Book Review: This Is Where It Ends

Book Review: This Is Where It Ends

Reviewed by Lauren Watson

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp is strikingly relevant and incredibly touching, showing several perspectives of a day gone horribly wrong and something that could happen to any one of us.

Autumn and her girlfriend Sylvia were in the auditorium, listening to the principal speak. Claire was on the track, running with her ROTC group. Sylvia’s brother Tomas was in the principal’s office with a friend, looking for student records. That’s when Autumn’s brother Tyler showed up in the auditorium with a gun. Told over a span of fifty-four minutes, This Is Where It Ends is a heart-wrenching story of love and loss told by these four completely different people in the same terrifying situation.

I found Nijkamp’s novel a hauntingly detailed picture of something that seems so ordinary now in our world. Its layout was very interesting, and the story made me look at life as I know it and see how it could change at any moment. This Is Where It Ends is a must-read, disturbing and poignant until its final page.

Lauren Watson
Lauren Watson

Lauren was a graduating senior in the Gifted program at Hahnville High. She enjoys dancing, theatre, science, and cats. She will be attending Louisiana State University in the fall, where she will be majoring in Biological Sciences.

Editor’s note: Book reviews are published throughout the summer and fall in agreement with Hahnville High School gifted English teacher Deborah Unger in conjunction with the Brown Foundation Service Learning Program and Unger’s “Adolescents Advocate Literacy” Brown Service Learning Grant.

 

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply