April 16th: Virginia Tech Remembers

Collecting the voices of those students, faculty, staff and citizens who lived through a killer's rampage at Virginia Tech earlier this year, this rich, painful and compassionate volume sheds light on the tragedy while honoring the living and dead both. Beginning with a minute-by-minute account of Seung-Hui Cho's murderous progress across campus, followed by the media's descent on the formerly quiet town of Blacksburg and closing with tributes to each of Cho's 32 victims, the book is heart-rending and terrifying, often simultaneously. Eyewitness accounts reflect a complex swarm of emotions with which many Americans, having seen the drama play out on television, will identify: alumnus Ashley Hall says, ""I saw Matt Lauer framed by my Duck Pond. Every new camera angle was filled with a wonderful memory that was now stained with blood."" As some try to make sense of the horror (""What atrocities could possibly have befallen Cho as he grew up on the mean streets of northern Virginia?""), others mine their souls for compassion and forgiveness-""Hearts of kindness invalidate evil,"" says the mother of one victim-and it's that spirit of resilience and humanity (embodied in the much-lauded ""Hokie Pride"") that shines strongest. Unfortunately, the book bears the traces of a rush to publication; eyewitnesses aren't always identified except by name, the campus layout is never detailed and the role of the two much-cited Virginia Tech media outlets, planetblackburg.com and the Collegiate Times, are never explained (though staff writers from both publications contributed). Still, this volume, rich with immediacy, depth and emotion, is an admirable memorial and a fine remembrance. Photo Insert.