Atlanta Burns
Written by Chuck Wendig
Narrated by Cris Dukehart
4/5
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About this audiobook
You don’t mess with Atlanta Burns.
Everyone knows that. And that’s kinda how she likes it—until the day Atlanta is drawn into a battle against two groups of bullies and saves a pair of new, unexpected friends. But actions have consequences, and when another teen turns up dead—by an apparent suicide—Atlanta knows foul play is involved. And worse: she knows it’s her fault. You go poking rattlesnakes, maybe you get bit.
Afraid of stirring up the snakes further by investigating, Atlanta turns her focus to the killing of a neighborhood dog. All paths lead to a rural dogfighting ring, and once more Atlanta finds herself face-to-face with bullies of the worst sort. Atlanta cannot abide letting bad men do awful things to those who don’t deserve it. So she sets out to unleash her own brand of teenage justice.
Will Atlanta triumph? Or is fighting back just asking for a face full of bad news?
This book is intended for mature audiences due to strong language and violence.
Revised edition: Previously published as two volumes, Shotgun Gravy and Bait Dog, this combined edition includes editorial revisions.
Chuck Wendig
Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter and game designer. He's the author of many published novels, including but not limited to: Blackbirds, The Blue Blazes, and the YA Heartland series. He is co-writer of the short film Pandemic and the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus. Wendig has contributed over two million words to the game industry. He is also well known for his profane-yet-practical advice to writers, which he dispenses at his blog, terribleminds.com, and through several popular e-books, including The Kick-Ass Writer, published by Writers Digest. He currently lives in the forests of Pennsyltucky with wife, tiny human, and red dog.
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Atlanta Burns Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Atlanta Burns
42 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I find Wendig's prose entirely too aggressive to allow me to get enjoy the story.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5First things first, trigger warnings all over this book. Please be very careful with yourself if you can be triggered by sexual assault, child abuse, abuse toward a gay teen, animal harm, suicide, racism of the neo-Nazi variety. There were so many times in this book where I just plain hurt and had to stop reading in shock and horror. So. That is a thing.
Now, the book. Atlanta went through some hard stuff, went away, and now she's back and she's--of course because this is high school--outcast. She eventually makes friends with Shane (the nerd) and Chris (a member of the "Cozy Nostra," as he says). Shane was hurt, he hopes she can help him, and she does. So there we go, and this is why reviewers compare this book to VMars. The spoilers pretty much tell you what happened.
My 2.5/5 star rating is because there was barely a second of happiness in this book and there was no trade-off to make that worth it to me. Wendig's a good damn writer, otherwise I would have tapped out almost immediately, but I trusted him to take me through this story.
Now, a thing about suicide, as mentioned in the book, that I will put under a spoiler cut, not because it is a spoiler but because it could be triggery. The entire world needs to cut the shit with this "suicide is selfish" and it "lets the bullies win" crap. Don't put that sort of guilt on someone suicidal. Just don't. You won't be helping them and you may be harming.
Provided by publisher. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If you aren't ready to punched in the gut and kicked in the crotch, repeatedly, you aren't ready for ATLANTA BURNS.Chuck Wendig's tale of a young woman in bad circumstances is violent, soul-crushing, and more than a little uplifting. In a rural town I would never want to set foot in, Atlanta Burns is fighting back against the bullies, the Nazis, and everyone else who hates other people just because they don't like the look of them.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was different than most Young Adult novels I have read. I don't think I would have chosen this book off the shelf, but I'm glad I had an opportunity to read it. Atlanta Burns is one tough chick. The characters are raw and gritty, the story is captivating, and who doesn't love a female vigilante.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Atlanta Burns is the kind of book that takes time to percolate; after finishing the last page it had me feeling all discombobulated and I needed time to think on it for a bit. If you’re familiar with Chuck Wendig’s work then you’ll have some idea of what I’m talking about. Never let it be said that the guy ever holds his punches when he tells his stories, and you can be sure this is not your run-of-the-mill Young Adult fare. The book’s protagonist Atlanta Burns is a high school student who no one wants to mess with. But she’s been through some traumatic stuff, and her reputation came at a high cost. However, Atlanta’s not going to let what happened to her stop her from doing the right thing, and she’s definitely not one to stand by while bullies prey on the weak and the defenseless. There are some terrible people in this world, and armed with her shotgun and the moxie to match, Atlanta is going to do whatever it takes to stop them. Two stories make up this book, “Shotgun Gravy” and “Bait Dog”. Both are powerful, yet not easy to read. In the first, Atlanta and her new friends go up against Neo-Nazis, crooked cops and bigoted bullies. The second story sees her attempting to break up a dog fighting ring and deals with the themes of animal cruelty and abuse. Atlanta’s world is a bleak and brutal place to be, and reading about things like lynching, sexual assault, tortured puppies, kids being burned with cigarettes and such, it’s hard not to get through this book without thinking, wow, people SUCK. It made me sick sometimes, it really did.But works like these also have a place in YA fiction. Like this quote in the book says: “Life is equal parts strange and beautiful and horrible, and we’re tossed into it without a map or an instruction guide. Poems and stories have a way of helping us make sense of things.” And that’s how I see these stories in Atlanta Burns. It might not be pleasant and it might not be comfortable, but it’s important to face some of these issues head-on and not soften the blow because it’s true – one can argue that Wendig is painting things too dark but the sad reality is the things in this book do happen, and it would be a mistake to pretend they don’t. Atlanta Burns is a book that explores difficult subject matters, and exposes them in all its ugliness so that we as readers can process it, make sense of it for ourselves. Wendig has a message here. It’s not so surprising that he went with the Neo-Nazis as his main baddies, though this book is peppered with a lot of despicable scum-baggy types as a whole. Thing is, in any slice of society you look at there’s bound to be good folks and bad folks, but in Atlanta Burns there seems to be an overrepresentation of the bad, and if I’m to be honest, even Atlanta herself is not entirely likeable. To Wendig’s credit though, he does attempt to shine a light in the dark of this whole “things don’t get better” bleakness. In this world of bigots, bullies and corrupt cops are characters like Mrs. Lewis, Steve AKA “Chomp-Chomp” or Detective Holger who show Atlanta that things can be different.This was a wonderful read. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t warn you against some of the shocking, horrible things that are in this book. It’s categorized as Young Adult, but definitely not typical of the genre. Calling Atlanta Burns a dark book is an understatement; it deals with some very mature themes, and even some adults may find parts of it difficult to read especially if they are sensitive to those particular subjects. I really enjoyed this book, but as always with Chuck Wendig, reader discretion is advised.