<p>I’m sorry if I offended you with the public high school comment, Consolation. I’m not from the US, so I asked about the setting that the book was written in. I don’t know about all high schools outside the US, but I do know that where I live, while a bit of subtle bullying and outsider/insider conflicts do take place, there’s never anything as bad as what I read in the book.</p>
<p>Tom Brown and Nicholas Nickleby were set in different times, so I don’t think they’re the best examples. And in Nicholas Nickleby the bullying had nothing to do with popularity/unpopularity anyway - it was just the headmaster throwing his weight around, it had nothing to do with the students. (The school also doesn’t feature in it much). As for Prep, that’s set in a private school and I didn’t read of anything like pantsing or even outright name-calling of the unpopular by the popular. The cliques weren’t iron-clad either- they didn’t boo a person from another clique off their proximity if such a person chose to sit with them.</p>
<p>The book is fiction. The author magnifies the events leading up to the shooting. However, one of the huge problems of the high school bullying is that some of those who are bullied feel it much more intensely than others involved or observing. The instigators and onlookers might term it minor and not comprehend the enormity of the bullying impact to the victims.</p>
<p>I have read too many of Jodi’s books., I guessed the ending long before it was revealed, but you asked about girls becoming co dependent on their boy friends, yes, it does happen. Psychological manipulation, physical abuse, etc. I feel is much more common this generation. One thing we did not have that I have to keep advising my kids on - with text messaging, technological forms of communication, it is FAR easier for boy and girl friends to ‘track’ one another. I saw both my D’s being tracked every minute of the day by boy friends (and pretty decent BFs, otherwise). The texts started out nicely, but if they did not get a text back within minutes the anger rose and after only 15 minutes became hostile. I was with one of my Ds and saw this first hand when I challenged her to not text back. Other D’s BF read her phone messages, and all her emails. They need to password their stuff and learn how to distinguish a ‘healthy’ from a ‘not healthy’ relationship. Good points for discussion, and neither one if them is still going out with the guys involved.</p>
<p>Love love love that song. So true and very witty. Love the part about Reese Witherspoon being the prom queen, Bill Gates captain of the chess team, etc.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the book in question, but I think that bullying does occur in most public high schools. Most of the time, IMO, it’s bearable as long as you have your own solid group of supportive friends.</p>