Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford

3/5 Stars

B&N:

I'm not crazy. I don't see what the big deal is about what happened. But apparently someone does think it's a big deal because here I am. I bet it was my mother. She always overreacts.

Fifteen-year-old Jeff wakes up on New Year's Day to find himself in the hospital. Make that the psychiatric ward. With the nutjobs. Clearly, this is all a huge mistake. Forget about the bandages on his wrists and the notes on his chart. Forget about his problems with his best friend, Allie, and her boyfriend, Burke. Jeff's perfectly fine, perfectly normal, not like the other kids in the hospital with him. Now they've got problems. But a funny thing happens as his forty-five-day sentence drags on—the crazies start to seem less crazy.

Compelling, witty, and refreshingly real, Suicide Notes is a darkly humorous novel from award-winning author Michael Thomas Ford that examines that fuzzy line between "normal" and the rest of us.

My Review:

This was an "OK" book. I really like the books about mental hospitals and such and this one wasn't too bad. Jeff is telling us his story about being in the hospital. He takes us through meeting the other teens there and the relationships he has with them. You know that he tried to kill himself, but you don't really find out why until the end. They give hints and he lies a lot, but the total story doesn't come out until the end. There was one part towards the end that was very touching...I didn't see it coming- although I should have.

I noticed on the inside of the book that it lists key topics that it deals with and one topic it mentions is homosexuality. This is fine with me and I would even consider putting it in my library (although I know some people at my school wouldn't be too happy-) actually, let me rephrase that. I'd keep it in my classroom- but behind my desk. That way I can really track who is reading it. BUT because of some of the descriptions on what happens... whether it be between males or females or males and females- it's a bit too graphic for 8th grade.

The character Jeff is great though. His humor and quick wit had me laughing at loud many times.