Dear Charlie

Set in leafy suburbia in the UK, 'Dear Charlie" deals with the aftermath of a school shooting and the effect that it has on the perpetrator's family. Viewed through the eyes of Charlie's younger brother, Sam, this is a heartbreaking and deeply affecting tale of a family torn apart by the atrocity committed by one of their own.
Gomes gives the reader an insider's view of the aftermath of a morning of horror, and the conflict that the family feel - wanting to mourn their beloved son and brother, but bewildered to learn they barely knew him in the harsh spotlight of his actions. How do you deal with someone you've known and loved all their life, turning out to be a mass killer? And how do you carry on with your life when you're tarred with the same brush, becoming the focus of a community's anger and grief, as the closest thing to the deceased guilty party?
Sam's struggles to carry on with his life are really beautifully documented, with the constant threat of bullying, victimisation, rejection and violence overhanging every moment of his daily life, and as his parents' marriage crumbles under the pressure of the fallout from Charlie's act, he has nowhere to turn and nobody to turn to.
After moving schools, he's still treated like an outcast, but is welcomed into the world of the other school outcasts - the punks and the indie kids. But then he goes and falls for the group's leader's girlfriend....
I really enjoyed this book and found it really moving. My only issue was that it lacked a sense of place - there were some weird American elements to the story that made me feel I was no longer reading about a story based in England. The author was born in the UK, but has spent a lot of time in the US, and I felt that this showed in some of the cultural touch points in the narrative. It was only a small point, but it was enough to make it a bit jarring in places.
This small gripe aside, this was a really interesting read and one that has stayed with me since I finished the last page. Highly recommended.

This book follows Sam and the aftermath of a shooting at his school. His brother was the shooter. I admire writers that don’t rely on drama and action but are prepared to explore the aftermath of said drama and action. So many books end with a big action packed climax and only a paragraph or epilogue to explore the consequences of traumatic events. Gomes does that, but also looks at the family of the guilty party. Charlie has killed people in the school Sam went to, and his family is splintered by not knowing why he did. This book explores the ramifications of not knowing why someone close to you committed a crime. How do you cope when you can’t get the answers you need to get closure.

Following Sam, we see how the unanswered questions and the abuse that they suffer from being the only ones the grieving families can blame, fractures Sam and his family. It was heart-breaking seeing Sam sink slowly to rock bottom as he desperately tries to grapple with this horrific time in his life. He is so young, and the author shows how his young mind is trying to address issues that even though most clued up adult would struggle to get through.

The ending of this book was fantastic; it left the reader with a really positive feeling. Even though trauma can be devastating at the time. Getting through it is possible. Time is the biggest healer, and this book portrays this exceptionally well. This is an emotional read and a journey through grief and the feeling of not really knowing what is going on in the head of people close to you. Hopefully, this book will raise awareness of depression in teenagers and make people try and recognize the signs earlier. But if they can’t, then this book can show them that there is a way to move forward.

Dear Charlie is the heart-wrenching story of Sam Macmillan and his parents as they try to continue their lives in the wake of a tragedy committed by Sam's brother Charlie.

How did Sam's loving brother Charlie commit such a devastating act? Why did Charlie take the lives of so many innocent people at Pembrook Academy? What drove Charlie to do this and then take his own life? These are all questions that plague Sam like a disease. Sam is left to deal with the consequences of his brother's final actions: he has no friends, his father is drinking, his mother cannot let go, he has to start in a new school, the hate mail, the graffiti, the media hunt. Dear Charlie explores the consequences of being a family member to someone who commits an unforgivable crime, in this case, a school shooting and mass murder.

This book is not entertaining. It is not fun. It is certainly not an easy read. It is, however, an emotionally charged read that explores human nature in many forms. As Sam struggles to move on, we see him come to terms with his own feelings: upset, anger, loneliness and finally hope. Hope that at some point his life can return to normal and he will no longer be looked upon as 'Charlie's brother'.

This book reminds us that in the aftermath of such tragedies, it is not only the victims families who hurt. We so often overlook the family of the killer that we forget how much this act has changed their lives forever. This book dealt with that so well. It showed the significant difficulties that Sam and his family faced and I really felt that they were very realistic.

This is a beautifully written, emotionally driven and heart-wrenching read. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

I don't know whether it's because I work in a school or if it's something else, but when I hear about school shootings, or any violence in school actually, I find that I want to know all the details. I can never quite understand what drives an individual to make the decision to go into a school and shoot people. And, whilst this book is entirely fiction, I was immediately drawn to it because of this.
The book is narrated from the perspective of Sam, younger brother to Charlie, who went into school one morning and killed 14 others before killing himself. It focuses not so much on the actual event but the aftermath that Sam and his parents faced. Whilst obviously being a position that very few people have experienced, I felt the author still enabled the reader to connect with and relate to Sam.
I really enjoyed this book and would love to know your thoughts on it if you have read it. I would also recommend 'Nineteen Minutes' by Jodi Picoult and 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver, if you are looking for something similar.