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| Suicide Notes | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Thomas Ford
Publisher: HarperTeen
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $9.66
You Save: $7.33 (43%)
New (31) Used (6) from $9.64
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 425955
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060737557
EAN: 9780060737559
ASIN: 0060737557
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
I'm not crazy. I don't see what the big deal is about what happened. But apparently someone does think it's a big deal because here I am. I bet it was my mother. She always overreacts. Fifteen-year-old Jeff wakes up on New Year's Day to find himself in the hospital. Make that the psychiatric ward. With the nutjobs. Clearly, this is all a huge mistake. Forget about the bandages on his wrists and the notes on his chart. Forget about his problems with his best friend, Allie, and her boyfriend, Burke. Jeff's perfectly fine, perfectly normal, not like the other kids in the hospital with him. Now they've got problems. But a funny thing happens as his forty-five-day sentence drags on—the crazies start to seem less crazy. Compelling, witty, and refreshingly real, Suicide Notes is a darkly humorous novel from award-winning author Michael Thomas Ford that examines that fuzzy line between "normal" and the rest of us.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Funny and Sad December 11, 2008
I started reading this novel yesterday and I finished it yesterday. That usually means I loved the novel and that is true in this case. Suicide Notes is an easy and entertaining read. It's a mix of all kinds of different things: it's funny, sad, entertaining, and maybe a little disturbing. But I think it paints a picture of troubled youth that is probably more realistic than not.
As far as the issue of suicide goes, it's a very complex issue. A lot of people think about it in terms of black and white, but I think it's the very definition of gray. There are those who try to commit suicide out of momentary despair (like Jeff, the main character in the book), but there are also those who have severe depression, and then there are those that choose to end their lives for rational reasons. People who are terminally ill, people who feel that they've lived a good life and are ready to die, and then there are those who are just disillusioned with life (nothing brings any joy to them no matter how hard they try, so why stick around?).
This novel did not deal with the complex issue of suicide in our society, but instead it focused on one teen's personal experience. Jeff's experience is not a universal example of why people try to kill themselves, but within the context of the novel, I think that's a good thing. While to some of us the reason for why he attempted suicide might seem a bit lukewarm, it is a fact that it does happen, especially among the teen population.
Overall, I liked this novel. It was the story of one teen, and the whole book was from his point-of-view. Having said that, I also liked learning about some of the other characters that were in the psych ward with Jeff. I found Sadie to be an especially interesting character, and I wonder what kind of novel would this be if she had been the main character.
All in all, a pretty good read. Recommended.
People are missing the point November 21, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I think some of the people reviewing this book are missing the point entirely. Two reviewers point out that in the early days of YA literature about the gay experience gay characters were often "punished" for discovering their sexuality. Being suicidal and/or actually attempting suicide was a common theme. The suggestion is that today's authors have a responsibility to write only positive, happy books about gay teens.
But writing isn't about pleasing people. It's about telling the truth. And the fact is that what happens to Jeff (the protagonist of the novel) happens to a lot of young people, gay and straight. To pretend that it doesn't is to ignore the reality of their experience and suggests that feeling this way is somehow shameful.
Rather than return to a depressing theme, Ford takes that early theme of the suicidal gay teen and turns it on its head. Jeff is a funny, sarcastic character. He isn't overly dramatic and gloomy. He's being forced to look at his life, and the lives of others, in a new way because of what happened to him.
As for the suggestion that Jeff's reason for attempting suicide seems unbelievable and forced, I again think readers are missing the point. Jeff doesn't try to kill himself because he's gay -- he does it because he's lost his best friend because he feels he's betrayed her. It may not seem "realistic" to some readers, but for those who experienced such a loss of friendship and feelings of guilt over it, it rings all too true.
I understand why some readers -- particularly older gay readers -- might respond negatively to this book. For them it probably stirs up uncomfortable feelings. But for readers who have gone through what Jeff goes through, this is a breath of fresh air. Give it a chance. I think you'll be surprised.
Oh, and for those who suggest that Ford should stick to writing for adults, you should look at his website. He's been writing YA novels for years, and has published something like 30 of them.
 A Gay Teen November 16, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Ford, Michael, Thomas. "Suicide Notes". HarperCollins, 2008.
A Gay Teen
Amos Lassen
Jeff is a fifteen year old who finds himself in a hospital in the psychiatric ward on a New Year's Day. He thinks he is perfectly fine even though there are bandages on his wrists and his chart is full of notes from the hospital staff. He seems to have forgotten that he and his best friend Allie have had problems. He thinks he is normal but as he spends time in the hospital with those that he thinks are really crazy, he begins to see that they are not so crazy after all.
Jeff suffers from teen angst and he is not sure about his sexuality. He attempted suicide and this is what brought him to the psychiatric ward. He sees as he rests that he is incapable of dealing with his own in securities and issues so he concentrates on those of his fellow patients. The doctor has trouble getting him to speak about his suicide attempt but as time passes Jeff begins to feel more at home but still unsure what life in the real world will be like for him.
There was a time when gay literature was the literature of suicide and we have finally moved past that point. Ford seems to bring us back to it and although I have loved his novels, this one does not work for me. There is Ford's humor and his great writing style but his story is old hat. Because Ford can entertain adults with his writing does not mean that he can do the same with a book for young adults. Even though we know that gay teens may have suicidal tendencies, it is not like it once was and teens today are much more accepting of homosexuality. Today gay teems are productive and lead responsible lives and suicide, in many cases, is neither a problem nor an alternative.
Jeff is a character that we really do not get to know well. He begins as one kind of person and then becomes someone else as he thinks about what he has done. We are not privy to his reason for suicide until the end of the book and he becomes somewhat morose as he thinks about what he has done. We are kept in the dark about his reasons for too long and it seems to me that it was just thrown in. I did not feel anything for Jeff.
Please understand that I am not panning this book. There are some great moments and some good writing in it. It is not, however, what I would have expected from Michael Thomas Ford, a writer I have always admired. Because Jeff did not have a good reason for his attempted suicide, the book, for me, lost its effectiveness. It could have been so much better and I surely hope that Ford will stick to writing for adults. We love his work.
Interesting but Confusing October 27, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Reviewed by Rachael Stein (age 15) for Reader Views (7/08)
It's New Year's Day, and Jeff wakes up to find himself in a hospital psychiatric ward with no recollection of how he got there. Sure, he's got bandages on his wrists from self-inflicted injuries, but it's not like he's crazy, or so he thinks. Jeff is sure that someone has made a mistake and that he's not supposed to be stuck in the psych ward with all the other loonies. The weird thing is, though, that as Jeff endures his forty-five days in the crazy ward, the other crazy kids seem to be less crazy than at first glance. And the longer that Jeff stays with these other crazy kids and his psychiatrist Dr. Katzrupus (so lovingly called "Cat Poop" by an angry Jeff) he realizes he's tired of holding everything back and not telling the truth.
"Suicide Notes" was definitely not what I expected, especially the ending. The story starts out with humor, because angry Jeff is rather funny when he's being stubborn and sarcastic. However, as the novel progresses and Jeff wearies of all the lies in his life, he gets more serious, as does the novel. He spends more time thinking and reflecting on what he did on New Year's Eve and why he did it. I felt that Jeff's character dealt pretty well with the fact that he almost killed himself, but the reason for it I did not feel to be completely valid. It almost seemed as if Jeff's reason was thrown in the story at the last minute, and it didn't fit with the flow of the rest of the story.
Jeff's character flows similarly to the plot. He starts out snarky and fun to laugh with, but soon he becomes darker as he dwells on his actions. Despite the snag in the plot and likewise in Jeff's character, I felt that the story ended well with Jeff being hopeful. I did really enjoy reading about the other crazies in the hospital ward though, because crazy people always have incredibly interesting although sad stories about how they became that way.
"Suicide Notes" does an okay job of covering the serious matter of teen suicide. However, since I didn't feel that Jeff's reason for attempting suicide was completely suitable, it ruined part of the effectiveness of the story. Nevertheless, "Suicide Notes," or other books covering the same topic, should be read to understand teen suicide, if not for enjoyment.
 Not another gay suicide book . . . October 19, 2008
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
I'll say it flat out: I detested this book. If I had read it ten or fifteen years ago, I may have thought it was okay, but this isn't the early nineties anymore. Gay kids don't always have to hate themselves and try to commit suicide. Even if it does actually happen sometimes in real life, isn't it better to STOP writing books about how troubled and messed up gay kids are, and focus instead on writing books about how gay kids lead, I don't know, happy and productive lives? Think Alex Sanchez, David Levithan, Brian Sloan, James Howe, etc. All of these authors write fairly realistic portrayals of gay teens without drawing on the old 'being gay makes you want to kill yourself' stereotype.
Add to this fundamental problem of an outdated storyline some fairly mundane, if not downright weak, writing, a main character who is not particularly interesting (generic teenage standoffish behavior seems to be his only real personality trait), and a 'mystery' that was obvious within the first couple of chapters, and you come up with a book that is pretty lackluster.
And then it gets downright offensive. I don't know about you, but when if I were to wake up to a naked person in my bed touching me sexually, and I said 'don't' . . . that sounds like assault. How can an author write a book for teens that includes this type of behavior without making it a point to state that it is basically rape? It's downright irresponsible.
Having read some of Ford's adult novels, I know that he has talent as a writer. However, being able to write well for adults doesn't always translate into writing well for children or teens. In this case, he failed.
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