A Mother's Reckoning

Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy

De: Sue Klebold, Andrew Solomon - introduction

Narrado por: Sue Klebold

The acclaimed New York Times bestseller by Sue Klebold, mother of one of the Columbine shooters, about living in the aftermath of Columbine.

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Over the course of minutes, they would kill twelve students and a teacher and wound twenty-four others before taking their own lives.

For the last sixteen years, Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, has lived with the indescribable grief and shame of that day. How could her child, the promising young man she had loved and raised, be responsible for such horror? And how, as his mother, had she not known something was wrong? Were there subtle signs she had missed? What, if anything, could she have done differently?

These are questions that Klebold has grappled with every day since the Columbine tragedy. In A Mother’s Reckoning, she chronicles with unflinching honesty her journey as a mother trying to come to terms with the incomprehensible. In the hope that the insights and understanding she has gained may help other families recognize when a child is in distress, she tells her story in full, drawing upon her personal journals, the videos and writings that Dylan left behind, and on countless interviews with mental health experts.

Filled with hard-won wisdom and compassion, A Mother’s Reckoning is a powerful and haunting book that sheds light on one of the most pressing issues of our time. And with fresh wounds from the Newtown and Charleston shootings, never has the need for understanding been more urgent.

Includes a PDF of acknowledgments and resources from the book.

All author profits from the book will be donated to research and to charitable organizations focusing on mental health issues.

— Washington Post, Best Memoirs of 2016

Reseñas de la Crítica

“…[U]nimaginably detailed, raw, minute-by-minute, illuminating, and just plain gripping. It's also the most extraordinary testament--to honesty, love, pain, doubt, and resilience.… This book is nothing less than a public service. I beseech you to read it.”
– Bruce Feiller

“As people read Sue’s memoir, what they will find is that her book is honest, and her pain genuine. Her story may be uncomfortable to read, but it will raise awareness about brain health and the importance of early identification and intervention to maintain it. If people listen to her – to all that she has experienced, and to how this has changed her – they will be quicker to respond to depression in young people, to the suicidal thinking that can accompany it, and to the rage that can build almost unnoticed in young people when the people who truly and completely love and care for them are distracted by other challenges in life.”
—Paul Gionfriddo, President and CEO of Mental Health America

“Required reading for all parents of adolescents...soul-piercingly honest, written with bravery and intelligence... A book of nobility and importance.” –The Times

“Reading this book as a critic is hard; reading it as a parent is devastating….I imagine snippets of my own young children in Dylan Klebold, shades of my parenting in Sue and Tom. I suspect that many families will find their own parallels….This book’s insights are painful and necessary and its contradictions inevitable.”
—Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post

“[Sue Klebold’s book] reads as if she had written it under oath, while trying to answer, honestly and completely, an urgent question: What could a parent have done to prevent this tragedy?…
She earns our pity, our empathy and, often, our admiration; and yet the book’s ultimate purpose is to serve as a cautionary tale, not an exoneration.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“[T]he parenting book everyone should read.”
—Parents.com

“I believe Sue Klebold. So will you.”
—LA Times

“At times her story is so chilling you want to turn away, but Klebold’s compassion and honesty –and realization that parents and institutions must work to discover kids’ hidden suffering-will keep you riveted.”
—People.com

“This book which can be tough to read in places is an important one. It helps us arrive at a new understanding of how Columbine happened and, in the process, may help avert other tragedies.” Rated: A.
—Entertainment Weekly

Courageous. Real. Laced with love.

This is a must read! I found myself speechless and emotionless yet filled with sorrow. Sue Klebold is brave, selfless and honest in her writing.

A great read for all parents.

I so appreciate Ms. Klebold's willingness to share her own family's painful journey toward helping others to gain a better understanding of issues to watch for with teenagers and ways of dealing with family members with brain illnesses and emotional difficulties.

A must read!

If you are a parent, listen to Sue Klebold. She has wisdom you need. Her tragically won insights can save your child.

Tragic story, heartbreaking voice.

The writing is excellent. Her honesty and sorrow are real. What breaks through slowly as the narrative develops is how little she knew her son, at least his illness and isolation, how she was, as she often cited, blind to his misery. Because she concedes to this and we see the events unfold it is even more upsetting and terribly tragic for her, a debilitating self-awareness she has to endure every day. Too many negative elements fell into place in the story of Columbine, sort of like a perfect storm. I admire her for giving us access to their world and I'm glad she is involving herself in trying to do right in suicide and mental health awareness.

I read the book via Audible and that had a unique almost confessional effect. I would recommend Audible over text or both because her voice is sorrowful and raw without being sentimental or overly emotional. She is as solid a reader as she is a writer.

Mixed feelings

I still have so many questions. The book was well written, and well read. But I feel as though as much as she has a right to express her feelings, and I know she has many, I did t feel the sadness, grief, and sorrow for those that were killed. It was good to hear her version of what she felt her home life was like, and although I’m sure as parents, we want to think we know, I still have so many questions. I feel for her and the loss of her son, as any other parent should. But my gosh, the students! Those killed, and those injured. I’d never place blame not being in this situation, and again, she has every right to express her side of the story as well as her feelings, but it lacked something to me. I’d recommend however as I believe that we as parents can learn a lot from this-what we THINK is going on in our homes vs what is REALLY going on can be so different. Ad much as she shares her grief, I’m glad she’s found an outlet by helping others.

Thought provoking

An eye opening account to the trauma and brain health awareness relating to the story.

wowowow

so emotional. an incredible perspective. what a strong women. i can honestly say this was a great read.

I can't imagine and I refuse to judge.

I can't begin to imagine the pain the victims, their families and friends, the school, the town, the state or Dyland's family experienced and will always live with. There is so much in this story I never knew and obviously much I will never know. The one thing I am confident of is that every moment of every day is filled with a chance to make choices as a parent. Sometimes, our best intentions aren't enough and sometimes we react too quickly. Regardless, I believe most do the best they can with the knowledge they have. Those who judge should challenge themselves to chanel that energy into actively working to become part of the solution. When you judge others for their action or inaction, you are also inappropriately excusing yourself from any responsibility. The choice to avoid eye contact, write off the teenager who is often in the principal's office as well as condoning your own child's bullying behavior; makes you part of the problem. Yet, it's easy for others to judge the Klebold's because the crime was so horrific. Those who judge don't want to recognize their role in encouraging violence because of their own everyday choices. Too many who live in glass houses and are willing to throw the first stone.

excellent, touching, truly a lesson on empathy

If you could sum up A Mother's Reckoning in three words, what would they be?

the cyclone of emotions that a mother faced after her son's more than tragic death by suicide and participation in a mass shooting; a very lucid lesson on self-assessment, forgiveness, motherhood/parenthood.

Compelling and thought provoking ...

The unthinkable becomes a reality for one mother and, ultimately, society. This story details the very human side of one of the Columbine School shooters from the perspective of his loving, unsuspecting mother (parents). A story of life and death, good vs evil. Read by the author, it's filled with heartbreaking honesty and her hope for changes that would assure such tragedies never occur again.