The Suicide Shop: A Book Review

The Suicide Shop: A Book Review

The Suicide Shop by: A Book Review

AUTHOR: Jean Teulé

TRANSLATOR: Sue Dyson

RELEASED DATE: 2007 (French); 2008 (English)

PAGES:  Approx. 169 pages

RATING: 4/5 STARS

 While I was walking around a local book store several years ago, I chanced a glance at a book rack that contained several choice books that were either new releases or at discount price and my eyes were immediately drawn to this tiny blue paperback with the strangest title and book cover I have ever seen.

 Intrigued by what it was about (although I had a fair guess, considering the title), I read the back and next thing I knew, I was taking the book home. I didn’t even finish the description on the back before I realized I was at the cash register in that book store. All I knew is that I wanted to see how such a story like this would unfold.

 *~*~*

HAS YOUR LIFE BEEN A FAILURE? LET’S MAKE YOUR DEATH A SUCCESS.

 That is the slogan – and motto – of the Tuvache’s family-owned business, The Suicide Shop, where a variety of weapons, poisons and equipment are sold (legally) to the miserable people that live in this post-apocalyptic future ravaged by a number of environmental disasters.

 Meet the Tuvache family: Mishima, father, husband and proud owner of his family’s little shop. Lucréce, mother, wife, and maker of poisons. Vincent, the anorexic eldest son who invents new weapons. Marilyn, the obese daughter who feels little self-worth. And Alan, the youngest child…and also the black sheep of the family.

 Alan is most unlike his family, who are each depressed in their own manner, to the point of wanting to commit suicide themselves. From the moment he was born, he has had a love of life that mystifies customers that enter The Suicide Shop and frustrates his parents and siblings to no end. Any attempts to demoralize him or rid him of his cheerful manner backfire, and Alan is prone to driving customers away or sabotaging the equipment in the shop.

 Unused to the cheerfulness that he displays, even in the face of tragedy, the Tuvache family tries to carry on with their lives – and business – in the same depressed manner that is their entire reality. But little by little, Alan’s influence has each of his family members question the impossible: whether they, too, can come to enjoy life.

 *~*~*

 Despite its title, I found I enjoyed this book. The Suicide Shop was a quick and easy read, with peculiar characters in a strange setting and an easy plot to follow.

 Although the topic of suicide is a serious and sensitive topic, especially for those who have been affected by it personally, I found that a good way to approach reading this book is to react to it with the same morbid curiosity and delight that we feel towards dark comedies such as The Addams Family, Beetlejuice, or any film directed, produced or imagined by Tim Burton. The Suicide Shop is a dark comedy, and while most of the humor is in a morbid sense, there are genuinely funny moments that make it possible to enjoy this book. The Suicide Shop maintains a good balance as the story unfolds: for all its morbid talk about suicide, there are enough light moments that you can tell the topic isn’t being treated with condescension or lack of sympathy, empathy or compassion.

 The Suicide Shop was a little under 200 pages, and it’s a relatively small book so I wondered, when I first bought it, what would happen in this book, and why it wasn’t a very long read. Within the first few chapters, I realized several things:

 First, the background setting for this story isn’t important. Some details about the post-apocalyptic world that The Suicide Shop resides in have been given – enough that you know that it’s a disaster where few people feel like living in anymore – but it’s clear from reading the book that the setting isn’t very important to the plot. Its only significance is that it provides a (legitimate) reason for The Suicide Shop to exist in this universe.

 Secondly, nothing happens plot-wise within the story, at least not in a big sense. The Suicide Shop is a story driven more by the characters’ interactions with each other than by any particular event or tragedy. And I found I didn’t mind that very much, because this story was about the Tuvache family and their youngest son, and the influence they had on each other and to the people around them. That being said, while reading I did feel the story lulled nearing the end of the book because not much seemed to be happening and my enjoyment was slowly growing into boredom.

 Third, I could see that the main conflict in the story would be Alan and his influence on the Tuvache family, both personally and while in The Suicide Shop. Most of the story is told from the perspectives of the parents and the siblings, and it wasn’t until near the end of the book that we finally got a glimpse into Alan’s way of thinking. And I could see why it was written that way. The Suicide Shop is about each of the Tuvache members allowing themselves to fall in love with life, to have Alan influence them to look at things differently and react differently to both each other and to others in a positive manner. And we’re allowed insight to their way of thinking as it changes, from bleak and depressive to self-appreciative and enjoyment.

 Even though the book wasn’t long and you didn’t get to spend enough time with the characters to develop a strong attachment to them, you can still enjoy them. Alan became my favorite, simply because I enjoyed his character and his actions: the measures he took to sabotaging the equipment and what he did for each of his family members that eventually changed them and their views on life. I really enjoy the fact that despite his bleak surroundings, he continues to maintain a positive and cheerful outlook.

 And then ending happened.

 Oh. Dear. God. I was NOT expecting that ending. I had to re-read that last chapter because I could not believe that that ending happened. It’s one of those twists that you have to re-read over and over again, and then wonder to yourself if the author made a mistake somewhere. Or in this case, if the translator made a mistake…because this ending was NOT what I thought it was going to be.

 Long story short: my heart broke a little. And if you happen to chance upon this book somewhere and give it a try – which, if done, shouldn’t take longer than a day because of how easy this book is and how quick you can read it (I read it in a day) – be warned: yours might break a little inside too.

 Ultimately, I commend The Suicide Shop for this unique setting and story concept. A part of me did wish it was a longer book and that more details were given in regards to the setting, the characters and the history of this family, and especially to what would happen to the Tuvache family after that surprise ending (I’m not getting over this one, anytime soon, by the way.), but another part of me likes at how quick and easy a read this was, and also I enjoyed what this book was mostly about: allowing yourself to find happiness despite the bleak past, present and future of your world; falling in love with yourself and with your life; using your talents to create things; and letting go of past scars.

Sincerely, every book lover ever.

please don't give me responsibilities when there's a huge stack of unread books beside me. have some morals.

Love Locks fence

Prescott, AZ

A beautiful assortment of locks featuring intials, whole names, dates -- coming in all shapes and colors; some vintage and others more modern-looking.

So much love in the world. And a thousand ways to express it.

I pray that all of these have a happy ending.

I’ve started doing handwritten letters as a way to better connect with my loved ones and fulfill a lifelong wish: to receive handwritten letters in return like in olden times before internet messenger. So far I’m off to a good start! Hoping to write more and get better at decorating and making the letters even more exciting to receive. I’m hoping to get more letters as well!

I will always ship 12 and Clara

Shipping wars: Doctor Who

Like if you ship Whouffle Reblog if you ship Wouffaldi

Coraline: A Book Review

CORALINE: A Book Review

AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman

RELEASED DATE: January 24, 2002

PAGES: Approx. 160 pages

RATING: 5/5 STARS

  Friends have been recommending this book to me for years, but it wasn’t until the movie adaptation came out in 2009 that I finally got interested enough to buy my own copy of Neil Gaiman’s famous story. And, as is the norm that happens whenever I obtain new books, Coraline went on my book shelf and spent some several years collecting dust before I finally (FINALLY) found the time – and opportunity – to pick it up and read it.

 Coraline isn’t a long novel. It’s less than 200 pages, and even the slowest reader would be able to finish it within a day or two, just as I had. And what an amazing two days it was, as I delved into the written story that was adapted into one of my favorite movies, featuring one of my favorite heroines, the young, clever and brave Coraline.

 Neil Gaiman has just become a new favorite author.

 *~*~*

 Coraline, not Caroline, is a young girl who recently moved into a new home with her busy, and sometimes inattentive, parents. The house, which was a manor converted into several flats (AKA apartments), houses some of the strangest adults Coraline has met: Miss Forcible and Miss Spink, two retired actresses, and their many aging Scotties; and Mr. Bobo, the “crazy man who lives upstairs” that’s training a mouse circus.

 Coraline, not Caroline, is still adjusting to the move when she discovers, in her family’s sitting parlor, a locked door that once connected their flat to the other empty flat in the manor, but since been bricked up. Curious by nature, and despite warnings not to go through the door, once home alone, she opens the locked door and discovers a passage that leads to a world much unlike her own: a flat that looks like her new home, inhabited by two people known as the “Other Mother” and the “Other Father” who resemble Coraline’s parents except for having buttons as eyes. More attentive to her than her actual parents, Coraline comes to enjoy the quality time spent with the Other Mother and Other Father, and discovers that the new world allows for her to get whatever she wants (from her favorite foods to new toys that are sentient enough to play with her) and also meet the more interesting counterparts to her neighbors; the Other Miss Spink and Other Miss Forcible perform onstage in a never-ending show, and the Other Crazy Old Man Upstairs has an actual rat circus.

 The only inhabitant that Coraline is confused by is a feral black cat that talks back to her when she approaches  it; it admits to being the same feral black cat that resides near her property in the real world, and who can travel between the worlds through gaps as it pleases.

 Indeed, this world seems too good to be true. And as Coraline comes to realize, it actually is.

 Frightened by the Other Mother and her suggestion to stay forever (and the price Coraline needs to pay for that), she returns to her own world, determined never to unlock the parlor door again.

 But her parents are missing. And according to the feral cat that stalks the property, there’s only one place they can be. Unable to receive help from her neighbors or the authorities, Coraline must prepare herself to return to the Other World. She realizes she’s not the first child to fall victim to the Other Mother. But she’s determined to be the last.

 *~*~*

 As I was reading this, I was using the imagery from the movie to build up the story in my head. Then as I continued, I realized that that could only help me so much, because there were quite a few differences between the movie and the novel itself.

 In the movie, we got a clear visual idea of how old Coraline might be (I think the movie states she was 11 years old). In the novel, you get the sense that she’s a little younger, probably around 9 or 10 years. I could be wrong but that’s the way I felt as I read this book. Her actual age is never stated, so for all readers know, we could be reading from the perspective of a 6 or 7 year old. The reason I bring up her age, however, is because of how mature and resourceful Coraline proves to be despite that.

 Coraline is a favorite heroine because, despite her young age, she proves to be as clever as any adolescent or adult would be in her situation, and just as brave. She even explains to the feral cat, before she enters the Other World, what she thought being brave was. All throughout the novel, as she goes up against the Other Mother, and discovers the warped reality that the Other World is transforming into, Neil Gaiman makes a point of giving you a good visual of the horrible things that Coraline encounters as she tries to save her parents and other victims, and each time Coraline admits to being afraid but refused to back down or give in.

 This is a different book with a new heroine that I had never discovered until now. This isn’t an adult, or even an adolescent (whom people would assume can survive this ordeal); this is a young child that proves to anyone who knows her that despite her age, she can be as brave and clever and resourceful as anyone else. She doesn’t even have a weapon to protect herself from the creatures that attack her. All she has is a feral cat and a stone with a hole in it. In every situation that she finds herself in, she found a clever way to escape and win.

 I absolutely adore Coraline, not only for her bravery, but also her compassion. After this ordeal, she finds herself having a better relationship with her parents and neighbors, and she was even able to say goodbye to the other children that were the Other Mother’s previous victims. No one asked her to save those children; she did it because she believed it was the right thing to do.

 I have heard that Neil Gaiman is an extraordinary writer, but it wasn’t until I was halfway through Coraline that I realized what people meant by it. Neil Gaiman has a way with words: he’s able to write details that give you a clear visual of what he’s describing; he gives enough of a description of the characters that you can see them in your head but allows you to really get to know them through their actions and words; he has a way of building these fantastical settings that seem too good to be true. In a way, his writing is almost poetic, they flow and they build and create and you just fall into the story you’re reading.

 I can’t help but compare this to its movie adaptation but I think both versions of the story work. I like Coraline the book and I like Coraline the movie; neither is better than the other in my opinion. The movie adaptation changed several things, added a few scenes and characters here and there, but that’s the norm. What matters is that the movie stayed true to the spirit and message that Coraline the novel has, and it did.

 Coraline, not Caroline: the story of a young girl who, for people everywhere, no matter their age or gender, defined for us what bravery truly meant.