“A fine work. Roy is a good writer and a good person.”
— The Economist
“In lucid and often engrossing prose, Roy paints a rich psychological portrait of a student from whom sadness emanated ‘like the smell of smoke from a nicotine addict.’ “
— Chronicle of Higher Education
“Written in the present tense and filled with a poet’s mastery of tactile details, her description of these sessions [with Cho] is riveting, balancing sympathy for an anguished soul with horror over his presence.… Calm analysis only highlights the urgency of Roy’s warning that fundamental problems in American culture need to be addressed lest similar tragedies recur.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“The book raises important issues regarding the limits of privacy, where a family’s duties end and a school’s begin, and how likely it is that more rigorous attention could lead to unnecessary suspensions and expulsions.”
—Publishers Weekly