Author- Michael Thomas Ford

Publication date- 2008

Genre- Young Adult Fiction

Review by- Prakriti Singh

Source – E-book

Rating- 4.4/5

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. Never mind the bandages on his wrists, clearly this is all a huge mistake. Jeff is perfectly fine, perfectly normal- not like the other kids in the hospital with him. They’ve got problems. But a funny thing happens as Jeff’s forty-five-day sentence drags on: the crazies start to seem less crazy…

Compelling, witty, and refreshingly real, ‘Suicide Notes’ is a darkly comic novel that examples that fuzzy line between “normal” and the rest of us.

Jeff wakes up in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. The last thing he remember was lying on his carpet with blood oozing out from the slits he made on his wrists. Now, he finds himself in place full of crazies and he is more than determined to proof to his doc that he is ‘normal’. Some people become incurably crazy and some became his friends. Incidents after incidents happen and he begins to speak about why he was sent to the psychiatric ward in the first place and discovers what he truly is. Will everyone accept him?

The book, ‘Suicide Notes’ is wrapped around a forty-five- day therapy period of Jeff which takes place when he tries to kill himself. Every chapter is a new day in the ward which makes it more exciting to read. Jeff is a smart kid with caring parents. He has just one best friend, Allie but now he has lost her friendship too. He needs to be more open about himself and accept what he really is – a fag.

I loved reading the book. The humor displayed with every day passing on was very engaging. The book was totally relatable. Many parts of the story reveal why Jeff committed suicide. But by the end it was very clear as presented. I really wanted to know as to what would become of Jeff and Allie’s friendship but the way the book ended was acceptable.  

Suicide Notes- a novel, makes a powerful emotional impact on its readers escorted by comedy. It covers all the issues which teens face in normal lives, problems in friendships, relationships, in homes and in schools. It is a fun to read book yet it hides in itself a deep meaning which should be accepted in modern-day society. I highly recommend this book, especially to teenagers who think that their lives are miserable.