I picked up this book in the library when I was 16 and an active self harmer. Ashamed of what I did and determined to keep it a secret, I put it back on the shelf and didn't pick it up again until a few months ago. I'm 21 now, just about ready to graduate college, but I still have my struggles with self harm. Cut hadn't left my mind since the day I found it five years ago. I found a used copy for cheap and on an impulse, I purchased it. It's been sitting on my shelf for months waiting to be opened. Today I finally read it.

It's an extremely short read at only 151 pages. I read it in a matter of hours. I think that, as I've read in many other comments, reading this and being critical of the book as a self harmer (active or not) is difficult. To someone who has never hurt themselves as Callie had, everything may seem like an accurate representation of cutting and what it's like to cut. In all honesty, I really did relate to Callie sometimes. Specifically when she claimed to be a bad person but had no idea as to why. I felt that.

However, I think that it's just a bit vague in terms of the WHY. I wish that Callie's therapist had helped her to realize what the cause of her cutting was. I think that it's pointless to ask "why do you think you're cutting" and then end there. Sure, psychology can be difficult to understand, especially for a 15 year old girl, but I personally think that both Callie and the readers would have benefitted from a genuine explanation about self harm.

My other issue is the treatment facility in which Callie stayed in. About 3 years ago, I was right in Callie's shoes, experiencing exactly what she was experiencing. I could be wrong, as every hospital is different, but most facilities wouldn't let you get away with shoving uneaten food into napkins and throwing up in the bathroom, especially not for a patient with an eating disorder. When I was treated, those with eating issues were accompanied to the bathroom and had to sing their ABCs for the attendant to ensure they were not purging and napkins/trays were always checked before being thrown away. These are just technicalities, I suppose, but for someone who has actually experienced this situation, it takes away some of the credibility of the story.

All in all, I by no means hated Cut. Really, I enjoyed it and I think that Callie's character had a lot of potential. To me, it just seemed a bit underdeveloped and a little too vague. I always hope for a sense of understanding in books about mental illness and I don't think this one hit that.

1 hour 12 minutes - I didn't think this was a very good representation of self-harm at all. It presented everything as too cut and dry, 'oh this is why you started', etc. The main character had no personality at all, and while I understand that to a certain degree, that's the idea - to show how mental illness can break you until you can become a shell of a person, it just made the character seem lazily written and hard to emphasise with. I wish characters like Amanda had been expanded upon, it would have made the story a bit more interesting to engage with. The ending of the story seemed very forced as well - it was 'dramatic' (not really) for the sake of it, just to provide an end for the story. I think it would have perhaps been better to have just ended the way it began, with very little plot or direction, as then this would have perhaps been seen as intentional rather than empty.

A beautiful journey of a young girl and her struggles with mental illness.