Shattering Glass

Shattering Glass, by Gail Giles, is a 2002 young adult novel that tells the story of how high school senior Simon Glass went from school geek to popular kid to murdered over the course of a school year. The novel, which is told from fellow senior Young Steward’s point of view, follows a linear storyline, moving from the beginning of the school year to the end. However, from the beginning of the novel it’s clear that Young Steward is telling the story as a reflection on the past events that led up to Simon’s eventual murder. While the story belongs to Young, each chapter begins with a quote from one of the many characters in the novel. The quotes, which are meant to be taken from characters who, like Young, are in the distant present, are often reflections, opinions, or interpretations of Young, his friends, and the events surrounding the night Simon was murdered. In this way, although the main story is biased toward Young’s perspective, the reader can make a more integral judgment about Young, his friends, and the murder by seeing the way other characters interpret everything.

The novel beings by admitting in the brief first paragraph that Young hated Simon Glass, and he and his friends killed him. Since the reader already knows what will happen to Simon in the end, the driving force behind the plot becomes the mystery of how and why it all happens. In this way, it’s clear that the novel’s purpose is to reveal how a group of high school seniors could be moved to murder a fellow classmate.

Most of the novel takes place in a small high school in Texas. Relying on familiar high school tropes, the characters fall into the category of popular versus unpopular. The narrator and his friends are in the popular crowd, and a charismatic yet mysterious newcomer, Rob Haynes, is their ringleader. The most unpopular student, Simon Glass, is considered an overweight nerd and is constantly picked on by the most popular student, Lance. Recently, Rob has overtaken Lance in popularity due to his good looks and general charm, and the fact that Lance is a jerk. Rob has it out for Lance, and he decides that transforming Simon into the most popular student in school is the best way to get back at Lance. Rob convinces his friends, including the narrator, to help him make Simon popular. The novel follows Simon’s transformation and is colored by the narrator’s opinions along the way.