Suicide

Édouard Levé

2008

August, 2023

10/10

Since doing my own writing, I now understand where creators of any type draw from. In the case of writing a book like this, it comes from the heart. Suicide is quite literally the author pouring out his heart. And the worst part, for me, was the relatability of many of the emotions. While there was a lot I also could not relate to, the book is raw. Everything was intense. Raw and intense. This book is extremely hard to read for all the right reasons. But it is captivating, engrossing, harrowing, beautiful, despairing, inspiring, motivating.

Descriptions of things like staying inside, being a perfectionist, never being able to finish a project, quietly watching others, seeing a stranger in the mirror, appreciating art/literature/music over actual experience, daydreaming, pretending to be fine, not liking groups, and so on. It's a hauntingly, beautifully accurate depiction of internal struggles.

I wrote my own book on empathy so people could better understand themselves and others and what they're going through. This book is what others are going through. Édouard said everything I could ever have hoped to express. And he drove it all home with this book being his actual suicide note. That only makes the experience of reading it so much more intense.

The line, "You died because you searched for happiness at the risk of finding the void," really stood out to me. If ever there were a book to see into the minds of others, this is it. If ever there were a book that should be required reading, this is it.

And the translation was perfect. The writing style and everything was perfectly effective. This book puts On the Heights of Despair to shame. It furthers ideas from both Stoner and Nausea, too.