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    A Thousand Cuts
    A Thousand Cuts
    A Thousand Cuts
    Audiobook8 hours

    A Thousand Cuts

    Written by Simon Lelic

    Narrated by Charlotte Parry, James Clamp, John Curless and

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A former journalist, Simon Lelic caused quite a buzz in the literary world with his stunning debut. A Thousand Cuts is a mesmerizing novel that explores the horrifying consequences of discrimination and bullying. Samuel Szajkowski, a recently hired history teacher, walks into his school with a gun and murders three students and a colleague before turning the weapon on himself. What follows should be an open-and-shut case. As Detective Inspector Lucia May begins digging, however, she discovers a toxic culture that drove a teacher to desperation. But before she can reveal her findings, she must overcome the rampant sexism of her colleagues, and confront two people who wish to suppress the truth. Unfolding as a series of interviews with witnesses and survivors, A Thousand Cuts is brilliantly performed by a full cast of Recorded Books narrators. "Lelic wastes not a word in this searing indictment of a culture inured to cruelty ." -Booklist, starred review
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJul 9, 2010
    ISBN9781449828356
    A Thousand Cuts
    Author

    Simon Lelic

    Simon Lelic has worked as a journalist and currently runs his own business. He was born in Brighton in 1976 and lives there now with his wife and three children. His first two novels were huge critical successes. Rupture won a Betty Trask award, was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger and longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize and the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Simon was shortlisted in the New Writer of the Year category at the Galaxy British Book Awards. www.simonlelic.com @Simon_Lelic

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    Reviews for A Thousand Cuts

    4/5

    148 ratings17 reviews

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    • 4/5
      An interesting debut novel, taking a murder in a school and recounting it from multiple viewpoints. I found the policewoman lead character unlikely to have suffered the bullying at work, given her seniority, although the ranks of her colleagues were never given.
    • 5/5
      What an awesome book this was. Getting across its message about bullying in large organisations with a minimum of fuss - much of it done though interview transcripts - it proved you don't need lots of "he said, she said" etc and you don't need lots of detail about facial expression. The different characters in this novel emerge through their voice alone, and each one is three dimensional. I was initially disappointed when the first chapter came to an end and I realised its gloriously sweary narrator wouldn't appear again, but all the other characters were brilliant too. An absolute masterclass in showing not telling, and great writing in general.
    • 3/5
      "Rupture" picks an interesting and difficult subject to explore (school/workplace shootings), and seems to be reaching for pull-quotes lauding its "shockingly brutal" violence, the "heartrending horror" of shattered survivor stories, capped by "profoundly moving" insights into the underlying cultures of bullying which can breed these tragic events. Unfortunately, it falls short on most of these goals, settling for tepid, inane, and inconclusive.

      I frequently felt conflicted while reading this book, yet not for the reasons presumably intended. Instead of trying to sort out my feelings toward the passively-good and assertively-nasty stereotypes on parade, I was struggling to understand the author's purpose in rehashing these sorry tales: what moral "takeaway" was being posited. This was the kind of book where you find yourself skimming as you near the end, not out of enthusiasm to reach the "thrilling conclusion", but simply to find out where the author is going with all this.

      If twist endings are worth points, then I will freely confess that the destination, once reached, came as a complete shock. After slogging through 200 painful pages of remorseless diatribe against the evils of bullying, whether in the classroom or workplace, as directed against ginger kids, black kids, women, the ungainly, the mentally handicapped, and basically anyone other than a white male footballer -- we are stunned in the final pages to learn that it remains acceptable to bully homosexuals; in fact it can even be empowering! Whatever passages of powerful prose or moments of heightened tension the author achieved in the main story (and these were few) were sadly undone by the betrayal, not of character to protagonist, but author to reader, unveiled in the epilogue.

      There are several ways an author can approach character-to-character conflict. The underdog can finally overpower or outwit their assailant, leaving the reader vicariously victorious ("win-lose"). Alternately, the conflicted parties can find common ground and set aside their differences, creating an equally satisfying sense of harmony and reconciliation ("win-win"). Less common in popular literature, for the simple reason that they're not fun to read, are the "lose-lose" scenarios in which no party goes home happy, or even worse the "lose-win" conclusion in which the bad guys carry the field. This is not to say that there can be no value in negative conclusions -- tragedies from Greece to Shakespeare to tear-jerker "chick flicks" teach us that we can find wisdom and closure in delving the depths of grief and [others':] misfortune.

      Nevertheless, the point of presenting conflict, of immersing the reader in an ugly situation peopled by unprincipled perpetrators and heart-torn victims, is normally to show a path up out of the darkness -- a way to turn horror into victory, or at least a reason to go on living in spite of the pain and heartache which accompanies historically broken human life. Instead, the resolution this book presents is pitifully weak: ultimately amounting to either accepting the status quo (plenty of villians go unpunished, the weak continue to be abused, and nothing really changes); or unexpectedly, joining the abusers and carving out your own little niche of safety by beating down those who would threaten you.

      This was not a message worth 300 pages to hear. I chose to read this book because I have a personal interest in the ongoing problem of school bullying, both as a father, former teacher -- and former student. This is a difficult and deep-seated problem which, given the dark roots of human nature, can probably never be completely solved. However, it most certainly can be forcibly addressed through clearly defined and disseminated policies which are unequivocally enforced by responsible and accountable adults in positions of authority.

      That is to say, while there may be no silver bullet to magically eliminate bullying throughout our strata of state education, nor fully prevent prejudice and subtle harassment in the modern workplace, there are models of discipline and procedure which have been effectively demonstrated in successful environments which can be studied and reapplied in institutions needing improvement. It was with the hope of finding some such lessons explicated and promoted through narrative example that I picked up this book, accepting the misery and tabloid squalor of the early chapters as the presumed on-ramp to an escalation ultimately showing one or more proposed paths to resolution.

      Sadly, the book's moral escalator was as broken-down as the majority of the characters, with the only path out being futile and ineffectual flailing, or joining with the oppressors. I choose to believe there are better solutions available, and that by failing to discuss them, this book is essentially a waste of time.

      What remains, after the potential for productive social commentary is dispensed with, are cardboard caricatures with no compelling backstory; the only players for whom one might conceivably find empathy come to an ugly end before the curtains rise. The narrative structure (one-sided interview transcripts alternating with 3rd-person present action) is mildly interesting, but by no means unique or even particularly well-done. The prose is serviceable at best, the dialog wooden; at no point did a turn of phrase or impassioned parley strike me as melodic or rise above the stark requirements of syntax. I am also unsure that Mr. Lelic quite has the knack for convincingly writing from the perspective of a sexually harassed woman; though possibly I don't have the perspective to recognize when such a viewpoint is expressed correctly or not.

      I give the result three stars: one for meeting the bare requirements of storytelling, a second for tackling a challenging yet important subject, and the third for making me angry enough at its inadequacies to think through the problem myself (generally speaking, not the most effective way for a book to raise social awareness if volume sales are also a desirement).
    • 2/5
      A THOUSAND CUTS by Simon Lelic is not what many of its reviews claimed in 2010 and 11. Booklist says in its starred review, "Lelic wastes not a word in this searing indictment of a culture inured to cruelty."But that is not true. In every witness account of what led to and the day of a mass shooting, pages and pages of this book are nothing but wasted words that had nothing to do with anyone or anything that mattered to the story.Neither is this book "fast paced," as a "Most Helpful Customer Review" on amazon.com calls it. To the contrary, it is excessively wordy in its witness accounts mentioned above. But is not fast paced mostly because all the accounts of bullying and descriptions of sexual harassment lead to nothing.Not a single character is this book is believable, and most seem exaggerated. Bullying and sexual harassment are real problems that need no exaggeration.This is an honest reader review.
    • 5/5
      Lelic's debut, excellent story. A shooting at a school in London, 3 students, one teacher, and the perp (suicide with the last bullet), are all dead. Should be open and shut. But DI Lucia initiates a series of interviews with students, teachers, parents. She listens - there is no dialogue in these interviews, we hear only the respondent's narration, a very clever and appropriate style. The story is about bullies. But even as Lucia investigates at the schoolyard, she is also subject to bullying from a small cadre of her own colleagues, led by Walter, an obnoxious, foul-mouthed groping fellow officer. Reviews of Lelic's second novel, The Facility, are not as glowing, but The Child Who will be published in late 2/12.
    • 4/5
      A Thousand Cuts begins with a mass murder and suicide at a high school. In the course of her investigation, Dectective Lucia May uncovers a pattern of bullying and cover-ups, which parallels the sexist bullying she faces in the police department. Alternating between the narration of May's investigation and the transcripts of witness interviews, this piece of crime fiction is a riveting page turner and impressive debut novel.
    • 4/5
      This is a very discomforting novel about extreme bullying: of a young boy by schoolmates, of a teacher by his students and colleagues, and of a policewoman by her colleagues. The story is told mostly in the form of witness interviews taken by the policewoman after the teacher opens fire at a school assembly, killing students, another teacher, and himself. This indirect approach to the story is intriguing, but the scale of bullying among such a small group seemed overdone, and the ending was too abrupt for the emotion it should have generated.
    • 5/5
      I came to this with my teacher's hat on, but it could just as easily have been my parent's hat. For either of those hats this is a horrifying tale. What turns a mild mannered history teacher turn into a lethal killer?The blurb on the back of the edition I read begins: It should be an open-and-shut case. Samuel Szajkowski, a recently hired history teacher, walked into a school assembly with a gun and murdered three students and a colleague before turning the weapon on himelf. It was a tragedy that could not have been predicted. Szajowski, it seems clear, was a psychopath beyond help. From a police point of view, it looks like a case that you can wrap up quickly. Samuel Szajkowski walked into the assembly and opened fire. He is to blame for the deaths of 5 people including himself. Detective Inspector Lucia May is given the job of interviewing the witnesses and writing up the final report.But then Lucia begins to ask why? What pushed Samuel Szajowski over the edge? Who is really to blame? And just who is pushing her boss to get the case wrapped up?Events like this one have happened in "real life" world wide in recent years, and A THOUSAND CUTS leads us to ask whether the investigators really ever get to the point of understanding the "why".We know right from the beginning that there is something wrong with the culture of this school. The basic structure of the novel is transcripts of interviews by the investigators with witnesses, and the very first one is with a student who should have been at the assembly but was "down by the ponds, pissing about.."The interview transcripts are really one-sided conversations. The reader is left to deduce the questions being asked from the actual answers. It is a very arresting narrative technique.Detective Inspector Lucia May unearths a culture of bullying that extends throughout the entire school: student to student, student to teacher, teacher to student, and teacher to teacher. The worst part is that those who should be preventing the existence of this culture, the principal for example, don't see that as their responsibility. But even the parents don't recognise the bullying happening.Another aspect of the whole investigation is that Lucia May is herself the victim of bullying, in her personal life, and, in particular, her workplace. It makes us ask whether this is an endemic part of the Western society, regardless of the profession.A very thought-provoking read.
    • 4/5
      Astonishing, intense and very very sad. This book is a story of what awful awful things can happen when someone is bullied. In this book what is most interesting is that the inspector investigating the incident is also being bullied by her own team. This is such a tough subject to read but this was done in an amazing manner. I really did not want to put this book down. My empathy for the characters was very strong. I imagine all readers will feel for them and the injustices they were forces to suffer through. The bullies were in all forms...teachers, policemen and other students. The sadness came from what actually happened and how each bullied victim suffered so horribly. I found this to be a very insightful reading experience. The author is masterful in his portrayals of his characters.
    • 5/5
      A Thousand Cuts takes place in the aftermath of a school shooting in London. Surprisingly, the action surrounding the shooting takes up very little space in the book; however, that doesn't make this novel any less horrifying. Some of the story is told from the perspective of Lucia May, the detective who is investigating the shooting. Lucia's point of view is combined with her interviews with various students, teachers, parents, and school employees. Simon Lelic's writing drew me completely into the novel's pain and suffering -- and there is plenty of it. Lelic's examination of bullying in the workplace and school makes for a heartbreaking read, and not one for everyone. However, I highly recommend this book. Although I had trouble with the first couple of pages because the voices are definitely British, it's very nearly a perfect book. I think it can best be summed up by the following question from the novel: “Why were the weak obliged to be so brave when the strong had license to behave like such cowards?
    • 5/5
      not what I originally expected but so powerful and exceptionally well written.
    • 4/5
      Rupture is a an impressive first novel which reconstructs the events leading up to a terrible crime through many voices. Why did a mildmannered young teacher walk into a school assembly and open fire killing four people and then himself? Rupture is a harrowing psychological drama that leaves most crime fiction in the dust.
    • 5/5
      After reading the first chapter, I was tempted not to continue. However, I came back to it later and was very glad that I continued with it. Each chapter represents an interview with a witness to or person affected by a fatal school shooting incident. There is never any mystery about who did the shooting, but Inspector Lucia May insists on digging into the reasons why a history teacher committed this horrible crime. She details a concerted bullying campaign against the faculty member who "snapped" and the coverup that followed. Disturbing to read. but probably more realistic that one would like to think.
    • 4/5
      I was a senior in high school when the shooting at Columbine High school took place. Remembering the anxiety and fear that followed will forever remain a part of me. This past experience is what intrigued me to wanting to read this book. An intriguing story that delves into the events that surround such a tragedy. Though this story is set in London, England it mirrors what takes place here in the states as well. Most of us see such events on the news in a desensitized way that we have become accustomed. Most of us ask the reason why. We tend to automatically blame those who committed such a heinous act, including the parents, without ever looking deeper. I am by no means saying that the accused is blameless. Far from it. As we learn from the lead character in this novel is that it is never an open and shut case. Yes we have the who, maybe we can also come to a close reason for the why, but more often then not there are others who are responsible in some way. We need to dig deeper to discern the reasons behind the act. Holding all those who are responsible accountable for these acts. Acts as simple as refusing to see warning signs beforehand, not just in hind sight. That there are preexisting conditions in a school's society that protects one student but not another. I think you will also like the ending of the story. It does not disappoint in the overall justice that is deserved.
    • 5/5
      Rupture is Simon Lelic's debut novel and it is, in my opinion, a tour de force. It opens following a shooting at an English school where a young teacher shot pupils and other teachers before finally turning the gun on himself. As the investigating detective Lucia May starts to dig, a whole world of institutionalised bullying is revealed. Shockingly, her investigation starts to mirror her own experiences in the police force, leaving her sympathetic to Szajkowski, the gunman teacher and his actions.Lelic has employed an unusual structure for this novel. When not speaking as Lucia May, he alternates between the voices of the various supporting characters. This reveals Lelic to be a deft and captivating writer, easily able to change voice at the turn of a page.This novel is something of the zeitgeist. On one hand we have a headmaster who ignored activities in the school in order to maintain a high profile while on the other hand we have stories of young children cruelly bullying others. It somehow captures the societal breakdown that many feel is endemic in our modern world.Rupture is a shocking and riveting story which is exceptionally well written. Not only is it a police novel but it pushes and investigates society and bullying. An amazing read.
    • 5/5
      A teacher has gone into an assembly at the school at which he works and shot three pupils and another teacher, before turning the gun on himself. Detective Lucia May is investigating the shooting, which seems to be an open and shut case. However, Lucia is troubled by the case and, whilst she is taking witness testimonies, she discovers that the school has a history of tolerating bullying on a large scale. Cleverly linked in with this storyline is Lucia's own position in the police department in which she works. As the only female on the team, she finds herself able to empathise with the teacher who has committed the terrible act.I was hooked on this book from the very first page, and found it a compelling read throughout. I got through it really quickly, and felt that I wanted to be reading it all the time and finding out more about the case and what drove the teacher to do what he did. The story is written in alternating chapters, being first a tape recorded testimony and then a chapter about Lucia and the investigation. I thought this was a clever device to enable the reader to discover more about the teacher's motives as the story unfolded, and a bit of a change from the norm.The author also managed somehow to get across the horror of the bullying without being sentimental. I was shocked at the lengths some of the characters went to to persecute other people and could really appreciate how awful that level of bullying must be.I found this an excellent read and will be looking out for more from Simon Lelic. His writing flows very well, and certainly drew this reader into what is an interesting and engrossing story.
    • 4/5
      This is not a normal whodunnit crime novel, it's a 'whydunnit'. We know from the start that a mild-mannered school teacher shot three pupils and a teacher before turning his gun on himself. It's D.I. Lucia May's case and although it appears to be an open and shut case, she doesn't believe it's as simple as that. What triggered his outburst? She has to know. As she talks to more of those involved the full story behind what made Samuel Szajkowski open fire gradually reveals itself. Needless to say, May is under pressure from her boss to close the case; he gives her another day. Being the only female detective at the station also causes problems. She's being bullied by one of the other detectives who is very old school. She's also recently split up with her boyfriend too, so she has a lot on her plate.I can't tell you more without ruining the suspense for despite knowing the outcome, the journey is eventful. The novel is structured so that interleaved with Lucia's investigation are the statements from witnesses, pupils, staff and parents. These are presented as dictated monologues, and you gradually hear all the facets of the story through them. Although many stereotypes are present, from the class bully to the psychopath PE teacher, the ineffectual deskbound DCI and the men's world of station banter, they are handled well. Lucia is a likeable lead who can usually stand up for herself, but has a vulnerable side too. An enjoyable debut. (Book supplied by Amazon Vine).