officer that the gunman has requested come to the classroom.
Maybe that's because of the subject. This book deals with a school hostage situation and once I started it I could put it down.
It takes place in a small community, where a gunman has taken a classroom hostage at gunpoint. In the book you find out the background of one of the teachers, one of the long time families. The daughter of which left home long ago and swore never to return, but after a bad accident she sent her children to live with her parents while she recuperates. It also tells of the female police officer that the gunman has requested come to the classroom.
As a March snowstorm hits a small Iowa town, a man with a gun enters the local school, taking a class full of children and their teacher hostage. The police respond quickly, surrounding the school and requesting help from neighboring towns. Parents hurry to the school to find out what is happening. No one seems to know the identity of the gunman or why he is doing this.
This story is told from the points-of-view of five different characters. Holly is in the hospital. She is the mother of two children in that building. Augie is Holly's daughter, hoping to rescue her younger brother. Will is Holly's father who is waiting with the parents of other children in the school. Mrs. Oliver is the third-grade teacher whose class is being held by the gunman. Meg is a local cop who is trying to find out why someone would take a gun into a school.
This is the first book I've read by this author. I will be looking for more of her titles. This book was hard to put down. It wasn't very suspenseful. It was more like a mystery with us having to figure out the identity of the gunman and his reason for holding the children hostage. My rating: 4.5 Stars.
This story is told from the points-of-view of five different characters. Holly is in the hospital. She is the mother of two children in that building. Augie is Holly's daughter, hoping to rescue her younger brother. Will is Holly's father who is waiting with the parents of other children in the school. Mrs. Oliver is the third-grade teacher whose class is being held by the gunman. Meg is a local cop who is trying to find out why someone would take a gun into a school.
This is the first book I've read by this author. I will be looking for more of her titles. This book was hard to put down. It wasn't very suspenseful. It was more like a mystery with us having to figure out the identity of the gunman and his reason for holding the children hostage. My rating: 4.5 Stars.
Several stories in one, suspense to the very end.
I didn't like this book at all--it just hops from one person to another and each person's 'chapter' is about them in the past and things that happened to them or their family and on and on, by the time I got half way the story was just boring and I didn't care who the gunman was or what the reason was, it is so slow and so boring I didn't finish it.
Loved this book! Read it in two evenings, couldn't put it down!
I was so excited when this book became available through PBS that as soon as I received it, I read it. I had read the other two books by this author and remember enjoying them. I was sadly disappointed in this book. Having worked through a school tragedy myself, I found the reaction of the characters unrealistic and sometimes downright silly. I thought that the book started off slowly and never really picked up pace. There was so much background information about the characters that took away from the premise of the story - it seemed to backfire and essentially kept me from connecting with any of the characters. With that said, there were some underlying storylines that I thought were left unfinished that having been addressed thoroughly would have added excitement to the story. It was very predictable - even determining who the gunman was was an easy task. I'm sorry to say that I wouldn't recommend this book.
This is the first book I have read from this author. It was very good with a very different premise, unfortunately significant in this day and time. Will read more by this author.
