Book Review: People Kill People

Violence has increased all over the world over the last few years. Gangs having turf wars, school shootings, robberies and other kinds of shootings. We have had 9/11 when the Twin Towers fell. I was in second grade when that happened. I was in music class when they dismissed us earl to go home. Years later we had Sandy Hook, The Pulse Club and the Boston Marathon Bombing. I still remember the tale from my coworker from Target when she had walked out to her car to go home, she had heard the bombs go off. She had thought it was thunder. She found out later that the sounds she heard was the bombs going off. The Braintree Mall was dead for hours, and we couldn’t reach out to our loved ones as they had turned off cell service in case of another bomb.

I read a book recently that goes along with these topics. It’s a book called People Kill People by Elllen Hopkins. The way she writes her stories they are from the perspective of the character. In this instance, she had six characters. All from different stand points on gun violence. The story takes place in common day Tucson, Arizona. Six teenagers stories are in twined together. You start off with the first page that reads “Guns don’t kill people. People Kill People“. I whole heartedly agree with this statement. If you set the gun on a table its just going to sit there and not do anything. However once someone picks up and makes that choice then its the person behind the tool. Now, I’m not saying I’m against guns by no means necessary. We have a few firearms in a safe place away from the kiddos. We have them when we have to fend off any wild animal harassing our cats or the chickens. We aren’t a violent house hold. We stay by the rules of the game.

After that page you get the narrator pulling you into the story and the way Hopkins does it is amazing. She pulls you in by your emotion. She sets the stage for the entire book with this beginning. I obviously don’t want to give all the secrets away. However this book made me see all the sides to the story. I don’t agree with Silas (he’s a white supremesist, “Liberty for White ’Merica!” kind of person) but hearing his side makes the mind click as to why some of the violence in the world happens. It’s interesting to see it from all the character’s perspective and trying to imagine having a conversation with a stranger about guns. I love watching things like Cold Cases or murder documentaries because I like seeing what makes people tick.

Honestly if you like the stories told from different stand points, then this one is for you. I will say trigger warnings for the book for strong language, gun violence, general violence, and strong themes of depression and race.

Stay tuned for more articles to come about this amazing book!