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an interesting book about suicide...

H

hockeyman84

New Member
I just finished a really interesting book that approaches suicide from a completely different angle. I found it by a random keyword search on Amazon. It's called Southeast Forgotten Memories by Blair Cunnyngham. It's set in high school sometime in the 70's and the main character is a teenage girl that falls in love with the "new guy" at school. This is no ordinary guy as he is a demonic being having come to destroy the girl's soul by manipulating her to commit suicide. His methods and what she deals with are strangely familiar to anyone who has ever had a high school love. A hard core group of guardian angels are there to try to protect her and save her from his influence. They literally battle it out in the small town and halls of the high school for this girl's soul and salvation. Very unique story and has a pretty scary message about suicide. The author believes that those who commit suicide are damning themselves for eternity. Whatever you believe, this might make you think twice before killing yourself.

Definitely a unique plot with memorable, well-developed characters.

As an interesting aside, the author died in a shooting before he could write the sequel.

Just thought I'd share because this book changed the way I think about suicide.
 
It must be poor. It's listed on Amazon as part of a triology [sic] and it's the only book credited to the author; obviously wasn't good enough to merit the other two books.


EDIT: Ok, she died, apparently, after publication.
 
hockeyman84 said:
Just thought I'd share because this book changed the way I think about suicide.
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So what were your thoughts on suicide before you read the book, and what are they now?
 
Looks interesting. I wonder though, if a truly suicidal individual would even read something like this. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a valid topic, and a noble move on the late author's part to attempt to reach suicidal people, and I would hope that every single sould contemplating such a thing would read this and change their minds. But I do wonder who would pick it up at all.

BTW- if you like novels about spiritual warfare, be sure to check out Frank Peretti and Randy Alcorn. :D
 
Motokid said:
So what were your thoughts on suicide before you read the book, and what are they now?
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Personally I would never consider suicide under ANY circumstances. To be cliched, it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It can be a cowardly way out that only hurt those who care about the one who dies.

I'm also a Christian and I had vague ideas of how the church views suicide. This book is one man's interpretatiion but it gives a scary ""what if?"

abecedarian- Thanks for the recommendations. Good question. Once a person is committed to a course of action then it is probably too late for a book like this, but if it could influence a person's way of thinking about suicide then it could prevent the sewing of the seed or it could sway them away early in the course. Who knows.
 
abecedarian said:
I wonder though, if a truly suicidal individual would even read something like this.
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Very true. A depressed person truly considering suicide isn't going to have the ability to read a book. There is no ability to concentrate, once past a certain point.
I think books like this are extremely useful for those around people who are suffering from depression. nothing a person in this kind of situation has read in the past is going to make them think differently. That's just not the way it works IMO.
 
CDA said:
Very true. A depressed person truly considering suicide isn't going to have the ability to read a book. There is no ability to concentrate, once past a certain point.
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Not quite accurate. I've always had my books. That's always been the only constant in my life, I can always read, no matter how much I feel like just grabbing the kitchen knife. Of course there's a reason I made sure to not actually get a good kitchen knife when I moved away from my folks, and slicing my wrists is exceedingly difficult with a book :p

And yes, I joke about it. It's the only way to not get depressed by talking about it.

I think books like this are extremely useful for those around people who are suffering from depression.
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I have not read this particular book but I seriously doubt any book including angels and demons will help anyone understand. They don't need to learn about what the Church theorises is going on around and inside suicidal people, what they need is to know the person and that is hardly done through reading a book.

nothing a person in this kind of situation has read in the past is going to make them think differently. That's just not the way it works IMO.
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In this you're probably correct, mainly because a thing such as suicide is not prompted through conscious thought that can be affected by books, but more from a deep seated feeling that just won't go away.

Just my 0.02 $
 
I must agree with Jemima on this one. Reading in print that you may be damned for all eternity may not exactly be the right thing for people in this type of thought process. If anything, it just might help push them along...
 
Is eternal damnation for suicide victims the the thrust of the book? I ask because some Christians would argue that differently..the difference would be the beliefs of the individual prior to the mental illness, I think. This is a topic for theologians, not us..so I don't want to go farther than that, just wanting to understand the point of the book. How that isssue is handled would certainly make a difference in whether I would want to read the book or blindly reccomend it to someone else.
 
Jemima Aslana said:
Not quite accurate. I've always had my books. That's always been the only constant in my life, I can always read, no matter how much I feel like just grabbing the kitchen knife. Of course there's a reason I made sure to not actually get a good kitchen knife when I moved away from my folks, and slicing my wrists is exceedingly difficult with a book :p

And yes, I joke about it. It's the only way to not get depressed by talking about it.
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I fully understand what you are saying. I'm just talking from my own personal experience. In the past, there was no way that I could concentrate on anything other than my (thankfully unsuccesful) suicide attempt.

And yes, joking about all this kind of thing makes total sense to me, so you don't have to explain! I've tried to explain this kind of 'gallows humour' to people in the past (relatives, mainly), and they just don't get it. Oh well...more fool them...:rolleyes:
 
abecedarian said:
Is eternal damnation for suicide victims the the thrust of the book? I ask because some Christians would argue that differently..the difference would be the beliefs of the individual prior to the mental illness, I think. This is a topic for theologians, not us..so I don't want to go farther than that, just wanting to understand the point of the book. How that isssue is handled would certainly make a difference in whether I would want to read the book or blindly reccomend it to someone else.
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I think the author believes that committing suicide may damn one's soul to hell. But it isn't a black and white issue. He certainly isn't a theologian and I don't think pretends to be one, though he does share some theological beliefs. The main character in question isn't depressed or suffering another such mental illness. She is under direct influence of an evil being that is manipulating her, under the guise of twisted high school relationship, to the point of considering suicide.

Regardless of one's theological beliefs, I thought the story was interesting.
 
I'm mainly concerned that those who read the book might get the idea that if little Annie is suicidal it's someone's fault - 'there's an evil being guiding her'. In most cases the suicidal person manages to become suicidal all on their owm, any sort of prompting from others is very rare to my knowledge. So I don't know how much good that will be.

As a story I'm willing to accept nigh anything because it's just a story, but as a book about suicide I am very hesitant because it doesn't really sound like it focuses on what goes on in the main char's head but rather what those around her do, which is essentially insignificant if we don't know what's in her head.
 
No it definitely addresses what is in the main character's head and the emotional torment she deals with. I didnt' meant to give the impression otherwise.
 
hockeyman84 said:
No it definitely addresses what is in the main character's head and the emotional torment she deals with. I didnt' meant to give the impression otherwise.
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But it does sound like it's a very, very, very religiously based type of thing. Demons and angels and such....
 
Aye, I mean if it truly depictied what went on in her head there would be no need for neither angels or demons... hence my strong doubts.
 
Just wondering if anyone ever read this one? I've passed my copy around among friends and most really liked it. It certainly sparked some lively discussion.
 
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