Customer Reviews

Eight Stories Up: An Adolescent Chooses Hope over Suicide (Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands' Adolescent Mental Health Initiative)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having lived through my own pain of suicide, Eight Stories Up is insightful and a great reference for any adolescent or their families who may be caught up in the vicious cycle of suicide or suicidal behavior. It was a pleasure to meet Dequincy at a fund raiser for Laurel House in Stamford, Connecticut. After hearing his story, I realized that we both had something in common, I too used to size up buildings on the campus of the school I was attending and the only thing that kept me from jumping was the thought that if I lived through it, I would be paralized and I could not live with that.

I highly recommend this book to anyone facing the issues mentioned in the book or if they suspect that they have any mental health issues.

After meeting DeQuincy Lezine, hearing his story and reading his book, I have no doubt that he will save young lives. His memoir of his own experience with near suicide provides an insider's look at the feelings, thoughts and circumstances that can lead to a decision to end one's life, the interventions that can be made to prevent this tragic occurrence, and the healing that takes in the recovery process. The book is written for a teen audience , but is an equally valuable resource for adult family members of teens at risk and professional caregivers. More than just a memoir of one person's descent into hopelessness and subsequent recovery, it is also a guide for identifying, understanding and grappling with the issues and pressures that can result in teenage suicide. In less than 200 pages, the book covers a lot of ground. It is very clearly written and DeQuincy's personal story is seamlessly interwoven throughout the text with more practical information about suicide prevention, treatment and recovery. Included in the back are a glossary of terms, bibliography and a resource section with phone numbers and addresses for hotlines, organizations for suicide prevention and mental health advocacy, self-help groups and information services. This book would make an excellent addition to any high school or university library, as well as to the bookshelves of families, friends and helping professionals.

I really wanted to like this book. I appreciate the concept behind the book and genuinely was excited to read it. However, I found the intertwining of factual story and "self-help" notations quite distracting. After only the first chapter, I admit I gave up. I did however choose to keep it around should my adolescent son choose to read it. I may have unfairly expected too much as I did not find it to be the compelling story of "hope" that I had wished for it to portray. All in all, a very "low level" read likely most appropriate for a teen or mother. Definately not appropriate for someone learning in the psychology field or with any sort of educational baseline of psychology.

To anyone who has thought about suicide at all, get this book. I absolutely love it. At one point I thought seriously about suicide, but these days it's just the persistent thoughts. As anyone with experience knows, "I should just end it all," becomes a constant refrain in your head once introduced. Whether or not you want to kill yourself, it won't get out.

This book brought me hope, and that's definitely saying something. My mind has been gone for months, and I had already lost all hope for ever surviving the trials it brings me.

This isn't just some BS book about "don't kill yourself, people will miss you, bla bla." This guy really cares. He really does. He respects all the readers as adults, not just kids, which is another rare commodity.

Sure, I'm not over my own mental issues, but it is SO WONDERFUL to feel understood. Yeah, this guy knows what he's talking about. He's not some therapist who has read a book and recites mantras. He knows and he understands. I am feeling understood in my desires for the first time in my life.

In a way, that has freed me - freed me from the monster of my mind. Not completely, but it's like the monster's teeth have been filed down so that they can't rip apart my brain quite so damagingly.

He cares. Read it. Get it from the library. Whatever you have to do, you deserve the care and understanding in that book.

DeQuincy Lezine's account of his personal struggles with suicide combined with current research on adolescent suicide is a brilliant piece of writing that should be on every adolescent therapist's bookshelf. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. His writing is accessible to anyone, and he (literally) speaks to the reader in ways both touching and encouraging. The honest, candid account of his own thoughts and feelings during his adolescence is punctuated by old journal entries and e-mails to friends, which creates an intensely personal narrative. Deeply moving and highly important.