Authentic. Painfully authentic.
It took me a while to finish this book because it's not an easy one to read and digest.

This book is so poignant, it will have you in tears at times wondering how we have let our nation's children down so much that they think this may be a way out. I really enjoyed this book as it gave me some insight. My daughter just turned 13 and it made me review and really sit and think as to how to approach her as she navigates one of the most confusing periods of her life.

In Teenage Suicide Notes Williams elucidates a subject many prefer to ignore, to pretend it doesn't exist. But exist it does, and it's growing worse. And what is that subject?

Teenage suicide.

Williams makes an ethnographic study of several teens in New York who either committed suicide, or went through parasuicide rituals. Many of these teens were thankfully either able to work through the underlying issues or were well on the way to doing so. Two weren't so blessed. For them, the only way out was that final step. This book contains only a handful of cases, yet it encompasses the truth of a wide swath of our communities.

This ethnographic study put paid to the notion that a two-parent household was ideal. Even two-parent homes can be full of dysfunction, with faulty beliefs and behaviours passing from generation to generation, at least until someone along the line becomes self-aware enough to break the cycle. The biggest issue was these kids being the odd one out in the family, and trying to conform to expectations. Like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

This book really struck a chord with me. I was the 'black sheep’ of my family, so different from everyone else. I had suicidal thoughts as a young adult and teen. I didn't fit in at school either, being an extreme introvert. I was more at home in books than with people.

I wrote about suicide, like the kids within these pages, but never made a serious attempt. I'm forever grateful to my paternal grandmother, who always accepted me as is, even when my faith diverted from my family's. I became deeply spiritual, and philosophical, a far cry from the majority of my family. They still cannot understand me, but we’ve come to accord, and my relationships are much improved.

I still have unhealthy inculcated beliefs, those multi-generational influences passed down from parent to child. This has left me with a deep distrust of males, among other things. I've spent decades working through these limiting beliefs. Perspective changes everything.

I find it fascinating, the notion of suicide and suicide attempts as a rite of passage in America, in a culture that has no formal rites of passage. Williams notes that teens today seem to be finding their way back to the rites of passage to adulthood practised by older societies, where said rites involved undergoing risks in order to become adults. What our ancestors did in a controlled, purposeful way, with the support of the adult community, today's teens are doing themselves, albeit uncontrolled and unsupported. Perhaps society as a whole needs to heed the wisdom of our ancestors.

This is a book I would recommend everyone read. This is such an important topic, and one many avoid.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Columbia University Press for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Best described as a series of case studies Teenage Suicide Notes sees, sociologist, Terry Williams explore the writings of teens who have expressed suicidal ideation. For many these thoughts are recurring. Some have attempted suicide. Some have tried more than once. Some have succeeded, in which case Williams spoke to friends and family. What links them all is their use of journaling and letter writing. It is through this writing that Williams hopes to gain a better understanding of the reasons why so many young people engage in self harm.

The experiences and interviews in this book took place in the 90s. While the Goth scene gets a lot of attention and some judgement from Williams, social media and the internet in general is all but absent which makes Teenage Suicide Notes feel dated.

This was interesting, but not as interesting as I was anticipating. Because the author focuses on a subset of teenagers who ran in similar circles in the 1990s and early 2000s, there is an element of repetition in the stories and a sense that there is a wider, unacknowledged, experience of youth suicide. I also felt that use of the term 'committed suicide' throughout the book is a somewhat outdated construct as the use of 'committed' intimates suicide as a sin, born of religious influence on social policy in many countries.

The lack of conversation about the impact of the internet, social media and interactivity online doesn't serve this book well. There are some references to the major changes in the world, but the interviews are now roughly 20 years old and the modern world cannot be applied to them in any true fashion.

The most interesting sections here were the expressions by the young people in their own voices, showing their own experiences. The interpretation by the author was vastly unnecessary (though this is the point of the ethnography style) because the people themselves were direct, clear and open.

An important, thought provoking, and often tragic read. This book does an exceptional job at drawing attention to the problem of teenage suicide. The notes it contains connects readers to those that have struggled, attempted, and committed suicide. That being said, it can be difficult to emotionally process, particularly for those who have lost loved ones to suicide.

I feel really bad about it but I am going to have to give up on one of the books i have been reading to review on NetGalley, I thought I could deal with the subject matter but I can't It is a little too personal for me :(

Ethnography is a really big interest of mine so when I spotted this book on teenage suicide notes I knew I would really enjoy reading it. And I wasn’t wrong.
I was hooked on this book from start to finish. The juxtaposition of the teenager’s notes alongside their current feelings as well as William’s perspective was a great technique.
It was so interesting to read family and friend’s thoughts as well as the teenager’s writings. Suicide can feel like a huge topic so to read about it on an individual and more personal level made it feel more accessible, and easier to talk about. As a mental health professional, I found this book so useful for tackling the subject of suicide and it couldn’t have been written in a more poignant and powerful way.

Terry Williams has interviewed teenagers who have attempted suicide and family relatives of 2 teenagers wttwmpts were successful.

Reading this novel was really hard going. Reading the teenagers sucide notes they gather information. This is quite a hard book to read because of the contents. Yes, I knew before I started this book but being a parent I was interested to find out if there was signs to alert you as they are not not always obvious.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Columbia University Press and the author Terry Williams for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well-researched and authentic. Highly recommended for those interested in the secrets of teens who struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide.