'A story of hope'--WaPost 'Parkland' review

The Washington Post somehow burrowed into my head, rooted around for all the things I was trying to accomplish in Parkland: Birth of a Movement, and published it as a review this weekend.

And the writer, Jill Filipovic, did it in such gorgeous, eloquent prose, I was stunned. Her opening sentence:

Here is a sentence you would not expect in a review of a book on one of the country’s most notorious school shootings: “Parkland” by Dave Cullen is one of the most uplifting books you will read all year.

I wonder if I'd be skeptical about that, if I hadn't spent most of the year with the Parkland kids, and witnessed how uplifting and hopeful it was.

This was my other favorite line: "You know this story, but you don’t."

That's exactly why I decided I had to do more than cover this for Vanity Fair, it had to be a book. There was so much more to the story than I ever saw or heard in the media. I wanted to take you backstage to the birth of a movement. This was a story I had to share.

I loved the ending of the review, too:

Cullen’s tale, though, makes you hopeful for what might come next. Optimism about the future: It’s a strange feeling.

“Parkland” is a story touched by trauma, but it is not a story of trauma. It is a story born of violence, but it is not a story of violence. Instead, it is something both braver and more precise: It is the story of a carefully planned rebellion.