Review: Powerful Words About an Important Topic
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 11, 2013
Shaina Cilimberg's "Perfect Forgiveness" is a haunting story of a bullied teen who lashes out in the most devastating way imaginable, in a tale that we've seen too often in real-life headlines.Kirk Williams is an unpopular student at Deep River High School.  He's only got two close friends, who don't treat him much better than the bullies who regularly make his life miserable.  The friends hatch a plan to revenge themselves upon the bullies (and everyone else), with horrific results.  But that's only part of the story - the real story is what happens after.  Can the school and the larger community recover from the tragedy?  And can Kirk find a way to live with what he's done, and possibly even forgiveness, from the victims, the community at large, or himself?The book falls into the category of Christian literature, which is appropriate for a story dealing with forgiveness and the difficulty in both giving and receiving it.  The glimpses into the mind of a troubled teen who never got the support he needed from anyone around him and, worse, is so damaged that he can't recognize genuine friendship when it is offered, are both powerful and disturbing - all the more so because we've all seen real-life counterparts to Kirk on the news in recent years.The author has a very important message about the toll that bullying, and the neglect of adults who should be supporting their children, can take, and the potential consequences.  It's not a "fin" read, but it is a cautionary book and one that bullies, their victims and their families, should read.