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Silent Alarm
Alys’s whole world was comprised of the history project that was due, her upcoming violin audition, being held tightly in the arms of her boyfriend, Ben, and laughing with her best friend, Delilah. At least it was—until she found herself on the wrong end of a shotgun in the school library. Her suburban high school had become one of those places you hear about on the news—a place where some disaffected youth decided to end it all and take as many of his teachers and classmates with him as he could. Except, in this story, that youth was Alys’s own brother, Luke. He killed fifteen others and himself, but spared her—though she’ll never know why.
Alys’s downward spiral begins instantly, and there seems to be no bottom. A heartbreaking and beautifully told story.
Alys’s downward spiral begins instantly, and there seems to be no bottom. A heartbreaking and beautifully told story.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2015
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2404 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Banash
10 books198 followersJennifer Banash was born and raised in New York City. She now lives in Southern California with her beagle, Sigmund, and her vast collection of designer shoes.
Check out my blog at jenniferbanash.wordpress.com
Check out my blog at jenniferbanash.wordpress.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews
February 23, 2015
This was very dark, very gritty, and very powerful. I have read a few books about school shootings, and while my favorite will always be Nineteen Minutes, this is one I'm not likely to forget any time soon.
Silent Alarm focuses more on after the fact than the shooting itself. We do see the event unfold, but the story is more about Alys having to live with what her brother did. As expected, there's a great amount of grief, of guilt, of "what ifs" on her part. Her character is developed in a way that even though she closes herself off emotionally - self preservation and all - she still lets us in. With many emotional books like this, I keep myself at arm's length due to the overwhelming nature of the character's state of mind, but with Alys, I was still able to fully immerse myself into her shoes. I didn't fear the grief she was trying to push away, I wanted to be there for her.
This highly character based novel touches on many aspects surrounding such a tragedy. The reaction of the community - the need for everyone to lay blame on the family - is very real and very hurtful. People do react like that in real life, and it's unfortunate, yet you can't help but understand both sides. Blame is a natural human response to grief, a destructive response, but we rarely put ourselves in the others' shoes. In this novel, we see exactly how this affects Alys's family. A family that is stopped in its tracks, shocked by what their son did, but a family that is grieving like all the others nonetheless. It's sad to see her friends and even boyfriend turn against her for what she couldn't control, but it's also good to see who your real friends are in these situations. I was happy that she had at least one shoulder to lean on -her brother's best friend - to help slow down, even if it's just a little bit, this downward spiral. Don't take this as a sign of romance, however. This book has only the tiniest touch of romance - if I even dare call it that. It's more like a longing of what she once had.
Even though the writing overall was good and emotionally charged, I was not a fan of the style she uses to convey Alys' real opinion of what her brother did. We'd get random bits of internal dialogue inside parenthesis, usually mid sentence, that I found pretty distracting. Fortunately it's not used excessively, so it doesn't become a huge deal. Also, don't expect some clear-cut, intensely plotted book full of twists and shocking turns. This novel is a character-driven story, through and through.
Highly recommended to fans of dark contemporaries, Silent Alarm is an honest and raw look at grief, at someone's life changing drastically one tragic afternoon.
--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.
For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads
Silent Alarm focuses more on after the fact than the shooting itself. We do see the event unfold, but the story is more about Alys having to live with what her brother did. As expected, there's a great amount of grief, of guilt, of "what ifs" on her part. Her character is developed in a way that even though she closes herself off emotionally - self preservation and all - she still lets us in. With many emotional books like this, I keep myself at arm's length due to the overwhelming nature of the character's state of mind, but with Alys, I was still able to fully immerse myself into her shoes. I didn't fear the grief she was trying to push away, I wanted to be there for her.
This highly character based novel touches on many aspects surrounding such a tragedy. The reaction of the community - the need for everyone to lay blame on the family - is very real and very hurtful. People do react like that in real life, and it's unfortunate, yet you can't help but understand both sides. Blame is a natural human response to grief, a destructive response, but we rarely put ourselves in the others' shoes. In this novel, we see exactly how this affects Alys's family. A family that is stopped in its tracks, shocked by what their son did, but a family that is grieving like all the others nonetheless. It's sad to see her friends and even boyfriend turn against her for what she couldn't control, but it's also good to see who your real friends are in these situations. I was happy that she had at least one shoulder to lean on -her brother's best friend - to help slow down, even if it's just a little bit, this downward spiral. Don't take this as a sign of romance, however. This book has only the tiniest touch of romance - if I even dare call it that. It's more like a longing of what she once had.
Even though the writing overall was good and emotionally charged, I was not a fan of the style she uses to convey Alys' real opinion of what her brother did. We'd get random bits of internal dialogue inside parenthesis, usually mid sentence, that I found pretty distracting. Fortunately it's not used excessively, so it doesn't become a huge deal. Also, don't expect some clear-cut, intensely plotted book full of twists and shocking turns. This novel is a character-driven story, through and through.
Highly recommended to fans of dark contemporaries, Silent Alarm is an honest and raw look at grief, at someone's life changing drastically one tragic afternoon.
--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.
For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads
July 29, 2019
This was okayish. I lived the first half of the book but in the remaining half of the book I felt as if the author was just dragging the story. The plot was nice but the story was incomplete. It kinda got boring at the end. It was overall an okay book.
June 20, 2024
*Trigger Warning*
This book contains scenes of a high-school shooting taking place; some passages are graphic in description.
A heart-rending novel, due to the subject matter of a school shooting. This book has an unusual twist, however; the narrator is the shooter’s younger sister. The tough question is raised: What rights to a normal life do the family members of a murderer get to have after such a tragedy?
*Red Flags*
Frequent f-bombs; underage drinking
This book contains scenes of a high-school shooting taking place; some passages are graphic in description.
A heart-rending novel, due to the subject matter of a school shooting. This book has an unusual twist, however; the narrator is the shooter’s younger sister. The tough question is raised: What rights to a normal life do the family members of a murderer get to have after such a tragedy?
*Red Flags*
Frequent f-bombs; underage drinking
August 24, 2015
In her newest novel, Silent Alarm, Jennifer Banash explores the emotional topic of school shootings and their aftermaths from the point-of-view of the shooter's sister. Alys is a daughter, a musician, a best friend, and a girlfriend, but, after her brother opens fire on their school campus and then kills himself, Alys is only the sister of a murderer. Her parents, incapacitated by grief and guilt, retreat within themselves, leaving Alys to work through her complicated feelings and confusion by herself. Because Luke took his own life as well, the entire community, including Alys's best friend and boyfriend, blame Alys for not noticing her brother's dangerous downward spiral and preventing its culmination.
“'I'm sorry,' I say for what feels like the millionth time. I know, even as my mouth forms the words, that I will say them for the rest of my life. Forever. That there will never be a time when I am not, in some small way, apologizing for the damage my brother has wrought. Luke is dead too, like Katie, I know, but this makes no difference. My grief will always be less important.”
A large part of Alys's inner struggle centers around her inability to completely hate and revile her brother like the rest of the community does following the shooting. She is angry, hurt, and shocked, but she still loves him. Her final images of him, pointing the shotgun at her face, then turning and killing a girl nearby, doesn't match the brother she grew up with. The brother she rode to school with every morning, bickered with, and loved, even after he seemed to withdraw from their family and succumb to his dark moods, turning inward. Her confusion is pervasive, jumping off the page in an affecting way, forcing the reader to confront the difficult truth that Luke, despite her actions, is neither wholly good nor bad.
“The choir box is empty this morning, and I long for some kind of melody, the crash of the organ, the flight of angelic voices. My fingers twitch against the fabric of my dress and I close my eyes, remembering the Debussy, the Brahms lullaby I played each night before bed, my face pressed to the pad beneath my chin, arms cutting the air around me. The fact that Luke doesn't deserve music, the blissful lilt and salvation of it, make me, for some reason, saddest of all.”
Music is an important part of Alys's life, but, after the shooting, she separates herself from her violin and the solace it provides. Not only does Alys feel that she has lost that part of herself, she feels she no longer deserves to feel the joy it brings her. She questions whether she could have prevented her brother's actions - if only she had been less involved in her own life, if only she weren't so distracted by music while her brother suffered enough that he brought a gun to school and murdered their friends. She believes that, if her brother does not deserve music, she doesn't either. I especially loved Alys's conversations with her violin instructor, an older woman who has lived a long life filled with both love and loss. She is one of the very few characters in Silent Alarm who recognizes and acknowledges Alys's pain.
“It feels like I died with Luke, alongside all of those kids who looked up from gossiping in the quad, from the useless pages of their books in the library, to meet the barrel of my brother's gun, his face filled with hate. In a way, I died the moment Luke walked into that library, the moment we came face-to-face. Now I'm trapped in the land of the dead, a barren landscape, shards of bone cutting my feet, their voices a soft chatter, telling me to follow.”
Banash's decision to tell this story from Alys's point-of-view, rather than Luke's or a classmate's, was insightful. Alys provides the reader with a singular context through which to view the shooting because she is both a victim and a relative. It's unlikely that any other narrator would have the same struggle as Alys, whose two very different mental images of Luke - one as loving brother, one as murderer - are at war. Because of Alys's distinct voice and unique view of the situation and its aftermath, I was able to connect to Silent Alarm in a very real and powerful way.
Highly recommended.
“'I'm sorry,' I say for what feels like the millionth time. I know, even as my mouth forms the words, that I will say them for the rest of my life. Forever. That there will never be a time when I am not, in some small way, apologizing for the damage my brother has wrought. Luke is dead too, like Katie, I know, but this makes no difference. My grief will always be less important.”
A large part of Alys's inner struggle centers around her inability to completely hate and revile her brother like the rest of the community does following the shooting. She is angry, hurt, and shocked, but she still loves him. Her final images of him, pointing the shotgun at her face, then turning and killing a girl nearby, doesn't match the brother she grew up with. The brother she rode to school with every morning, bickered with, and loved, even after he seemed to withdraw from their family and succumb to his dark moods, turning inward. Her confusion is pervasive, jumping off the page in an affecting way, forcing the reader to confront the difficult truth that Luke, despite her actions, is neither wholly good nor bad.
“The choir box is empty this morning, and I long for some kind of melody, the crash of the organ, the flight of angelic voices. My fingers twitch against the fabric of my dress and I close my eyes, remembering the Debussy, the Brahms lullaby I played each night before bed, my face pressed to the pad beneath my chin, arms cutting the air around me. The fact that Luke doesn't deserve music, the blissful lilt and salvation of it, make me, for some reason, saddest of all.”
Music is an important part of Alys's life, but, after the shooting, she separates herself from her violin and the solace it provides. Not only does Alys feel that she has lost that part of herself, she feels she no longer deserves to feel the joy it brings her. She questions whether she could have prevented her brother's actions - if only she had been less involved in her own life, if only she weren't so distracted by music while her brother suffered enough that he brought a gun to school and murdered their friends. She believes that, if her brother does not deserve music, she doesn't either. I especially loved Alys's conversations with her violin instructor, an older woman who has lived a long life filled with both love and loss. She is one of the very few characters in Silent Alarm who recognizes and acknowledges Alys's pain.
“It feels like I died with Luke, alongside all of those kids who looked up from gossiping in the quad, from the useless pages of their books in the library, to meet the barrel of my brother's gun, his face filled with hate. In a way, I died the moment Luke walked into that library, the moment we came face-to-face. Now I'm trapped in the land of the dead, a barren landscape, shards of bone cutting my feet, their voices a soft chatter, telling me to follow.”
Banash's decision to tell this story from Alys's point-of-view, rather than Luke's or a classmate's, was insightful. Alys provides the reader with a singular context through which to view the shooting because she is both a victim and a relative. It's unlikely that any other narrator would have the same struggle as Alys, whose two very different mental images of Luke - one as loving brother, one as murderer - are at war. Because of Alys's distinct voice and unique view of the situation and its aftermath, I was able to connect to Silent Alarm in a very real and powerful way.
Highly recommended.
March 28, 2023
"You should have aimed higher, Luke. You should have.
But not with that gun."
Wow, this is a powerful book. A powerful story for all the wrong reasons.
School shootings. I hate them. As a mother, they honestly scare the crap out of me. And they just happen so often.....
But this story isn't from the shooter's perspective - it's the unique perspective of the aftermath of the family left behind by the shooter. They didn't know - "how did they miss it?" the world thinks. "What did they do to make him snap?" they wonder.
And in it all, no one's wrong. Sure, we all wish people would rise up - be more, do more. Forgive, just like the principal commands. But to forgive is such a huge leap - and these are kids and grieving parents.
This is a powerful story, one that is important to tell because we don't always remember the ripples that happen after a shooting - that sometimes they go back to the family themselves
But not with that gun."
Wow, this is a powerful book. A powerful story for all the wrong reasons.
School shootings. I hate them. As a mother, they honestly scare the crap out of me. And they just happen so often.....
But this story isn't from the shooter's perspective - it's the unique perspective of the aftermath of the family left behind by the shooter. They didn't know - "how did they miss it?" the world thinks. "What did they do to make him snap?" they wonder.
And in it all, no one's wrong. Sure, we all wish people would rise up - be more, do more. Forgive, just like the principal commands. But to forgive is such a huge leap - and these are kids and grieving parents.
This is a powerful story, one that is important to tell because we don't always remember the ripples that happen after a shooting - that sometimes they go back to the family themselves
November 17, 2015
I didn't know how this book was going to go. I'm very happy read it. I was taken away by the writing and the emotion. The thoughts from aly's are bone chilling accurate to what you would suspect to a victim/survivor and sister to a killer. This story grabs you from the first chapter and makes your soul discover sympathy where you hadn't thought possible.
Positives:
1)Emotional depth
2)Emotional roller coaster
3)Thought provoking
4)Well written
5)well developed characters
6)A protagonist to cheer for and feel connected to
7)moving plot
8)entertaining
9)Heartbreaking
10)realism is profound
Positives:
1)Emotional depth
2)Emotional roller coaster
3)Thought provoking
4)Well written
5)well developed characters
6)A protagonist to cheer for and feel connected to
7)moving plot
8)entertaining
9)Heartbreaking
10)realism is profound
April 7, 2015
4.5 stars
Wow. Just...wow.
Silent Alarm was such a gripping, powerful, and emotional book. It's going to take me a long time to recover from this one.
I tend to gravitate towards dark contemporaries like this, and Silent Alarm was exactly what I was hoping for. It's one of those Horrible Event books, but instead of focusing entirely on that Horrible Event itself, Banash decided to make the recovery process take center stage. And I loved that.
Even though I ended up DNFing it, that specific aspect and the tone of Silent Alarm actually made me think of The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand. I'm not sure how deep the parallel goes, because I only read 50 pages, but there are definitely some similarities in my opinion.
I also could really relate to one of the largest themes in Silent Alarm, of how, after tragedy strikes close to you, even if it's completely not your fault, it sticks with you. This is something I've experienced firsthand over the past year or so, after watching how people have reacted towards myself, but even more so my dad, in the wake of my Mom leaving him. Their separation has created an explosive reaction within the communities they're each a part of, and even now, a year later, the social ramifications it's had on him are still very much there.
The aftershock concept is just something that's not always discussed in YA, or even in books in general. Most of the time, if there's going to be some big climax, it will be towards the end of a book, and we will then only get a glimpse of the fallout. In Silent Alarm, the climax takes place in the prologue, and the fallout is the book itself. I loved this type of plot line, and very much enjoyed reading about what Alys' family went through after the shooting vs. what actually led up to it.
I also think that it just gives you this REALLY tangible example of how it is for the families of criminals and killers such as Luke. People often spend so much time worrying about and considering the feelings of the victims — as they well should! — and don't so much focus on how it's affecting that person's family, too. Both families have lost. But I think that many people consider the victims' families to have MORE of a loss, even if that's not technically true (although, really, how could you measure such a thing?).
And, god, the prose in this book was gorgeous. So many highlight-able lines. I wanted to take a bath in this book's prose. It was so sad, yet so beautiful.
I've never read anything by this author before this book, but I'm very very excited for more! There have been so many dark Contemporaries of this type come out in 2015 so far, but if you're going to pick and choose a few to read, Silent Alarm should definitely be on your list! It's definitely in my Top Five Dark Contemporaries of 2015 so far! This book is not to be missed.
Wow. Just...wow.
Silent Alarm was such a gripping, powerful, and emotional book. It's going to take me a long time to recover from this one.
I tend to gravitate towards dark contemporaries like this, and Silent Alarm was exactly what I was hoping for. It's one of those Horrible Event books, but instead of focusing entirely on that Horrible Event itself, Banash decided to make the recovery process take center stage. And I loved that.
Even though I ended up DNFing it, that specific aspect and the tone of Silent Alarm actually made me think of The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand. I'm not sure how deep the parallel goes, because I only read 50 pages, but there are definitely some similarities in my opinion.
"Of course, now after what Luke has done, people will say, Oh, the Aronsons. I always thought they were weird. But we weren't. We were just like you. Except we weren't. But we didn't know it yet.
But you knew it, Luke, didn't you?
Didn't you."
I also could really relate to one of the largest themes in Silent Alarm, of how, after tragedy strikes close to you, even if it's completely not your fault, it sticks with you. This is something I've experienced firsthand over the past year or so, after watching how people have reacted towards myself, but even more so my dad, in the wake of my Mom leaving him. Their separation has created an explosive reaction within the communities they're each a part of, and even now, a year later, the social ramifications it's had on him are still very much there.
The aftershock concept is just something that's not always discussed in YA, or even in books in general. Most of the time, if there's going to be some big climax, it will be towards the end of a book, and we will then only get a glimpse of the fallout. In Silent Alarm, the climax takes place in the prologue, and the fallout is the book itself. I loved this type of plot line, and very much enjoyed reading about what Alys' family went through after the shooting vs. what actually led up to it.
I also think that it just gives you this REALLY tangible example of how it is for the families of criminals and killers such as Luke. People often spend so much time worrying about and considering the feelings of the victims — as they well should! — and don't so much focus on how it's affecting that person's family, too. Both families have lost. But I think that many people consider the victims' families to have MORE of a loss, even if that's not technically true (although, really, how could you measure such a thing?).
"Don't we have the right," my father says, the words coming thick and forced from his lips,"to get on with our lives? Don't we, Alys?"
"I don't know," I whisper, dropping my eyes away. "I don't know if we have the right to do anything anymore."
And, god, the prose in this book was gorgeous. So many highlight-able lines. I wanted to take a bath in this book's prose. It was so sad, yet so beautiful.
I've never read anything by this author before this book, but I'm very very excited for more! There have been so many dark Contemporaries of this type come out in 2015 so far, but if you're going to pick and choose a few to read, Silent Alarm should definitely be on your list! It's definitely in my Top Five Dark Contemporaries of 2015 so far! This book is not to be missed.
March 30, 2015
A frank look at how a school shooting affected the shooters sister and parents. I wish they would have given a little more insight into Luke's motivation. They spoke of him having "moods" and being depressed but I wanted to know more. Maybe the author didn't share that since the family didn't have that information and she wanted the reader to feel that frustration.
March 17, 2023
This had potential but it was too romanticized that I could not get past the feeling in the first 2 chapters.
No way, no way, the assailant's sister is taking stuff out of the library he shot people in. No way.
No way, no way, kids are returning to that school building days later. The teachers the day after. Hello crime scene? How could they even clear the building?!?
I get that this is YA but it is not accurate at all to the gravity of a real situation like this which is surreal and unreal. I feel like it almost made light of it some. I also get that it is fiction BUT the total ignorance of an actual crime scene is one of those things I just can't look past in books (hello Perfect Marriage...)
2 stars though because it's still better than Verity.
No way, no way, the assailant's sister is taking stuff out of the library he shot people in. No way.
No way, no way, kids are returning to that school building days later. The teachers the day after. Hello crime scene? How could they even clear the building?!?
I get that this is YA but it is not accurate at all to the gravity of a real situation like this which is surreal and unreal. I feel like it almost made light of it some. I also get that it is fiction BUT the total ignorance of an actual crime scene is one of those things I just can't look past in books (hello Perfect Marriage...)
2 stars though because it's still better than Verity.
April 5, 2019
This is a book that will stick with me for a very long time. When tragedy strikes our hearts immediately go out to the victims and their families. We look at the perpetrator with rage and disgust. But what about the families of those who commit the most heinous crimes? What becomes of their lives? How should be feel about them? A must read!
March 16, 2015
Wow. What an emotional novel. Reading about a school shooting is gut wrenching itself, but reading about the shooters family's backlash and how it affected them... Banash did a wonderful job, in my opinion.
I could not imagine my sibling doing this. Alys not only lived through it, but she saw her brother in the act. In fact, she could have easily been one of the victims. Then to have to live everyday knowing that, knowing the people her own flesh and blood shot... Not that I have any experience, but I think the way Alys coped and lived afterward was very mature almost.
The situation with her parents was bound to happen, even before Luke took a shotgun to school. They were always arguing, never happy. Maybe that could have been a factor in Luke's decision. Maybe not.
I like how Banash didn't make excuses for Luke. The event happened. Nothing could have happened to change it. But the way Alys coped through it? That can be changed. It has stages and Alys had to figure out how to live again after her brothers actions.
Reading about it happening through Alys's eyes at the beginning of the novel was surreal. I had goosebumps and tears were building in my eyes.
Riley and Alys's friendship made me smile. They needed to lean on each other and hopefully when they both have moved on their friendship will last and they will stay in touch. Delilah and Ben are jerks. I can understand Ben's point of view because of his sister but Delilah has no excuse what so ever and she is just a terrible friend. Good riddance getting rid of her.
Seriously, this was an amazing novel, even though it is a terrible subject. I think Banash did an awesome job with this book and I will not be forgetting it any time soon.
I could not imagine my sibling doing this. Alys not only lived through it, but she saw her brother in the act. In fact, she could have easily been one of the victims. Then to have to live everyday knowing that, knowing the people her own flesh and blood shot... Not that I have any experience, but I think the way Alys coped and lived afterward was very mature almost.
The situation with her parents was bound to happen, even before Luke took a shotgun to school. They were always arguing, never happy. Maybe that could have been a factor in Luke's decision. Maybe not.
I like how Banash didn't make excuses for Luke. The event happened. Nothing could have happened to change it. But the way Alys coped through it? That can be changed. It has stages and Alys had to figure out how to live again after her brothers actions.
Reading about it happening through Alys's eyes at the beginning of the novel was surreal. I had goosebumps and tears were building in my eyes.
Riley and Alys's friendship made me smile. They needed to lean on each other and hopefully when they both have moved on their friendship will last and they will stay in touch. Delilah and Ben are jerks. I can understand Ben's point of view because of his sister but Delilah has no excuse what so ever and she is just a terrible friend. Good riddance getting rid of her.
Seriously, this was an amazing novel, even though it is a terrible subject. I think Banash did an awesome job with this book and I will not be forgetting it any time soon.
February 22, 2016
It's tough to say this was a fantastic book because of the horrific events that take place. However it is a fantastic book and once again, #Penguin, #PenguinTeen #GPPutnam #PutnamBooks and this author have brought yet another memorable and wonderful #book to my #2015Reading year! ~*Thank You*~ For the pleasure to have been able to read this book.
Due for publishing in March so I'll have a better review posted before then. However, right I do highly recommend it. Can't hide from reality and reading it from the perspective of the MC was a nice change for me. Again, the horrific topic aside, but it's done so tastefully, respectfully and what seems to me to be very true to what the reality of it all is.......Beautifully written!
Due for publishing in March so I'll have a better review posted before then. However, right I do highly recommend it. Can't hide from reality and reading it from the perspective of the MC was a nice change for me. Again, the horrific topic aside, but it's done so tastefully, respectfully and what seems to me to be very true to what the reality of it all is.......Beautifully written!
June 10, 2015
This book gripped me in so tightly that I started it around 8pm and here I am now, sad and touched by it at 2am.
June 2, 2017
Goodreads Synopsis:
Alys’s whole world was comprised of the history project that was due, her upcoming violin audition, being held tightly in the arms of her boyfriend, Ben, and laughing with her best friend, Delilah. At least it was—until she found herself on the wrong end of a shotgun in the school library. Her suburban high school had become one of those places you hear about on the news—a place where some disaffected youth decided to end it all and take as many of his teachers and classmates with him as he could. Except, in this story, that youth was Alys’s own brother, Luke. He killed fifteen others and himself, but spared her—though she’ll never know why.
Alys’s downward spiral begins instantly, and there seems to be no bottom. A heartbreaking and beautifully told story.
My Review:
I absolutely loved this book. I got it at chapters because I liked the cover and the description sounded like it would be interesting and way different than anything else I've read lately, and it sucked me into the story immediately. I don't regret buying it at all and am so glad I got to read it.
It's about this girl Alys, and her brother Luke, and their family's life after a school shooting. It's something you don't really want to think about because you hear it happening on the news but I was really interested in it for those reasons exactly. It starts off with Alys studying like any other day in the library. And just by being there, at the right place at the right time, her life is changed forever. She's haunted by what she saw and there's tons of flashbacks in the book. She just has to pick herself up and put herself back together, save herself.
The characters seem realistic and act their age, I didn't feel too old reading this book. It's so exciting and I really just couldn't put it down once I picked it up. I just kept saying, okay, one more chapter. And before I knew it, it was over. I'm so glad I read it though and I think you should check it out if you haven't yet.
Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)
Alys’s whole world was comprised of the history project that was due, her upcoming violin audition, being held tightly in the arms of her boyfriend, Ben, and laughing with her best friend, Delilah. At least it was—until she found herself on the wrong end of a shotgun in the school library. Her suburban high school had become one of those places you hear about on the news—a place where some disaffected youth decided to end it all and take as many of his teachers and classmates with him as he could. Except, in this story, that youth was Alys’s own brother, Luke. He killed fifteen others and himself, but spared her—though she’ll never know why.
Alys’s downward spiral begins instantly, and there seems to be no bottom. A heartbreaking and beautifully told story.
My Review:
I absolutely loved this book. I got it at chapters because I liked the cover and the description sounded like it would be interesting and way different than anything else I've read lately, and it sucked me into the story immediately. I don't regret buying it at all and am so glad I got to read it.
It's about this girl Alys, and her brother Luke, and their family's life after a school shooting. It's something you don't really want to think about because you hear it happening on the news but I was really interested in it for those reasons exactly. It starts off with Alys studying like any other day in the library. And just by being there, at the right place at the right time, her life is changed forever. She's haunted by what she saw and there's tons of flashbacks in the book. She just has to pick herself up and put herself back together, save herself.
The characters seem realistic and act their age, I didn't feel too old reading this book. It's so exciting and I really just couldn't put it down once I picked it up. I just kept saying, okay, one more chapter. And before I knew it, it was over. I'm so glad I read it though and I think you should check it out if you haven't yet.
Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)
February 1, 2024
Not really sure exactly what I was expecting but I was gripped in at the beginning. Then middle and end was a drag and I kept waiting for this huge break through that never came.
March 1, 2024
Heartbreaking, raw, and difficult to read at times.
August 8, 2017
3 stars.
The book started of really well, up until the end everything was so realistic and the whole situation and feelings of the characters felt real. However, but the end, after prom it felt like Banash was trying to wrap up the book within the next 20 or so pages. So the ending felt very rushed, and Banash definitely could have extended this story for another hundred pages. I feel overly satisfied with the end of the book, especially since the summary detailed her finding out the reason for her brother's mass murder.
The book started of really well, up until the end everything was so realistic and the whole situation and feelings of the characters felt real. However, but the end, after prom it felt like Banash was trying to wrap up the book within the next 20 or so pages. So the ending felt very rushed, and Banash definitely could have extended this story for another hundred pages. I feel overly satisfied with the end of the book, especially since the summary detailed her finding out the reason for her brother's mass murder.
December 16, 2015
Okay, here we go again. Silent Alarm is a book imagining the sufferings of a small town that has suffered through a terrible school shooting. Oh, and Alys (the narrator and our heroine) just happens to be the shooter's sister. It's an absolute disaster for her and her family, and Alys is basically alienated and seen as a suspicious character. Everyone thinks that she is going to snap just like her brother has, and they blame her in the place of him. Obviously, school shootings isn't a very easy topic to read about, and we could start pratting on a bunch of actions we should take to prevent these very situations and I'm thankful that the author doesn't go into politics, just the emotions and the feelings and the backlash.
(We all know how crazy politics is. Slow, distilled inaction. The Congressional secret to eternal youth. At least, that's according to Stephen Colbert.)
The plot is a bit non-action. More feelings, less "running around and saving the world." Alys dodges her neighbors and former friends as she is always known as "that shooter's sister." Her family is breaking apart, and Alys is going crazy. But she finds refuge in Luke's friend, who is also being forced as an outsider. (Remember? "Shooter's best friend.")
I must point out the writing. It's very poetic, and the language is exactly like music. (It actually isn't that surprising when you consider that Alys is a musician who wants to go to a very prestigious music program.)
Alys herself, as said before, is going crazy. She is seeing things, and she is a slightly unreliable narrator. The question of why her brother decided to shoot people in his own school plagues her very much, and no matter which way she looks, she can't seem to obtain an answer. (And the answer isn't very obvious, and I kind of disagree with the author, but that's not the point here.)
The ending is a bit anticlimactic, and I find myself wishing the ending ends a bit differently. But oh, well. It goes where it goes. At least, Alys gets a bittersweet happy ending. For now.
Overall, Silent Alarm is definitely not for those who really don't want to be reminded of school shootings (or any kind of shootings, in fact). But it is a definitely curious story with a very calm yet also intensive plot and pretty writing.
Rating: Three out of Five
-ofpaperandwords.blogspot.com
(We all know how crazy politics is. Slow, distilled inaction. The Congressional secret to eternal youth. At least, that's according to Stephen Colbert.)
The plot is a bit non-action. More feelings, less "running around and saving the world." Alys dodges her neighbors and former friends as she is always known as "that shooter's sister." Her family is breaking apart, and Alys is going crazy. But she finds refuge in Luke's friend, who is also being forced as an outsider. (Remember? "Shooter's best friend.")
I must point out the writing. It's very poetic, and the language is exactly like music. (It actually isn't that surprising when you consider that Alys is a musician who wants to go to a very prestigious music program.)
Alys herself, as said before, is going crazy. She is seeing things, and she is a slightly unreliable narrator. The question of why her brother decided to shoot people in his own school plagues her very much, and no matter which way she looks, she can't seem to obtain an answer. (And the answer isn't very obvious, and I kind of disagree with the author, but that's not the point here.)
The ending is a bit anticlimactic, and I find myself wishing the ending ends a bit differently. But oh, well. It goes where it goes. At least, Alys gets a bittersweet happy ending. For now.
Overall, Silent Alarm is definitely not for those who really don't want to be reminded of school shootings (or any kind of shootings, in fact). But it is a definitely curious story with a very calm yet also intensive plot and pretty writing.
Rating: Three out of Five
-ofpaperandwords.blogspot.com
May 4, 2015
Alys Aronson's life is forever changed when her brother, Luke, shoots and kills fifteen people.
Alys was in the library when the gunshots started and though she'll never know why, her brother did decide to spare her that day. But in the aftermath of that terrible tragedy, and even though Luke took his own life the day of the shooting, Alys and her family become the focus of the town's frustration and misery. What's worse, Alys will never be able to understand why her brother did what he did that horrible morning.
Silent Alarm was a tough read. Jennifer Banash forces the reader to take a step back and consider the immediate families of the perpetrators of these incidents. It's a hard thing to consider - that even when the killer is gone the family themselves, while also grieving, are not only the focus of investigations but public scrutiny and contempt as well. And reconciling the emotions attached to the loss of loved ones and the anger against the person responsible without also including the immediate family is understandably hard for anyone in these events. Were they in any way responsible? What did they know? Could they have prevented the whole thing?
In this situation, there seem to be no real extenuating circumstances: Alys and Luke's parents are normal parents and their family an average one. Alys admits that they'd all seen a change in Luke, but nothing that would obviously point to such a tragic end. In fact, the harder she tries to look for an explanation the more out of reach it seems to become. Even worse, Alys feels guilty for grieving the loss of her brother - the brother who was always there for her, helping and supporting her for over a decade. The brother who murdered her classmates. That this person is one and the same is almost impossible for Alys to comprehend.
The subject of Silent Alarm isn't an easy one to approach - either for a reader or, I believe, for a writer, but I though Banash did a great job. She humanizes the family and the killer. She makes the reader consider the way mass shootings affect everyone. And she forces you to consider that at least sometimes there is no explanation, that sometimes there is no one to blame once the killer is gone, and that in those cases the killer's family are also victims.
Alys was in the library when the gunshots started and though she'll never know why, her brother did decide to spare her that day. But in the aftermath of that terrible tragedy, and even though Luke took his own life the day of the shooting, Alys and her family become the focus of the town's frustration and misery. What's worse, Alys will never be able to understand why her brother did what he did that horrible morning.
Silent Alarm was a tough read. Jennifer Banash forces the reader to take a step back and consider the immediate families of the perpetrators of these incidents. It's a hard thing to consider - that even when the killer is gone the family themselves, while also grieving, are not only the focus of investigations but public scrutiny and contempt as well. And reconciling the emotions attached to the loss of loved ones and the anger against the person responsible without also including the immediate family is understandably hard for anyone in these events. Were they in any way responsible? What did they know? Could they have prevented the whole thing?
In this situation, there seem to be no real extenuating circumstances: Alys and Luke's parents are normal parents and their family an average one. Alys admits that they'd all seen a change in Luke, but nothing that would obviously point to such a tragic end. In fact, the harder she tries to look for an explanation the more out of reach it seems to become. Even worse, Alys feels guilty for grieving the loss of her brother - the brother who was always there for her, helping and supporting her for over a decade. The brother who murdered her classmates. That this person is one and the same is almost impossible for Alys to comprehend.
The subject of Silent Alarm isn't an easy one to approach - either for a reader or, I believe, for a writer, but I though Banash did a great job. She humanizes the family and the killer. She makes the reader consider the way mass shootings affect everyone. And she forces you to consider that at least sometimes there is no explanation, that sometimes there is no one to blame once the killer is gone, and that in those cases the killer's family are also victims.
July 8, 2017
Grade: C+
Shots are fired in a high school. Alys stares down the barrel of a gun, realizing the shoes of the gunman belong to her brother, Luke. Though he spares her life, he kills fifteen before ending his own life. Instantly, Alys and her family become pariahs. Her boyfriend drops her as does her lifelong best friend. And she's hallucinating Luke and one of his victims, whose death she witnessed.
Jennifer Banash's gorgeous prose set the scenes for plots and subplots in a ways that brought me right into the setting, like an invisible observer. I love first person POVs, but in this case the writing didn't feel like the words of a seventeen-year-old narrating the story so for me there was a disconnect. In some cases, like the beginning where the active shooting was taking place, I felt a lack of tension where I should have heard the sounds of my heart beating. As beautiful as Banash's writing, at times it didn't match the story.
Alys was a great heroine, suffering due to her brother's actions, yet not a victim. I felt her pain when her friends abandoned her, yet on some level could understand the minor characters punishing her because they couldn't rage at Luke. I'm shocked that nobody suggested the family seek therapy and that her parents didn't insisted on Alys, a witness to some of the carnage, at least talk to someone.
As Alys searched for answers, as we all do after inexplicable shootings, the more she learned, the less she understood. I appreciated the way her hallucinations were a tool for trying to make sense of the senseless, and how her guilt manifested in the victims' words in her mind.
The ending felt clichéd, rushed, not holding up to the rest of the story. I expected a degree of unresolution, because a shooting can't be figured out in a few short months, and the pain and memories would last a lifetime, but I still felt let down.
THEMES: family, friendship, violence, siblings, dating
SILENT ALARM is a flawed, well written, compelling story.
Shots are fired in a high school. Alys stares down the barrel of a gun, realizing the shoes of the gunman belong to her brother, Luke. Though he spares her life, he kills fifteen before ending his own life. Instantly, Alys and her family become pariahs. Her boyfriend drops her as does her lifelong best friend. And she's hallucinating Luke and one of his victims, whose death she witnessed.
Jennifer Banash's gorgeous prose set the scenes for plots and subplots in a ways that brought me right into the setting, like an invisible observer. I love first person POVs, but in this case the writing didn't feel like the words of a seventeen-year-old narrating the story so for me there was a disconnect. In some cases, like the beginning where the active shooting was taking place, I felt a lack of tension where I should have heard the sounds of my heart beating. As beautiful as Banash's writing, at times it didn't match the story.
Alys was a great heroine, suffering due to her brother's actions, yet not a victim. I felt her pain when her friends abandoned her, yet on some level could understand the minor characters punishing her because they couldn't rage at Luke. I'm shocked that nobody suggested the family seek therapy and that her parents didn't insisted on Alys, a witness to some of the carnage, at least talk to someone.
As Alys searched for answers, as we all do after inexplicable shootings, the more she learned, the less she understood. I appreciated the way her hallucinations were a tool for trying to make sense of the senseless, and how her guilt manifested in the victims' words in her mind.
The ending felt clichéd, rushed, not holding up to the rest of the story. I expected a degree of unresolution, because a shooting can't be figured out in a few short months, and the pain and memories would last a lifetime, but I still felt let down.
THEMES: family, friendship, violence, siblings, dating
SILENT ALARM is a flawed, well written, compelling story.
October 14, 2016
Book Review of Jennifer Banash’s Silent Alarm
In Silent Alarm, Jennifer Banash tells the story of Alys Aronson, a 17-year-old girl who tries to navigate her world after her brother Luke shot 15 people dead in a school library. The town wants answers on why Luke would do this, but Alys knows that her own brother wouldn't even do such a violent act like this. Alys now looks for answers on what caused Luke to do this and discovers the hidden side of Luke, which questions the very identity of herself.
The author did a very good job of painting the plot and the characters.
And the way she describes their character’s thoughts and every emotional moment of Alys life after the shooting makes it very similar to a situation that would unfold after a mass shooting in today's world. Though Jennifer Banash didn't do so great with the ending. It would've been better with an epilogue explaining what life is like now, and how it was different from the previous months before. Though she kind of did something like that at the end, but it wasn't an actual event, it was just the protagonist’s thoughts.
I think Jennifer Banash’s purpose of writing this kind of book is to convey the message of school shootings and how it would affect the town and various families. It also promotes the issue on firearms and their use and regulations, suicide, and random acts of violence. Some recurring messages throughout the story are relationships, tragedy, loss, and so on. I would recommend this book to a person who loves books with great plot twists and a great overall plot.
In Silent Alarm, Jennifer Banash tells the story of Alys Aronson, a 17-year-old girl who tries to navigate her world after her brother Luke shot 15 people dead in a school library. The town wants answers on why Luke would do this, but Alys knows that her own brother wouldn't even do such a violent act like this. Alys now looks for answers on what caused Luke to do this and discovers the hidden side of Luke, which questions the very identity of herself.
The author did a very good job of painting the plot and the characters.
And the way she describes their character’s thoughts and every emotional moment of Alys life after the shooting makes it very similar to a situation that would unfold after a mass shooting in today's world. Though Jennifer Banash didn't do so great with the ending. It would've been better with an epilogue explaining what life is like now, and how it was different from the previous months before. Though she kind of did something like that at the end, but it wasn't an actual event, it was just the protagonist’s thoughts.
I think Jennifer Banash’s purpose of writing this kind of book is to convey the message of school shootings and how it would affect the town and various families. It also promotes the issue on firearms and their use and regulations, suicide, and random acts of violence. Some recurring messages throughout the story are relationships, tragedy, loss, and so on. I would recommend this book to a person who loves books with great plot twists and a great overall plot.
April 14, 2015
Read more at Bookiemoji
Silent Alarm is a novel for our time. A time when children are given the opportunity to decide whether or not their peers are worthy to live. A time when not only are earthquake or tornado drills a norm in our schools, but now students are routinely practicing lock-downs (even in elementary school settings) so that each child is prepared for the “worst case scenario”. This is not a situation any parent ever wants to imagine their children being in – on either side of the weapon.
Silent Alarm presents to readers a school shooting situation where the main character is the “villain’s” sister. Alys is a character who reminds me very much of Mia from If I Stay. She is a violin prodigy finishing her final years of high school. The book reads from her point of view – from the opening pages in the library, where she is confronted with a school shooter who just-so-happens to be her brother, Luke, to the aftermath, where she and her family are the target of the media and the finger-pointers/blame-seekers in their town. We watch as she loses sight of her role in her brother’s shooting and in her dreams for the future. Instead, her life has stopped at precisely the moment her brother put a gun to her head and didn’t pull the trigger.
Read more at Bookiemoji
Silent Alarm is a novel for our time. A time when children are given the opportunity to decide whether or not their peers are worthy to live. A time when not only are earthquake or tornado drills a norm in our schools, but now students are routinely practicing lock-downs (even in elementary school settings) so that each child is prepared for the “worst case scenario”. This is not a situation any parent ever wants to imagine their children being in – on either side of the weapon.
Silent Alarm presents to readers a school shooting situation where the main character is the “villain’s” sister. Alys is a character who reminds me very much of Mia from If I Stay. She is a violin prodigy finishing her final years of high school. The book reads from her point of view – from the opening pages in the library, where she is confronted with a school shooter who just-so-happens to be her brother, Luke, to the aftermath, where she and her family are the target of the media and the finger-pointers/blame-seekers in their town. We watch as she loses sight of her role in her brother’s shooting and in her dreams for the future. Instead, her life has stopped at precisely the moment her brother put a gun to her head and didn’t pull the trigger.
Read more at Bookiemoji
July 12, 2016
Yet another book about a mass school shooting, except this one is written from the perspective of the shooter's sister. Alys must cope with her brother's decision to kill 15 people at his high school before turning the gun on himself. Alys and her parents are not only grieving over the loss of Luke, but also the ramifications of his decision. They become the targets for people's anger and hurt. I enjoyed this perspective, but I found the continual "woe-is-me" a bit annoying. It would still be a fine book to recommend for more advanced adolescent readers. I'll be adding it to my classroom library.
July 23, 2015
4.5
I cried three times while reading this in one sitting. Not racking sobs, just a few tears at odd intervals, so this book got to me and I loved it.
My only complaint for the novel would be that there wasn't a motive for what Luke did—and maybe the author intended that, it would make sense (how do you find out the motives of a dead guy, right?). But it would've been nice.
Otherwise, this was a wonderfully written novel, heartbreaking and powerful.
I cried three times while reading this in one sitting. Not racking sobs, just a few tears at odd intervals, so this book got to me and I loved it.
My only complaint for the novel would be that there wasn't a motive for what Luke did—and maybe the author intended that, it would make sense (how do you find out the motives of a dead guy, right?). But it would've been nice.
Otherwise, this was a wonderfully written novel, heartbreaking and powerful.
March 15, 2015
Haunting, but beautiful.
May 4, 2015
Heartbreaking. A look at the other side of tragedy.
May 26, 2015
I would have liked the author to include more about Luke's motivation behind the shooting. I felt something was missing from the novel, but I liked it. It was a quick read.
October 27, 2015
This book will HAUNT you, will impact you so deeply...
July 9, 2017
Where do I start? I just finished this book less then five minutes ago and I am still crying. I haven't cried this much while reading a book since I read All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven.
This follows the story of a seventeen year old girl named Alys, one day her brother walked into her school and shot everyone in sight then turned the gun on himself. But when he ran into his sister on this killing spree, he spared her life.
Just from reading the synopsis you can tell that this will be a sad book, and it was extremely sad. Never in my life had a book made me cry in the first ten pages of it, it wasn't even the first chapter yet! I was still o the prologue when I just broke down in tears.
Sibling relationships is always something that really gets to me when I read books, I have a sister who is two years younger then me and an older brother, both who I am extremely close to. So add that factor to an already touchy subject filled book, it was all tears.
And by all tears, I mean all tears. Reading this book was just an endless, continuous cry. By the last chapter I was literally hyperventilating. This book isn't even 300 pages yet it packs so much emotion into it.
Jennifer Banash has a beautiful writing style and her descriptions of already touching scenes just pushed me to the edge.
I also loved the growing relationship between Riley and Alys. I really liked the conversations he and Ayls shared, he brought a sense of homour out of her that I did not know she had because she's grieving so much throughout this book.
All that's left to say is:
damn you Jennifer Banash for writing such a good book that absolutely ripped my heart out.
This follows the story of a seventeen year old girl named Alys, one day her brother walked into her school and shot everyone in sight then turned the gun on himself. But when he ran into his sister on this killing spree, he spared her life.
Just from reading the synopsis you can tell that this will be a sad book, and it was extremely sad. Never in my life had a book made me cry in the first ten pages of it, it wasn't even the first chapter yet! I was still o the prologue when I just broke down in tears.
Sibling relationships is always something that really gets to me when I read books, I have a sister who is two years younger then me and an older brother, both who I am extremely close to. So add that factor to an already touchy subject filled book, it was all tears.
And by all tears, I mean all tears. Reading this book was just an endless, continuous cry. By the last chapter I was literally hyperventilating. This book isn't even 300 pages yet it packs so much emotion into it.
Jennifer Banash has a beautiful writing style and her descriptions of already touching scenes just pushed me to the edge.
I also loved the growing relationship between Riley and Alys. I really liked the conversations he and Ayls shared, he brought a sense of homour out of her that I did not know she had because she's grieving so much throughout this book.
All that's left to say is:
damn you Jennifer Banash for writing such a good book that absolutely ripped my heart out.
April 17, 2022
I checked this book out from the library because the POV (sister of a school shooter after the shooting) was unique.
Turns out, the story would have been far more interesting told from the POV of just about any other character in the book. Actually, it would have been great to split the narrative into multiple perspectives, because the protagonist Alys is a very flat portrayal of a high school girl.
The writing is a mixture of beautiful descriptions, a thousand teenager cliches, and a confusing, out of place peppering of the supernatural. (Writers—STOP TRYING TO MICRO-DOSE REALISM WITH THE SUPERNATURAL. It rarely ever works.) Every single conflict in the book could be seen from a mile away.
The pacing of this story was tortuous, with the author clueing us into every single thought and feeling Alys has after her brother kills 15 people and then shoots himself. The shooting happens in the PROLOGUE, and it is by far the most intense, fascinating part of the story. The remaining 293 pages are all falling action. I appreciate that Jennifer Banash was trying to focus on the aftermath of such an egregious crime, but she failed to create anything interesting or eye-opening about what the family of a mass shooter might experience after the shooting. About 100 pages could be cut out of this novel (including every time a dead Luke suddenly returns to the physical world to haunt Alys with the “rotten flowers and struck match” smell, so RIDICULOUS) and nothing would be lost. Maybe this book should have been verse instead of prose. I scanned the last 80 pages because I couldn’t bear the redundancy anymore.
Turns out, the story would have been far more interesting told from the POV of just about any other character in the book. Actually, it would have been great to split the narrative into multiple perspectives, because the protagonist Alys is a very flat portrayal of a high school girl.
The writing is a mixture of beautiful descriptions, a thousand teenager cliches, and a confusing, out of place peppering of the supernatural. (Writers—STOP TRYING TO MICRO-DOSE REALISM WITH THE SUPERNATURAL. It rarely ever works.) Every single conflict in the book could be seen from a mile away.
The pacing of this story was tortuous, with the author clueing us into every single thought and feeling Alys has after her brother kills 15 people and then shoots himself. The shooting happens in the PROLOGUE, and it is by far the most intense, fascinating part of the story. The remaining 293 pages are all falling action. I appreciate that Jennifer Banash was trying to focus on the aftermath of such an egregious crime, but she failed to create anything interesting or eye-opening about what the family of a mass shooter might experience after the shooting. About 100 pages could be cut out of this novel (including every time a dead Luke suddenly returns to the physical world to haunt Alys with the “rotten flowers and struck match” smell, so RIDICULOUS) and nothing would be lost. Maybe this book should have been verse instead of prose. I scanned the last 80 pages because I couldn’t bear the redundancy anymore.
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