Suicide Books

I found this book disappointing. It might be okay for a person who is only slightly depressed. I actually laughed out loud when I got to the part where the author "helpfully" points out that there are suicide hotlines which are open. Ya think? Those hotline counselors are poorly trained although I am sure they mean well. I think they are mainly to call EMTs for life-threatening situations.

This might be worth a read, but I do not recommend it for someone who has unsolvable, daunting problems. I feel the author trivializes people's crises, although he claims not to.

Quinnett's appraoch is straightforward. His knowledge of suicide is well-researched, especially the advice he lends to people thinking about or considering suicide. I rated this book 5 stars because it was so helpful and SO VERY thorough. -Chris Palmer, author VOICES BEYOND THE STREAM.

A good number of suicides are financially related and people that are stuck in catch-22's. We have excessively rich people in our society that do jack all to help eliminate suicides that are financially related, yet they can line the pockets of politicians with millions. Yet everyone and their mother can spend a few bucks on lottery tickets that the lotto collects to give to the lucky winner(s). We live in a sick society, the only way anyone is going to solve suicide is to acknowledge there are many causes of it and that in some rare circumstances suicide is a rational and final option after all avenues have been exhausted.

But most suicides fall under:

1) Financial circumstances one cannot escape from that was not purposely brought upon oneself (i.e. debt due to loss of job rather then it being self caused by being a spendthrift)
2) Circumstances of ones own biology and neurology which effects how long one can keep a job, if able to function in one at all. Which causes #1, and the downward vicious cycle.
3) Parental abuse or negligence while growing up
4) Crises of expectations/a life of bad experiences, one after the other for an extended period of time that re-enforces the notion that nothing is going to get better.
5) Acute lonelyness, lack of love, self hatred, and body image (if one was born severely ugly/disfigured, etc)
6) One has ones quality of life significantly reduced in extremely significant ways (i.e. become disabled, disfigured, loss of limbs, etc).

I bought this book, hoping that it might offer me some intelligent and persuasive help, but was dismayed by its banal psycho-babble. It may be a helpful book for someone who is new to therapy or who is not struggling with agonizing circumstances, but not for the self-reflective or truly pained.

I've read some peoples reviews about how suicide can be an alright decision some of the time. That's perhaps the stupidest thing I've ever heard, suicide is nothing more than a copout no matter how you look at it or what. The reasons that people try to explain why someone commits suicide or wants to commit suicide aren't nessarily so black and white as 'someone not being happy with their body or just a general lonelyness. The fact is that suicide is an entirely selfish act whether you admit to it or not.

Now I'm not trying to look down on anyone who wants to or decides to kill themselves. I myself had thoughts of doing it in various parts of my life but I've realized as hard as it is to do sometimes you just gotta have faith in yourself and in life itself not some all knowing 'God' despite what others preach. We all have to find content in our lives no matter where we recieve it.

I hope people find this review helpful.

This book has it all: intrigue, politics, terrorism, romance, wealth with a Hamptons backdrop. He did alot of research for this book and it is a real page turner. I'm looking forward to his next one...

At this point in time, I'm about 3/4 of the way through this book, and told my wife that I already know how it ends... I will continue to read it hoping for some sort of redemption... aside from the brief sexual encounter between the new chief of police and his new hire... Which I agree with all those who've pointed it out... Small town cop + new female officer = NOT GONNA HOOK UP! If this guy is so smart, he would have avoided that like the plague. The author tends to use the "hero's" full name WAY too often... Justin Westwood this and Justin Westwood that... By the end of the first two chapters, the reader should pretty much be on a first name basis with the main character.

The author of this book seems to imply that there may be a big government conspiracy behind terrorist bombings and the special powers they are being given to deal with terrorist suspects both at home and in Guantanamo Bay. Justin Westwood, a police officer from a small town near the Hamptons in Long Island, New York investigates a plane crash of a small plane. From a few "suspect" things about the death of the pilot involved, Justin goes off on an investigation that causes people who know too much to be killed and top government officials to go after Justin.

I found the whole story implausible and what was really insulting is that anyone who know something seems to be wiped out without a thought by government agents but Justin being the hero is treated totally different. Another thing that bothered me is how easy Justin gets involved with a female cop who he has just hired. Being a real small town with a tiny police force a romantic involvement could really jeopardize a working relationship. Justin supposedly being so smart should know better.

Justin seems to be like Jim Garrison from JFK in pulling together all these "facts' that nobody else can get to piece together the whole organization of the conspiracy. This book did not leave me in the end with any desire to get any more of the other Justin Westwood books. This was a bad attempt by the author to put his "Michael Moore" type theories into a book. He should have just written a political commentary instead.

In a tirade against the current administration veiled as a novel, "Russell Andrews" has written his worst book yet. Justin Westwood is back and investigating some apparent terrorist acts that take place close to his small town. As he investigates the acts, one of which involves the death of the town police chief, the body count rises, as does the intrigue. On a literary level, the book is average. On a propaganda level, the book is obviously a pacifists dream.

I agree with some of the other reviews regarding this novel--it's mediocre and the ending was ridiculous. Very transparent. Maybe I'm just not a hard-core conspiracy buff, but I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to buy into the story.

Ackerman clearly loves and knows how to use words...her very specific descriptions of nature are complemented by her overview of the process of "hot line" management and intervention. Sometimes it's difficult to tell which is her priority. But that's not a negative...she operates in the land of NOW, and reminds us all to do the same. I am recommending, and purchasing, for others.

As a volunteer at a local crisis center, Diane Ackerman gets to explore the human psyche. She traverses the human drama with a sense of compassion. She answers calls from a wide variety of people in her local area. She tells the story of a college student dealing with a drunken roommate and a frightened and depressed woman who has taken a bottle of Tylenol. Each call is a private drama and at times the stories created an emotional response.

Diane Ackerman's writing style and careful observations allow you to feel the pain of the callers. I will admit that it did at times feel insensitive when she alternated between stories of her enjoyment of life (baths, watching squirrels, biking) with the stories of people's pain. There are stories of squirrels interspersed with stories of people wanting to jump off bridges. She at times digresses into talking about depressed polar bears or how she watched a moth for hours out in nature.

She discusses famous people with manic-depression and talks about how she broke her foot. At times this reads like a diary of events over one year so you are not only hearing about the callers you are reading about the events of Diane's life. There is also a behind-the-scenes look at how counselors actually feel about the callers. I was not surprised that Diane Ackerman also goes looking for one of the callers because she is especially curious.

In the end this book seems to be about compassion and the fragility of human life. If you remember that Diane is as interested in nature as human nature, this book makes more sense. I liked how Diane encouraged the callers to nurture themselves and how she saved lives through intervention. The conversations with the callers are the highlight of the book and you may find yourself skipping through some of the other details to get to more stories about the callers.

~The Rebecca Review

A beatifully written book by a highly actualized woman. Wonderfull to know there are people like her. One comment. "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is in the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution. (p92?) And alas, had the founding fathers declared personal intoxication our god given birthright what kind of world might we live in today?

I really wanted to like this book. It's about a subject that interests me -- working on a crisis phone line. And it is written by a renown and respected writer. But I was disappointed.

I have volunteered on a crisis phone line in a university town, and the setting the Ackerman describes is so familiar it's almost like she and I were at the exact same place. I relived my own steps up the stairway up to the phone room, sat on the couch where you could rest while waiting for your shift, perused the log book....

But Ackerman digresses almost constantly, straying far from the subject of the book. In fact, it's hard to say what is the meat of the book and what is a digression. This is intentional, as she believes in following the path of her own imagination. I found it self-indulgent though.

I really wanted a more focused look at the experience of working on a crisis line, how you are touched by others' lives, how difficult it is to help. Instead, she does much meandering about, well, squirrels. Lots of squirrels.

As a therapist in a mental hospital and a volunteer for a crisis line, I was very interested in this book for Ackerman's insights into working with persons in crisis over the telephone. While I did appreciate her healthy and Zen-like perspective on life and the natural world, I felt she really didn't address much about the crisis work at all. Instead, most of this book consists of ramblings about unrelated aspects of nature and shameless self-promotion of her other literary and artistic efforts.

To illustrate my point, I present a breakdown of a typical chapter in the book; of 22 pages, 3 pages were dedicated to thoughts about being an artist, 2 pages to women's roles, 4 pages to her ordeals when she broke her foot, 1 page about zoos, 1 page about food, 4 pages about solar eclipses, 1 page about the word "asylum", 4 pages about squirrels, and a whopping 2 pages about a crisis call.

I agree with other reviewers that her writing stlye is also very awkward, with some sentences running on for entire pages and rarely coming to any points. While this book isn't entirely bad, I felt it was a disappointing effort at addressing the dynamics of individuals on both sides of a crisis telephone line, which is how it is promoted.

What I like about Banks' stories is that we not only find engaging and interesting characters that have tension between and within them, but the colorings each has also creates its own dynamic. Banks' characters are never neat and perfect and they have their own demons to fight, even as they are discovering that the world is not even what that character thought it was (and not what we thought it was, seen through their eyes and memories).
The same goes for the characters in this story. We are rooting for them to go one way or another, for it all to resolve in a particular fashion when Banks pulls the rug from under both our and the central character's feet with revelations that twist the picture and alters the interpretation of the past and present.
I agree with another reviewer that Banks can interject political overtones into his modern characters that seem out of place or just a bit much, but it doesn't kill what is an interesting story with some great scenes and situations in it.
Overall a good read, but not one of my top ten books by IB, which continue to be mostly his "skiffies" (Sci-Fi).

Generally agree with points raised by Nef below, where we part ways is that I think that the book's flaws are critical. I didn't really identify with the main character (which is who I assume we are supposed to like as readers), and his out-of-character rants at the end of the book didn't help matters. That fact that he is a stock character (disillusioned black sheep etc.) didn't help matters for me. I found the plot "twist" at the end of the story predictable, strange and erratic first-person narrative by a character that is mostly non-impactful,....I could go on but whatever. No need to restate Nef's well written review.

The only other book of Banks' that I have read is "Wasp Factory", and I thought it was pretty cutting edge, utterly unpredictable with bizarre and well fleshed out characters. Hoping to find some more of Banks' stuff that is cut from this mold.

I did enjoy a lot of the imagery, however, as I have traveled to many of the locales in the book. Banks does have a gift for descriptive imagery.

Another good book from Mr Banks. This book isn't really anything new for the author, but an ongoing refinement of his style. Broad, complex setting, lots of inner dialog, motivated characters and a dash of perversion.

This books reminded me of both "The Business", "Complicity", and "The Bridge". I think it was better than "The Business" - the setting is similarly set amongst some very wealthy people, but the scope of the events in the book is more in keeping to the scope of the setting.

Worth reading.

"The Steep Approach to Garbadale" is the latest literary novel by Iain Banks. Alban, exiled son of the wealthy Wopuld family, has been invited back into the fold for a crucial meeting at the family's Highland retreat (the Garbadale of the title). For several generations the Wopulds have made their fortune in producing the boardgame "Empire!", but now an American corporation wants to buy them out. Alban plans to attend this meeting, not only to voice his opposition to the sale, but also because at this congregation - perhaps the last which will involve the whole family - he may be able to find from them answers to questions he has held long in his mind. What is the truth behind his mother's suicide over thirty years ago? And what are his true feelings for Sophie, his cousin and first love?

The story is divided between two main timeframes, through which Banks explores the complex web of characters - each one colourful and many of them eccentric - which make up the far-flung Wopuld family. The first of these timeframes takes place in the present, as Alban attempts to rally the family against the American takeover bid. The second takes the reader through various episodes from Alban's past, including his teenage tryst with Sophie. Both are woven together seamlessly and skillfully, in a way which does not disrupt the narrative.

Indeed on the whole Banks' style flows well and is easy to read. His command of detail in each scene is excellent and it is possible for the reader to feel fully immersed in every new setting - and there are many, from Alban's childhood home at Lydcombe, Somerset, to exotic Hong Kong, sweltering Singapore, and the hilly environs of Garbadale House. In addition, Banks is expert at capturing on page the raw emotion and humanity of his characters (the intensity of Alban's summer affair with Sophie stands out in particular) but is also able to do humour at the same time, something which is evident in the fast-paced and consistently good dialogue.

This is not to say that the book is without its faults. Firstly, the resolution feels somewhat rushed and in many ways too neat for the complicated network of familial relationships that Banks spends the book depicting. Also, though the majority of the book is narrated in the third person, there is also, confusingly, an occasional first-person narrator known as 'Tango', who appears in only three short sections and has apparently very little relevance to the story.

These small points aside, however, "The Steep Approach to Garbadale" is a very good and engaging book, and one that I can easily recommend.

This is the last non-scifi book of Iain Banks I will buy, although he will probably find a way to rant his passionate hatred of America and its government in a scifi book as well. He finds it hard to believe that Americans could be surprised that the attacks of 9/11 happened; that we deserved it. He tows the fashionable ultra liberal party line. What a whiskey-addled fool. His work has been going downhill. The ending was obvious early on.

This book was a miracle for me! Everything he said in the book was true, all the things I have been told about my voice. I felt like I was reading my life story. Yes, he spent some time talking about the establishment, but only when some of the advise did not make sense. I have already recommended this book or any other book from Dr Cooper to my friends, coworkers and family. He honestly saved my job because my voice was a huge issue in my reviews and termination was bound to happen. Now I know how to keep my voice healthy. Thanks Dr. Cooper!

There are a few good ideas and solutions in this book to help people with voice disorders. Unfortunately the book is very frustrating in that it has very little structure and endless repetition of Dr Cooper's odds with the medical / voice therapist establishment. I had to read the entire book because I wanted to be sure of extracting every practical piece of information it contained regarding my voice problems. Apart from that I would have set it down very early.

Dr Cooper endlessly trumpets on about how he pioneered Direct Voice Rehabilitation against critiscm from the rest of the medical community. He devotes a whole chapter to questioning the ethics of the wider medical establishment in respect of the accepted treatment of voice problems. Why??? I just want to know about how to fix my voice not join Dr Cooper's self-indulgent crusade to justify himself!

Consequently, the book could have been about a third (or even less) of the size and a lot more focused on practical solutions for the reader. I have begun to read his other book, "Change Your Voice, Change Your Life" but it didn't last long as it is the same drivel with a different cover.

If you are serious about your voice, please take a look at Roger Love's work. This guy really KNOWS voices! As for this book by Dr Cooper, I wish I could change the star ratings that I gave this book to 1, but it's too late now. (I must have been feeling generous when I first wrote this!)

Frankly, I had high hope when I bought this book, hoping to change my voice and make it last longer. But the book is very disappointing offering only a couple of tips on finding the natural voice. The rest is just the author boasting his successful experiences in treating numerous patients. If you are looking for a real self-help book, you should look further.

In short, he says to focus the voice in the mask (the nose and lip area), breath from the 'midsection' (or, abdomin, as most would call it...) and speak at your optimal pitch level. All the rest is Dr. Morton raging against the vocal establishment machine, and telling us how horrible most all ENT advice is.

Save your money; I wish I had saved mine...

Instead, see any of Patsy Rodenburg's books.

This book has only a couple of pages of useful information.It could of been more focused on solutions to voice problems.

Potential buyers can find some additional reviews under the paperback version of this book: "The Empty Church: Does Organized Religion Matter Anymore". Considering the two books, I think the text is the same, with only the subtitle "softened" in the paperback (as is the binding, from hard to soft).

Broader Context (in which to understand reviews and book):

In large measure, all the other reviews (both here and for the paperback edition) are either Pro or Con depending on which side of a cultural and religious divide the reviewer stands.

This book agrees with those of us who believe in the God and Christ of Christianity in it's historic form, as opposed to the "anti-(historic)Christianity" emerging in American society (such as from the Westar Institute; see "21 theses, Robert Funk"). Theologically liberal people will not appreciate this author's call to return to historic Christian beliefs. Theologically conservative people will find an eye-opening description of how anti-Christianity is taking over the mainline protestant churches.

Instead of going elsewhere and starting their own religion, many people who have turned away from historic Christianity are attempting to co-opt the social structure of mainline protestant churches and turn them in to "anti-Christian" churches -- i.e., social institutions with a newly redefined philosophy which stands in opposition to historic Christianity. Catholics are too tightly controlled from a Biblically and traditionally anchored hierarchical top to be so transformed. Evangelicals and Eastern Orthodox follow the Bible too closely to be so transformed. This book, "The Empty Church", is about the vulnerable middle, the mainline protestant churches, which are not tightly controlled, and which have cut their "anchor line" to Biblically based historic Christianity.

Sadly (for people of my ilk), author Thomas Reeves' call to return to historic Chrisianity, now over a decade old, remains largely unheeded. A "new" "anti-Christianity", which is riddled with inconsistencies when combined with previously historic-Christian churches, is slowly leading to "The Empty Church" syndrome in mainline protestant churches -- hence the name of this book, in both its hard cover and paperback forms.

Well, I LIKED the book! Dr. Reeves made a well-documented case as to the bottom line reason for the imminent demise of once great mainline Protestant denominations in the US. (As I write this the PCUSA is anticipating a major split between its "moderate" minority and "liberal" majority. So what else is new?) I'm sorry if other reviewers thought Reeves' analysis harsh. Of course, these same reviewers, so disappointed at Reeves' analysis of mainline Protestantism, probably found Gary Wills' trashing of the US Catholic Church in his book "Papal Sins" a "fair and honest analysis of the contemporary Catholic Church." Yeah, right. While we're on the subject of the Catholic Church and mainline Protestant denominations (the same ones Reeves writes about)......it seems ironic that leaders of these denominations (ELCA, PCUSA, UMC, etc.) are the same ones currently engaging in "ecumenical" discussions with their Catholic counterparts. Their more conservative offshoots (PCA, ELCA, Southern Baptists) see no reason to do so as they continue to _grow_, mainly at the expense of their more liberal "parent" denominations. What Reeves would make of this mainline ecumenical frenzy I can only guess. (As an aside, Reeves himself converted to Catholicism in 1997, a year after his book "Empty Church" was published.)
As to the growth of MCC, the only reason I can figure that the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) has grown as big and as fast as it has in the last decade is that many of the gay and lesbian subculture "communities" once marginalized within the big mainline denominations, have now found a "home" in MCC in which they can openly, and without guilt, embrace their "lifestyle" and call it "Christian."

This short book (211 pages), briefly summarizes why the seven mainline churches are declining in numbers and influence. Professor Reeves says, "All too often, believing so little of the orthodox faith, liberal Protestants offer merely what can be found elsewhere in secular society." (p. 172). "Liberal Protestantism, in its determined policy of accomodation witht he secular world, has succeeded in making itself dispensible." (p. 173). "Here we are at the root of things: the submission of liberal Protestantism to a secular gospel rests upon a failure to accept the essentials of the Christian faith." (p. 175). Some readers, no doubt, will consider this book a vicious attack on liberalism. Perhaps the arrows have hit their mark. If anything, I think professor Reeves final chapter, "Renewing the Mainline," to be overly optimistic. I doubt that the "seven sisters" (American Baptist Churches USA, Christian Church-disciples of Christ, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ, & the United Methodist Church) can turn it around. Their numbers, and influence, will continue to wane because they have departed from the Nicene creed orthodoxy. Whether you are a bleeding heart liberal, or an arch conservative, I think this little book will get your blood boiling, and that is not always a bad thing. Perhaps it will make some people reassess their positions. As a recent song said, "If you don't believe in something, you'll fall for anything." This is true of the Seven Sisters. I predict the future will not bring renewal to the liberal churches, but further decline. The numbers of the fundamentalist churches, like the Southern Baptists, will continue to rise. And I also look for a steady increase in the Roman Catholic & Eastern Orthodox churches. At least they have some backbone, and truly believe that Jesus is God's Son, raised from the dead. So-called "liberal" christianity seems to believe in everything BUT the historical creeds of Christendom.

The funny thing about reading this book is: I've been seeing precisely what the author talks about first hand with my parents. They went to a Methodist conference and were bullied by pro-homosexual members into arguing over allowing gay marriages and such. After 2000 years, the pro-homosexual members have finally arrived to properly interpret the Word of God for everyone.
My parents' church is now wrestling whether to split from the Methodist denomination, and my parents are debating whether to bolt from their own church.
It's happening, people.

As sad as the decline of America's major denominations is, it is encouraging to see so many non-denominational or evangelical churches growing so rapidly.

I don't have a problem with the "harsh tones" of this book in regards to what liberalism is doing to the body of Christ.
Just read the Old Testament prophets when they delivered their warnings to the straying people if you want harsh tones.

I wouldn't presume to evaluate the book on its academic merits, although it appears well researched with copious footnotes. The author does however certainly speak for those of us who went through mainline divinity schools in the last few decades ( Duke, class of '83) only to discover the doctrine of the Trinity has been redefined to mean feminism, Marxism and political activism.

The last chapter of the book gets a bit preachy, but it would be hard for anyone to disagree with his description of what has been going on in mainline churches for the last three decades. Anyone wanting to understand the dynamics of contemporary protestant Christianity will find this valuable material.

Not too long ago I reviewed Catherine Sampson's second novel, Out of Mind. Although the critics didn't like it, I did. So much so that I looked up her first novel, Falling Off Air, and anything else I could find by Sampson. Publishers Weekly called Sampson's debut novel, Falling Off Air, "a smooth read...(giving) scant attention to setting and the plot unfolds slowly at first, but about midway through, the pace picks up and the last quarter is a first-rate read." Personally, I found the entire story rather plodding.

In Falling Off Air, Robin watches as one of her neighbors, well-known philanthropist Paula Carmichael, falls to her death at her London home. There is much speculation as to why. It seems that Paula and journalist Adam Wills, father to Robin's two-year-old twins, were filming a documentary about Paula's work. But the film was never completed. Instead, Adam turns up dead, a victim of a hit-and-run.

That's too much coincidence for Robin, so she begins to sleuth around, especially after she is arrested and suspected in Adam's death, since it was her car that killed him.

I agree with Publishers Weekly in that "Ballantyne makes for an unusual sleuth: how many detectives need to first hire a babysitter before going out to save the world?"

I did learn in my investigations, that Sampson has a third novel featuring Robin Ballantyne, but it has yet to find a U.S. publisher. After reading Falling Off Air, I'm not as inclined to the order that third novel as I was after I finished Out of Mind. In all honesty, after reading Falling Off Air, I was tired of reading about raising children, which is the meat of this novel.

Armchair Interviews says: Heed this reviewer's comments.

Big shout out for this fantastic thriller - and I want more from Sampson. She's ultra-cool; a brilliant woman for her times, with all the conflicts that go with that: having kids AND needing her career. Great story. Couldn't put it down. The audio is extremely well done.

Absorbing and engaging mystery novel. Yes, it is a bit long on domestic details - Robyn is a stressed-out single mother, we get it - but the plot and characters make up for this. The only let down was the ending, which felt like an abridged version that the author was ordered to write by an editor.

Robin Ballantyne has her hands full these days as this complex novel opens. Her lover abandoned her to raise the twins he fathered and her TV career has been on hold for a year. So too has her entire life as her world has shrunk to her children and their needs. While she loves the twins with very fiber of her being, she is lonely and depressed and struggling hard to cope with day-to-day problems. The fact that her neighbors are fighting one evening outside her small London town house certainly does not help much. Nor does it help when, hours later after she finally got the twins to bed, she happens to see a woman crash to the pavement across the street during a heavy thunderstorm.

Robin summons help, but she knows from the way the woman, who fell at least three stories is splayed out on the street, that she is dead. What she did not realize at the time is that the deceased woman was Paula Carmichael, a very vocal social activist and member of the Labour Party in Parliament. She also does not know why Robin is mentioned in Paula's dairy and why she comments in detail about the twins. Not only does Paula know the names and habits, the passages in the diary suggest Paula was stalking Robin and raise other questions for the police. Questions that Robin is powerless to explain no matter how many times or in what form, D. C. I. Finney asks them.

Robin also does not understand why, since she was so very good at her job of producing television documentaries before going out on maternity leave, she can't have her old job back. Instead she is made an offer for an ethics watchdog type position, something she does not want but may have to grudgingly accept to keep food on the table. Her shaky return to work is further complicated by evidence that begins to appear, beyond the dairies, which seems to implicate her in Paula's death. The result is a firestorm of media controversy and other complications, which force an increasingly agitated Robin into actively trying to clear her own name.

This is a well written intense novel that quickly becomes a sheer joy to read. Written in a cozy style with a minimum of violence, descriptive or otherwise, the work proceeds at a fast pace pulling the reader into Robin's chaotic world. The author's unique writing style quickly conjures up the world she has created and the pages flow by all too fast.

Featuring strong fully developed and realistic characters, strong pacing, and a twisting mystery, the focus is on the psychological makeup of individuals we all know regardless of setting. The result is an excellent read and one that should make any list, mystery or not.

This entire review previously appeared online at OnceWritten

Kevin R. Tipple © 2005

A new genre of detective fiction, recently much in evidence. Young, beautiful, brilliant, plucky etc. etc. heroine, solves mystery and gets her man! And is supermom besides, with adorable twins (what else?) one of each, and a de rigeur dysfunctional family, but all cardboard cutouts. On the plus side, I did think she had glimmerings of a good book in there somewhere - I might pick up her 5th or 6th to see if her talent, and she seems to have some, has matured.

This book is pretty much a fairly straight reporting of Palestinian cultural influences that produce what we read about in the news. Children growing up steeped in hatred and the sick machismo of the Palestinian Arab Muslim male. It's very sad and insurmountable problem that the Israeli's and the rest of the world face, basically an ignorant violent culture that isn't going away.
The book documents this in an objective way. I gave it 4 of 5 stars because I believe it recorded the authors experiences truthfully. It is however somewhat overwhelming in the pure hate that you are constantly being bombarded with, and with no end in sight. This makes the book a bit depressing.

This book shows how Arab society in the Levant has supported a culture of death and destruction. It shows the elements of the incitement and manipulation that create this culture. And it makes it clear that suicide bombings are not just a few acts of a small minority, but have become an inherent aspect of the overall community. It makes one sad to see all the destruction, and it makes one worried about the future of the Arab community as a whole, which appears to be its own worst enemy right now.

Still, I had to take away a star from my rating. That is because the authors make a huge effort to be totally neutral in the Arab-Israeli conflict. They do not entirely succeed in this, but that isn't my complaint. My problem with this attitude is that neutrality between aggressors and victims is a stand in itself. Neutrality favors aggression and insanity, both of which need to be condemned severely. Arab aggression is not helping Arabs or Jews. It isn't helping the region to become more peaceful. Quite the contrary. Aggression needs to be opposed. And the authors ought to have done just that.

As one reviewer so eloquently pointed out, Anne Marie Oliver and Paul Steinberg show a complete disregard for political and social factors in their extremely superficial and biased analysis of suicide terrorism. In order to describe the true motives behind suicide attacks, one must look into the root causes of suicide terrorism. Contrary to popular belief, a typical suicide bomber is not a religious zealot seeking to destroy the West because he abhors our liberal values. In point of fact, most suicide bombers are secular individuals, as corroborated by the fact that the group responsible for most suicide attacks in the world the Tamil Tigers are adamantly opposed to religion. Admittedly, religion is often used as a tool to recruit new suicide bombers by promising them eternal life in paradise. Nonetheless, religion is by no means a primary motive behind suicide terrorism. While its importance should not be downplayed or denied, it only plays a secondary role.

Robert Pape has in my opinion conducted the most meticulous and comprehensive study of suicide terrorism. What makes Pape's study so superior to every other book on suicide terrorism is that it refuses to make simplistic and unsubstantiated claims. It delves deep into the root causes of suicide terrorism and is not afraid to ask the dangerous questions. Pape's study demonstrates without a doubt that most suicide bombers are driven primarily by political motives. According to Pape, the principal motive of suicide bombers is to obliterate the presence of foreign powers from the areas that suicide bombers consider to be their homelands. Therefore, simply labeling a Palestinian suicide bomber as a religious fanatic driven solely by religious motives is a gross overgeneralization and oversimplification. Most Palestinian suicide bombers have divulged that their primary motive is to fight the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and to relieve the suffering of their people. They believe that the only way to fight a much more powerful adversary is to resort to suicide missions. In the view of the Palestinian suicide bombers all targets are legitimate since they are at war with Israel. They also believe that they have the right to retaliate against the Israeli killing of the Palestinian children and women which Israel by the way conveniently labels as the "collateral damage".

Understanding suicide terrorism does not suggest in any way that it is morally justifiable. But if we really wish to understand its root causes then we must tell the truth and refrain from making sensationalistic albeit incorrect and misleading conclusions. People who live under the Israeli occupation are subjected daily to humiliation and derogatory comments. They live in abject poverty where desperation, despair and hopelessness are omnipresent. It is out of these gruesome conditions that suicide terrorism emerges. Imagine being humiliated and mistreated every day in your own country by an extremely powerful bully. What would you do?

All these factors are somehow overlooked or at best downplayed in this book. Subsequently, the conclusions are erroneous, inaccurate and biased. I recommend Robert Pape's brilliant book Dying to Win The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism and John Esposito's Unholy War Terror in the Name of Islam. In addition to these books, I recommend an extremely powerful and disturbing movie Paradise Now.

This book is one of the most obnoxious partisan screeds I have come across in a long history of reading about this region. The authors conveniently ignore the entire political context, that of Isreal's belligerent military occupation of Palestinian territories, which is what the people they have written about are fighting against. Such decontextualized, depoliticizing representations lead readers to interpret the subjects of this book as simply deranged individuals, rather than politically motivated people who are shaped by and reacting to their history and social context. In addition, the authors either misunderstand or deliberately misrepresent the range of complex meanings associated with martyrdom in Palestinian society, which in fact go well beyond the issue of suicide bombers. Drawing on the most cliched set of Orientalist caricatures, the authors portray their subjects as alternately murderous, backwards, bizarrely exotic, sadistic, or simply crazy. This is not a book for anyone who actually wants to learn about the social, political and religious situation in Palestine and their relationship to martyrdom and suicide bombers.

Oliver and Steinburg's book is an excellent look into the world of the Palestinian suicide bomber. Unlike some reviewers that disparage the political analysis missing from this book, I found the authors' insights quite accurate. The authors' aims were not to provide the historical context, nor to provide a critique of suicide terrorism in general (a la the comment concerning the Tamil Tigers above), but to give an experential portrayal of Palestine during the first intifada. Paradoxically, a couple reviewers bemoaned the book because it portrayed Palestinian suicide bombers as religious zealots and nuts, which makes one wonder if they actually read the book because one of the central themes of the book is the understanding of the suicide bomber as a rational actor.

This book puts Palestinian suicide bombing into the context of Palestine, which is why the understanding of the religious theme becomes incredibly important in contrast to secular groups such as the Tamils, which are motivated purely by politics. A major failure in the understanding of terrorism comes from secular scholars who don't or can't understand religious motivations because those of us in the West no longer regard it as important, though to believe this of the rest of the world is a severe misunderstanding of contemporary social realities and ends up projecting one cultures assumptions onto a completely different one with different mores and values. The primary reason given by suicide bombers for their actions is revenge, but understanding the religious background in the Palestinian context is very important to understand some of the justifications behind their actions. Of course, both religion and politics will remain factors that provide the background for understanding suicide bombing, while the primary factors motivating these individuals will always be personal experiences of oppression and/or abuse (in their eyes).

This book gives one an inside look into the world of the Palestinian terrorist and does not claim to provide ultimate causes, a look at Palestine outside the world of religious terrorism, in-depth analyses of all factors, or a look at suicide bombing in general. For students of terrorism this is an intriguing glimpse into a particular social reality of Palestine - that of the world of those who fight as religious terrorists. It's extensive, and forever irrecoverable, collection of intifada media, as well as an in-depth look at the language of the intifada make this book worth the time it takes to understand the insider worldviews, dialogues between believers, and images it records.

Where has this book been hiding? I had the great fortune of finding it in a used bookstore and could not put it down. The prose is beautiful, characters seem real (all of them!), and the theme makes one think. Not your typical brain fluff kind of book - read this one to get in touch with feelings, exercise your mental skills, and enjoy reading. Highly recommend! I will be on the lookout for more by this author.

I'm sorry to say I just can't get into this book. I try to read at least 100 pages but nothing so far has sparked me to go even that far. It is very slow going and I just can't get interested in any of the characters.

When black sheep Theo Shaw is found shot to death, along with his girlfriend, the only survivor,his young son, his already quirky family is thrown into turmoil. Told from multiple perspectives, including the deceased's former girlfriend, his writer sister, his mother and his golden-boy guilt-stricken brother, A Southern Family is an intriguing meditation on family ties, present and those that exist from beyond the grave.

If you are looking for a cheerful fluffy book ~~ this book isn't it. This is a detailed look into one family's life ~~ before, during and after the middle child dies. Actually, this book is more of reminisces ~~ a cluster of stories that revolved around the dead character as well as each individual characters' lives.

It's an interesting book ~~ but it did feel like it was dragging on too long in some places. It's depressing but uplifting at the same time. It's a look at the complicatated relationships between mother and son, husband and wife, wife and inlaws, brothers and sister, friends and so on. It's very fascinating ~~ a glimpse into people's private lives. The Quicks will be a family that you won't soon forget. There is Lily, the mother, Ralph, her husband, Clare, her daughter, Julia, Clare's friend from childhood on, Snow, the daughter-in-law and mother of the only grandchild, Felix, Clare's lover, Rafe, the younger brother and Theo, the middle child who kills himself and his girlfriend, leaving behind broken family ties that his family had to begin to ravel together again.

It's a book on life and grief and hope. It's well-written and thoughtful ~~ but it could have gone at least a 150 pages less ~~ but that's just my opinion.

3-30-04

Not for those looking for a suspenseful thriller, Gail Godwin is one of our best modern day writers, who is interested in character driven novels as opposed to those focusing on plot. Here, Clare, Ralph, Lily, Theo, Snow and others are feeling and thinking human beings who have positive and negative traits -- in other words, they are real people, living through a tragic and uncertain event. Even though the book is rather long, I did not want to leave these people, even in their grief.

If you enjoyed this book, I would also recommend Stuart O'Nan's "Wish You Were Here," as well as three Susan Howatch books: "Wheel of Fortune," The Rich are Different," and "Sins of the Fathers," which are all excellent examples of rotating the first person in each chapter (as is done here).

So very little is available about the subject of sibling suicide, I was not aware how big of a problem we are facing until it hit close to home, this books are so very helpful, they have been for me. I am still in the process of coping and trying to understand why, it's all so very raw and sad but the books have helped me a great deal.

The book is full of good information for siblings of a suicide victim but is very difficult to read shortly after the tragedy. The first chapter tells in detail the story of a young college student's sister's suicide. It is hard to keep reading the book because of the emotions it evokes. The rest of the chapters are not so hard if you can just get past the first chapter. So don't stop reading, even if it is tough.

This book was far to autobigraphical and the author's attempts to generalize her experience felt shallow. I lost my only brother to suicide not long before reading the book. It just didn't bring me any solace or increase my understanding.

On the other hand, I also read "No Time to Say Goodbye" and even though it was not aimed at siblings-only, I found it very helpful. Perhaps it was a matter of not just focusing on one single person's story.

As a Survivor myslef I found Do they have bad days in Heaven a wonderful book. It has hope and inspiration to continue on in this life. It gave me the information I needed for support. Michelle brought much awareness to the fielf of suicide awareness. As a sibling survivor I thank her for writing about the forgotten ones when it comes to suicide survivors. This book is an excellent resources for suicide awareness. I see this book being used by many and have already recommeneded it to many who are interested in suicide prevention and suicide support after a suicide. I am President of a local Survivors of Suicide support group. We have Do they have bad days in Heaven in our library. It has never been left with in our library because when one person is done reading it it is already into the hands of another.

This book was a huge disappointment! I lost my only sibling, my younger sister, to suicide less than one month ago. I was really hoping for this book to be helpful. Even though it has moments of clarity, it is mostly as intriguing and insightful as a high school term paper. I definitely feel for Ms. Linn-Gist and her loss, but the book was not very good. I also read "No Time To Say Goodbye" by Carla Fine, and found it to be much more helpful than what was delivered here. It really hit home emotionally and delivered on what I had hoped to find in this book.