Rating: Summary: Amazing read! Review: I thought I had this book all summed up by the cover and title. Oh no, I thought, here we go again with another book about teens doing whatever it takes to fit in and becoming popular. But this book is quite different. Ms. Flinn does something else with these characters, that made it very difficult to put this book down. This book was an excellent read and should not be missed.
Rating: Summary: A Powerful Read Review: I've read several young adult novels that deal with school violence and this is really the first one that I feel truly delves into the mind of one of the perpetrators in a realistic way. Paul Richmond could be someone we know, he could be us. Flinn has the courage to remind us that violence doesn't happen in a vacuum, that all of us have a Breaking Point and that many times, our smaller cruelties may be pushing someone else to their Breaking Point. As we follow Paul through his downward spiral we are forced to look at these issues in our own homes and classrooms and wonder, who we know, who is at the edge, who is ready to break. This is a must read for kids and for teachers, too.
Rating: Summary: Teen Anarchy Review: The book Breaking Point is a book for those who love the exciting lives of teenagers. It is about a boy, Paul Richmond, who is new to a school where he doesn't fit in. He sees the "popular" kid Charlie Good and wants to be just like him. Charlie is a tennis player at Gate and is well liked by everyone. Charlie and his friends see Paul and decided to allow him to hang out with them. Now, Paul is a "cool" kid who treats his mom really badly. His life at home is terrible and is falling apart. Suddenly, stealing, cheating, drugs, and drinking aren't enough for Paul. Charlie and his friends find out Paul is good with computers and use this to their advantage. Will Paul go to the edge to fit in?
Rating: Summary: Breaking Point Review: The book Breaking Point is on a boy named Paul Richmond who is a loser that switches schools a lot. He attends Gate Highschool, which is a rich school. His mother works there so he gets in free. During the story he becomes friends with the most popular guy in school. He doesnt know that his friend is going to use him to plant a bomb that will blow away the whole school!I liked this book a lot overall becuause it had a very good way of making me keep on reading. there were many exciting parts throughout the book also. I would recommend this book to teenagers mostly. Boys or girls will enjoy this book a lot on teen anarchy. It was great. ~Chara, straight up from Compton
Rating: Summary: Chilling Review: The son of an ambitous military man, Paul Richmond never had a chance to develop friendships or put down roots. When his parents divorce, Paul and his devastated mother move yet again, this time to a run down apartment complex in Miami. The only things Paul's mom takes with her is a collection of "Royal Doulton figurines and me-the junk Dad hadn't wanted." Homeschooling isn't an option anymore. Paul must attend the private, elite school where his mom works as a secretary. Still stinging from his father's rejection, he tries to fit into a school where flagrant affluence is a constant reminder of what he doesn't have. And being the new geek in school, he becomes a target for abuse. What would you do for acceptance? Enter Charlie Good, big man on campus, who takes Paul under his wing. The small favors Charlie asks of Paul are well-worth what is given in return, but as the story unfolds, the reader sees what Paul doesn't want to see. That Charlie Good is a master manipulator, willing to go to any length to get what he wants. A chilling, realistic story. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: From a reader Review: This book was a book that made people see a different way of life. Not everybody has an easy life. This book tell you about making choices, right or wrong. Im not going to tell you the book you have to figure that out for your self. This is a good book.For teens and adults. Read it!
Rating: Summary: Well-written and provocative, but not necessarily enjoyable Review: This book was well-written and provocative. The characters were realistic, ranging from the principal who cares only about his job and not at all about the students, the divorced parents who are too wrapped up in their own needs and desires to take care of their child, the hangers-on who wouldn't quite be popular on their own, the brainy intellectual who is too smart to fit in. The book also succeeded well at answering the question of why someone would reach the breaking point ' why would a high school student be willing to plant a bomb, bring a gun to school, terrorize their classmates. However, I wouldn't necessarily say that I enjoyed the book. I was fascinated by it, couldn't put it down, and have thought about it a lot since then. But I don't think I enjoyed it. There were many reasons I didn't enjoy it. The first is that many people in this book did truly horrible things that they just got away with. And the few really nice people in the book (Mr. and Mrs. Blanco and Binky come to mind) got nothing but pain and anguish. The big reason, though, that I didn't enjoy the book was that I never really liked the main character. I pitied him, and I understood why he made the (truly bad) decisions he made. However, I never liked him. He was too desperate for love, too willing to do whatever it took to be popular. Unlike Nick, in Flinn's novel Breathing Underwater, who grew stronger with more insight through the story, Paul grew weaker and lost any insight that he had. I suspect this character may have had some good points, but they were never really well-developed. After Columbine, I had vague hopes that perhaps people would realize the dangers of marginalizing people who were a little different. Instead, it seemed to give people more justification for excluding them, the idea somehow being that it was being a little different and not years of rejection that led to the violence. I fear, that by making Nick pitiable and awkward, but not especially likable, Flinn has further encouraged ostracism of the different.
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