World Suicide Prevention Awareness Day 2020

**If you are having thoughts or feelings of suicide call 911 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to talk to someone. Do not hesitate to reach out for someone else.

Suicide Notes

By: Michael Thomas Ford

2/5 Soundless Movies

(Trigger warnings: suicide, self-harm, and sexual assault)

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. This year, World Suicide Prevention Awareness Day is today, September 10. Each month, I hope to read a book in honor of the cause of the month, then write a Beyond the Book blog post. These blog posts are designed to provide factual and scientific information that goes in tandem with the book read. The goal is to connect information with the world of reading, and highlight how important it is to open our minds, hearts, and souls. Since this month's Beyond the Book selection was Suicide Notes, I decided to focus the statistical information specifically on suicide in the LGBTQ community.

Suicide is so prevalent in the United States that there were two and a half more suicides than homicides in 2018 (National Institute of Mental Health 2018). According to The Trevor Project, suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults aged 10 to 24, with LGBTQ youth contemplating suicide three times more often than their counterparts. Furthermore, LGBTQ youth are five times more likely to attempt suicide and five times more likely to need medical intervention compared to heterosexual youth (The Trevor Project). Transgender youth is even more affected, with nearly 40% of the population attempting suicide at least once (The Trevor Project).

These numbers are absolutely staggering, and it begs the question: what can we do to improve? Can reading really help? Falkoff posted an intriguing article about society and literature's (apparent) obsession with consuming materials about suicide. The earliest writings on suicide can be traced back to Ancient Greece; however, it is clear modern literature has honed in on the topic more than ever before. Since Jay Asher's publication of 13 Reasons Why in 2007, researchers have seen a spike in YA novels containing suicide. (Whether or not Asher's book and the Netflix adaption responsibly address the seriousness of the issue is a blog post for another time.) While these novels cannot replace real-life resources, Falkoff states that they do offer insight into someone's thoughts and feelings that may lead to more empathy.

Unfortunately, the idealization of suicide in literature is so common that it's connection to actual suicide has received its own term: the Werther Effect. According to Alice Nuttall, the Werther Effect is the connection between glamorized representations of suicide and actual suicide attempts/successes. It's not only the description of suicide, but it's the methods described in literature that may lead to an increased rate. (As much as I loved One of Us is Lying, I think it may be guilty of this, as well.) The issue lies in how the method is portrayed: does the author say it's painful and long, or does the author mention peace and tranquility? It is absolutely necessary for literature to contain real life problems, one of which is suicide, but it needs to be done in an effective and appropriate manner.

The good news is that most copycat suicides are based off true stories rather than fictional creations (Stack 2003). While this study is a little outdated, I would think the popularity of social media would only solidify these finding (*I am not a professional, this is merely my opinion). Stack (2003) implies that media coverage is more to blame for rises in suicide than works of literature. In my opinion, works of literature can shine a different light on suicide than what media coverage allows for, which may be why the copycat percentage is lower.

As I will write later, there are many novels (YA novels especially) that I don't believe handle the issue of suicide appropriately. 13 Reasons Why, Dear Evan Hanson, and basically any John Green novel are all stories I feel idealize tragedy and mental health issues. I was incredibly worried Suicide Notes would fall into that category... and to be quite honest, I'm not sure it doesn't. I did love the humor Ford incorporated into his book. In my opinion, that is a way to engage readers and make the book feel more relatable. There are other aspects of the novel that I strongly disliked, however. Based on the research I read, it sounds like effective literature should focus on thoughts and feelings rather than methods and execution. By describing the pain, hurt, and regret, authors are more likely to send a positive message rather than promote and idealize suicide attempts themselves. Suicide Notes does focus on thoughts and feelings more than other YA novels I've read, and I had high hopes up until the end. The novel started out as a solid 4 star read for me, but by the end, I was rather disgusted with the book as a whole. There was so much potential, and I really, really wanted Suicide Notes to measure up, but I would classify it as part of the problem. I'm starting to wonder if it's possible for an author to correctly portray suicide and self-harm without instigating potential copycats? I have yet to find a book that meets my standards.

Review

Jeff is 15 years old. He lives in a nice suburb, with a nice family, and relatively no problems. One day, he wakes up in "the nuthouse." As he tries to tell Dr. Cat Poop (really named Dr. Katzrupus) multiple times, there was no reason for the suicide attempt - Jeff is just a silly kid who felt like doing something stupid. Of course, Dr. K doesn't believe Jeff. meaning Jeff must spend the mandatory 45 days in the psychiatric ward with other "nutcases." As the "nutjobs" come and go, Jeff faces new obstacles.

At first, Jeff and Sadie hit it off. They have an easy friendship and talking to each other keeps them both sane. It isn't until Rankin comes along that Jeff begins to display more emotion than his sarcastic remarks suggest he has. Rankin has no shame or embarrassment, causing Jeff to question the new feelings bubbling inside him.

It isn't until the last 100 pages that the reader is given a glimpse into Jeff's reasons and deep, dark secrets. While the reader does infer a few things, he or she finally hears it from Jeff himself at the end. Not only does Jeff learn to tell the truth, but various events happen that will change his world forever.

**Spoilers:

I'll be honest, without the humor, this book would not have been tolerable for me. I think the topic of mental health in the LGBTQ community could have had a little more justice than it did in Suicide Notes; nevertheless, I do think young adults will find it more relatable than I did. I have to keep in mind that I am not 15 anymore, and while I have been around mental health issues, I wouldn't compare anyone in my life to these characters. I think what bothers me the most is that I felt like I was on a rollercoaster while reading this book, but not in a good way.

At the beginning, I loved all the characters and Ford's humor. I thought this book was going to be a solid 4 star read. By the middle, it went down to 1 star. It wasn't instant, but there were a few things that rubbed me the wrong way, starting with Rankin. I understand that Jeff was trying to hide his true feelings, but Rankin going into his bed and touching Jeff without permission is sexual assault. I don't care if Jeff tried to brush it off, I was disgusted reading those scenes because it was written so nonchalantly when it shouldn't have been. Yes, Jeff is questioning his sexuality. No, that doesn't mean Rankin can just climb into his bed. While these scenes are integral to the plot, they need to have more... disclaimers to them. More emotion. More something - anything - to remind the reader that nonconsensual advances (especially to that degree) are NOT okay. Moving on, the death of Sadie was so... anticlimactic. It's a scene I should have cried at and yet, I felt nothing. Sadie was even one of my favorite characters! But it was so deadpan. The entire chapter was just like stating a fact: Sadie is dead. Jeff barely even had a reaction! This just really irked me. Finally, Ford described Jeff cutting his wrists as peaceful and feeling good. How is this supposed to make the reader understand that suicide is not worth it? If it felt so good, why wouldn't Jeff try again? I think it's okay to mention those feelings because they can be true for some people... but as a reader, it was hard to believe that Jeff would just magically recover from that when he doesn't talk about the goodness of life like he describes the joy of cutting his wrists.

However, the book did gain some credit when Jeff finally came out to the reader. Now that story was believable and heartbreaking. It took 250 pages, but this book finally made me feel some emotion. I understood then why Jeff behaved the way he did. Why he felt suicide was his only way out. But honestly, it felt too late in the story for the book to fully recover. It wouldn't matter anyway because the next chapter, Jeff goes on to say that he didn't stop Rankin which means he was at fault, and the doctor doesn't mention anything about it. At this point, I felt like skipping the last 30 pages but it seemed like a moot point, so I powered through. I highly recommend skipping this book,

Works Cited

Falkoff, M. (2017). "Can reading about suicide help us understand it?" The Week. Retrieved from here.

National Institute of Mental Health. (2018). "Suicide." National Institute of Mental Health. Retrieved from here.

Nuttall, A. (2020). "Doing No Harm: A Look at Writing Suicide and Self-Harm in Fiction." Book Riot. Retrieved from here.

Stack, S. (2003). "Media coverage as a risk factor in suicide." Epidemiology and Community Health, vol. 74, n. 4. Retrieved from here.

The Trevor Project. (2020). "Preventing Suicide: Facts About Suicide." The Trevor Project. Retrieved from here.