This book tells its story through the lives of several teenagers and the events that happen to each of them. It's like flipping through the pages of a yearbook and recalling the stories about each person. The teenagers (and one adult) Johnson portrays are fully-formed individuals with their own voice, thoughts, needs, and goals. They all seem like real people, and as the events unfold, they are impacted by each other's actions in ways they may not even realize.

This is a beautiful read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Random House

Where is the most dangerous place on Earth? According to the author it would be high school. This white school is in an affluent county in California so I didn’t really consider it to be all that dangerous.

The book starts with the suicide of a middle school boy named Tristan. He’s a social outcast and generally ridiculed by his peers. There is a girl that he has a crush on and he writes her a letter to profess his love. She gives it to the boy she has a crush on and he and his friends harass and bully Tristan online until he takes his life. I cried over the first few chapters.

The rest of the book starts in freshman year of high school. Tristan is rarely ever mentioned except in a joking manner. Each chapter is told from a different point of view and yet none of them really connect to each other. What started out as a story I cared about with a character I cared about (Cally, Tristan’s crush) went off the rails and never really came back to the track. At the end of the book I thought each kid was snooty, selfish, and stupid. Each chapter seemed to be an almost ripped from the headlines cliché about rich, white, high school kids and the stupid things they do and none of it was flattering.

The writing itself is good but the format to this story was lacking. I would give the author herself another try but not if she sticks to the same kind of storytelling.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

You can find this review and more at:http://shiningstarreviews.blogspot.com/

Saying I enjoyed this book would probably be a stretch. It was a dark and sometimes brutal telling of the lives of a group of high school students in the small town of Mill Valley. I like to think the high school experience isn't like this, but I know for many it is. Written with amazing honesty and clarity, Johnson is an important voice in YA lit.

I’ll confess up front that I went into Lindsey Lee Johnson’s striking debut novel The Most Dangerous Place on Earth blindly. I was intrigued by its title and have had such great luck with debut authors lately that I eagerly snatched this one up when I received an email from Netgalley suggesting it as a book that might interest me and saw that it was another debut. I started reading and was immediately captivated and maybe even a little horrified to find that from this book’s standpoint, the ‘most dangerous place on earth’ is, in fact, high school.

The opening chapters pack an emotional punch. The story begins with a look at a group of eighth graders in an affluent school district in San Francisco. We see a socially awkward boy named Tristan Bloch, who has been having trouble fitting in and is basically friendless, decide to write a love letter to one of the most popular girls in his class, Cally Broderick. This single act sets off a heartbreaking and life changing series of events. Cally decides, for whatever reason, to give this note to her boyfriend Ryan, who then decides to post the note on Facebook for all of their classmates to see and then friends Tristan on Facebook with the sole purpose of humiliating him. Other friends follow suit and they then relentlessly cyberbully Tristan until he tragically ends his own life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. The rest of the story follows the core group of kids who were ultimately responsible for Tristan’s death.

Johnson presents her story from multiple points of view. She weaves together a series of vignettes where we hear from each of those students, beginning in eighth grade and then returning to each of them as juniors and seniors in high school. We watch them all attempt to navigate the various pitfalls of high school and to a certain extent, adolescence in general – peer pressure, pressure from parents, alcohol, drugs, and of course, lessons not learned regarding using social media to humiliate people, even after what happened to Tristan. Interspersed between those chapters we also hear from a first year (and still very idealistic) English teacher Molly Nicoll who has all of these kids in her English classes, sees all of them struggling to stay afloat, and tries to do everything she can to connect with them.

What I Liked:
I think what I liked the most about The Most Dangerous Place on Earth is how eye-opening it was. As a parent, reading this story made me all the more aware of the fact that no matter how I raise my child and how active I am in his life, there are always still going to be so many other influences out there shaping him into who he is going to be, in some cases working directly in opposition to the kind of person I’m hoping he’ll grow up to be. It also has me rethinking my views on the internet and social media. In the past, I’ve always been primarily focused on protecting my child from online predators. This book has really made me rethink that stance since apparently cyberbullying fellow students is also a thing now. Sometimes the people you know can be even more dangerous than people you don’t know.

I also thought Johnson did a remarkable job of making a story told from about half a dozen points of view so easy to follow. Each of the voices was so distinctive and so authentic – from the class troublemaker to the diehard party girl, all the way to the high school English teacher. If I was reading from the point of view of an adolescent male, it truly felt like I was reading the thoughts of an adolescent male, and if I was reading from the point of view of a young English teacher, it felt like I was inside that teacher’s mind reading her thoughts. None of the voices came across as generic or forced.

Another strength of the novel is that Johnson is actually able to portray these teens in a way that I still felt a tremendous amount of empathy for them even after what they did to Tristan. That’s not to say that I necessarily found any of them all that likeable, but I did feel for them as they struggled to make it through high school and live up to everyone’s expectation. Whether it’s the pressure to be as successful as their parents expect them to be or the pressure to live up to a certain reputation, or perhaps even live down gossip that is flowing around the internet about them, the pressure is always present in some form or another. In some cases, the pressures at home are just as bad, if not worse, than the pressures at school. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I’m keeping this general, but the way Johnson portrays high school and the dangers of peer pressure, it’s basically a battlefield and you’re lucky if your child makes it out in one piece. It’s a very powerful read in that sense.

I also thought the portrayal of teachers was pretty realistic. I don’t know the exact statistics but I know the burnout rate for new teachers is super high and some of the things Molly Nicoll experiences are surely contributing factors to those statistics. The desire to connect with her students leads her to cross lines that she probably shouldn’t be crossing because she’s so desperate to reach them. We need good teachers who can make a different in their students’ lives, but one of the older, more experienced teachers points out to Molly, she’s never going to make it long term if she keeps doing things the way she’s doing them. High school will chew her up and spit her out just like it does the students.

What I Didn’t Like:
As much as I enjoyed the read, there were still a couple of problem areas for me. One is that I like to be able to connect with characters and relate to them as I’m reading. Because there were so many different points of view, it was harder to do that in this book. I never really felt like I got close enough to any of them to do that. Stylistically though, I’m thinking maybe that was intentional. I think maybe getting too attached to any of the characters would possibly make the reader lose focus on the overall bigger picture. Ultimately I think it was the right choice for the book; it just didn’t play into my own personal preference for that connection to the characters.

A second issue I had was that I would have liked to see a more diverse student population. I know all of the issues highlighted in this book are chronic issues throughout our school systems, both the wealthy and the poor districts, so I would have liked to see more of a cross-section of our overall student population instead of so many rich, privileged kids. I think having a more diverse population represented would highlight that these problems are widespread, not just localized to the wealthy and privileged of our society. Again, that’s just a personal preference for me and it didn’t prevent me from enjoying the book overall.

Who Would I Recommend this Book to?
Because of its emphasis on the dangers of bullying and especially cyberbullying, I would recommend this book to parents of middle and high school students, as well as to the students in those same age ranges. Students need to understand the power of their own words, especially the negative words, and parents need to start hammering that into their kids’ heads at an early age. The wrong words to the wrong person can set into motion life-altering and often tragic events. In the case of this story, Tristan Bloch chose to end his life, but he could have just as easily come back to school the next day with a gun…



Rating: 3.5 stars

Truly more enjoyable than Prep, to which it is often compared. A masterfully told story with excellent characterization and movement.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson explores the lives of a group of high school students and one of their teachers in a Northern California town. The story jumps around in time, starting off when the kids are in middle school and going all the way to the end of high school. The book also deals with a tragic event that occurs during middle school and how that event ripples through the rest of the students' lives.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought Johnson's writing was refreshingly blunt and evocative. I felt for a lot of the characters, though more so than others. Johnson absolutely nails the way that teenagers interact with each other, especially the torture they can inflict on each other.

The major problem for me was the teacher character. While Johnson does highlight that it is her first year teaching, I found some of her actions to be so unbelievable that they pulled me out of the story. This is really a small criticism; overall I found this book to be affecting, interesting, and biting.

Recommended for anyone who got through high school and lived. Bullies and victims alike.

In lovely Mill Valley, home to some wealthy families, a group of kids grow up and face their pasts and their futures. The story starts with them in eighth grade, all vying to jockey themselves into some kind of position among the ranks of the classes. There is a tragedy early on and it will just rip your heart out. I almost didn’t want to go on with the book. But once we get past that, the kids are juniors in high school. A new young teacher comes along, not much older than the kids, and she is so idealistic. The other teachers all seem so jaded. Molly becomes friends with another English teacher who is harboring his secrets. And boy, he is not who he seems at all. The kids have all changed since eighth grade. Cally, Calista now, has become a rather ethereal druggie that seems to float in and around the school. She was front stage and center in the tragedy in eighth grade. Her ex-best friend is trying to get to an Ivy League school, craving her parents’ attention and getting it from someone she shouldn’t. Most of the boys’ parents seem to have their lives planned out for them. Ryan, the jock, sleeps around, not really seeming to care about anyone. Nick, a very smart kid, is selling drugs and taking the SATs for money. Dave isn’t sure what he wants but he knows it’s not what his parents want. Emma wants to dance. Elisabeth isn’t sure what she wants either but with such a flamboyant mother, it’s hard to hide yourself. After an accident, their lives become something else entirely again.

I would not want to be in school these days with all the technology. Some of these kids’ lives were utterly changed by gossip and pictures and posts. They bully without thinking of the consequences for the person they are bullying and even for themselves because eventually, they are the ones who have to live with it. This is a very powerful read. It is sad. It does have some hope. It will make you angry. It will make you think about how to talk to your kids. I think the Most Dangerous Place on Earth is the place that we put ourselves when we try to be something we are not. It’s the place you live in when you don’t know exactly where your place really is.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderfully written book with a wide range of fully developed characters. Glad I waited to read this until it was close to pub date, makes it easier to summon enthusiasm when recomending this book. The structure is effective and the ending is very moving.

First to be fair I read this book in two days - very quick for me. I could not put it down. Until the end when I finally did put it down I felt a bit icky...not inspired, not having gained anything, just nothing. Although the writer can tell a good story, I require more from my reading.
The beginning incident was believable and affecting. I believe the book could have gone somewhere from here but it would have been nice to see someone being redeemed, or something positive. I realize that these characters are for the most part brats and that not everyone is redeemed, some people are just "careless" to use a word and intertexuality the author herself used from The Great Gatsby. Still I have to wonder what is she trying to accomplish with this story? Just telling a story? Ok accomplished. To make me aware of the horrors of cyberbullying etc. Yes, I was horrified. Awareness of the dangers of "affluenza" and absentee parenting. Ok. But anything more to recommend? No, I just didn't get it from this book.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a download of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It's been a long time since I was in high school, but though times have changed and problems may be different, the basic behavior hasn't changed all that much. There have always been the popular kids, the outcasts, and the middle group that doesn't quite achieve that rarified popular status but keeps trying.

The book is well written as it delves into the individual characters and how they cope with life.

When I finished the book, however, I was left with a somewhat 'is that all there is?' feeling. Maybe it's just me, but it felt somehow unfinished. It's an interesting read, though, and a very good debut novel.

Thank you to NETGALLEY and RANDOM HOUSE for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am always grateful for your kindness and generosity!

3.5 stars, somewhere between this book was okay and enjoying it. I rounded up instead of down, so I'm going to go with 4/5 stars for The Most Dangerous Place on Earth.

Pleasantly surprised with this book, which I found very fascinating in a horrible way. It's like a train wreck that you drive by and rubberneck so you can admire the disaster, I found myself enjoying this book the very same way. I loved reading about these rich kids get their comeuppance for something terrible that they did; granted I don't think any of the characters in this story wanted such a bad thing to happen to young Tristan.

I felt like the story line with Abigail/Doug was a little out of place but not distracting from the rest of the story. I understand why it was there, it just didn't go anywhere and it felt like there was supposed to be more story there that just didn't get addressed properly. I also sort of feel like this about Holly Nicoll's character but not as strongly.

I'm an older millennial so it was fascinating to me to read about social media in the lives of teenagers these days. When I graduated high school, MySpace was just getting ready to launch. I had a MySpace for a while, and subsequently move to Facebook (along with everyone else), but I didn't Facebook (oh my, it's a verb now!) for long before finding out that it simply isn't for me and deleted my account. It's so strange to read about how every day it is for children now, how quick news travels and how connected everyone is! It's not a part of my life and is a bit confusing to me. But it's interesting!

Calista is my favorite character in this book and I believe I identified with her the most. I found her desire to change and following through very inspiring, if one can momentarily forget why she had such a deep desire to change to begin with.


NOTE: I updated this review with the Amazon review link.

American public high school is likely the most dangerous place on earth. It's been that place for generations as writers and filmmakers have attempted to show us all of its pain and glory. Perhaps it is its universality coupled with the most awkward years of our lives. Honestly, its hard to know now which was more confusing, the place or the person; there was a lot going on. The author of this book does an admirable and engaging job of taking a peer group and moving through it over the course of five years. We inhabit the students as they try and come to terms with changing friendships and families, all while ostensibly pursuing their education. 'Stuff' gets broken and without guidance it is rarely addressed. It's so hard to remember how little it helped to speak in high school. Again, the author is right there, on point. This is a really good book but a painful one. Just like high school even if you tried to forget about it.

I liked the beginning a bit more than the rest of it, but still worth reading. 3.5/5 stars.

I found The Most Dangerous Place on Earth to be a quick yet compelling read. The story is told from the perspectives of a range of characters as they experience their 'world' through the lens of school - both as students and teachers - from 8th through 12th grade.

Johnson deftly creates characters that are both vivid and multidimensional; you want to hate the nasty kid, but you can't because you also feel for him/her... I really liked all the characterizations, but found some to speak to me particularly. As a former high school teacher, the framing of the story within the 8th-12th grade years offered many 'memories' of student stories.

This is not a 'happy' book. As a former student it might make you remember... as a parent, it makes me sad to think of my children going through some of those situations. In any case, I will be thinking about this book and its characters for some time to come - it's a very powerful story.

(I received an ARC from the publisher - the book was published for the public 10 January 2017)

There are few times in life more difficult than high school. To some, it can be The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, hence this new book from debut novelist Lindsey Lee Johnson.

The story of a group of kids in a wealthy suburb of San Francisco, this story looks at the individuals behind the stereotypes. What makes the pretty girl who seems stuck-up so quiet and isolated? Why does the wild alpha male student become a drug dealer? Why does a student become romantically involved with a teacher? Why does a smart kid cheat in order to get into a better college than he could get in on his own? Why does a girl drop out of her college track and take up drugs and a new set of friends? These students are more than a label, more than a prototype of The Smart Kid or The Slutty Girl or the Rowdy Boy. They are three-dimensional characters with real motivations, goals, and wounds.

Running simultaneously through this story is that of the new, still inexperienced, optimistic, young teacher. Miss Nicoll is hired in the middle of the semester to replace a teacher who has left. She loves literature and wants to share her love of words with her students. She feels like she has so much to offer then, despite being only a few years older. But she faces not only her students' apathy toward her class but also helicopter parents, experienced teachers who dislike her ways, and school administrators. As she gets closer to her students, and trades cell phone numbers for homework questions or accepts friend requests on Facebook, how far is too far for that relationship to go? As the boundaries slowly get erased between teacher and student, how does that affect the education? How much of high school is about the information we learn, and how much is about the relationships?

Revisiting high school through the eyes of these characters makes you see these years in a completely different way. You see the layers of meaning and subtext, the subtle causes and effects of the choices made during these years, the friendships and the romances, the successes and the failures, the tests and the parties. Everyone has stories about high school, and everyone can relate to at least one of these characters.

I am not a big fan of high school novels, but this one is interesting and intriguing in a way that makes you think. It's not just about the drama. It's about what's under the drama, and about where the drama leads. Revisit your teenage years--read this book.



Galleys provided by the publisher through NetGalley.com.

I know this book has had rave reviews but the content is not relevant to me.

I am so incredibly impressed with Lindsay Lee Johnson’s debut novel, “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth.” The novel takes place in a California town not far from San Francisco, following students from middle school until their Senior year. Characters are Cally (or Calista), Abigail, Emma, Ryan, Nick, Tristan, Dave, and several other adolescents with a variety of issues and very little consideration of right and wrong. There is also a brand new teacher, Molly, and her creepy inappropriate colleague, Doug. Not far into the novel, the reader is faced with cringe-worthy humiliation and bullying of a student that ends in tragedy during their middle school years, but then fast forwards to high school where each chapter focuses on different characters and their circumstances. It covers sex, drinking, drugs, gossip, inappropriate relationships, cheating, and so on. There’s very little that isn’t presented in this novel about these teenagers and their lives.

Johnson takes us on a journey of friendships that end, new acquaintances, trying things for the first time, and ultimately, pushing the limits. If I had to choose a word to describe most of the characters in this novel, the word that comes to mind is naive. First of all, the students obviously think they are invincible, indestructible, and able to get away with anything and everything they do. Secondly, the new teacher, Molly seriously skews the lines thinking that these kids want to be her friends, and thus, she tries treating them as such. Thirdly, what few parents are even mentioned in the novel apparently do not believe in supervising their children at all and basically float along in their privileged lives refusing to see what is going on with their children.

After finishing and digesting this novel I also realized that none of these characters honestly knew the first thing about one another. Sure, they knew the crap they deemed worth gossiping about, but they never took the time to get to know one another or themselves. I would like to say that Cally made the most “progress” in surviving adolescence and trying to make sense of it, but in reality, she was high as a kite for several years so I’m not sure I can classify that as “progress.” Stealing a word from creepy Doug the pedophile teacher’s SAT study sessions, no one in this novel – adults included – ever considered the ramifications of their words and/or actions. These spoiled kids did as they pleased and if the end results were negative, they simply shrugged it off and moved on. Some of the teachers were so detached and cynical regarding their students, as to where Molly, the young, newbie teacher, honestly felt that the students cared about her, what she said, and what she did.

Being that I was a teacher for 13 years, I particularly enjoyed Johnson’s portrayal of the teachers and the dynamics between each other and the students. Some of the teachers were so detached and cynical regarding their students, as to where Molly, the young newbie, honestly felt that the students cared about her, what she said, and what she did. Although Molly initially attempted to blend and mesh with her colleagues, she quickly secluded herself and alienated herself by spending all of her time with Doug. After the “incident” with Doug, she continued to bury herself professionally by trying to befriend her students – especially with her pathetic Facebook postings. Her personal flashbacks of being socially awkward, unpopular, etc. turned her teacher-student relationships into one of wanting their acceptance and approval, which is obviously not the most logical way to approach one’s students.

Moving on from the plot and characters, I was truly mesmerized by Lindsay Lee Johnson’s writing. “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth” reads and flows with incredible ease, in spite of the suspense and troubling moments in the novel. Whether it was the thoughts or dialogue of a student, parent, teacher, medical professional, and so on – her writing was spot on with perfect slang, inner-dialogue, reactions, and reflections. Johnson writes with the ability to be whoever she needs to be at that moment, making it difficult to remember that you are reading a work of fiction and that these people are not actually real. Bravo to this extraordinary author and her debut novel. I hope to read more of her incredible work in the future!

LEARN MORE ABOUT LINDSAY LEE JOHNSON BY VISITING HER WEB PAGE.

PURCHASE “THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH” ON AMAZON.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In Lindsey Lee Johnson’s debut novel The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, readers are launched into the lives of privileged, seemingly perfect teenagers in a wealthy suburb of California. Their new, 23-year-old teacher Molly Nicoll becomes intrigued with their lives, sensing the mystery and pain behind their wild and reckless ways. What she doesn’t know is that a major trauma from middle school affected each and every one of them in a different way, shaping the people they have become and haunting their everyday lives. There’s the flower child, the party girl, the druggie, the delinquent, the outsider… a Breakfast Club myriad of sorts.

Told from different perspective in each chapter, the book is divided into three time-based parts: Eighth Grade, Junior Year, and Senior Year. We watch these children grow and evolve as they prepare for the rest of their lives in the adult world once high school ends.

This story hit close to home for me, as I’m sure it will for many. The oftentimes unspoken tribulations of high school are spoken about open and honestly– something most authors shy away from– which was truly captivating, although it lingered on the line of over-the-top at times. It was a story that speaks truth for teenagers, something I wish I had growing up in a privileged suburb of Connecticut.

Pros:
The writing style was mesmerizing and poetic. It made me feel as though I was right in the story and I wound up highlighting so many passages based off of their beautiful composition.
The character development was truly phenomenal– I’ve never seen it done so well in a Young Adult book with so many different characters. Each go through a profound transformation, whether positive or negative. It’s a realistic cycle of growth and development into adulthood.
The ending wasn’t neatly tied up with a pretty bow. No spoilers, don’t worry! But I loved that the ending was true to life– messy and sometimes not exactly ideal. Raw, honest, no holds barred.
The plot was incredibly intense and captivating. Fun fact: I stayed up until 4 in the morning just to finish this book once I got into it! The groggy day that followed was 100% worth it.

Cons:
The book started and ended focusing on the narration of one character, Callie/Calista. But there wasn’t much of her point of view in the center of the book– this kind of confused me and left me wanting a little more at the ending. Some sort of a deeper connection to her character throughout the course of the story’s entirety would have made it a bit more meaningful.
While I loved the riveting plot, it fluttered on the line of over-the-top at points. I’m not saying that any of these portrayals are inaccurate, I just think that it was hard for me as a reader to consume a story with so many traumatic events that are not necessarily the norm of adolescence.

4 STARS

Mill Valley High — a place where you would not want to be, and yet if given the opportunity — guiltily eavesdrop, quietly observe the students, the way they communicate, carry themselves and welcome the world, the juvenile angst and naivety. With one exception — there’s no naivety at all. Those teenagers, granted still kids, are very much aware of their actions and very much detached from the consequences in their own way.

Mill Valley is the place where Abigail Cress, Calista Broderick, Nick Brickston, Dave Chau, Emma Fleed, Damon Flintov, Ryan Herberger and Elisabeth Averine reside. It is the place where they live, go to school, eat expensive lunches, throw heavy parties, tenaciously revolt, make their first attempts to love and shield from pain.

The writing is superb — a beautiful arrangement of sentences, formed by real words that blend with each narrative. To be frank, I’ve never been a cheerleader for descriptions as not every book has this finesse to make them a cardinal part rather than just a background to the story. Well, Lindsey Lee Johnson certainly has the smooth skill to turn every scene, every line of description into an artistry and I admire her for that. 

The novel not only has great writing and real characters, but also a plot (I know, it’s rare). But it does, a plot that keeps you guessing what’s coming next at every turn of a page. It makes you worry if Dave will find the courage to assert himself, it plants a concern about Damon Flintov, will he be ever understood? You grow fond of them as they were real, as you actually knew them. There are no happy or sad endings here. There are choices, developments, sequence of events. It might be time to leave the most dangerous place on Earth (where here I think this holds an individual meaning to the characters, it’s more than the universal high school and its thousand hidden mines waiting to be stepped on, or the dread of the perfect small town), but their ride to themselves, finding what sparks an interest and how happiness feels like, will continue.

Uncertain if it was a creative move from the author, but somehow each one of the characters’ parents seem to be, if not the decisive, then the salient factor driving and predicting their children’s behaviour. A question I asked myself — is it about perception? Adolescents’ sometimes deceiving perception that parents are always on the wrong side of the fence? Because if at the end, it all comes inevitably to nurture and upbringing, then where’s left the choice? How can they break the cycle? And could we really assign all the responsibility to the ignorant, selfish or demanding parents?

A story worth of reading, not only because I liked it, but mainly because it’s depth invites reflection and leaves a room for discussion. 

I have kindly received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House.