As a teenager, I suffered from Self-Injury on a regular basis, and this book made me feel a lot less alone, even if it is fictional.

**relapsed in September 2016 and reread**

Overall, I like this book. It’s short and does manage to somewhat cover all the emotions it should.

My main complaint is the ending. It was very abrupt and didn’t feel like an ending. I understand the significance behind it; her story and struggle were not over so neither was the book. But it just didn’t make for a good ending.

Also I won’t spoil anything but the book didn’t go into enough detail about her family. It was possibly the most interesting part of the entire book, yet it only touched on her parents a few times.

I’d read it again, but I’m not itching to. Which is why I gave four stars.

Exceptional piece that everyone should read at least once to get a small glimpse of what life can be like for someone who self harms, and their means of recovery through institutionalization. McCormick puts the reader through the virtually unexplainable feelings of euphoria and rush of endorphins associated with cutting in a clear manner so that almost anyone can mentally experience it. The reading is easy and possibly middle school level, but its ease does not bore for even more advanced readers. While it may not dissuade anyone from self harm, it might change some people's viewpoint on the issue.

This may be my English Literature skills coming into action but I think I loved this book because I was able to see deeper into the story.

The book only has three chapters, but I think they represent the stages that go through Callie's mind and what she is thinking. In the first chapter, Callie never talks and she tries to stay away from the spotlight. Almost like the denial stage that people with a mental illness go through, in where they think they don't deserve help or that there's nothing wrong with them.

The second chapter, Callie starts to realize things about herself and the other girls she hangs out with at Sea Pines, or 'Sick Minds', as the girls call it. She starts to talk to other people and she even went as far to tell someone about another girl who has an eating disorder that she was hiding away food and purging.

McCormick has really picked up on the thoughts and feelings that go through someone with a mental illness or who self harms. I could relate really well from my own personal experience and it felt at times that I was Callie, that I was reading my own mind and feelings on paper.

I liked the ending, it's not direct but gives off a hopeful vibe that allows the reader to come up with their own ending.

At first I gave this book 3 stars since I've read many books about the subject and except for [b:A Little Life|22822858|A Little Life|Hanya Yanagihara|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1446469353s/22822858.jpg|42375710], all of them have left me feeling the same way: neutral and a little bit dissapointed. When I read books on these topics I like to do a little research about the authors when I finish them, I like to see what led them to write a book about such a hard subject as self-harm, and this time I read that the author spent three years researching about the subject. I couldn't believe it, so I took my copy and looked at the interview it had at the end of it. I wasn't pleased.

McCormick says she was upset and fascinated about girls (just girls?????) that cutted themselves, but that at the end we all are a little ''self-destructive''. As a cutter, I thought this statement was disgusting.
First, it overlooks the fact that self-harm and mental illnesses like anorexia or bulimia (since they're also ''shown'' in the book) are also suffered by boys, and that after a three year research, anybody would know that the fragile girl stereotype and the enourmous invisibilization that boys suffer in this field is extremely harmful.
Second, using the word ''fascinated'' when you're talking about such a serious and delicate topic as self-harm is awful. I'm sorry, but self-harm is not something to be freaking fascinated at. It's dangerous and terrifying.
Third, she basically throws the subject away by saying that we're all self-destructive, as if cutting yourself to the point your body is full of scars and you have to be sent to a mental recovery center is, you know, not such a big deal, since ''we're all a little bit like that''. Sure, the stigma about cutting needs to be destroyed, but here, you're acknowledging it. It's the same as if you talked with and alcoholic and said ''hey, don't worry, I'm just like you, that one beer two months ago made me realize we're all a little alcoholic''. No. Just no. Self-destructing behaviors are common, but not normal, and shouldn't be seen like it.

I didn't keep reading the interview and I went back to the actual story. Before, it felt neutral because nothing really happens in the book, or nothing actually makes the reader feel that something is happening, since the characters' personalities are basically interchangeable, and they have no backstory or anything that makes them remarkable at all, and the story setting is unbelievable. I mean, the characters have a smoking room, even the ones that are in the center because of drug use. And some characters could keep throwing up and throwing away food without anybody noticing. What kind of mental center is that?
Coming back, it just felt wrong. There's no character growth. The nurses and the psychiatrist/psychologist (they never specify) seemed to have come out from some cheesy show. The main characters' backstory makes no sense at all, it's just a bunch of different stereotypes all together, without any kind of connection between them.

Last, I don't even know why the book is called Cut, since there's not actual dealing with cutting. Sure, she cuts herself once, but she goes to the nurse and the nurse just cures her and sends her back to bed. THAT'S ALL. IN A FREAKING RECOVERY CENTER. The only other time we hear about cutting is when Amanda comes into the story and shows her scars. Scars all over her wrists that say ''life sucks''. Literally. The character actually drew those two words with a blade in her skin, as if this was some 2008s random emo MySpace profile. Is this a joke? The only conclusion she gets out from that supposed research is that cutting is some teen angst thing? Cutting changes your life and it scarres you forever, and it's the kind of addiction that is practically impossible to get out from. You don't have to be an actual cutter to know that. There's testimonies all over the Internet. I feel like she looked on Wikipedia and in some Tumblr called scenekid-emptysoul92, and that she saw Girl, Interrupted, mixed it, threw it all together, and said ''et voilá!''.

This book is extremely shallow and the only thing I get out from it is how much misinformation and indifference there is about self-harm. Not even the author cared enough to make it even a little bit real, or even believable, and that is so, so sad.

as someone who’s experienced many of the same things as Callie, I can’t help but feel that this is barely even a surface level look into anything regarding self-harm or suicidal tendencies. I was very happy with it at 11, but at 20 it’s just lacklustre and makes me feel like a joke.

i remember finding this book and feeling so rebellious for reading it. i remember the small, cramped library that i borrowed the book from.