In college he will be able to admit he’s gay. If the topic seems too weighty, be assured, it is treated with gentle, compassionate respect.īrian is the high school quarterback, who privately writes poetry and counts the days until he can escape his gun-supporting, conspiracy-based father. Though my heart clenched during Boy Shattered’s shooter scenes, Easton’s writing gave me a modicum of distance – enough that I was glued to the next page and the next. The novel realistically portrays teenagers recovering from a school shooting. Just when I needed my conviction renewed, Eli Easton’s Boy Shattered first splintered and then revitalized my hope. Only I didn’t understand that the horror at Jefferson Waller High wasn’t over. And if I can get the boy of my dreams and save the world at the same time? I’ll take it. I want to demand action on gun control, lead protests, raise my fist. But what I witnessed that day woke me up. He still needed me, and soon we were unlikely besties. When he survived and came back to school, he was broken in body and mind. His request surprised me, but I figured he needed comfort, so I kissed him on the forehead. When I came across Brian Marshall, the hottest guy in school, dying on the cafeteria floor, I did what anyone would do. Only how can I move on when the two shooters who attacked our school were never caught? And why do I feel like I’m still in the crosshairs? But here’s the thing about losing it all: You get a chance to start over and be someone new, someone true. Can’t even stand to be in a room with the curtains open. He came out a few years ago, proud and fierce, and he ran into gunfire to help others.

I told myself it didn’t matter no one knew the real me. I was school quarterback, popular with girls, and my dad was proud of me.

Falling Down by Eli Easton