The Program

The Program

by Suzanne Young

In the not-too-distant future, suicide breaks out among teens around the world. Teens are literally killing themselves left and right. 

In a panic to save the next generation, the government creates The Program. Each day, students fill out a survey to determine their mental state. Each day, handlers walk the schools and streets, looking for tell-tale signs of depression. Each day, parents and friends report people to The Program. And each day, those people are forcefully taken to be "cured" before they too submit to suicidal thoughts.

Sloane has every good reason to be sad but she's not allowed to show any of it. One tear and she'll be the next to go to The Program. People enter The Program as one person, but leave as someone completely blank. All of their memories are taken. All of their personalities are wiped. They are blank slates, no longer depressed but no longer themselves, either.

After Sloane's brother kills himself and her best friend is taken to The Program, Sloane knows that they are watching her. They are looking for a sign, a moment of weakness, anything that will justify taking her away. Sloane's only comfort and the only person she can trust is her boyfriend, James.

But when James succumbs to the thoughts, Sloane is truly alone and The Program is watching.

Final thoughts: Good dystopian novel with some interesting ideas. I've been seeing this on bookstore shelves for a while and kept thinking that I must have already purchased it and had it in my TBR pile because it's definitely up my alley. When I finally read it, I was not disappointed. It's realistic and dark with some chilling content and predictions of the future. Can suicide become contagious? Some of this also reminded me of Uglies mixed with a little Hunger Games and some 1984 for good measure. It was a good read but I'm not sure how much I want to read the sequels; this may be too dark a path for me.

Rating: 4/5

The S-Word

The S-Word

by Chelsea Pitcher

Before her death, Lizzie had been invisible most of her life, until she got caught by her best friend in bed with her best friend's boyfriend.  Suddenly she became the most well-known face on campus and she had a new nickname: Slut.

After her death, she became Suicide Slut.

Now, someone is defacing her locker and passing around pages of her diary, sharing secrets no one knew before she jumped to her death at school.

Angie, her best friend and the person who should be angriest at Lizzie, is determined to find out the truth, even if that means destroying everyone around her in the process.

Final thoughts: What a mess!  This book is almost schizophrenic in its storytelling.  Angie seems to be having a psychological breakdown throughout the book and the final third is just a confusing mass of something indescribable.  There are pages that are almost completely dialogue with no description and it reads like a one-sided phone conversation.  A crucial piece of the puzzle goes undescribed for pages while the characters TALK about it, but take forever to say what it is they are talking about.  It's completely unbelievable and strange.  And the end is just weird.

Rating: 2/5

A Touch Mortal

A Touch Mortal

by Leah Clifford

Eden has made the choice.  She's decided that since life hasn't been very good to her, she's going to leave it.  But the moment she decides, Az walks into her life and everything changes.

Az is more special than Eden could ever have thought.  He's an angel caught between worlds.  He left "Upstairs", but still hasn't completely fallen "Downstairs".  He has more free will than most angels, but is always in danger of coming one of the Fallen.

Eden keeps him from Falling, but now she's in danger.

A choice must be made.

Final thoughts:  An absolute mess of a book with moments of greatness hidden in the pages.  The author seems to have some sort of logic in her head about what's going on, but she's very bad at conveying it.  I constantly found myself questioning things, especially those things having to do with suicide.  In Clifford's world, once a person commits suicide, she disappears quite literally from the lives of the people she left.  Parents and friends forget about you. Your room is magically converted to an office. Your social security number disappears. All evidence that you existed is gone.

REALLY!?!?!  Because that's NOT how it works in the real world.  Eventually, most people move on, but the initial impact of a suicide is horrendous and gut-wrenching to those who knew the person. No one just disappears within days of dying. I really don't like the message conveyed with this concept. Kids thinking of killing themselves already believe that no one will care if they live or die; did we really need a book that encourages that opinion???

Eden herself is a massive ball of contradictions.  She's strong when the author needs her to be, but weak when the author needs it. It's not character-driven personality, but plot-driven.

And can someone explain to me why suiciders (Siders), suddenly return from death and wander the Earth only in the last hundred years or so and why the powers that be above really have no idea what's going on? No logic at all.

Again... moments of greatness surrounded by mounds of trash.

Rating: 2/5

Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

Hannah Baker is dead.

She killed herself by taking pills, though no one really knows what happened that day.

She's left behind her parents, her secret crush, her desk that is left empty for her, and... tapes.

7 tapes.

13 messages to 13 people.

13 people who were key to getting her to the point of committing suicide.

13 people who possibly started it.

13 people who could have stopped it.

13 people who must now listen to all 7 tapes all the way through and pass them on by mailing them to the next person on the list.

13 people who must listen and mail on the tapes or a second set will be released publicly and everyone will know their dirty little secrets.

Clay Jensen is one of them.  And now it's his turn.

What secrets will he discover?  How will they change him?

Final thoughts:  This is an amazing book that is still haunting my thoughts.  It was so well written that I wanted to read it in one sitting... but couldn't.  The writing was breathtaking, as was the story.  It was so well written that I often had to put it down and take a few moments to get away from Hannah and her story.  For anyone who's ever been the victim of bullies and wondered what would happen if you just disappeared, this is the book you need.  And, if you really are at that point, call 1-800-SUICIDE.  If you know someone who may be at that point, go to www.hopeline.com.  Just don't let anyone become another Hannah.

Rating: 5/5

By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

by Julie Anne Peters

"Bullycide.  I know that word well.  Suicide as an escape from bullying."

Daelyn knows bullycide only too well.  After two botched suicide attempts, she's determined that the next time she tries, she will not fail.  She's got it all planned out including the date, time, and way she's going to do it.

What she hadn't planned on was Santana, a home-schooled boy who lives near her school and suddenly is very interested in her.  She also hadn't planned on meeting Emily, a girl who is just as fat as Daelyn used to be and is going through many of the same things she had.

So, as Daelyn plans her suicide and spends time on a website devoted to those who are planning to kill themselves, she also finds herself reaching out to others and being reached by them for the first time.

Is it too late for her to step back from that suicidal ledge she's balancing on?

Final thoughts:  Initially, this book frightened me.  It's very well written, but filled with far too much detail with regards to many of the different options available, IMHO.  However, as I continued to read about Daelyn's past and reasons for wanting to just die and get away from the pain, I could see where she was coming from, though a large part of me wanted to just reach through the book and comfort her.  The ending is ambiguous, but I can just see this book getting banned because of the content. (I hope I'm wrong.)  This is good for older teens, especially those who don't see a way out, but should not be kept in middle school libraries.

Rating:  5/5