Scan barcode
A review by marko68
Suicide Thursday by Will Carver
5.0
“With all of the letters, languages, words, combinations and structures that exist, I should be able to come up with something original. It must be an endless pot of wonder. You can do so much with just words. They have power.” P185
Will Carver goes where other authors fear to tread. This latest read is no exception. Any author who dares to give a book the title ‘Suicide Thursday’, a trigger warning in and of itself, is staking a claim that no topic is off limits. Carver has proved that before but Suicide Thursday takes it to the next level.
Suicide Thursday is actually about suicide. Mike’s suicide. Best friend of Eli Hagin. Eli who can’t seem to finish anything. Unlike Mike. Author of a million first chapters. Carver wraps suicide in a package unlike anyone else could, unafraid to create a commentary inside a novel that socks it to the reader, right between the eyes.
I always find it difficult to separate the what I take from Carver’s underpinning social comment and the actual narrative that weaves it together. Both are equally important and give meaning to each other. Suicide is such a taboo topic still imo in 2024. The why’s and wherefore’s are the stuff of quiet conversations, and the myriad of suppressed emotions, unshared thoughts and unspoken words of those affected or unaffected take centre stage in Suicide Thursday.
The power of words is a recurrent theme that Carver uses. The fact that once words are out in the ether, it is impossible to draw them back. The written word is particularly static no matter if the delete button has been pressed or the ‘recall’ function has been used. Sometimes I reflect that words are all we have, language is supreme, not to use any cliches but what do I do with my words. There are millions of words written everyday .. it’s like we’ve all got so many words to produce every single day. What do they do?
Mike killed himself. Suicide Thursday doesn’t necessarily go into the why’s but it does present a challenge regarding things that may have contributed to the actuality. I can’t sum this book up which probably reflects all the Carver books I have read. I wasn’t going to give it 5 stars but when I consider the effect it has on me I can’t do anything but.
Will Carver goes where other authors fear to tread. This latest read is no exception. Any author who dares to give a book the title ‘Suicide Thursday’, a trigger warning in and of itself, is staking a claim that no topic is off limits. Carver has proved that before but Suicide Thursday takes it to the next level.
Suicide Thursday is actually about suicide. Mike’s suicide. Best friend of Eli Hagin. Eli who can’t seem to finish anything. Unlike Mike. Author of a million first chapters. Carver wraps suicide in a package unlike anyone else could, unafraid to create a commentary inside a novel that socks it to the reader, right between the eyes.
I always find it difficult to separate the what I take from Carver’s underpinning social comment and the actual narrative that weaves it together. Both are equally important and give meaning to each other. Suicide is such a taboo topic still imo in 2024. The why’s and wherefore’s are the stuff of quiet conversations, and the myriad of suppressed emotions, unshared thoughts and unspoken words of those affected or unaffected take centre stage in Suicide Thursday.
The power of words is a recurrent theme that Carver uses. The fact that once words are out in the ether, it is impossible to draw them back. The written word is particularly static no matter if the delete button has been pressed or the ‘recall’ function has been used. Sometimes I reflect that words are all we have, language is supreme, not to use any cliches but what do I do with my words. There are millions of words written everyday .. it’s like we’ve all got so many words to produce every single day. What do they do?
Mike killed himself. Suicide Thursday doesn’t necessarily go into the why’s but it does present a challenge regarding things that may have contributed to the actuality. I can’t sum this book up which probably reflects all the Carver books I have read. I wasn’t going to give it 5 stars but when I consider the effect it has on me I can’t do anything but.