Or Not to Be: A Collection of Suicide Notes

Rating:
Summary: Exactly what it says it is
Review: Etkind's collection of suicide notes is a cautious creature, timid to delve too deeply into the situations or mindsets surrounding the tragic losses it records. It strikes me as being far too concerned with moralizing and less involved in analyzing-- I am far more interested in why, psychologically, the notes have been written at all, and far less in why the author feels the writer is wrong to have acted out suicidal impulses.

I'm no proponent of suicide, but by merely skirting the difficult issues involved, and only stating the flaws in the writers' reasoning, Etkind fails to create an image of the minds at work behind them. This is what makes the book 'pornagraphy,' as the forward glibly states. It would not be so if it treated its subjects with more introspection. The question of 'why'-- the question of how these people thought and felt, is a far more interesting subject than merely the text of the notes themselves, and at the same time is the very thing Etkind seems unwilling to explore. There is an unreasoned trepidation here, that by exploring those thoughts he may somehow condone them.

Rating:
Summary: Worth having on your bookshelf
Review: I enjoyed this book, although the author's commentary is not always as engaging as I would like. Still, the topic and stories are interesting on their own.

This book is a great discussion item; I've pulled it out in more late-night conversations than any other book I own. Friends are always fascinated at it's unique treatment of a relatively un-discussed topic.

I gave my original version away before realizing it was out of print, and had to order a second copy at a steep price--but worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Sadly Interesting
Review: I read this book purely out of careful curiosity and was therefore mildly offended by Mark Etkind's initial comment about the reader..."you are a sadistic voyeur". I thought that was very inappropriate.

The content itself is definitely lacking and could have benefited from less commentary. I reached the end pages all too quickly, although not from enthusiasm. There is a good variety of notes included but simply not enough to allow one to become totally immersed. I found some of the notes to be incredibly sad and I felt they reinforced just how vain suicide can be.

This book gives you the choice to utter a callous chuckle as you flip the pages or to attempt empathising with those poor souls. Despite being brief and a rather sad read, it was interesting and quite useful in providing a glimpse into the mind and motive of a suicide. Valuable reference material.

Rating:
Summary: to be taken with a grain of salt
Review: If you're trying to understand the suicidal mind, this may not be
the best book. The notes may give some insight, but the interpretations are pretty much completely wrong. Etkind demonstrates absolutely no understanding of what makes people take their life; he classifies them as stupid, insane, and morally bankrupt. Short-sighted, irrational, and self-centered would be more accurate, and there's a world of difference.

If you have a fascination with death, this book may provide some titillation, but it comes from a very condemning point of view. There's a thought provoking chapter on the history of the suicide note, and the rest of the chapters are each dedicated more or less to a certain reason for committing suicide. Etkind's idea seems to be to go through the possible reasons and debunk them one by one. Because his understanding of people's reasons and mindsets is so weak, he does a pretty poor job, but it still could be offensive. He also throws in a fair amount of ridicule at the stupidity of notes in general - as if a secondary goal were to damp that impulse to leave a note.

The stories of people are the great part of this book. They're mostly short notes or excerpts with minimal back-story, but the humanity is incredible even in some of the shortest. The notes of the famous people are often less interesting than of the anonymous mass. Maybe they're hurt by being excerpted, or suffer from the incompleteness of the accompanying history.

Overall, a 3 because the book is inexpensive and an engaging read. The notes are the real stars here, and the factual background is interesting; the interpretetive passages are misguided and grating.

Rating:
Summary: to be taken with a grain of salt
Review: It is quite interesting to review the very last words written of one who has chosen to enter a new phase of this time we call eternity. Having read a suicide note "in person" so to speak, I was shocked to realize what seems so obvious. The last word is finally gotten and there is no disputing it. In many instances a very few words in this eclectic collection speak volumes about the life left behind such as the man who wrote "Somebody had to do it. Self awareness is everything" or the young guy who penned "I am sorry...I want to keep Dad company." More than just a listing of comments arranged to titillate, the quotes and commentary are accompanied by some brief histories as well as background and psychological profiles. Who knows why anyone does what they do? The author speaks of a man who left a note reading simply "$36" which was also the amount of cash found in the man's mouth. No one can really be sure of anything but if you have ever lost a loved one to suicide, you are not alone and this collection is a way of sharing the pain of the unexplained.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent analysis of suicidal notes and tendencies
Review: The Author does an excellent job of analysis sets of Notes and explains the pattern through them all. In other words, the author didn't just slap together a compilation of notes -- he explains them and points out important details about how they are written. For example, did you know that Suicide Notes that were written hundreds of years ago has the same pattern as Suicide notes written today? Did you know that most Suicide notes are torn up by the author immediately after being written? This book covers these type of things and much more. The author analyzes many popular celebrity notes too, such as Kurt Cobain (and his wife's reaction to it). The most interesting thing I found in this book was the inclusion of the note O.J. Simpson wrote while in prison, which sounded very much like a Suicide Note and followed all the patterns of one.

Rating:
Summary: Needed more work
Review: The suicide notes themselves as well as the similarities between them were quite interesting. The author's comments about the the narrow vision experienced by the suicicidal, while perhaps being psychologically accurate showed a complete lack of understandign of the emotional experiences of the depressed. His tone implied that he felt those who committed suicide were not intelligent enough to see any other way out of their situations. The author himself doesn't seem to have any idea about what it is like to feel so completely lost and desperate. The commentary was also rather repetitive and didn't seem to offer much insight other than the fact that suicidal people see no other way to end their suffering.

Rating:
Summary: Exactly what it says it is
Review: This book is a great reference for those interested in suicide notes. Etkind, however, has too many unqualified comments and some of the notes could be found on the internet anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Sick... but fun!
Review: Yes, I'm a sick individual. My morbid curiosity got the best of me when I purchased this book. As the title states, this tiny book reprints a few dozen suicide notes for all the world to see. Relying too heavily on footnotes and other people's research about suicide more than forming his own opinion, Etkind's book is sadly lacking in ambition and substance.

Briefly covering the history of suicide notes, the book doesn't get interesting until the fourth chapter when Etkind covers what he calls notes of "disgrace." Herein are a bevy of notes written by guilty parties who end their lives by their own hand without ever admitting their guilt! This is also the chapter in which readers get a chance to read notes by (in)famous folks like Hermann Göering. This chapter also includes a note penned by O. J. Simpson. Obviously, O. J. hasn't killed himself (yet), but his note fits perfectly in the context of these other disgraced public figures.

Apart from the aforementioned, the only other points of morbid interest are transcriptions of the suicide tape made at Jonestown, R. Bud Dwyer's farewell speech, Christine Chubbuck's blithe announcement before killing herself on television (a story I'd never heard), and Vince Foster's alleged suicide note (found at the bottom of his briefcase). ...Or Not to Be is a good idea but improperly executed by Marc Etkind. Hopefully a more comprehensive and interesting book covering this same subject matter will come at a later date. (ISBN: 1573225800)