Suicide Books

After reading Clare Morrall's 'Astonishing Splashes of Colour', which was fantastic, I was thrilled to see this second novel published so soon. I will not review the story line of 'Natural Flights'; you can read a great report already submitted by reviewer [..]on this Amazon site. I will simply say that Clare Morral wrote 4 unpublished novels before these two were published. Someone needs to take a serious look at the others and see if they warrant publication, too. Ms Morrall is a gifted writer and I'd like to thank her for her amazing perseverance. I eagerly await her next book.

Peter Straker lives alone in a lighthouse on the Devon coast. But his mind is full of the voices of 78 people who died in a train wreck almost 25 years ago. Peter feels responsible; he is sure he caused their deaths but isn't certain how. In the lighthouse, as the coast tears away at the shore, he hears their voices, accusations and sometimes even their kindness. Peter lives like a hermit, going to town only for food and supplies and talking to no one. But the arrival of Imogen Doody forces him out of his exile and back into the world of the living.

Clare Morrall's sophomore effort, following ASTONISHING SPLASHES OF COLOUR (a Booker Prize finalist) centers on Peter and Imogen as they navigate a tenuous and emotional relationship that makes each deal with their tragic past and their hopes for the future.

Imogen, or "Doody," is a school caretaker, an angry woman with no friends and a strained relationship with her family. She discovers she has inherited a cottage on the Devon coast from a godfather she never knew. The cottage is a dream come true, a place to be alone with her thoughts and perhaps even finish the novel she half-heartedly has been working on. But the cottage is also a disaster, abandoned and decrepit, and she has neither the money nor the know-how to fix it up. It is her activity in the cottage that attracts Peter, and he talks with his first living person in years when he meets Doody. Her anger flashes again and again and he retreats to his lighthouse again and again, but they eventually come to something of a truce and begin to work on the cottage together.

Over time they open up to each other and discover that both were emotionally scarred and damaged 25 years ago --- Peter with the train wreck and Doody when her husband abandoned her never to be heard from again. Could the events be related? And why does the discovery that Doody has also inherited a small plane make Peter so upset? What happened to Doody's husband, and what happened when Peter last flew a plane almost 25 years ago?

Although Morrall's book is not a mystery, these questions and others haunt the narrative as they do the characters.

NATURAL FLIGHTS OF THE HUMAN MIND is a beautiful, thoughtful and thoroughly successful novel. Morrall's characters seem and act real; while the foundational events are quite extraordinary, Peter and Doody are just normal people who are lonely and guilty and more than a little afraid of relationships and the future.

Morrall's prose is lovely and quite readable. This is serious stuff without being heavy, and character-driven without being dull. And there is resolution without easy answers or clichés. This is also a novel that is creative in its description and use of setting. The lighthouse seems to be crumbling along with the shore as Peter explores the truth of his responsibility and the world at large intrudes upon his solitude. Doody must clear away the years of misuse to find the beauty and functional space in the cottage.

Guilt, grief, family, forgiveness, tragic pasts, drama, an unforgettable setting and uniquely drawn characters --- this novel has it all.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

This book has been around for thirty years, and it needs to be reprinted in a nice new edition. Most of Cioran's works have indeed been re-released recently. Unfortunately, this one has not been. And that is a shame given the power of the title essay. The other essays are okay. But the title article is the best.

I doubt that I have ever read a better 16-page essay than "The New Gods." Its marvellous prose shines through everywhere. When I read that Saint Gregory's oration against Julian the apostate "makes you feel like then and there converting to paganism," my jaw dropped. I got a copy of that oration right away!

Cioran explains that early Christian apologetics are simply a set of libels camouflaged as treatises. But there was one thing that made Christianity different: hatred. Without that hatred, this new religion would merely have traded in "the old gods for a nailed corpse."

Cioran is not the first to criticize Christianity. But he then goes on to defend Paganism. He explains that under Paganism, fervor is shared among Goddesses and Gods. Only under monotheism does this fervor degrade into faith and aggression. People, being capricious, would shift from one God to another if given the chance. And Pagan Goddesses and Gods do not demand to be worshipped, just respected: in general, one does not kneel before them but merely hails them.

As Cioran states, the human soul is naturally Pagan. And thus he has a conclusion: we humans will return to Paganism. The only thing Christianity had going for it was hatred, and that is no longer going to be there to sustain it. We'll ask the Goddesses and Gods to return to us. And maybe we'll even stop the bizarre Christian practice of burying the dead in broad daylight.

My favorite quote from THE NEW GODS: "It is difficult, it is impossible to believe that the Good Lord--'Our Father'--had a hand in the scandal of creation. Everything suggests that He took no part in it, that it proceeds from a god without scruples, a feculent god. Goodness does not create, lacking imagination; it takes imagination to put together a world, however botched. At the very least, there must be a mixture of good and evil in order to produce an action or a work. Or a universe. Considering ours, it is altogether easier to trace matters back to a suspect god than to an honorable one."

This is a reaction that's generally referred to as gnosticism or Manicheanism. And I can dig it.

Rather than giving us more "imaginary" scenarios of what "might be going on in the mind of a terrorist" (as if modern torture methods or any other methods could definitively uncover intentions - a witch hunt mentality), Talal Asad is asking the right questions. What makes terrorism so terrifying that it has to be labeled distinctively - rather, than say, a gun-wielding student running amok at a university, killing 30+ people and then himself? Why does the topic of suicide bombing cause overwhelming horror over and beyond the scope of other horrific acts by state armies or school shootings - the disproportionate maiming and killing of civillians, women and children from far range by modern military weapons? The author doesn't attempt to give simplistic answers and wave the problems away, nor does he apologetically defend any perpetrator of terror - individual dissident or modern government.

What he does is uncover the disturbing truth that the double standard exists in our media and liberal democracy discussions: as soon as a modern government labels a dissident regime or country or religious group as "barbaric" or "uncivilized", it gives itself the right to kill "their" citizens or attack "their" defenses just as it has been previously attacked. Where is the line crossed?

Very deep reading. The author touches on Islamic and Christian culture and compares and contrasts what living and dying mean in each. This was one of its strongest aspects. Once the ideas of living, dying, and sacrifice are understood in terms of a particular culture, only then can its stance on suicide or bombing or terrorism be correctly understood. Do proponents of terrorism or suicide bombing abide by the tenets of their religion or is it a subversion of their teachings? Or does it even depend on their circumstances or our reading of it as a foreign culture with the necessary misinterpretations? It is a highly engaging book and covers many more relevant and related areas. I am glad it covers a side of the issues that is sorely missing and needed and has been missing from the contemporary media and intellectuals/academics who, as usual, are like a flock of sheep, saying about terrorism and the Islamic world just what everyone else does.

This book based on the Wellek lectures at U.C. Irvine is the best book on the topic of suicide bombings. As the other reviewer stated, it's approach brings "depth" to the topic, especially an understanding of Islam and the Arabic language, both of which tend to be seen as insignificant not only in the mainstream press but also in academic circles. Asad demonstrates why cultural anthropology has contributions to make to a topic and a region dominated by political science with its biases in which meaning lies away from "the ground up" and for the people it presumes to represent.

Some highlights that struck me--Asad's point that suicide bombing is about histories and the fact that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the history of Israeli expansion and Palestinian dispossession is always bracketed out, so that various kinds of political violence are abstracted from this political context. Another point he made is about the "West's" own "culture of death." I was very struck by his discussion of colonial and contemporary warfare waged by the West and the development of advanced weaponry designed to beat out at every turn surgical skill. Israel, prior to its departure from Lebanon last summer, left over cluster bombs AFTER the cessation of hostilities. There was no military point, no self-defense or security involved in that act. This act was aimed at a civilian population for no reason at all other than to maim and kill. The U.S. State Dept. "regrets" that Israel still hasn't turned over the maps that show where the cluster bombs were dropped, so that they can be safely disarmed. This is part of a culture of death in which beheadings are seen as more cruel than the machinations of the West's advanced weaponry, not because of any objective measure of "cruelty," but because non-Europeans do it to Europeans and their descendents.

The other point that Asad makes that I found profoundly intriguing was that in the West we impose a Christian understanding of martrydom--i.e.the crucifixion--onto public suicide bombings, but there is nothing redemptive about the suicide, so that leads Westerners to a problem in interpretation which we retreat from via righteous anger.

Asad doesn't try to pretend that the West is just obsessed with suicide bombings because of the media, although his quoting Mai Jayoussi on the I.D.F. figures which show that only 4% of attacks by Palestinians on Israelis are suicide bombings, was startling even to me, and I've lived and done research in the Occupied Territories. He takes on public suicides and shows how interpreting their meaning confounds assumptions in the West about the relationship between the state, the law, and public death.

This book very gently and compassionately guides children through grieving the loss of a parent or loved one and helps them focus on the happy, loving memories of the one they lost. After Elizabeth's father dies, she and her grandmother piece together a quilt made up of scraps of his clothing. Each scrap is reminiscent of a time when he wore the article of clothing. In the end, Elizabeth wraps herself up in this quilt to comfort herself and remember her father. I bought this book for my then 8 year old daughter when a classmate died of cancer, and we are still touched by its message 6 years later. It is a wonderful, wonderful book.

This book very gently and compassionately guides children through grieving the loss of a parent or loved one and helps them focus on the happy, loving memories of the one they lost. After Elizabeth's father dies, she and her grandmother piece together a quilt made up of scraps of his clothing. Each scrap is reminiscent of a time when he wore the article of clothing. In the end, Elizabeth wraps herself up in this quilt to comfort herself and remember her father. I bought this book for my then 8 year old daughter when a classmate died of cancer, and we are still touched by its message 6 years later. It is a wonderful, wonderful book.

"A Reason To Live" not only helped save my life, it set in motion several major - albeit, gradual - positive changes. Melody's personal life experiences and insights involving pain, loss and survival gave me some much needed assurance that I was not alone in this world. I admire Melody's strength and courage. I've learned I can actually use pain to become a deeper, more creative, honest and loving person. This book is non-judgemental, insightful, and ultra-practical. Please make more copies available. Thank you!

When my boyfriend committed suicide I felt I wasn't worth sticking around for. This book changed that feeling. I was lucky it did. About 6 months after his death I found out it was murder made to look like a suicide.

I enjoyed the book very much, it was sent in a timely fashion.

This is a beautiful book to help children cope with the death of someone close. It's simple, comforting message is also very appropriate for adults. It is not overtly religious or Christian, although it does have 'angels" (friendly guides) who help the children in the story understand that death is not a fearful horrible thing and that they will someday be together in heaven with the one they have lost.

I recall reading this book when I was a young girl (I checked it out of the library at our synogogue). A couple years back I found it again and bought it to read to my children. My oldest (now almost 4) found it and has enjoyed listening to it for the past several months. She loves hearing the stories of the old gandmother, and it has prompted her to ask to hear stories about our relatives who are no longer with us. I think it also helps her to reflect upon, and appreciate her relationship with her grandparents. We usually only read a chapter or two at a time, but we have read the book several times over by now. She will often ask for the "Grandma Goldina" book, and I would place it among her favorites. I know that we will be reading and enjoying it for many years to come. The ending is beyond her at this point, and I don't spell it out for her, but I'm sure when she is old enough to figure it out, she will be old enough to accept it.

The Remembering box tells about a little boy named Joshua and his Grandmother who collects items that mean a lot to her. One day Joshua wanted to go to his Grandmother's but his father told him that since you got smart with me you are not going to your Grandmpthers house. Joshua then and was very upset and was not happy with his father, so he went to his room and begin to cry on his bed.The reason Joshua got very upset and unhappy with his father was because he wanted to go to his Grandmother's house. Joshua wanted to go to his Grandmother's house was to sit down with his Grandmother and go through the box in which they called The Remembering Box because it brought back good memories. It sometimes brough back bad ones. There was item in the box thet I do remember. It was a stick that belonged to his Grandmother's father. He used this stick by poking it in the ground to find out where the water was so that he could dig a well. This is how they found water in those days. Well,so far in this story I liked this book. There was only one thing i didn't like about this story ,was when Joahua's Dad told him that he couldn't go to his Grandmother's house. Other than that I give this book and the author, ETH CLIFFORD, an A+.

Pets are (or should be) a part of every child's growing up. Caring for pets teaches children so many essential values about life and responsibility. One essential and unavoidable aspect of having a companion animal is that they will inevitable die. Sometimes of old age with all the medical complications associated with aging. Sometimes suddenly from accident or injury or error. The death of a pet is also a life-teaching aspect that if properly handled, can provide a child with values that will carry on to their benefit throughout their adult years as well. "Remembering My Pet: A Kid's Own Spiritual Workbook For When A Pet Dies" is the collaborative effort of Nechama Liss-Levinson and Molly Phinney Baskette to provide parents with a means of helping children ages 7 to 13 to cope with the loss of their pet through such means as planning a memorial service, recording photo memories of their animal companion, honoring their pet's memory by sharing with and giving to others, and so much more. Strongly recommended - especially for anyone who has lost an animal companion - "Remembering My Pet" will enable a child to express and deal with their feelings by drawing, writings, reading, creating, and engaging in activities that will result in a memorial keepsake they will treasure for the rest of their own lives.

This is a great gift for any kid whose pet just died, whether the pet is a dog, cat, hamster or rabbit. I really like it because it respects children's feelings, and understands that the loss of a pet can be as profound and sad for a kid as the loss of a friend or family member. At the same time, it offers ways for kids to learn to remember, grieve and go on with life.
Missy Chase Lapine
Author, The Sneaky Chef

At last, Beka Madison is a senior. If her tumultuous junior year is any indication of how her final year of high school will unfold, Beka is ready to walk across the stage to receive her diploma. Interestingly, author Sarah Anne Sumpolec weaves a more upbeat set of circumstances into this, her fourth installment in the Becoming Beka series. While Beka is still new to the Christian faith, she continually allows God to interject His ways and principles into her heart and mind. Rather than go it alone, Beka is finding strength and solace in her newly found faith and in her deepening relationship with God.

Beka's big step of faith occurs when an on-again, off-again short-term missions trip to Haiti forces her to depend on God in uncertain and unfamiliar settings. Frazzled and afraid, Beka admits to her best friend, Lori, that she might have made a mistake in committing to volunteer on this church outreach. Regardless of her unraveling emotions, Beka is going --- and what she learns there, amidst poverty and material lack, prepares her for the challenges of school.

With the lingering after-effects of an assault still on her mind, Beka wonders how her friend-turned-enemy Gretchen will treat her. But it isn't the now-demoralized Gretchen who's the threat anymore. It's Mai, another one of Gretchen's former friends. Beka watches, somewhat helplessly, as Mai cunningly befriends Beka's younger sister, Lucy. Warning her off does no good, and Beka is eventually forced to decide among sisterly loyalty, personal integrity and obeying God. Stepping out in yet another act of faith, Beka stretches and grows in her Christian journey as she chooses the hard road of personal accountability and sure social rejection. Somehow, Beka isn't quite so dependent upon the good opinions of others --- and this is a real turning point in her life.

While Beka steadily makes internal progress, external chaos is reigning. Her father begins openly courting another woman, her best friend's adopted parents are in crisis, and Beka is constantly in a state of flux as she wrestles with her feelings for two boys. Nothing from Beka's standpoint seems simple; even the decision about college is keeping her up at night. Yet, God continues to provide Beka with just enough grace, insight and hope for the day.

Readers will enjoy the continuing journey of Becoming Beka as this character faces down her fears by learning to lean into God and His promises to provide for her every need.

--- Reviewed by Michele Howe

Beka is a senior and the shattered pieces are behind her, but that doesn't mean that life is now easy. But the grown up Beka deals with the complexities of her senior year, of choosing between Josh and Mark, and of forgiving the past. Sarah Anne Sumpolec has provided a great next book in this series, keeping me reading and wanting more!

This touching tale of childhood friends will warm your heart and bring a tear to your eye.

Rudi's Pond is a wonderful story about how a little girl deals with the illness and death of her friend. The illustrations are magnificent. This book is a wonderful tool for teachers who might have a terminally ill student or a sudden death in their classroom. It also will help to enlightened children on the mature subject of dying. I recommend this book for children ages 5-8.