Stronger Than Death: When Suicide Touches Your Life [Hardcover]

Sue Chance (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1997

A psychiatrist shares her professional understanding of suicide and relates her own experiences of anguish, guilt, anger, and healing following the death of her twenty-five-year-old son in a chronicle for survivors, families, and professionals. Reprint. NYT. PW.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

An unsatisfying account by psychiatrist Chance of her six-year process of coming to terms with the suicide of her only son, Jim, in his early 20s. Chance was raised in western Texas as the daughter of an unhappily married, strongly dogmatic Baptist couple from whom she fled into marriage at age 15, giving birth to Jim at age 17. Divorced, she went to medical school when Jim was in high school, and later trained at the Menninger Clinic to become a psychiatrist. Jim began to live with Chance's parents at this time, and continued to do so even after she had finished her schooling, remarried, and set up practice in a Texas town 400 miles away from her hometown. Then Jim unexpectedly shot himself, leaving behind a despondent note that blamed no one but himself. Here, through journal entries, excerpts from a column she writes for a psychiatric magazine, and fragments of speeches she has given at meetings of suicide survivors, the author describes her anguish and self-blame, and the little and big things she found that helped her with her grief. Perhaps other suicide survivors will find solace in her experience, but others may wish for less inwardness, less tight authorial control of the information meted out, and more details about Chance's life and her relationship with her son--both of which, from the few glimpses she gives, seem unusual and interesting. The text leaves unanswered questions: Why did Jim live with Chance's parents for so long when clearly it was not a happy or healthy situation? Why did he and Chance maintain such a distance from each other despite their obvious mutual love? Perhaps these particulars would not give any clearer understanding of the reasons for this tragedy--impossible with any suicide, Chance asserts. But they would help the reader to feel it more. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 161 pages
• Publisher: Replica Books; 1 edition (December 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735100195
• ISBN-13: 978-0735100190
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,845,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a very helpful book, January 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stronger Than Death: When Suicide Touches Your Life (Hardcover)

When I was putting together my anthology, DYING: A BOOK OF COMFORT, this was one of two books I found particularly helpful (and used selections from). I'm sorry to see that Victoria Alexander's book WORDS I NEVER THOUGHT TO SPEAK; STORIES OF LIFE IN THE WAKE OF SUICIDE is not in print now, although another of her books is, but Sue Chance's book is definitely something to consider, if someone you know is dealing with the emotional problems of surviving the suicide of someone close to them

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helping to cope, March 30, 2000

By 

Debra S. Kale (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stronger Than Death: When Suicide Touches Your Life: A Mother's Story (Mass Market Paperback)

After recently losing my sister to suicide, I signed up for a support group called SOS (Survivers of Suicide). They sent me this book to read. My heart went out to this mother and her grief. She addresses all the questions you have in your mind after you expierience death by suicide, but you are afraid to say them out loud. She explains how your feelings are normal and there is no right or wrong way to act. Sue Chance has allowed me to put some of my anger and grief into percpective. This book has given me the strength to continue on without my sister.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely helpful to one who has lost a child., July 10, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stronger Than Death (Paperback)

I read this book seven months after my own son died from a drug overdose. Before obtaining a copy of Dr. Chance's book I read many others on death of a child and survival. None adequetly touched the topic of the children who died of suicide and rarely mentioned death by drugs. It was almost like the parents were being blamed or that our grief was any less than those of a parent whose child died of a tragic accident or unfortunate illness. As I read the author's words I could feel the pain. The books I read previous did not touch me in that emotional way. I was glad a friend of mine suggested I read this story. I got the feeling that her life was filled with many tragic and painful issues, but I found her to stay focused on the reason she wrote the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who is experiening such a tragic loss.