A Thousand Cuts

I literally read Rupture in one sitting: decided to start it at a quarter to midnight because I couldn't sleep, and finally turned the light off at 3am after turning the last page. So I don't need to point out that it's compelling. Ostensibly, this is a crime novel; the story of a man called Samuel Szajkowski, a young history teacher who one day carries a gun into his school and kills three pupils and a fellow teacher before shooting himself. It's also the story of Lucia May, the police inspecto [...]

I own this book and I have read it twice over the last two years. The description of the book says it is about a school shooting, but believe me it is about much more. I have never seen a book or any other medium do such a good job showing how widespread bullying is in Western culture; the book not only shows that bullying is widespread but it shows that bullying is accepted and expected because being strong and being able to take care of yourself is part of growing up; and part of growing up is [...]

Even with disturbing tales of student suicides evoked by ruthless bullying screaming from recent headlines, few of us are willing to delve into the unremarkable daily tortures behind the spectacle. Lelic brings the issue of bullying—in the school and in workplace, by children and adults—home with his unsettling, penetrating debut novel. Through his protagonist, police investigator Lucia, he asks, “Why was the onus always on the weak when it was the strong who had a liberty to act? Why were [...]

Paolo Bacigalupi (The Windup Girl, Shipbreaker, The Drowned Cities) blows me away; when he commented on Twitter he was reading someone named Simon Lelic I made a beeline for the library. And by great good luck my local had a copy of A Thousand Cuts, Lelic's debut novel.Ostensibly this is a murder mystery about a British police inspector investigating a school shooting. The shooter, a first-year teacher, fired upon students and faculty at an assembly, killing three students, a colleague, and then [...]

Lelic, Simon. A THOUSAND CUTS. (2010). ****. This is an excellent first novel from this author who has worked as a journalist and now lives in Brighton. It is both a psychological and sociological crime novel about a topic that is very current in today’s news – violence in the schoolplace. Samuel Szajkowski, a recently hired history teacher, walks into a school assembly with a gun, and murders three students and a colleague before turning the gun on himself. It was a tragedy that could not h [...]

Why would a teacher walk into an assembly at his school carrying a gun, and open fire? That’s the central question examined in Simon Lelic’s first novel, Rupture. Detective Inspector Lucia May of the Metropolitan Police has been heading the investigation into the shooting perpetrated by Samuel Szajkowski, an apparently nondescript young history teacher. Her superiors would like to think it’s an open-and-shut case, but Lucia’s investigations have painted a picture of Samuel as a man who w [...]

The newish, oddball teacher at a London school enters morning assembly one day and opens fire with an old army revolver, killing three of the kids, another teacher and finally himself. The investigation of this horrific case is put into the hands of DI Lucia May, who discovers that vicious bullying is endemic in the school, that it's being perpetrated not just by but upon teachers as well as pupils, and that the headmaster, Travis, is content to let the pattern continue at least for the present, [...]

The premise is a cop investigating a school shooting, and in the course of her investigation, she discovers a bullying epidemic. The set up is topical, bordering on cliche, but how the story progresses really pulls you in. It's also set in England, which added some complexity to me as an American reader.The story is told from both the investigating reporter's POV and from her reports as she interviews all the usual suspects. There are the bratty undisciplined kids, the jock of a gym teacher, the [...]

Book club choice. Slow going mainly because of the pedestrian monologues. Good to read for how not to structure a book I think. The detective pov is good but is interrupted all the time by the monologues which slow the pace too much.Finished it now.Didn't like the structure. There are a lot of narrative voices due to the device of using transcripts of tape recordings. It is very difficult for the writer to give a unique voice to each one so they blur. The sexism encountered by Lucia was a bit st [...]

According to , Death by a Thousand Cuts refers to the way a major negative change, which happens slowly in many unnoticed increments, is not perceived as objectionable. The book takes the reader on a horrifying journey of a young teacher’s torment that results in his own death as well as three students and a colleague. Detective Lucia May is in charge of what her boss calls an open-and-shut case. Lucia is also a victim of bullying by the men in her department. She finds herself relating to and [...]

A very thought provoking read. Is inaction a crime in itself? The actual school shooting part is not described in detail but rather it focuses on the viewpoint of those affected. Lelic’s narrative technique in some chapters was quite curious. His use of one-sided conversations leaves the reader to fill in the question being asked. Once I realised the writing style I came to like it. I also found interesting the parallel of the bullying occurring at the school and the sexual harassment of the d [...]

The writing style of this novel was very refreshing. Just about each chapter is someone else talking to Lucia, a homicide detective. Lucia's questions to the witnesses are families are rarely recorded in this novel, but it does not make it hard to follow at all. Leaving the authority- Lucia- out of the testimonials makes the novel edgy and raw. The testimonials seem more raw and emotional this way. I also liked how Lelic took a controversial issue in our schools today and showed us what can happ [...]

This book was moving and a great book to read if you want to get sucked in and not stop! It is truly suspenseful and definitely worth reading! The idea of a school shooting is very surreal, but this book gives you an inside of what it is like, which is a bit frightening to be quite honest!

I read this all in one evening when I should have been doing something else. Excellently paced storyriller? mystery? It's one of those stories where the voice of the narrator seems to shift a lot but it is the voice of several interviewees. That is the sort of device that I quite enjoy, though I know it can bother other people. It takes place around an incident in a British public high school, where a teacher opens fire on a school assembly and kills three students, a teacher, and himself. When [...]

I found this book impossible to put down. It took me through a labrynth of humanity on the road to figure out why a school shooting happened through the experiences of the woman investigator, Lucia, and those she interviewed. I found the perspectives of the other characters confusing at first--I wondered who was hearing these--but once I got the drift that these were what Lucia was hearing the pages kept turning and the layers of the novel got more complicated. I thought Lucia could have been re [...]

This isn't a book I'd have chosen for myself, I've just read it for a book group I've just joined and it certainly was thought provoking enough to generate discussion and controversy.I can't really say I liked this book, it was just ok but it did have me quite gripped once I got into the quite difficult to follow, style of writing.As the main narrator is a detective investigating a school shooting many of the chapters take the format of police statements as recorded, but it doesn't make it clear [...]

Astonishing, intense and very very sad. This book is a story of what awful awful things can happen when someone is bullied. In this book what is most interesting is that the inspector investigating the incident is also being bullied by her own team. This is such a tough subject to read but this was done in an amazing manner. I really did not want to put this book down. My empathy for the characters was very strong. I imagine all readers will feel for them and the injustices they were forces to s [...]

i loved this book! a school shooting that is told in numerous, present tense voices - the story trickles out and the reader is hooked. the 'bad guy' is identified early on, but the backstory of his systematic bullying causes emotions of pity, anger, and even a moment of wanting retribution fact, the whole book is about bullying - in schools and in the office. through sexual harrassment, and in positions of power. bystanders as adults as well as students. it addresses physical bullying as in beat [...]

Not my cup of tea.Half of this book was written in monologue form which I enjoyed but all of the other bits that really focused on the main character I did not. The writing seemed adolescent and telly. There was a lot of unnecessary information that didn't need to be written. Also, I feel like the lead character was ment to be a strong female by the end but she was unbelievable weak and I didn't appreciate the way she reacted to things. It's like things just happened to her and she didn't do any [...]

This is an unusual, original mystery, unlike any crime novel I've read before. Told in chapters alternating between third-person narration and firsthand accounts by witnesses, the story concerns a school shooting in which five people are killed. The case is investigated by the book-loving Detective Inspector Lucia May, who discovers a toxic school culture of cruelty, involving vicious bullying and psychological torture of both students and teachers, which is tolerated by the faculty and administ [...]

Intriguing and frustrating writing style speech marks, almost all monologues, with the occassional dialogue, yet the speakers are never explicitly named, which makes it very confusing.The story of the investigation following a school shooting. Bleak, dark, helpless, frustrating and depressing are just a few of the adjectives that come to mind.I almost gave it 4.5 stars because the topic of bullying in schools and the workplace is so important and terrifyingly portrayed, and the author doesn't pu [...]

Actually just stumbled onto this one while looking for books at the public library. This book was an outstanding read. There's a shooting in a school assembly in London. A history teacher shoots and kills three students and one teacher before turning the gun on himself.Open and shut case, right?Not so fast. As the story develops you have to ask, was this guy simply deranged, or was he plopped down into a school that promotes of culture of hate, bullying and even cyberbullying? A must read for pr [...]

This is a remarkable debut. It is a story about bullying. Teachers bullying pupils, pupils bullying other pupils. Male colleagues bullying female colleagues.Male teacher bullied by other teachers. The story is told from the perspective of different person in every chapter. A story of victims, and people who do not fall into the confines of their tormentors . It is a novel that gives a fascinating insight into the culture and victims of bullying. Makes the reader think and i think that is the pur [...]

An incredibly gripping book which examines bullying from every angle. I never thought I would feel the slightest sympathy for a school gunman but as we learn more and more about Samuel and the other victims I did find myself appreciating the intense pressure that he was under.My only criticism would be that on occasion I had difficulty working out who was speaking and what their relationship to the story was but that was fleeting. A though provoking read.

This is a fascinating book, told in several voices, about a school shooting, done by a teacher. As we follow a female detective thru her investigation, we see a disturbing pattern of bullying at the school, and sexual harrasment at her work place, and how both of these are covered up by the powers that be. An astute social commentary, told in a clever and compelling way.

Unsettling and intense, but not for the reasons you expect going into it. Just a great first novel, that feels like a blend of Giles Blunt and Tana French. The ending seemed a bit rushed or at least closed awkwardly, but the development of the story otherwise is done extremely well. Full of unreliable narrators, multiple accounts of the same event, and an extremely "anti" hero.

I thought this was an amzing book. An unusual style, telling the story from differentperspectives through witnesses, with the central character holding it all together. Should be read by all to see the effect of constant harassment in and out of school. A few lessons would be learnt.

Wow. I really got into this book immediately and stayed with. The subject matter of bullying and it's implications is always intense material but the interesting twists prevalence in this novel drive home this always contemporary issue.

4.5 stars. A powerful, realistic and very dark read about bullying (school, workplace etc) and the horrifying silences around it.

I liked the topic that this book dealt with, but I didn't totally love the writing style or how some things were done in this book and how the plot moved along.