Everyone says fourteen-year-old Billie is nothing but trouble. A fighter. A danger to her family and friends. But her care worker sees someone different.
Her classmate Rob is big, strong; he can take care of himself and his brother. But his violent stepdad sees someone to humiliate. And Chris is struggling at school; he just doesn't want to be there. But his dad sees a useless no-hoper.
Billie, Rob and Chris each have a story to tell. But there are two sides to every story, and the question is ...who do you believe?
Kill All Enemies is a very thought provoking story and made me think a lot back to when I was their age.
My Secondary school was one of the worst in the town and often had kids that were refused in other schools due to behavioural problems and attitudes. The book helped me see into their side of the story and what may be contributing to how the act at school...possibly not something everyone would notice (my Psychology brain was going into over load reading this!) but I really believe this is a book many teachers should read as well as kids so that they can understand more why the kids are acting this way.
Melvin Burgess has written other novels, and I loved Junk and found Kill All Enemies so different...but still just as brilliantly written!
At first the novel took a while to get into because of all the different story lines, I was also trying to read quickly and find out more and more...which can be very detrimental and meant I often had to reread pages because I was in such a rush!!
The question of "Who do you believe?" really made reading the book take so much longer because I kept stopping to sit and think which side was correct...was Billie correct in her way of thinking or was she actually the troublemaker that the social workers and police think she is? Part of her story made my heart break when she finally got to see her sister and brother again.
It really is a book that makes you feel so much for the characters and you can't help but emphasise with them, but then something happens and Burgess gives you the choice of whether to continue emphasising with the kids, or side with the law and the social workers...which for me made the book more enjoyable and really made me want to read more and find the next step.
I really advise this book, as it really makes you rethink how you look at kids with anti-social behaviour
In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren as a way of showing off our addiction to books every week. You can learn more about this here.
So it's been very busy, with all the holidays and celebrations (I hope you all had a great time!!) so I apologise for this massive massive list!!! It's just been piling up lately...
Gift The Watch Series (7 book collection) - Terry Pratchett Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman The C-word - Lisa Lynch (From Aliix) Sisters Red - Jackson Pearce (From Vickie @ Comacalm) His Dark Materials - Philip Pulman
I have lovely people who send me books <3 All the fantasy ones are from ESP for Christmas...I don't read fantasy so this could be interesting!! Maybe I'll find out I love it more than YA....(as if...). Both Aliix and Vickie are super lovely people to send me pretty books! I've been eyeing up these books for months so very happy to get them =D
Bought Marcelo in the Real World - Francisco X. Stork Hidden - Miriam Halahmy Inside Out - Maria V. Snyder My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece - Annabel Pitcher Torn - Cat Clarke
So just after Christmas I began raiding the sales on Amazon...teehee...I've heard some great things about some of these books...then others I haven't heard anything about yet, so I am hoping to find another treasure like 0.4! Then of course I had to buy Torn!! Think that may get started this afternoon =)
Borrowed/Review Wonder - R.J. Palacio A Guide to the Harry Potter Novels - Julia Eccleshare
Wonder sounds AMAZING! Emma received this for the Book Tours and asked if I would read it for her...of course I'll say yes! =D i was eyeing up the guide to the Harry Potter novels at Nikki's Christmas party...and then she let me borrow it and its really interesting...well if you enjoy looking at the background of everything and being critical!
I now have over 40 books to read and review...and some are getting close to the dates (I'm a procrastinator...) so I may not be posting IMMs for a while as I will not be buying!
