We Can Be Heroes

THIS IS GOING TO BREAK YOU

I’m out of words to describe my feelings for this book. I’ve already talked about it on literally all my social media platforms because 300 reviews on Goodreads? Unacceptable. We need everyone to read this book. It should be read in schools, it should have a million readers audience and people should talk about it in podcasts and YouTube videos.
If I could I would print it out and take every single page to my walls. I have no idea what kind of genius McCauley is but honestly they deserve the world. I don’t want to hear another word about SJM or JLA when we have talents like this on the horizon.
Okay, let’s just get into the actual review before I keep up ranting.

Everything from the different povs to the podcast parts was pure perfection. I loved that we got to hear Cassie’s story from herself as ghost because what I usually hate the most about these kind stories is that they’re never told from the victims perspective because the victim is dead. The author found the most beautiful yet sad way to achieve just that: giving the victim a voice. I’m having chills just thinking about this concept.

The many different terrible topics here were overwhelmingly disgusting for me. The school shooting. The abuse. The blind eye of the police. The way Cassie had to literally sit there and wait for Nico to come around and kill her because no one cared. The huge and rich gun lobby. This book was the biggest middle finger to US gun politics. Because no matter how terrible the book was, the reality is even more horrifying. I’m not from the US and the thought of having panic rooms in schools is so weird to me. The thought of young children knowing better how to react to a shooter than I do as an adult is breaking my heart. But it is necessary and I’m disgusted.

This book is probably one of the best insights into the destruction one single person with a gun can do. Because Nico didn’t just destroy Cassie’s and his own life, he destroyed a whole town and set an example for all the other Nico’s in this world. He showed them just how easy it is to grab a gun on a random day and end the lives of innocent people without even facing the consequences.

My heart is heavy for all survivors of school shootings. For all the families whose children didn’t survive. My heart is heavy for all survivors of domestic abuse, for everyone who’s still stuck in such a situation and for those who will be in it one day. And I’m angry we can’t do more than speak up because even speaking up often feels like yelling at a massive wall of male privilege. I’m angry there are so few ways for us to help them and ourselves. And this book was a direct reflection to my anger. I saw myself in both Viv and Beck, I geht what they felt.

My feelings are still very raw but I had to write this review immediately so I could put all my reactions right into in order to state how important it is that you all read this book. School shootings might not happen that frequently in your country as they do in the US but they happen. Last week a student stormed into a lecture hall in a university I was very close to attend. He killed three people. Things like that can happen everywhere.
And domestic abuse? The sad reality is that you never know if the person you just started dating will one day turn into a monster.

Please, please reach out if you’re in a situation like Cassie. Not necessarily to the police but to your parents and friends, someone who can over and pick you up immediately, someone who can protect you better than the police. Please reach out because you deserve to be saved. You deserve a happy and full life. This book portrait the “after” and the “before” and it showed the many moments in the “before” that should’ve been handled different. It is important we start doing that exactly. Handle things different so there’s no “after”. We don’t want anymore “Afters”.

I’m sending you much love and strength. I believe that this book will give you both, please read it. It’ll help you if you’re a survivor. It’ll help you if someone you know is a survivor and it’ll help you if you’re just human and afraid. It’ll help.