A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy

by Sue Klebold

I read the book with an air of fear and dread, I suppose knowing the outcome of her fears had me on edge, I can only say that author’s bravery and honesty is to be commended, she has my utmost respect. It must be heart-breaking living with the knowledge of the devastation that these families experienced at the hands of your own flesh and blood but Dylan was her little boy and knowing not only what he had done but imagining what he was going through at the time leading up to the event and that he was unable to come to her, as a mother must tear at every single maternal instinct.

I can’t say I enjoyed this book, it isn’t a work to be revelled in, the pain behind it is too raw, too emotional but what I can say is that I found the book absolutely fascinating, I accepted that Ms Klebold could have done nothing to prevent the tragedy that unfolded that day, she was the very best parent she could have possibly been for Dylan, but she couldn’t see inside Dylan’s head, she could never have contemplated the path that he would take and hold that his depression had over him.

Predicting what would unfold that fateful day was never ever going to be a possibility and no-one stood a chance at preventing it from happening, Dylan was the only one that knew what he intended to do and I feel for his mother and her suffering, this is a pain that she has to live with the rest of her life just as the families of those who died, but is their suffering the same? Well probably not in the eyes of most but I think as one mother to another, I can feel nothing but compassion for the untenable situation that she is in, it’s an emotional no man’s land. Some will judge her for writing the book, while others will be content to just judge her for being Dylan’s mother. Fair or not that is the nature of tragedy, especial an event such as Columbine, one that was so violent and so tragic.

Life for all those involved were changed irrevocably that day and in writing this book Ms Klebold is able to give an insight not only to her life, but that of her son and into what it is like to live with the spectre of those events every single day…if hell came to earth then it entered at Columbine and it made sure that Ms Klebold was left in its wake.