Status
Available
Call number
Call number
F Bor
Genres
Collection
Publication
Simon Pulse (2009), Edition: Reprint, 276 pages
Description
Four suicidal teenagers go on a "celebrity suicide road trip," visiting the graves of famous people who have killed themselves, with the intention of ending their lives in Death Valley, California.
Original publication date
2009
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User reviews
LibraryThing member Bookswithbite
I loved this book because of the hope it brings. Four friends gather together for one last trip before they kill themselves. All of them stricken by some type of guilt or pain just want out of this world. During this trip they discover that there is much more to life.
Hope. I love this book. All
I loved that while reading this book you found yourself watching them find hope in the new found friendship. Little by little each of them let down their guard letting the others in to their world. We saw Owen whocarried an extreme amount of guilt for years. Frank who felt like no one was their him. Audrey who just wanted to get away. And Jin-Ae who had trouble being herself.
In the end they realized that they are not alone and always had each other. They also fell in love. And love made them see the world in a different place. They wanted to travel more and do things that they have never down before. Love and hope gave them a hunger for something they never though they have.
There was some sex(nothing graphic just talk of it), drugs, and of course illegal stuff.*
Hope. I love this book. All
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four of them found each other with no one else to lean one, they found hope together in their unique friendship. During their trip, they visit graves of people who committed suicide as well as fulfilling their one last wish. I loved that while reading this book you found yourself watching them find hope in the new found friendship. Little by little each of them let down their guard letting the others in to their world. We saw Owen whocarried an extreme amount of guilt for years. Frank who felt like no one was their him. Audrey who just wanted to get away. And Jin-Ae who had trouble being herself.
In the end they realized that they are not alone and always had each other. They also fell in love. And love made them see the world in a different place. They wanted to travel more and do things that they have never down before. Love and hope gave them a hunger for something they never though they have.
There was some sex(nothing graphic just talk of it), drugs, and of course illegal stuff.*
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LibraryThing member kperry
Owen, Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae meet online while discussing their suicide attempts. The four bond quickly and start chatting on a regular basis and end up forming a pact. They will meet, take a road trip to visit the graves of celebrities that have committed suicide, and end their trip and their
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lives, together, in Death Valley.The story sounded very promising and as a reader I was expecting the raw emotions of a book like IMPULSE by Ellen Hopkins, but instead it just came across as a little silly. The characters didn’t really ring true. A few important aspects, which could have used some discussion, about Audrey and Owen are left completely hanging and the conflicts in the story are too quickly resolved and leave the reader unsatisfied in the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member karen813
Interesting premise, I liked getting to know the characters and learning about their individual motivations. I think the idea of a road trip is appealing to the reader and allows ample opportunity to connect with the characters. That being said, I thought there were too many loose ends and issues
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that were resolved too quickly. I thought the book ended on a hopeful note for one character but the others were left unresolved for me which was frustrating. Show Less
LibraryThing member 59Square
Merideth says: I had high hopes for this book, and I can see why it was on Amazon's best seller list. The idea of a suicide pact/road trip is an interesting one. However, Borris never fleshes out his characters enough to make us care about them, and we never get a good idea about why these kids are
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contemplating ending their lives. The "twist" at the end was not that surprising. Overall, a disappointment. Show Less
LibraryThing member seph
I'm not the target audience for this book, so it really wasn't a surprise I had a little trouble getting past my initial "argh, annoying teens" reaction. Once the kids all start confiding in each other and bonding though, the story got really sweet. It brought a tear to my eye more than once.
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Borris's characters are completely believable, from their annoying teen traits all the way through their genuine emotions, and though I've never been suicidal myself, I can see why a lot of people who have that in their history are saying that this book offers an honest portrayal of that particular type of torment. This is a sweet story of friendship, of biological and chosen families, of self-discovery, growing up and finding a place for yourself in this life. Show Less
LibraryThing member book_worm127
Crash Into Me was an interesting novel. It was about, in a word, suicide. I'd checked it out before and hadn't gotten around to reading it, but I decided to give it another chance. I'm glad that I did. It's definitely not an easy book to read. There are a lot of morbid things in here, and a lot of
The book is from Owen's point of view, which I wasn't expecting. Based on the synopsis I thought that it would be split between the four main characters. I guess that it's good that Owen was the only narrator, because if it was split between all of them there would probably have been less drama and surprise in parts. Owen was an interesting narrator. He's very introverted and doesn't talk much. Audrey is loud and outspoken, not worried about what other people think. Frank is an alcoholic and doesn't think that he's worthy of anything. Jin-Ae is a lesbian, and she feels like she can't come out.
They all have reasons for wanting to commit suicide, and they've all tried before. They became friends online and set up cross country trip where they look at the graves of famous people who committed suicide as a way to meet each other in person. And as a last stand before they kill themselves. Along the way they learn a lot about themselves and each other. Do they commit suicide? You won't know until you read.
The writing is this book wasn't spectacularly good or spectacularly bad. It was just average. I thought that there was pretty good imagery, and I felt like I knew Owen pretty well by the end. I liked how there were bits of their previous online conversations thrown in randomly, but I felt like it was too "chat speak." i no that i dont talk lik ths online. But maybe that's just me?
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depressing thoughts, but I thought that everything was well balanced out.The book is from Owen's point of view, which I wasn't expecting. Based on the synopsis I thought that it would be split between the four main characters. I guess that it's good that Owen was the only narrator, because if it was split between all of them there would probably have been less drama and surprise in parts. Owen was an interesting narrator. He's very introverted and doesn't talk much. Audrey is loud and outspoken, not worried about what other people think. Frank is an alcoholic and doesn't think that he's worthy of anything. Jin-Ae is a lesbian, and she feels like she can't come out.
They all have reasons for wanting to commit suicide, and they've all tried before. They became friends online and set up cross country trip where they look at the graves of famous people who committed suicide as a way to meet each other in person. And as a last stand before they kill themselves. Along the way they learn a lot about themselves and each other. Do they commit suicide? You won't know until you read.
The writing is this book wasn't spectacularly good or spectacularly bad. It was just average. I thought that there was pretty good imagery, and I felt like I knew Owen pretty well by the end. I liked how there were bits of their previous online conversations thrown in randomly, but I felt like it was too "chat speak." i no that i dont talk lik ths online. But maybe that's just me?
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LibraryThing member YAaddict
Crash into Me starts right in on the suicidal road trip, with snippets of online chats the teens had throughout the story. I have to admit, this was a tough read for me. I have never known what it is like to want to die. These characters do. They think about it all the time. They think about the
Owen is a shy kid. The kind that has much to say, but keeps it all to himself. He carries a lot of weight on his shoulders and blames himself constantly. Audrey is in your face and isn't scared to tell you how it is. Frank feels like a total failure for not being the jock his dad wants him to be. Jin-Ae is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality and what is means to her. These kids are so different from each other. I would never think to put them in a group. But their shared loneliness is what brings them all together. The author did a fabulous job at letting the reader see inside their heads. You could see the internal struggle. The part that wants to live and the part that wants to end it all. The part that wants pain and the part that just wants to feel better.
The switching scenes of the road kept the story moving at a quick pace. Although with me not being a big sports fan, I was a little bored with the scenes that involved sports. Luckily, that wasn't too many. I kept wanting to read to see where the road would lead the group next. Every scene we also learned more about one of the characters. They each were a little more fleshed out at every pit stop.
Borris' writing is very raw and straight forward, which is fitting for the story. It took me a few chapters to get used to it, but once I did I found myself enjoying it.
Crash into Me is an emotional read that will make you cringe, but it will also make you realize how much we all really are alike. We all crave the same things in life. Happiness. Relationships. Understanding. Taking on a subject like suicide, especially in YA, is no easy task. Borris did an amazing job of it. I am looking forward to reading more from him, especially if he continues taking on more difficult subjects. He is a welcomed voice in the YA genre.
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ways to kill yourself, how it feels to kill yourself, how people will react when you kill yourself. These teens are effed up, seriously effed up. But I cared for them. I grew to love them. Which because I loved them, it made me cringe even more every time they did something else self-destructive.Owen is a shy kid. The kind that has much to say, but keeps it all to himself. He carries a lot of weight on his shoulders and blames himself constantly. Audrey is in your face and isn't scared to tell you how it is. Frank feels like a total failure for not being the jock his dad wants him to be. Jin-Ae is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality and what is means to her. These kids are so different from each other. I would never think to put them in a group. But their shared loneliness is what brings them all together. The author did a fabulous job at letting the reader see inside their heads. You could see the internal struggle. The part that wants to live and the part that wants to end it all. The part that wants pain and the part that just wants to feel better.
The switching scenes of the road kept the story moving at a quick pace. Although with me not being a big sports fan, I was a little bored with the scenes that involved sports. Luckily, that wasn't too many. I kept wanting to read to see where the road would lead the group next. Every scene we also learned more about one of the characters. They each were a little more fleshed out at every pit stop.
Borris' writing is very raw and straight forward, which is fitting for the story. It took me a few chapters to get used to it, but once I did I found myself enjoying it.
Crash into Me is an emotional read that will make you cringe, but it will also make you realize how much we all really are alike. We all crave the same things in life. Happiness. Relationships. Understanding. Taking on a subject like suicide, especially in YA, is no easy task. Borris did an amazing job of it. I am looking forward to reading more from him, especially if he continues taking on more difficult subjects. He is a welcomed voice in the YA genre.
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LibraryThing member jjameli
I didn’t love this book, but something about the darkness and morbid interest in dying and suicide had me reading till the end. I needed to know what happen to Owen, Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae. I kept on reading to get the end, basically. I had several problems with Crash Into Me, one of the
What I did like about Crash Into Me is that it was about a serious issue in our young adults. The statistics of teenage suicidal are downright outrageous. We need to listen to our young, acknowledge their feelings. Anything that brings something has important as suicide to the forefront I feel needs to be read. I just wish the execution was better.
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problems was the characters. I never really understood them, I didn’t understand what had gotten them to the point that they were suicidal. Everything was so on the surface, if you can understand that. The main protagonist is Owen, and we don’t really find out what’s really going on with him until the end, and the shocker the author intended wasn’t really a shock. There was a lot of “I want to kill myself”, or something along those lines, but I didn’t want to be told that I wanted to understand why they were feeling that way. Another problem I had was the story seemed choppy to me, nothing really flowed. Along there road trip, abruptly Frank would decide go to a baseball game and then they were off to a baseball game. I don’t know, sometimes I was just like WTF! What I did like about Crash Into Me is that it was about a serious issue in our young adults. The statistics of teenage suicidal are downright outrageous. We need to listen to our young, acknowledge their feelings. Anything that brings something has important as suicide to the forefront I feel needs to be read. I just wish the execution was better.
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LibraryThing member meggyweg
This was quite a book book, and teens will like it, especially troubled ones. Unfortunately however I guessed the surprise ending way ahead of time. It was fairly obvious. I HATE IT when that happens.
LibraryThing member thehidingspot
CRASH INTO ME is Albert Borris' first novel and he makes a splash with this open and honest portrayal of four teens contemplating suicide.
The story is told in varying formats: narrative, chatroom sessions, and the occasional pertinent list. The narrative moves the reader through the current events,
The casual discussion of suicide and how each character would like to do the deed is both disturbing and compelling, but necessary. Those who contemplate or plan suicide aren't squeamish about the topic, not if they're serious like our four main characters are. As the novel progresses, the reader begins to see hints and flashes of what drives Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae to feel ending their lives is the only option, but Owen's motivations remain somewhat shadowed. It was this mystery that held my attention more than any other part of the novel.
Borris' debut manages to be raw, yet polished - a stunning effect.
The story is told in varying formats: narrative, chatroom sessions, and the occasional pertinent list. The narrative moves the reader through the current events,
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the chat sessions offer a look at the characters before they began their fateful celebrity suicide-studded roadtrip, and the lists are a small offering of comic relief, albeit dark. Owen narrates, but still maintains his distance by keeping secrets from both the reader and his fellow characters.The casual discussion of suicide and how each character would like to do the deed is both disturbing and compelling, but necessary. Those who contemplate or plan suicide aren't squeamish about the topic, not if they're serious like our four main characters are. As the novel progresses, the reader begins to see hints and flashes of what drives Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae to feel ending their lives is the only option, but Owen's motivations remain somewhat shadowed. It was this mystery that held my attention more than any other part of the novel.
Borris' debut manages to be raw, yet polished - a stunning effect.
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LibraryThing member dsolter
CRASH INTO ME is a fantastic book. It deals with four teens on a road trip to visit the graves of famous people who have killed themselves. At the end of their trip, they plan on committing suicide together as a pack. The story explores suicide in a good way. Because even though it’s a story
Another thing I liked was that Mr. Borris could have easily descended into the darkness which lingers around such a topic, but CRASH INTO ME manages to explore suicide in a lighter tone that still balances the seriousness of the topic without being too dark or preachy. And thank God there is some humor in the book too!
One of the best books I’ve read this year.
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where death consumes the character’s attentions, CRASH INTO ME also reveals itself to be a story about life and why one chooses to live it.Another thing I liked was that Mr. Borris could have easily descended into the darkness which lingers around such a topic, but CRASH INTO ME manages to explore suicide in a lighter tone that still balances the seriousness of the topic without being too dark or preachy. And thank God there is some humor in the book too!
One of the best books I’ve read this year.
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Pages
276