Suicide Books

Shannon, a priest and professor emeritus in the religions studies department at a Nazareth College, makes an important point in his introduction that informs much of what follows. He offers dictionary definitions for "death" and "dying," each dealing with endings. He then gives the Christian definitions: "Death is the beginning of life, life at its best, at its most real" and dying is "to start living in a most wondrous way." He also takes care to explore death and dying as two different experiences that reflect continuity (existence continues after death) and discontinuity (existence after death is radically different from existence before death.)

Against that background, Shannon addresses the form of life after death, comparing it to resurrection (Jesus) not resuscitation (Lazarus) and posits that the "the resurrection of the body and life everlasting" expressed in the Creed are experienced at the end of each person's mortal experience, "which, for that person, is the end of time."

These are but a few examples of the richness Shannon brings to this imminently readable and thought-provoking work. Other topics include funeral rites and organ donation, diminishments of old age with practical advice on living wills, hospice care, and medical decisions. As one would expect, the author also looks at questions of hell, and purgatory, limbo, and reincarnation. The final section, What We Believe about Heaven, tackles questions about heaven as a family reunion, a garden of delight, the Garden of Eden, and the Glorious Royal City. The book closes with answers to frequently asked questions about heaven, nearly 100 notes, and an index.

Thoughtful, easy to understand, relevant to today's everyday life in America. This book, written by a theologian is a wonderful book for 'all' Christians and non-Christians alike.

I sat down on Friday night, figuring to spend most of the weekend "working through" Here on the Way to There. I finished before I had lunch on Saturday. It was not exactly in one sitting, but i read the book through in one "go" as it were, following its points and even anticipating some of it, but most of all, appreciating, deeply feeling the truth and gentility in what it said.

This book is so very much like Shannon's other writings and his public addresses in tone and pace that you can actually hear his voice in the words. The same mix of deep intellect, and easy understanding, putting next to each other Milton, Joyce, the Doctors of the Church, and quotes from your aunt! and they all fit and flow and create a "seamless garment" that fits so comfortably.

I was very impressed ,and very moved by many of the things that Shannon said. Let me refer to some of them.

The idea of passion as something that is endured, or suffered. Yes, that is exactly what passion is, in any of its forms, and to think of dying as a passion is something that never occurred to me, no matter how many times "The Passion of Jesus" ran through my ears (page 7).

The necessity of "the person... to forgive himself or herself and open the depths of his or her heart to God" is something that I have seen in those I have seen die (page 9).

It never occurred to me that "death is ....something that we do....an action." (page 13) but of course it is. It is something that takes all our concentration. And that is why death is often precedes by more than a week the cessation of biological functions.

Shannon says "In death we at last cease to live the illusion of a separate, self-centered existence and realize that our life is -- and always has been -- lived with God in Christ and without sisters and brothers ( page 14)." And that is precisely why suicide is not an option, it seems to me, because suicide is a self-centered, self-absorbed act. What we want, what we think we need, a kind of ultimate self-centered existence.

The fact that "you cannot see your own face.... The reflection of your face is not your face....." (page 15) is very much like that painting of a pipe by Magritte that is labeled "This is not a pipe." It never occurred to me. And so, the "Beatific" vision is not only seeing and recognizing the face of God, it is also seeing and recognizing our own face! As the Rabbi you tell of did not at first recognize his name when it was read at the gate of Heaven.

And so on, and so on, there are just too many things I want to say about the book, too many passages I want to talk about for me to go over them all here.

Fr. Shannon's book is a comfort and a blessing, beyond words.

To form your own opinion on a subject, particularly if it is controvesal, it it wise to study the origin of the standpoint in question. . Arguments against voluntary death like : "Life is a gift of God, you should respect and leave it to him to end it" look good at first sight. But then you remember that the church used the same argument against birth control. In this matter almost everybody in the western world has accepted that the size of your familiy is your own responsability.
The book 'History of suicide " shows that the taboo against voluntary death is heavily influenced by the wish of the Roman empire and the early christian church to try and stop the decline in population. The economy in that period was very dependent on slaves and serves. A quotation: "The Council of Arles in 452 condemned the suicide of all famuli ( slaves and domestic servants). the servant who kills himself robs his master and his owner. His suicide is an act of revolt".
The book of Mr Minois gives plenty arguments for the statement that a responsable and free human being may find it justified to end his life. The God of the christans wants us to be" ïn his image ", responsable people. Responsable for the beginning and the end of life.

I read this book in one sitting. A scholarly work but no matter. The book will stand as one of the most important works ever published on the subject. Nothing is left out. And I could only guess but most will never be the same again...just to realize the vast scope of despair that has affected the human condition for centuries along with the differing cultural and religious viewpoints on the subject. Not a book for the faint at heart. But a book that provides the other side of what many believe (still) is an assumption that to live - is all there is. The meaning of life itself is the issue and this book tackles the subject as no one else had done for decades.

This book is a reference for those interested in studying Suicide and suicidal behavior. When studying a subject like this, everyone should start with the basics, i.e. historical reviews and perspectives of the phenomena. After reading this very well written book the reader will surely become more familiar with some of the basic thoughts pertaining suicide and its cultural, historical, and some light scientific perspectives of the suicidal phenomena. Everyone should read it, even for cultural enrichment. Webmaster.suicide@clix.pt

Hotline Heaven is a work which must not be read solely for its story, although the plot is most interesting and well-crafted. Instead open the novel to the first page and relax into the poetry which Ms. Park infuses with a personal magic into the voice of the female narrator. Here are articulations from the loneliest and most fragile dimensions of the human spirit which emerge in the darkness of a sleepless night. Ms. Park has a very rare ability to produce a story which begs to be read several times for the pleasure of both its beauty and its insights. To truly savor its richness, one must approach it with some experience of the uncertainty and unexpected beauty life has to offer. I await the next world she will create with great anticipation.

This book deserves a very careful reading as Ms. Park displays a rare gift for the articulation of inner landscapes of loneliness, hope and reconciliation. The book has layers of meaning which are woven together through the poetic and evocative talents of its author

I was moved and heightened by Frances Park's novel "Hotline Heaven". Turning each page, I can only compare it to rising higher and higher to another plane where only the inspired go.

Admitted it took me a couple read throughs to fully grasp every aspect of the story. I had not expected this kind of subject matter to be addressed in what looked like just another kid's book. The pictures work well here, I think the semi-defined art matches up with the limited knowledge of the child narrator. It serves to remind me much of the youth lifestyle I've lived through and seen much myself...one of popularity contests, in-crowds, loners, depression, and such. I think kids will learn a good lesson, and everyone else will stop and think after reading through it.

I saw this book in a used bookstore and picked it up because I was struck by the title and the image of the boy on the cover. I quickly read through it and then put it down, continuing my search for books for my seven-year-old son. But I kept thinking about the story, the characters and the illustrations. I knew that ten years from now, I would still remember how touched I was by the simple story of "I Never Knew Your Name", and I knew that if I didn't purchase the book I would always regret it. Although the central message of the story is the isolation of the boy who eventually commits suicide, and the failure of the narrator to reach out to him, I think I was more effected by the character of the narrator himself. A younger boy, also nameless, he observes the loner at night because he himself is staying up, waiting for his father to come and visit. A promise that his father didn't keep. Later in the book, the narrator is let down by his father again when he fails to take him on a promised fishing trip and the boy falls asleep clutching his fishing rod in his hand. The boy considers reaching out to the lone, older boy, but again, something holds him back.
As a teacher and a parent, this image haunted me. It made me think about how important it is to keep your promises to your children...not just promises to 'buy them something'...but promises to be there for them and spend time with them. Since reading the book, I find myself hugging my son more and telling him that I love him and smiling when I see him. It made me realize that an action, or promise which might seem very trivial and unimportant in your own very busy adult life, may be of monumental importance to your child. Likewise, it made me think about the hundreds of children I have taught history over the last ten years...the quiet ones, who sit at the back of the class and don't cause any trouble...the ones that you are least likely to notice but who might be the most in need of your attention.
I would like to thank the author and illustrator of this beautiful book for making me think about these things. I can't remember the last time I read something that moved me so deeply.

As a survivor of suicide, support group leader, crisis intervention specialist and teacher, I strongly recommend this book. It is suitable for any age group when properly supported by adults comfortable with this topic. Since 1980, the suicide rate has doubled for 10-14 year olds. Dialog must begin early and Garland offers us a wonderful opportunity to do just that without promoting her personal point of view. By reaching out to her readers to discuss this sensitive subject, she models the behavior that they may choose emulate - reaching out to others. Well done!!

Mr. Carlson has successfully assembled the definitive universe of suicide notes offering deep insight into the darkened souls that reach the final conclusion that life is no longer worth living. For professionals working with such distraught patients, this book is a must. Nowhere in literature has any other author captured the entire essence of what it is that compels a person to take his or her life. Mr. Carlson brings his reader face-to-face with the overwhelming sense of helplessness that runs as a common thread through the lives of his suicide victims.

I think there is a macabe side to all of us. Whenever we hear of a suicide, the first question we ask is always why? But do we really want to know? Do we really want to hear what pushed someone to the brink, to do the unthinkable? "I'm in the Tub Gone" is exactly that. A look at the last thoughts of those who chose to end it all and move past whatever it was that drove them there. Some of the notes are truly sad and crying out for help. Its a shame that their loved ones missed the signs. There are others that are vengeful and mean spirited and are the ultimate act of revenge. Regardless, the book is powerful and gripping and yet at the same time deeply disturbing. Its overall effect is to give us an upclose look at something we really didnt want to see. Is it worth reading? Yes but remember, its not something you will be able to simply put down and forget either.

I'm In The Tub, Gone by Richard James Carlson is a collection of authentic suicide letters. Mr. Carlson, a former police officer, offers us a rather macabre look into the very private world of those who have chosen to end their lives. Their final words are put on paper (errors and all) exactly as they were written. These suicide letters are undeniably chilling, sad, heartfelt, and terrifying. To read them is akin to driving by a car wreck, you can't turn away from it. You can't help but wonder what might have led these poor souls to take their own lives.

I'm In The Tub, Gone is a difficult book to catagorize. It is unique, and it is powerful. It is simple and it is moving. It is a stark reminder of how lives can be wasted, of how some people become so desperate, they can see no other way out. Make no mistake, this book is depressing, but it sends a message that no one should miss. Nothing is worth taking your life over. The act of suicide is so devastating to those left behind, and often, those who commit the act, have no idea of the long lasting and far reaching consequences of their actions. I recommend this book, not because it will make you feel good, for surely it won't, but rather for its message. It will help you realize how futile and selfish an act of suicide truly is, and how hard we must work not to ever let this happen to anyone we know or love.

Simply brilliant; a fantastic read that engages and entertains while weaving together unique scenery with the use of images from all over the pop-culture spectrum. The stories are excellent in their own merits, showing the creative depth and an artistic flair as Grindley moves from one story to another. My personal favorite would have to be "The Memoirs of a Supervillain".

I've read the introduction and am on the 2nd story... the intro was absolutely hilarious and riveting all at the same time, a real page turner! Highly recommended. Grindley has a knack for describing a scene in a way that's just like what you wanted to say. Stories: the 1st story was a lot of thoughtstream stuff, a la Joyce... the 2nd story has been quite fun so far!

I've just read the intro and first story, but am floored by this novel so far. A must read for fans of post-apocalyptic scenarios. Dark, very dark, and funny. David Foster Wallace + Chuck Phalaniuk + Poe + Lovecraft?

It took me a while to get through Johnno, despite its less than 200 pages, but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed each page. The slowness was more a function of my available time than of the novel's quality. Johnno is a little gem, a wonderful chronicling of a young man's coming of age, and his relationship with Johnno, a slightly troubled young man, in Brisbane right after World War II. David Malouf is a wonderful writer. Each sentence is a work of art--but nothing is too precious, too anything. It's an enjoyable book that I highly recommend.

I read this book in 1997, having avoided studying it a dozen years earlier in school. Since leaving school I had inexplicably held out on reading what is regarded as the best work of fiction set in and about my home town of Brisbane. Once I started reading I could not stop. In amongst the beautiful prose and vivid description lies Johnno, a character we all know, love, loathe, and long for.

An excellent book. As it turns out I'm glad I held out until I was old enough to really appreciate David Malouf's style, which is rich, evocative and so very (tempted to say 'real', but this is fiction) believable.

In less than two-hundred pages, Malouf manages to capture the coming-of-age angst of the entire Australian post-war generation. Only Malouf could be telling the story of two youths and, virtually on the same page, effortlessly synthesize the realities of Australian experience with European philosophical themes, and connect them both to the whole tangled mess of our national identity. And yet for all its efficiency and high intent, 'Johnno' still reads like an affectionate and deeply-felt memoir, never shying away from the emotional, physical and sexual confusion of youth, nor from the contradictions inherent in what it means to be an 'Australian man'. But that's the genius of Malouf, and it's something we find him doing again and again: telling an apparently simple story about ordinary people, yet with this richly poetic, philosophical undercurrent which can suddenly reach up and pull you under. For Australian readers, this is a particularly important skill. Not only does Malouf deal with significant human issues, but he brings them home. He takes them out of the realm of abstract philosophy and makes them implicit in this place. This makes his work at once deeply personal and resolutely public in the best sense: he has something to share with all of us, something important, and he shares it beautifully.

Powerful, well written, classic. I have been researching the rise and fall of the Peoples' Temple since 1980, and Naipaul has written a documentation that is not only deep and probing but also prophetic.

The powerful were not manipulated -- they were complicit. This much I know, and they remain complicit. I know things today about the Temple that Naipaul did not. Still, Naipaul's rendering is as balanced as it is unbiased -- something you don't find very easily anymore.

While the racial aspect of what happened in Guyana is such an obvious factor, what is not clear is why. Naipaul has a theory as eloquent as it is powerful:

"The CIA killed them. America killed them. They had gone to the Guyanese jungle because they wanted to live a life free of racism, sexism and poverty. ... One can think of them (Blacks) as the human equivalent of the radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants: sterile and potentially lethal. What, the ecologists ask, is one to do with this waste? Bury it miles underground? Shoot it into outer space? Discover some way of breaking it down and rendering it harmless? The junk people. The human waste left behind by American history, are no less negative, no less dangerous a quantity. One sees them on the streets of midtown Manhattan, carrying glittering noisemaking machines, dressed to kill, the ugliness and the hatred of the discarded slave glowing in their eyes. You see them in Harlem, standing drunk or drugged on street corners. What is to be done with them?"

What a concept. Not because of what or who they are ... but because of what we have made of them. The concept boggles the mind with it's clarity and coherence!

What is also true is that because the world believed they were all suicides (they were most assuredly not) no church would accept their bodies for burial. How can a travesty become any more horrendous, as the bodies bloated and leaked their toxic fluids in the tropical heat? Again, not something Naipaul was privy too, but I have learned since.

Further on, at the end, the book becomes even more prophetic in terms of where the concept of "mind control" took of from Jim Jones, validating theories that are unfolding as we speak. First copyrighted in 1980, it is amazing how clear his vision truly was. I love this book, and highly recommend it for insights into what is happening in this world at this time.

I love Naipauls work--always thought provoking and eloquent. It reminds me of the more recent memoir by the author and survivor of Jim Jones encampment in Guyana South America, Deborah Layton. Her book, Seductive Poison explains how the political elite were seduced into providing favors to the Peoples Temple--both in Guyana and the United States. Read together, Journey to Nowhere and Seducitve Poison are powerful bedfellows.

While Shiva Naipaul's fiction is powerful - I am thinking principally of his first work Fireflies - one can not deny that his legacy lies in the realm of non-fiction. He was, after all, a highly regarded travel writer.

I would contend that Shiva Naipaul was much more than a very good travel writer. While Journey to Nowhere uses settings, scenery and environment well to disturb the complacent Westerner, who has not had to witness the breakdown of the social order as the Guianese have, it also triumphs in simply telling a good story, something Shiva's older brother has a hard time doing in his Among the Believers.

Nowadays, the amount of fiction published is shrinking, while non-fiction is flourishing. This emphasis on non-fiction, fueled by a desire to cater to specific segments of society in order to increase profitability, has resulted in the production of some of the most boring books anyone will ever see. Proof of this is Edmund Morris' Dutch: non-fiction is so boring one has to make up characters to liven it up. Whatever happened to all the wonderful stories that life presents to us everyday? Is life so totally devoid of anything interesting that we must turn to our imaginations?

Shiva Naipaul's Journey to Nowhere stands far above the mediocre titles in non-fiction today, simply because Naipaul tells a good, albeit complex story. Naipaul traces the breakdown of the social order in Guiana to attitudes characteristic of the American Left. Eerie parallels can be found between Guianese strongman Forbes Burnham, Jim Jones, Huey Newton, and even - gasp - R. Buckminister Fuller. Nationalistic ideals people like Burnham, Jones, and Newton foster go hand in hand with leftist nonsense that R. Buckminister Fuller fostered. The dots are difficult to connect, but Shiva Naipaul connected them in this masterpiece which is certainly worth reading.

One morning Annie is pulled from class to learn now both her parents are dead and she and her brother are to live with grandparents they never really knew. How can anything be normal again, now that everything she's known has vanished? And, death means forever; nothing will ever be the same. A poignant story of vast changes and new beginnings.

One morning Annie is pulled from class to learn now both her parents are dead and she and her brother are to live with grandparents they never really knew. How can anything be normal again, now that everything she's known has vanished? And, death means forever; nothing will ever be the same. A poignant story of vast changes and new beginnings.

One morning Annie is pulled from class to learn now both her parents are dead and she and her brother are to live with grandparents they never really knew. How can anything be normal again, now that everything she's known has vanished? And, death means forever; nothing will ever be the same. A poignant story of vast changes and new beginnings.

Joni Woelfel wrote Meditations for Survivors of Suicide from her own personal experience of having lost a beloved son to suicide. She has drawn beautifully from the long journey she trod from her early shock and grief, to the place she has arrived at today - a place of knowledge and empowerment - which she is now using to help others deal with their own losses. This book is the perfect tool for anyone needing support to map out their own path through the many phases of grief.

This collection of essays is beautifully-written and a true godsend to anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one through suicide. Spiritually driven but factually supported, the book combines the author's heartbreaking narrative of the suicide of her youngest son, Mic, with her painstaking journey to rebuild her own life, her outlook, and her faith. This small but powerful volume offers candid insights and gentle advice to those who must face this unthinkable tragedy and move forward.

Meditations For Survivors of Suicide, is much more than a companion manual to a grief journey and it is not a compilation of grief cliches. This book takes the reader on a thoughtful spiritual journey that flows from the heart of a mother that refuses to be crushed by her son's suicide.
It is much more that her lamentations about her son's premature death due to depression at age 18. It is a story of hope, faith, recovery and a touch of the mystical, as Woefel relates some of her dream thought in pointing out how she is " still connected to her son by eternal bonds of spirit and love"

Reflecting her unquenchable sprit, Woelfel says,"it has come as a shock to me that it is possible to feel fully alive and in love with life after knowing such tragedy...." "Even though we carry this sorrow we awaken each day knowing there is a choice that can be made between despair and faith"

Yet survivors of suicide will find practical value in the chapter on "The Ten Gifts of Grief" as well as advice on how to celebrate birthdays. Of inestimable value is the resource at the end of the book on the FAQ's of suicide which is a guide to the recognition and prevention of this life-robbing, but often hidden, disease.

Meditations is a must read for anyone whose life has been touched by suicide, but it is also a good read for contemplative persons who have more than fleeting thoughts about life, love, living, and dying and are seeking unique insights of an author who has much to share.