– Also, the resolution is mostly exposition, and I really would’ve liked to see some of the stuff happen on page. I guess we’re supposed to come to our own conclusions about it, but I really wish it had been specifically addressed at the end. – There is a pretty big plot point that is NOT resolved. – The definition of a psychopath is very clearly laid out in the text. I also like how Susan knows the thing to do is immediately get help, but it’s believable how she’s shut down and why she shuts up.

And how everything just spirals more and more out of control.

– I also like how the kids are affected by their actions (or not, in the case of Mark). He tries, in his way, but then he gets kidnapped. At one point, his wife tells him he needs to be more encouraging to the students and less of a hardass. It seems like nothing his students do is good enough. Of course, I probably would’ve hated him in high school, truth be told. That should stand them in good stead, no matter what they decide to do. The others would graduate with a knowledge of what disciplined work is all about. By the time they finished a class with me, my college prep students would be able to handle university work. I’d push each one into doing the best work of which he or she was capable. I’d teach, damn it! I wouldn’t baby them or play games with them. They fall asleep in lectures because they expect to be entertained, not educated. They haven’t learned to study or to pace their work so that projects get completed on time. They’ve had twelve years without disciplined learning, and they don’t know how to apply themselves.

By the time they’re in college, it’s gone too far. He leaves the university to teach high school English because:Īsk them to write about something, and they can’t make complete sentences, much less spell anything over two syllables. Griffin speaks to my SOUL as a teacher of composition on the college level. I also like it because it shows that people recognize something isn’t quite right, even if they can’t put their finger on what’s wrong. It works really well to set the scene for the book and to show the effect the teens’ actions have on the people around them. Griffin thinks and Mark’s adoptive parents think and Dave’s grandmother thinks. So not only do we get inside the heads of Jeff, Susan, Betsy, and Dave, but we also get to see what Mrs. It’s in third person and switches perspective throughout. – The characters are A+, and I really like the way the narrative is structured. Griffin (because killing him is wrong, see?) to scare him, and then, well, everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. Griffin is picked up on by his friend Mark. The basic plot is that Jeff’s offhand remark about wanting to kill Mr. Plus, it’s Lois Duncan! She of I Know What You Did Last Summer fame. Griffin at the library book sale because I remembered there being a movie with a similar title and plot ( Killing Teaching Mrs. That Griffin’s the sort of guy you’d like to kill.

Killing mr griffin book