Initially, Exile in the Kingdom was difficult to start. Phillip is apathetic toward everything: the death of his stepfather, that his mother is never home and only leaves vegetarian dinners in the freezer, his girlfriend, the fact that he brought a gun to school to impress his classmates and it's still sitting in his locker.
Phillip does like basketball and has close relationships with a few friends, but even those things make him seem indifferent. The only thing that seems to sink in is that his dog doesn't have arthritis in her hips -- instead, she'll have to be put down while he's at school on Monday. But when his principal and two policemen approach him for a confrontation, Phillip pulls out the AK-47 and starts shooting.
The book started to pick up after Philip is taken to the police station and begins to await his sentencing. Robert Harnum takes us through his initial arrival to the closing statements of the sentencing to the jury's verdict. It's hard to say what sentence I would vote for in Phillip's (or any other school shooter's) case, but this book, published in French long before an American publisher dared to take the chance with it, certainly made me think about how grateful I am that, unlike Phillip and his indifference to everything, I do care.
Phillip does like basketball and has close relationships with a few friends, but even those things make him seem indifferent. The only thing that seems to sink in is that his dog doesn't have arthritis in her hips -- instead, she'll have to be put down while he's at school on Monday. But when his principal and two policemen approach him for a confrontation, Phillip pulls out the AK-47 and starts shooting.
The book started to pick up after Philip is taken to the police station and begins to await his sentencing. Robert Harnum takes us through his initial arrival to the closing statements of the sentencing to the jury's verdict. It's hard to say what sentence I would vote for in Phillip's (or any other school shooter's) case, but this book, published in French long before an American publisher dared to take the chance with it, certainly made me think about how grateful I am that, unlike Phillip and his indifference to everything, I do care.
