Depressing

This is one of the most depressing books I've ever read. There is hardly a sliver of hope or anything of encouragement. And if there is even that, it is obscured by the consuming sense of misery and death.

The author forces you to love each character. Even against your will, you start to love them. And then the author takes them all away. In the most devastatingly horrible of ways. The death of John was awful. A child. Knowingly submitting to his own murder. He knew. "He was lost, I had no power to save him." (152)

This book is meant to make the reader uncomfortable. Alienated. I am lucky because I cannot fathom something like this happening. But someone, more than just one someone too, has experienced this. So many people and children experienced this. And I am left with a sense of helplessness and isolation.