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Suicide Thursday
Eli Hagin can’t finish anything.
He hates his job, but can’t seem to quit. He doesn’t want to be with his girlfriend, but doesn’t know how end things with her, either. Eli wants to write a novel, but he’s never taken a story beyond the first chapter.
Eli also has trouble separating reality from fiction. When his best friend kills himself, Eli is motivated, for the first time in his life, to finally end something himself, just as Mike did…
Except sessions with his therapist suggest that Eli’s most recent ‘first chapters’ are not as fictitious as he had intended…and a series of text messages that Mike received before his death point to something much, much darker…
He hates his job, but can’t seem to quit. He doesn’t want to be with his girlfriend, but doesn’t know how end things with her, either. Eli wants to write a novel, but he’s never taken a story beyond the first chapter.
Eli also has trouble separating reality from fiction. When his best friend kills himself, Eli is motivated, for the first time in his life, to finally end something himself, just as Mike did…
Except sessions with his therapist suggest that Eli’s most recent ‘first chapters’ are not as fictitious as he had intended…and a series of text messages that Mike received before his death point to something much, much darker…
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First published November 24, 2022
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March 7, 2023
SUICIDE THURSDAY is a standalone dark and brilliant thriller by British bestselling author Will Carver, courtesy of Orenda Books. Having read and enjoyed his Detective Sergeant Pace Series, I was anxious to read his new standalone thriller.
His novels include:
Series
January David
1. Girl 4 (2011)
2. The Two (2012)
3. Dead Set (2013)
Detective Sergeant Pace
1. Good Samaritans (2018)
2. Nothing Important Happened Today (2019) (Read)
3. Hinton Hollow Death Trip (2020) (Read)
4. Psychopaths Anonymous (2021) (Read)
Novels
The Beresford (2021)
The Daves Next Door (2022)
Suicide Thursday (2022) (Read)
This is my review of Suicide Thursday.
Eli Hagin’s best friend Mike is dead. His friend’s suicide had changed everything. Mike had wanted to die.
Eli wants to write a novel, but he can’t get beyond the first chapter. He can’t focus.
Eli hates his job but can’t quit. He worked in an entry-level position written a marketing team for “DoTrue”. He has a boss, Danny he can’t stand and a fellow employee/boss/idiot, Sam, both of them working on a marketing campaign.
Eli wants to dump his girlfriend, Jackie, but doesn’t know how.
Eli can’t separate reality from fiction.
Eli has a Fake Therapist that he talks to at home.
Eli needs to put an end to something.
The chapters alternate between Eli, Mike, Jackie and every new first chapter that Eli writes…but gets no further.
Now that Eli’s best friend, Mike has died, he has to change his life.
This was a very dark read…and one that I am still thinking about.
Many thanks to the author and the TBC Reviewers Request Group (FB) for my digital copy.
His novels include:
Series
January David
1. Girl 4 (2011)
2. The Two (2012)
3. Dead Set (2013)
Detective Sergeant Pace
1. Good Samaritans (2018)
2. Nothing Important Happened Today (2019) (Read)
3. Hinton Hollow Death Trip (2020) (Read)
4. Psychopaths Anonymous (2021) (Read)
Novels
The Beresford (2021)
The Daves Next Door (2022)
Suicide Thursday (2022) (Read)
This is my review of Suicide Thursday.
Eli Hagin’s best friend Mike is dead. His friend’s suicide had changed everything. Mike had wanted to die.
Eli wants to write a novel, but he can’t get beyond the first chapter. He can’t focus.
Eli hates his job but can’t quit. He worked in an entry-level position written a marketing team for “DoTrue”. He has a boss, Danny he can’t stand and a fellow employee/boss/idiot, Sam, both of them working on a marketing campaign.
Eli wants to dump his girlfriend, Jackie, but doesn’t know how.
Eli can’t separate reality from fiction.
Eli has a Fake Therapist that he talks to at home.
Eli needs to put an end to something.
The chapters alternate between Eli, Mike, Jackie and every new first chapter that Eli writes…but gets no further.
Now that Eli’s best friend, Mike has died, he has to change his life.
This was a very dark read…and one that I am still thinking about.
Many thanks to the author and the TBC Reviewers Request Group (FB) for my digital copy.
Read
November 26, 2022Another Will Carver instant classic that takes the realities of human existence and using those, creates a thought provoking, incredibly brilliant and intensely addictive twisty tale.
The man is a genius. I don't feel the need to say more. Read them and (sometimes literally) weep.
The man is a genius. I don't feel the need to say more. Read them and (sometimes literally) weep.
November 13, 2022
I haven't read many Will Carver books, but I'm starting to get a feel for how he writes, and what he writes about.
This book is obviously about suicide, but perhaps not in the way you expect. Eli, our protagonist, seems to want to end his life, but something is stopping him. His frustration with his life are fairly common issues- he wants to leave his job and his relationship but can't do it. He has also written hundreds of first chapters to novels but nothing more. This element of the story was my favourite. I hadn't considered authors doing this!
The darkest element is shown through text messages between Eli and an unknown person, and these make for EXTREMELY uncomfortable reading. It did remind me of a certain recent court case, which disturbed and (I'm not ashamed to admit) fascinated me.
This book is heavy and extremely dark, but once again, extremely compulsive. Fantastic, and one to think about long after finishing it.
This book is obviously about suicide, but perhaps not in the way you expect. Eli, our protagonist, seems to want to end his life, but something is stopping him. His frustration with his life are fairly common issues- he wants to leave his job and his relationship but can't do it. He has also written hundreds of first chapters to novels but nothing more. This element of the story was my favourite. I hadn't considered authors doing this!
The darkest element is shown through text messages between Eli and an unknown person, and these make for EXTREMELY uncomfortable reading. It did remind me of a certain recent court case, which disturbed and (I'm not ashamed to admit) fascinated me.
This book is heavy and extremely dark, but once again, extremely compulsive. Fantastic, and one to think about long after finishing it.
November 16, 2022
And so with shoulders firmly back and pants hitched up, it’s time to brace ourselves for another journey into the marvellous, acerbic and delightfully twisted world of Will Carver. As Forrest Gump once said, “Will Carver is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” But they changed it in the film. Shame.
So with no further ado, welcome to Suicide Thursday, a tale of infidelity, death, thwarted ambition, and all points in between, which felt different in tone and structure to Carver’s usual railing against the world, but definitely no less satisfying for that.
Feeling more linear in structure than usual, despite the oscillating timeline, Carver has constructed a story which focuses much more on one man’s machinations on life, love and the sheer mindless boredom of the 9-5, “my soul has been systematically ripped from me piece by piece on a daily basis,” Eli Hagin has a hankering to devote his time to writing, if he can get past the endless first chapters he produces,
“Okay, in a way I’m a writer but not really. I write first chapters that can’t possibly lead anywhere because the stories are full of Dutch midgets and suicide and homeless people and lobotomised transexuals and superstition and mirage…pathetic ten-page novelty tales to hide the fact that I actually have nothing poignant to say, “
and also harbouring an urge to ditch his girlfriend, if he can find the right time and level of pre- total inebriation. He talks to an imaginary therapist and is still coming to terms with the death of his mother. Yes, Eli’s world is a dark and dissatisfying place, and then his best friend commits suicide, but in Eli’s confused world of fact and fiction, is he entirely blameless and can this all really be a catalyst for the change he seeks?
I was very much torn in my opinion of Eli, who gravitates between states of infuriating inertia to manic self-questioning, and seemingly pie in the sky plans of action. He’s not a particularly likeable individual, which I can say is true of the majority of the characters in the book, but nevertheless we are cajoled and corralled into liking him a little bit better as the book goes on. He has some moments of pure genius with no major spoilers, making the kind of speech you would really like to hear at a funeral, and dispensing a degree of revenge in his workplace amongst other things, and as they say, still waters run deep in this character. Just how deep gradually unfolds as we begin to navigate the fictional worlds that Eli creates, and his deteriorating relationships with pretty much everyone.
His girlfriend Jackie arouses in the reader a feeling of exasperation, as she hitches her truck to two unsuitable men, oh, and God too, and has a cat, Descartes, who exhibits an equal disdain for her as his human counterparts. I felt throughout that she needed some kind of wake up call, and thinking maybe she should have teamed up with another female character, who makes a beautiful little cameo in this book, as part of the growing Carver Cabinet of Characterful Curiosities. As her and Eli’s existence as individuals and as a couple vacillates between grumbling dissatisfaction and a sense of resigned acceptance, there are many more secrets and lies that are revealed throughout the course of the book thrown up by the suicide of their best friend Mike…
Obviously, no Carver book would be complete without the occasional venomous observation of the futility of life, religion, and the folly and the bitter taste of betrayal in human relationships as friends or lovers. I like the little allusions to his previous books peppered throughout this one, and the way that he produces a self-mocking element into the book with Eli’s floundering attempts at literary greatness, and the questionable prowess of writers to produce something truly meaningful and relevant. With all this in mind, Suicide Thursday proves itself to be a much more measured and meditative book than some of his previous books where he allows a much stronger vibe of storytelling and character building with a less, admittedly always enjoyable, maniacal edge to this one. Yes, there’s still the crazy, but a little bit dialled down crazy, to allow room for this one to take the reader in another direction, and to enhance further Carver’s growing reputation as one of the more flexible, inventive, imaginative and boundary pushing writers within crime fiction today. How can this one be not highly recommended as usual?
Simple.
It can’t.
Highly recommended.
So with no further ado, welcome to Suicide Thursday, a tale of infidelity, death, thwarted ambition, and all points in between, which felt different in tone and structure to Carver’s usual railing against the world, but definitely no less satisfying for that.
Feeling more linear in structure than usual, despite the oscillating timeline, Carver has constructed a story which focuses much more on one man’s machinations on life, love and the sheer mindless boredom of the 9-5, “my soul has been systematically ripped from me piece by piece on a daily basis,” Eli Hagin has a hankering to devote his time to writing, if he can get past the endless first chapters he produces,
“Okay, in a way I’m a writer but not really. I write first chapters that can’t possibly lead anywhere because the stories are full of Dutch midgets and suicide and homeless people and lobotomised transexuals and superstition and mirage…pathetic ten-page novelty tales to hide the fact that I actually have nothing poignant to say, “
and also harbouring an urge to ditch his girlfriend, if he can find the right time and level of pre- total inebriation. He talks to an imaginary therapist and is still coming to terms with the death of his mother. Yes, Eli’s world is a dark and dissatisfying place, and then his best friend commits suicide, but in Eli’s confused world of fact and fiction, is he entirely blameless and can this all really be a catalyst for the change he seeks?
I was very much torn in my opinion of Eli, who gravitates between states of infuriating inertia to manic self-questioning, and seemingly pie in the sky plans of action. He’s not a particularly likeable individual, which I can say is true of the majority of the characters in the book, but nevertheless we are cajoled and corralled into liking him a little bit better as the book goes on. He has some moments of pure genius with no major spoilers, making the kind of speech you would really like to hear at a funeral, and dispensing a degree of revenge in his workplace amongst other things, and as they say, still waters run deep in this character. Just how deep gradually unfolds as we begin to navigate the fictional worlds that Eli creates, and his deteriorating relationships with pretty much everyone.
His girlfriend Jackie arouses in the reader a feeling of exasperation, as she hitches her truck to two unsuitable men, oh, and God too, and has a cat, Descartes, who exhibits an equal disdain for her as his human counterparts. I felt throughout that she needed some kind of wake up call, and thinking maybe she should have teamed up with another female character, who makes a beautiful little cameo in this book, as part of the growing Carver Cabinet of Characterful Curiosities. As her and Eli’s existence as individuals and as a couple vacillates between grumbling dissatisfaction and a sense of resigned acceptance, there are many more secrets and lies that are revealed throughout the course of the book thrown up by the suicide of their best friend Mike…
Obviously, no Carver book would be complete without the occasional venomous observation of the futility of life, religion, and the folly and the bitter taste of betrayal in human relationships as friends or lovers. I like the little allusions to his previous books peppered throughout this one, and the way that he produces a self-mocking element into the book with Eli’s floundering attempts at literary greatness, and the questionable prowess of writers to produce something truly meaningful and relevant. With all this in mind, Suicide Thursday proves itself to be a much more measured and meditative book than some of his previous books where he allows a much stronger vibe of storytelling and character building with a less, admittedly always enjoyable, maniacal edge to this one. Yes, there’s still the crazy, but a little bit dialled down crazy, to allow room for this one to take the reader in another direction, and to enhance further Carver’s growing reputation as one of the more flexible, inventive, imaginative and boundary pushing writers within crime fiction today. How can this one be not highly recommended as usual?
Simple.
It can’t.
Highly recommended.
December 31, 2024
“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.
January 16, 2023
Two stars for the first half of the book, which was intriguing and hinted at a crime. That of one character using coercion to get another to take their own life, why though, we never learn.
The second half read like a different book altogether. The author attempted to add a subplot of sexual harassment, of the main character's boss against a female coworker (hero is not the word to use for the boring, apathetic, passive lazy man). But this wasn't woven into the story but added suddenly for no obvious reason to the final third of the book, diluting the intended #metoo theme and detracting from the plot. Which I thought all the way through would lead to a Fight Club twist. I was, however, disappointed that the end does not offer any resolution at all to the 300 pages of the book I wasted reading.
The lack of conclusion resulted in me being more confused when I put the book down for the final time than I was when I first picked it up. I know the publisher publishes literary fiction, and this is supposed to be a literary thriller but it doesn't tick the boxes needed for such a genre.
Overall, I wasn't impressed.
The second half read like a different book altogether. The author attempted to add a subplot of sexual harassment, of the main character's boss against a female coworker (hero is not the word to use for the boring, apathetic, passive lazy man). But this wasn't woven into the story but added suddenly for no obvious reason to the final third of the book, diluting the intended #metoo theme and detracting from the plot. Which I thought all the way through would lead to a Fight Club twist. I was, however, disappointed that the end does not offer any resolution at all to the 300 pages of the book I wasted reading.
The lack of conclusion resulted in me being more confused when I put the book down for the final time than I was when I first picked it up. I know the publisher publishes literary fiction, and this is supposed to be a literary thriller but it doesn't tick the boxes needed for such a genre.
Overall, I wasn't impressed.
November 8, 2022
Reading a Will Carver book is like eating ice cream straight from the freezer. Very delicious but makes your brain hurt.
One minute you are shocked by the graphic nature of Mike’s suicide, flabbergasted by the truth of Eli’s therapist and then smiling like an inane fool at the dinner enjoyed by Jackie’s snobby cat. Meanwhile there is something lingering in the background with the smell of pretzels…..
Suicide Thursday shocks with a morbid curiosity and Eli is a strange companion. Being inside his head, which veers from a smouldering malevolence to an almost childish whimsy is, in the authors own words, ‘A tale of woe disguised as cheery anecdote. A horror story impersonating a bedtime fable.
I never know what to expect from Will’s books, each one is original and holds a magnifying glass up to the repugnance of society. Suicide is an almost untouchable subject but somehow he manages to craft an extremely readable and thought provoking book with both sensitivity and a coldness. He must have an abundance of ‘pixie-dust kiss droplets’ as well as a bit of a crazy brain.
One minute you are shocked by the graphic nature of Mike’s suicide, flabbergasted by the truth of Eli’s therapist and then smiling like an inane fool at the dinner enjoyed by Jackie’s snobby cat. Meanwhile there is something lingering in the background with the smell of pretzels…..
Suicide Thursday shocks with a morbid curiosity and Eli is a strange companion. Being inside his head, which veers from a smouldering malevolence to an almost childish whimsy is, in the authors own words, ‘A tale of woe disguised as cheery anecdote. A horror story impersonating a bedtime fable.
I never know what to expect from Will’s books, each one is original and holds a magnifying glass up to the repugnance of society. Suicide is an almost untouchable subject but somehow he manages to craft an extremely readable and thought provoking book with both sensitivity and a coldness. He must have an abundance of ‘pixie-dust kiss droplets’ as well as a bit of a crazy brain.
December 3, 2022
Crafty, crazy, twisted, depressed me, then started to all come together in the weird madness that only Will Carver can make you love!
His mind is wild and his writing is brilliant.
His mind is wild and his writing is brilliant.
December 19, 2022
What the F did I just read?
On the surface and clearly via the title it is a novel essentially about suicide. However, it is so much more. Essentially undramatic but horrific at the same time. Involved but uninvolved, is it love or sex, is it friendship or bullying? Is it a tale told by an idiot or a maestro?
Weird as hell, POVs from every angle, multi-factored time changes but then it makes sense!
100% different!
On the surface and clearly via the title it is a novel essentially about suicide. However, it is so much more. Essentially undramatic but horrific at the same time. Involved but uninvolved, is it love or sex, is it friendship or bullying? Is it a tale told by an idiot or a maestro?
Weird as hell, POVs from every angle, multi-factored time changes but then it makes sense!
100% different!
January 4, 2023
A literary 'experience' in LONDON
Suicide Thursday is not just a book, it’s an experience! It challenges the reader to consider the differences between truth, lies and fiction using the protagonists own flippant brand of philosophy. It’s not even certain whether it is a crime novel or not until the reader has pieced together the plot. Because Will Carver has written a jigsaw of a book.
It begins with an author, Eli, writing the first chapter of a book describing the narrator’s best friend Mike’s recent suicide. It turns out that Eli has a talent for writing unfinished books – in fact just first chapters – and coincidentally he also has a best friend called Mike. This is where the very blurry lines between fiction and the book’s reality are first made plain to the reader. We realise that not only is Eli an unreliable narrator, he and Will Carver conspire to keep the reader guessing about the plot. The action in the book is misleading in the sleight-of-hand way that magicians beguile their audiences: Eli will narrate a whole chapter in great detail, finally saying, “If this happened.” The reader has to decide whether it did or not.
If all this sounds complicated, it is somewhat. However the storyline and the characters are strong enough and fascinating enough to keep the reader engaged and wanting more. Gradually the pieces of the story are put in place and the full story emerges. There’s also plenty of dark humour to leaven the somewhat grim subject matter. For example, Eli forgives Mike’s incompetence when he first tries to kill himself, saying, “He shouldn’t really have done that, but it was his first attempt.” Eli’s friends are quirky and likeable, such as the endearing Teds, who run the local café, in contrast to his slippery and objectionable colleagues. Overall, this is a fascinating and rewarding read.
Eli is a young man in a temporary job that he hates: he’s afraid of commitment and desperate for a career as a successful author but critically he is unable to finish anything. He can’t resign from his job, end his relationship with the long-suffering Jackie, or finish a second chapter, and he feels helpless to support Mike in his misery. The characters that Eli writes about resemble him in varying degrees and he observes both his own and their inefficacy. He copes with the self-imposed stress of his situation by having counselling sessions with a make-believe therapist. In fact the therapy sessions simply consist of him revealing his inner thoughts in a carefully planned way to himself with the aid of a voice recorder. His impotence is illustrated neatly when we see him, “Almost tapping keys, but withdrawing in disappointment.” Eli quotes Camus’ Sisyphus, and it’s as though he is also condemned forever to repeat his actions, by writing first chapters.
The locations in Suicide Thursday are brilliantly described, evoking all our senses, including such detail as the persistent smell of pretzels in Eli’s former-pretzel-factory home, the fine finish of the newly varnished floor in Mike’s flat and Eli’s unique response to an art exhibition. He reveals the bustle of businessmen in the station, and exactly the number of steps on his commute home, and between home and the neighbouring café. There’s an uncomfortable amount of detail about Mike’s suicide too, but the clue is in the title. Such things are never pretty.
The action is not chronological, but chapters are referred to as X days either before or after the day that Mike will kill himself – as if Eli already has that future event in his diary. (This despite the fact that Mike hesitates to kill himself and certainly has no such date in mind.) Even before news of Mike’s death reaches Eli he says, “Just because it’s suicide Thursday… doesn’t mean I can miss therapy.” We have the benefit of an omniscient narrator who offers us the perspectives of Jackie, Mike and other characters to complement Eli’s own narrative. Several chapters comprise text message exchanges between two unnamed correspondents, one of who wants to kill themself. Again, the reader is left to determine who might be sending the messages. The book reaches a satisfying conclusion, with some clever twists and the feeling that, while nothing in life is ideal, things have worked out the best way they could for Eli under the circumstances. If the short chapters in this book were conventionally arranged it would mean that you could whizz through this book. Happily, the structure means you are forced to take longer and savour the detail, playing detective to discern the truth and the lies. Maybe after all it is a detective novel?
Suicide Thursday is not just a book, it’s an experience! It challenges the reader to consider the differences between truth, lies and fiction using the protagonists own flippant brand of philosophy. It’s not even certain whether it is a crime novel or not until the reader has pieced together the plot. Because Will Carver has written a jigsaw of a book.
It begins with an author, Eli, writing the first chapter of a book describing the narrator’s best friend Mike’s recent suicide. It turns out that Eli has a talent for writing unfinished books – in fact just first chapters – and coincidentally he also has a best friend called Mike. This is where the very blurry lines between fiction and the book’s reality are first made plain to the reader. We realise that not only is Eli an unreliable narrator, he and Will Carver conspire to keep the reader guessing about the plot. The action in the book is misleading in the sleight-of-hand way that magicians beguile their audiences: Eli will narrate a whole chapter in great detail, finally saying, “If this happened.” The reader has to decide whether it did or not.
If all this sounds complicated, it is somewhat. However the storyline and the characters are strong enough and fascinating enough to keep the reader engaged and wanting more. Gradually the pieces of the story are put in place and the full story emerges. There’s also plenty of dark humour to leaven the somewhat grim subject matter. For example, Eli forgives Mike’s incompetence when he first tries to kill himself, saying, “He shouldn’t really have done that, but it was his first attempt.” Eli’s friends are quirky and likeable, such as the endearing Teds, who run the local café, in contrast to his slippery and objectionable colleagues. Overall, this is a fascinating and rewarding read.
Eli is a young man in a temporary job that he hates: he’s afraid of commitment and desperate for a career as a successful author but critically he is unable to finish anything. He can’t resign from his job, end his relationship with the long-suffering Jackie, or finish a second chapter, and he feels helpless to support Mike in his misery. The characters that Eli writes about resemble him in varying degrees and he observes both his own and their inefficacy. He copes with the self-imposed stress of his situation by having counselling sessions with a make-believe therapist. In fact the therapy sessions simply consist of him revealing his inner thoughts in a carefully planned way to himself with the aid of a voice recorder. His impotence is illustrated neatly when we see him, “Almost tapping keys, but withdrawing in disappointment.” Eli quotes Camus’ Sisyphus, and it’s as though he is also condemned forever to repeat his actions, by writing first chapters.
The locations in Suicide Thursday are brilliantly described, evoking all our senses, including such detail as the persistent smell of pretzels in Eli’s former-pretzel-factory home, the fine finish of the newly varnished floor in Mike’s flat and Eli’s unique response to an art exhibition. He reveals the bustle of businessmen in the station, and exactly the number of steps on his commute home, and between home and the neighbouring café. There’s an uncomfortable amount of detail about Mike’s suicide too, but the clue is in the title. Such things are never pretty.
The action is not chronological, but chapters are referred to as X days either before or after the day that Mike will kill himself – as if Eli already has that future event in his diary. (This despite the fact that Mike hesitates to kill himself and certainly has no such date in mind.) Even before news of Mike’s death reaches Eli he says, “Just because it’s suicide Thursday… doesn’t mean I can miss therapy.” We have the benefit of an omniscient narrator who offers us the perspectives of Jackie, Mike and other characters to complement Eli’s own narrative. Several chapters comprise text message exchanges between two unnamed correspondents, one of who wants to kill themself. Again, the reader is left to determine who might be sending the messages. The book reaches a satisfying conclusion, with some clever twists and the feeling that, while nothing in life is ideal, things have worked out the best way they could for Eli under the circumstances. If the short chapters in this book were conventionally arranged it would mean that you could whizz through this book. Happily, the structure means you are forced to take longer and savour the detail, playing detective to discern the truth and the lies. Maybe after all it is a detective novel?
January 27, 2023
Talentless, egotistical, incredibly unreliable narrator talks us through a pretty eventful week or so of his life. I'm not sure if it was just badly written or if it was deliberately done so by the author to show the reader just how talentless our fuckwit of a narrator was. Either way, I didn't enjoy this book at all and ended up skipping through the final third.
December 6, 2022
Dark and witty novel that defies genre categorisation - part psychological thriller, part black comedy - and explores the relationship of truth and fiction in the light of a personal tragedy.
Eli Hagin is a frustrated would be writer who feels trapped - in his unsatisfactory marketing job with colleagues he despises, and in his relationship with his girlfriend Jackie. Yet Eli feels unable to leave his job or end his relationship, and he’s also unable to finish his novels - instead he produces a constant stream of first chapters. Then his best friend Mike commits suicide, and Eli begins to find the motivation to make the changes he wants.
Challenging and often bleak, this novel was full of perceptive and funny observations, particularly in Eli’s corporate hell of a workplace, but there is also a tone of contempt which can move from sharply amusing to bordering on cruelty at times. The main characters - Eli, Jackie and Mike - are self serving and generally unsympathetic, which makes them interesting rather than engaging.
Carver is always original and provocative in his writing, and he makes his points intelligently if somewhat bluntly. Well worth reading but it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m still not 100% sure if it’s mine - but I know I’ll be back to read more of his work!
Eli Hagin is a frustrated would be writer who feels trapped - in his unsatisfactory marketing job with colleagues he despises, and in his relationship with his girlfriend Jackie. Yet Eli feels unable to leave his job or end his relationship, and he’s also unable to finish his novels - instead he produces a constant stream of first chapters. Then his best friend Mike commits suicide, and Eli begins to find the motivation to make the changes he wants.
Challenging and often bleak, this novel was full of perceptive and funny observations, particularly in Eli’s corporate hell of a workplace, but there is also a tone of contempt which can move from sharply amusing to bordering on cruelty at times. The main characters - Eli, Jackie and Mike - are self serving and generally unsympathetic, which makes them interesting rather than engaging.
Carver is always original and provocative in his writing, and he makes his points intelligently if somewhat bluntly. Well worth reading but it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m still not 100% sure if it’s mine - but I know I’ll be back to read more of his work!
December 13, 2023
Incredibly self-indulgent telling of a story that doesn't really have a point. It is like the author wants you to feel all the pain it was to write this book, page by page, repetition after repetition. All the first chapters are meandering, like reading someone's dream journals. Ralph and Kate are last-minute entries to give this whole thing a shape. The office subplot is utterly irrelevant, and Jackie's more of a paper cutout of a formidable woman than a person.
But the worst thing here is the world, itself. I am fine with unreliable narrators, fake therapists, and dream sequences. No problem. But this is not how funerals work, nor do the police take you to the station over a hysterical ecclamation without even asking "what the fuck do you actually mean maam". It is the fact that Eli's big shtick being inability to finish things (drink every time he says so) while actually finishing many things fine all along the story. It is the physical world bending over backwards to deliver emotional fakeouts to this barren skeleton of a story that is the most offensive part of the writing.
But the worst thing here is the world, itself. I am fine with unreliable narrators, fake therapists, and dream sequences. No problem. But this is not how funerals work, nor do the police take you to the station over a hysterical ecclamation without even asking "what the fuck do you actually mean maam". It is the fact that Eli's big shtick being inability to finish things (drink every time he says so) while actually finishing many things fine all along the story. It is the physical world bending over backwards to deliver emotional fakeouts to this barren skeleton of a story that is the most offensive part of the writing.
November 24, 2022
I wasn't sure what to expect from this, but it certainly turned out totally different to anything I could ever have imagined.
The plot is uniquely crafted, it's dark, disturbing, dipped in dark humour and it's absolutely delightful... oh she of the twisted mind!
I'm so feeling a bit like Eli right now and have absolutely no idea what to write that could ever do this book justice. I've stopped, started and deleted so many times.
It's out today, so bag yourself a copy and give it a read, you won't regret it!
Many thanks to Random Things Tours for my tour spot.
Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The plot is uniquely crafted, it's dark, disturbing, dipped in dark humour and it's absolutely delightful... oh she of the twisted mind!
I'm so feeling a bit like Eli right now and have absolutely no idea what to write that could ever do this book justice. I've stopped, started and deleted so many times.
It's out today, so bag yourself a copy and give it a read, you won't regret it!
Many thanks to Random Things Tours for my tour spot.
Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐
December 14, 2023
i wish i could have enjoyed this more
July 18, 2023
The book didn’t seem to go anywhere there was a lot of repetition. A disappointing read.
November 27, 2022
“Suicide is a beginning for those left behind.”
Bold, uncompromising and unique, Suicide Thursday is another thought-provoking novel from the incomparable Will Carver.
Aspiring writer Eli Hagin can’t finish things. He can’t get past the opening chapter of his book, can’t end his relationship, and can’t leave the job he hates. But when his best friend takes his own life Eli finds himself feeling motivated to finally finish something. But not everything is as it seems and fact begins to merge with fiction as the truth behind Mike’s suicide is revealed…
This is one of those books that haunts your subconscious long after reading and I have not stopped thinking about it. Will Carver is a master of his craft, holding us in the palm of his hand from beginning to end as he explores a multitude of social and moral topics in this genre-blending tale. I am a proud member of the #CarverCult and I will pick up his books without even looking at the synopsis. They are like nothing else you will ever read, but you know you are getting a story that is meticulously written, twisty, sinister and atmospheric.
The story is told by multiple narrators using mixed media as it moves between the days leading up to Sucide Thursday and the heartrending aftermath. This is a story filled with flawed, unreliable and unlikable characters. Eli is particularly abhorrent; selfish, acerbic and unfeeling. I couldn’t decide if he was simply a terrible person or if there were elements of neurodiversity that affected his perception of the world. There was nothing that could excuse him deciding Mike had killed himself as a message to him rather than an expression of his own desperation though and I really hated him at times. But he was great to read.
As someone who has lost friends to suicide and struggled with mental health, I was a little apprehensive about how I’d feel reading this book. But while this is undoubtedly hard to read, Carver skillfully and realistically conveys the psychological and emotional torment of depression and suicidal thoughts, and the complex layers of the particular kind of grief that comes with losing a loved one in this way. Carver is also an author with a knifelike awareness of the human condition who gets to the heart of why people behave like they do.
Disturbing, moving and darkly funny, Suicide Thursday is a compelling and audacious novel that stays with you. Highly recommended.
Bold, uncompromising and unique, Suicide Thursday is another thought-provoking novel from the incomparable Will Carver.
Aspiring writer Eli Hagin can’t finish things. He can’t get past the opening chapter of his book, can’t end his relationship, and can’t leave the job he hates. But when his best friend takes his own life Eli finds himself feeling motivated to finally finish something. But not everything is as it seems and fact begins to merge with fiction as the truth behind Mike’s suicide is revealed…
This is one of those books that haunts your subconscious long after reading and I have not stopped thinking about it. Will Carver is a master of his craft, holding us in the palm of his hand from beginning to end as he explores a multitude of social and moral topics in this genre-blending tale. I am a proud member of the #CarverCult and I will pick up his books without even looking at the synopsis. They are like nothing else you will ever read, but you know you are getting a story that is meticulously written, twisty, sinister and atmospheric.
The story is told by multiple narrators using mixed media as it moves between the days leading up to Sucide Thursday and the heartrending aftermath. This is a story filled with flawed, unreliable and unlikable characters. Eli is particularly abhorrent; selfish, acerbic and unfeeling. I couldn’t decide if he was simply a terrible person or if there were elements of neurodiversity that affected his perception of the world. There was nothing that could excuse him deciding Mike had killed himself as a message to him rather than an expression of his own desperation though and I really hated him at times. But he was great to read.
As someone who has lost friends to suicide and struggled with mental health, I was a little apprehensive about how I’d feel reading this book. But while this is undoubtedly hard to read, Carver skillfully and realistically conveys the psychological and emotional torment of depression and suicidal thoughts, and the complex layers of the particular kind of grief that comes with losing a loved one in this way. Carver is also an author with a knifelike awareness of the human condition who gets to the heart of why people behave like they do.
Disturbing, moving and darkly funny, Suicide Thursday is a compelling and audacious novel that stays with you. Highly recommended.
January 18, 2023
I ‘discovered’ Will Carver’s novels just last year and what I love about his writing is that you’re never quite sure what your going to get. His style is incredibly unique and as a result is very difficult to pigeonhole, as they seem to cross several genre boundaries.
Eli Hagen, our protagonist, hates his soul destroying job in marketing with an IT firm but he can’t quite muster the nerve to quit. Likewise, he also can’t quit his girlfriend of six years, Jackie, who he seems to loath and love in equal measure. Eli longs to be a writer but he never gets past the first chapter of any novel that he starts and has a library of first chapters which his best friend Mike reads, reviews and ‘blurbs’ for him. Mike doesn’t work, is depressed and has attempted suicide on a number of occasions before however on ‘Suicide Thursday’ he is successful and this sparks Eli on to eventually attempt to make some life changes.
This is another cracking read from Will Carver especially as I was never quite sure where the plot was going. It was also difficult to know if what you were reading was actually what was happening or a figment of Eli’s imagination, as the lines between fiction and reality blurred. Eli is not a very likeable character but that can be said of most of the other characters in the novel and even Jackie’s cat Descartes, who possesses a somewhat vindictive streak. I enjoy the way that Carver also manages to include characters and references from his other novels into this novel. Also being a Steely Dan fan I also enjoyed the references to the album titles in the names of the various establishments !
I still haven’t complete caught up with all of Carver’s back catalogue yet which I look forward too and also his forthcoming novel which is apparently a prequel/sequel to The Beresford ?
Eli Hagen, our protagonist, hates his soul destroying job in marketing with an IT firm but he can’t quite muster the nerve to quit. Likewise, he also can’t quit his girlfriend of six years, Jackie, who he seems to loath and love in equal measure. Eli longs to be a writer but he never gets past the first chapter of any novel that he starts and has a library of first chapters which his best friend Mike reads, reviews and ‘blurbs’ for him. Mike doesn’t work, is depressed and has attempted suicide on a number of occasions before however on ‘Suicide Thursday’ he is successful and this sparks Eli on to eventually attempt to make some life changes.
This is another cracking read from Will Carver especially as I was never quite sure where the plot was going. It was also difficult to know if what you were reading was actually what was happening or a figment of Eli’s imagination, as the lines between fiction and reality blurred. Eli is not a very likeable character but that can be said of most of the other characters in the novel and even Jackie’s cat Descartes, who possesses a somewhat vindictive streak. I enjoy the way that Carver also manages to include characters and references from his other novels into this novel. Also being a Steely Dan fan I also enjoyed the references to the album titles in the names of the various establishments !
I still haven’t complete caught up with all of Carver’s back catalogue yet which I look forward too and also his forthcoming novel which is apparently a prequel/sequel to The Beresford ?
November 18, 2022
So here we are again, back in the hands of one of the most prolific authors that I know. A new book from Will Carver often puts the fear of God into me. Some of his writing, in the past, has made me feel a bit 'urghhh'. Not in a bad way, but in a way that scares the shit out of me sometimes.
My husband read this one a few months ago and enjoyed it. I've tried to talk about the book with him and he just told me to 'read it' and that he has nothing to say. I think he means, that he doesn't have a clue to explain what goes on between these pages, if he were honest!
I found Suicide Thursday to be a much easier read than Carver's previous books. It felt more like a 'story', I know that sounds a bit odd, but anyone who has read his novels will understand.
He's created a story, that whilst not quite linear, is easy to follow and it revolves around a Thursday. Suicide Thursday to be precise.
Eli is the lead character and it often feels as though you are actually walking in his shoes, with his measured out paces on his journey to and from the office and his often obsessive habits when he gets home. Eli appears quite strange, but I actually think he's pretty normal, it's just that he's vocalising his inner thoughts a lot, something many of us don't do ... we like to appear rationally normal, but are we?
Eli has a girlfriend, Jackie. They've been together for years and Eli wants to break up with her. Jackie doesn't appear too happy in their relationship either and despite her religious fervour and regular confessions, she's embarking on an illicit relationship. She's NOT a nice person.
Mike is going to take his life on Thursday. It's planned, just as soon as he's finished varnishing the floor in his flat.
Mike does take his life and I have to be honest and say that the scene where Mike sits, dead in his flat, did turn my stomach a bit. It's hard hitting, yet so matter of fact.
So, I've rambled her quite a bit about Eli, Jackie and Mike and some of the things that happen, no spoilers here! What I need to do is talk about the writing and the incredible way that Carver can examine people, and relationships and life. This really is a study in how people love and, often, in the case of Eli's colleague, how they can hate. How other people can impact your life, sometimes even when they are no longer alive ..... cue Eli's Mum, and then Mike.
Oh, I forgot. Eli wants to be a writer. He is very good at writing first chapters, but after that, nothing. He has a library of first chapters, and Carver shares some of them within the book. I loved these and I'd really love to see a collection of Eli's first chapters published some day.
I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit like my husband did after he read this one. I loved it, but I don't know why, and I can't really tell anyone what it's about. It's Carver at his very best, it's a little different to his previous novels, but it certainly has his trademark.
My advice? Just read it, and let me know what you think.
My husband read this one a few months ago and enjoyed it. I've tried to talk about the book with him and he just told me to 'read it' and that he has nothing to say. I think he means, that he doesn't have a clue to explain what goes on between these pages, if he were honest!
I found Suicide Thursday to be a much easier read than Carver's previous books. It felt more like a 'story', I know that sounds a bit odd, but anyone who has read his novels will understand.
He's created a story, that whilst not quite linear, is easy to follow and it revolves around a Thursday. Suicide Thursday to be precise.
Eli is the lead character and it often feels as though you are actually walking in his shoes, with his measured out paces on his journey to and from the office and his often obsessive habits when he gets home. Eli appears quite strange, but I actually think he's pretty normal, it's just that he's vocalising his inner thoughts a lot, something many of us don't do ... we like to appear rationally normal, but are we?
Eli has a girlfriend, Jackie. They've been together for years and Eli wants to break up with her. Jackie doesn't appear too happy in their relationship either and despite her religious fervour and regular confessions, she's embarking on an illicit relationship. She's NOT a nice person.
Mike is going to take his life on Thursday. It's planned, just as soon as he's finished varnishing the floor in his flat.
Mike does take his life and I have to be honest and say that the scene where Mike sits, dead in his flat, did turn my stomach a bit. It's hard hitting, yet so matter of fact.
So, I've rambled her quite a bit about Eli, Jackie and Mike and some of the things that happen, no spoilers here! What I need to do is talk about the writing and the incredible way that Carver can examine people, and relationships and life. This really is a study in how people love and, often, in the case of Eli's colleague, how they can hate. How other people can impact your life, sometimes even when they are no longer alive ..... cue Eli's Mum, and then Mike.
Oh, I forgot. Eli wants to be a writer. He is very good at writing first chapters, but after that, nothing. He has a library of first chapters, and Carver shares some of them within the book. I loved these and I'd really love to see a collection of Eli's first chapters published some day.
I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit like my husband did after he read this one. I loved it, but I don't know why, and I can't really tell anyone what it's about. It's Carver at his very best, it's a little different to his previous novels, but it certainly has his trademark.
My advice? Just read it, and let me know what you think.
November 19, 2022
I'm grateful to Karen at Orenda Books for sending me a copy of Suicide Thursday to consider for review.
In Suicide Thursday, Will Carver returns to a familiar theme of his recent books - the clue is in the title! - and perhaps in a more personal and, well, creepy vein than he has yet, hard though that may be to believe if you've read Nothing Important Happened Today or The Daves Next Door.
In Suicide Thursday there's no sinister grand scheme for glory, no greater cause, to direct the action. The story is pared down, simple and stark. Three friends, Eli, Mike and Jackie.
Eli is a sort-of failed writer. He churns out first chapters, but is unable to take his books any further. Comfortably off but not so much that can afford to leave his cubicle-bound job in marketing, he endures to tedium of office life but unloads his frustrations each night to his therapist.
Who doesn't exist.
Jackie, Eli's girlfriend, is alternately haunted by Catholic guilt at her strong sex drive, which drives her to regular Confession, and concerned for her friends Eli and Mike.
Mike is... well, Mike is unemployed and spends his life sanding and polishing the floor of his flat.
The book is told from the perspective of each, and we also see some other points of view and some mysterious and unsettling text messages, but Eli is at the centre of things. I think it would be fair to say that Eli is trying to make his life more meaningful. His chapters (available for purchase by other writers who can carry them to conclusion) reflect aspects of his own reality (often, very funnily). Conversely he frets and fusses over whether his actual life is following narrative logic, and whether to nudge it to do. Ought he, for example, to break up with Jackie so that a reconciliation can come in Act 3?
Jackie sees things through a different, simpler narrative lens - one involving potential wedding bells and a relaxation of her crushing guilt.
So the three weave their dance, the story moving forward and back around that Suicide Thursday, Carver inviting the reader to judge or perhaps to sympathise with these characters. I love it that his books, while going to dark places, frequently - as here - do so with compassion and empathy. We may be invited to judge, but the author isn't doing so, making the navigation of this story something of a moral journey for us and in places therefore, a sort of self-condemnation. That sense is heightened because while more or less standalone, readers of Carver's other recent book will recognise in Suicide Thursday hooks, overlaps and references to the wider Carververse, suggesting that it takes place in the same world and that concerns and threats in that world are present here even if largely unseen.
As always, the writing here is simple, direct and often questioning: absurdities of modern life are exposed and highlighted without being ridiculed and the author is perfectly comfortable drawing attention to the contradictions and inconsistencies of these characters, especially to their different ways of seeing the world, without telling is who is right or indeed, whether anyone is. The Carververse is painted in a rich palatte of moral grey shades and Suicide Thursday is no exception.
All that said, I should add that the book is also often very funny, indeed there are some almost slapstick situations here as well as excruciatingly embarrassing ones. Mike literally varnishing himself into a corner is one, as is the trouble that Eli's wandering eye gets him into and the reaction she gets form one young woman.
For more information about Suicide Thursday, see the publisher's website here - and of course the other stops on the blogtour which you can see listed on the poster below.
All in all an excellent addition to this writer's output and I'm glad that, in contrast to Eli, he not only starts but finishes his work, giving us more to be entertained by and to think about.
In Suicide Thursday, Will Carver returns to a familiar theme of his recent books - the clue is in the title! - and perhaps in a more personal and, well, creepy vein than he has yet, hard though that may be to believe if you've read Nothing Important Happened Today or The Daves Next Door.
In Suicide Thursday there's no sinister grand scheme for glory, no greater cause, to direct the action. The story is pared down, simple and stark. Three friends, Eli, Mike and Jackie.
Eli is a sort-of failed writer. He churns out first chapters, but is unable to take his books any further. Comfortably off but not so much that can afford to leave his cubicle-bound job in marketing, he endures to tedium of office life but unloads his frustrations each night to his therapist.
Who doesn't exist.
Jackie, Eli's girlfriend, is alternately haunted by Catholic guilt at her strong sex drive, which drives her to regular Confession, and concerned for her friends Eli and Mike.
Mike is... well, Mike is unemployed and spends his life sanding and polishing the floor of his flat.
The book is told from the perspective of each, and we also see some other points of view and some mysterious and unsettling text messages, but Eli is at the centre of things. I think it would be fair to say that Eli is trying to make his life more meaningful. His chapters (available for purchase by other writers who can carry them to conclusion) reflect aspects of his own reality (often, very funnily). Conversely he frets and fusses over whether his actual life is following narrative logic, and whether to nudge it to do. Ought he, for example, to break up with Jackie so that a reconciliation can come in Act 3?
Jackie sees things through a different, simpler narrative lens - one involving potential wedding bells and a relaxation of her crushing guilt.
So the three weave their dance, the story moving forward and back around that Suicide Thursday, Carver inviting the reader to judge or perhaps to sympathise with these characters. I love it that his books, while going to dark places, frequently - as here - do so with compassion and empathy. We may be invited to judge, but the author isn't doing so, making the navigation of this story something of a moral journey for us and in places therefore, a sort of self-condemnation. That sense is heightened because while more or less standalone, readers of Carver's other recent book will recognise in Suicide Thursday hooks, overlaps and references to the wider Carververse, suggesting that it takes place in the same world and that concerns and threats in that world are present here even if largely unseen.
As always, the writing here is simple, direct and often questioning: absurdities of modern life are exposed and highlighted without being ridiculed and the author is perfectly comfortable drawing attention to the contradictions and inconsistencies of these characters, especially to their different ways of seeing the world, without telling is who is right or indeed, whether anyone is. The Carververse is painted in a rich palatte of moral grey shades and Suicide Thursday is no exception.
All that said, I should add that the book is also often very funny, indeed there are some almost slapstick situations here as well as excruciatingly embarrassing ones. Mike literally varnishing himself into a corner is one, as is the trouble that Eli's wandering eye gets him into and the reaction she gets form one young woman.
For more information about Suicide Thursday, see the publisher's website here - and of course the other stops on the blogtour which you can see listed on the poster below.
All in all an excellent addition to this writer's output and I'm glad that, in contrast to Eli, he not only starts but finishes his work, giving us more to be entertained by and to think about.
March 6, 2023
Suicide Thursday by Will Carver.
Eli Hagin can’t finish anything.
He hates his job, but can’t seem to quit. He doesn’t want to be with his girlfriend, but doesn’t know how end things with her, either. Eli wants to write a novel, but he’s never taken a story beyond the first chapter.Eli also has trouble separating reality from fiction.When his best friend kills himself, Eli is motivated, for the first time in his life, to finally end something himself, just as Mike did…
Really good read. Unique. Different. 4*.
Eli Hagin can’t finish anything.
He hates his job, but can’t seem to quit. He doesn’t want to be with his girlfriend, but doesn’t know how end things with her, either. Eli wants to write a novel, but he’s never taken a story beyond the first chapter.Eli also has trouble separating reality from fiction.When his best friend kills himself, Eli is motivated, for the first time in his life, to finally end something himself, just as Mike did…
Really good read. Unique. Different. 4*.
July 3, 2023
Very very good
October 22, 2024
Really enjoyed this. It's quite an easy and fast read. Chapters are short and you get different perspectives from the various characters. It's a book full of cynicism and dark humour but also lots of astute commentary on modern society.
November 11, 2022
Will Carver books are notoriously unreviewable but this one here takes the biscuit. But you know, it’s fine, I can manage, I’m fine, any minute now the words will come and I will write you the very best review I’ve ever written. Seriously, I promise, it’s all going to work out, I’m totally fine, I’m…
Wait.
You don’t think I might be… *whispers* in denial?
😱
What? No! Of course I’m not, just like Eli and Jackie and Mike, I’m perfectly fine, everything is splendid, I’m…
Well…
I’m bloody pissed off is what I am! I mean come on! Do you know how many times I’ve gone through this shit? Do you? No? Well let me tell you! This is the eighth time! The eighth time that I’m staring at my laptop screen hoping, praying to a god I don’t even believe in, that words might come. I mean, would it kill the man to, you know, write a normal book?! With like a beginning and an ending and stuff in between that makes perfect sense and that fits in a genre box and stays there until the final page and is NOT in that bloody unique voice and does NOT make you think and does NOT challenge you and does NOT leave you gaping like a fish?!
Come to think of it… I think he might be physically incapable of that. Huh. Perhaps I should just skip to acceptance and call it a day 🤷🏼♀️
Okay, well, there’s Eli and Mike and Jackie. Eli and Jackie are together, but Eli keeps going back and forth between loving her to bits and wanting to break up with her. That indecisiveness actually pretty much defines Eli. Once he’s committed, he can’t seem to break away, although not for lack of wanting, but he does have a hard time committing to anything in the first place. He wants to write a novel but he loses interest after chapter one, or he gets another idea that he likes more, so he has this whole collection of first chapters that never become more than single chapters. He hates his job and wants to quit but taking that first step is proving to be very difficult indeed.
And then Mike, Eli’s best friend, commits suicide. Is this what Eli wanted all along, did he want to be rid of Mike without having to do the heavy lifting himself? If not Eli, then who’s to blame? Could words kill? Did words kill? And might this event be the kick up the bum Eli needs to make some life-changing decisions too?
Obviously, this book and its topic, perhaps even its title, will be triggering. I do know a few people who chose to end their lives, I wasn’t exactly triggered by anything in the story, although it did of course remind me of the people I’ve lost this way. Some mere acquaintances, one a family member when I was too young to fully comprehend what had happened and one a friend who I’d seen struggle for years without being able to help her. The books you love the most are the ones that resonate with you and this could have been written about my friend:
Mike was in a state of despair. Disrepair. He had been trying for so long to ‘fix’ himself that he became even more lost than when he started. It got easier to give up on things.
Suicide aside, that wasn’t the only part of this story that resonated with me. Eli and his job? Ohmigod!
How every day it chips away at me. A small piece of me dies and will never return. I know that the constant dripping effect takes its toll on me. I know that it brings me down a little bit further than the day before. Each day, I get worse. Less empathetic. Less compassionate. More cynical. Less real.
That was me at my former job! I didn’t have a Danny (and for the record: thanks but no thanks, Will, allow me to speak for the Benelux and say we don’t want him either!) but that was exactly how I felt. (Yes, I was in fact that melodramatic, although I did put in more effort on the job than Eli, to be fair 😂)
Suicide Thursday is one that took a little longer to get under my skin than his previous books. It’s a bit of a sneaky book, it snuck up on me and I only noticed it there, under my skin, when I had to put it down to go to work and 1. I was extremely reluctant to do so, literally begging myself to squeeze in just one more chapter and 2. I kept thinking about it until I was able to pick it back up, some nine hours later.
Suicide Thursday is a thriller / drama / undefinable sort of book that tackles a heavy subject but is laced with this author’s trademark dark humour. Definitely one to add to your Orenda collection!
Nothing important happened today but it will on 24 November because that is when Suicide Thursday is out in digital formats and paperback! Pre-order directly from Orenda Books here.
Massive thanks to Orenda Books for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
Wait.
You don’t think I might be… *whispers* in denial?
😱
What? No! Of course I’m not, just like Eli and Jackie and Mike, I’m perfectly fine, everything is splendid, I’m…
Well…
I’m bloody pissed off is what I am! I mean come on! Do you know how many times I’ve gone through this shit? Do you? No? Well let me tell you! This is the eighth time! The eighth time that I’m staring at my laptop screen hoping, praying to a god I don’t even believe in, that words might come. I mean, would it kill the man to, you know, write a normal book?! With like a beginning and an ending and stuff in between that makes perfect sense and that fits in a genre box and stays there until the final page and is NOT in that bloody unique voice and does NOT make you think and does NOT challenge you and does NOT leave you gaping like a fish?!
Come to think of it… I think he might be physically incapable of that. Huh. Perhaps I should just skip to acceptance and call it a day 🤷🏼♀️
Okay, well, there’s Eli and Mike and Jackie. Eli and Jackie are together, but Eli keeps going back and forth between loving her to bits and wanting to break up with her. That indecisiveness actually pretty much defines Eli. Once he’s committed, he can’t seem to break away, although not for lack of wanting, but he does have a hard time committing to anything in the first place. He wants to write a novel but he loses interest after chapter one, or he gets another idea that he likes more, so he has this whole collection of first chapters that never become more than single chapters. He hates his job and wants to quit but taking that first step is proving to be very difficult indeed.
And then Mike, Eli’s best friend, commits suicide. Is this what Eli wanted all along, did he want to be rid of Mike without having to do the heavy lifting himself? If not Eli, then who’s to blame? Could words kill? Did words kill? And might this event be the kick up the bum Eli needs to make some life-changing decisions too?
Obviously, this book and its topic, perhaps even its title, will be triggering. I do know a few people who chose to end their lives, I wasn’t exactly triggered by anything in the story, although it did of course remind me of the people I’ve lost this way. Some mere acquaintances, one a family member when I was too young to fully comprehend what had happened and one a friend who I’d seen struggle for years without being able to help her. The books you love the most are the ones that resonate with you and this could have been written about my friend:
Mike was in a state of despair. Disrepair. He had been trying for so long to ‘fix’ himself that he became even more lost than when he started. It got easier to give up on things.
Suicide aside, that wasn’t the only part of this story that resonated with me. Eli and his job? Ohmigod!
How every day it chips away at me. A small piece of me dies and will never return. I know that the constant dripping effect takes its toll on me. I know that it brings me down a little bit further than the day before. Each day, I get worse. Less empathetic. Less compassionate. More cynical. Less real.
That was me at my former job! I didn’t have a Danny (and for the record: thanks but no thanks, Will, allow me to speak for the Benelux and say we don’t want him either!) but that was exactly how I felt. (Yes, I was in fact that melodramatic, although I did put in more effort on the job than Eli, to be fair 😂)
Suicide Thursday is one that took a little longer to get under my skin than his previous books. It’s a bit of a sneaky book, it snuck up on me and I only noticed it there, under my skin, when I had to put it down to go to work and 1. I was extremely reluctant to do so, literally begging myself to squeeze in just one more chapter and 2. I kept thinking about it until I was able to pick it back up, some nine hours later.
Suicide Thursday is a thriller / drama / undefinable sort of book that tackles a heavy subject but is laced with this author’s trademark dark humour. Definitely one to add to your Orenda collection!
Nothing important happened today but it will on 24 November because that is when Suicide Thursday is out in digital formats and paperback! Pre-order directly from Orenda Books here.
Massive thanks to Orenda Books for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
November 6, 2022
This book is all about endings. Or perhaps not. I mean, there is a definite ending for one of the characters, Mike, who takes the ultimate step in ending his own life, but for the protagonist of this book, Eli, his life has been typified by the inability to finish anything. He spends his life just doing things as it's easier than the alternative, and I think we can all relate to that in some small way. Mike's death acts as a wake up call for Eli, partly because he knows he let his friend down, but also because he knows he has to get off the treadmill, step away from his drawer of 'first chapters' for books that will never be written, and finally end something.
I can't lie. Suicide as a premise for a story is always going to be a tricky one. There are many of us whose lives have been touched by suicide to varying degrees, and the impact of it cannot be underestimated. The book doesn't seek to trivialise suicide in any way, or use it purely for entertainment, it is presented just as a fact. Mike took his own life. No more, no less. There are parts that some may struggle with, certain messages that pass back and forth between Mike and a third party, where he talks about wanting to take his own life. Some may struggle with this, but if you look beyond face value, beyond the obvious back and forth between Mike and a less than sympathetic other, then it may give you pause for thought. A criticism about how people act or react when folks say they are depressed? Maybe. A dig at the roll of the eyes when people talk about their 'mental health' because it is just the 'buzz word of the week' and only something that affects weak people, not someone like you? Quite probably. Cutting because you can see the truth in it, even though you wouldn't possibly act that way yourself (obviously). Well, almost certainly that to be honest.
But this book isn't really about Mike. It's not really about his suicide, although that is a very key factor in what comes to pass. The book is about Eli. About how he is affected by the loss of this best friend. About how he acts, and reacts, and about his own struggles with his personality and his levels of commitment. It's also about his partner, Jackie, who has a very complicated relationship with both Eli and Mike. It's about Ralph, and the two Teds. About the way in which people's lives intersect and impact upon one another in ways you don't expect with endings you cannot predict. It's about loss, and friendship and holding on to things for too long that just aren't working.
This book is multi-faceted. So many things you think are real that maybe aren't. Scenes where you will be certain that you know what is happening only to find that you have completely misjudged the situation. Misjudged a character. And character really is key in this book. If you listen to their stories just enough, you will understand the real heart of what is going on. Told through differing points of view, a series of text messages, and even passages from Eli's 'first chapters', all of the information is there, sometimes symbolic, sometimes in 'in your face' glorious technicolor, but everything you need to decode the book is presented in Mr Carver's inimitable, unconventional style. And I liked Eli, messy as his life is. Liked his laid back attitude, understood him perhaps a little too well, and could appreciate the way in which his internal conflict is played out on the page, his dedication to routine, just because.
If you look deep enough beneath the surface, it's a book that forces you to re-examine your priorities and to recognise that we get just one go at life, so why waste it in procrastination and dithering. It's complex. It's dark. It's pitted with humour and an overwhelming mixture of tragedy and, strangely enough, hope. It's vintage Will Carver. Because of the subject it's not going to be for everyone. Some may think it a touch distasteful, but then they have missed the real point of the book. It's pacing is just right, neither too fast not too slow and it gives enough gravity to the subject matter without overwhelming the reader with doom. Like all tomes from Mr Carver, it's certainly a book that is going to create discussion and one you won't forget in a hurry.
What's an even bigger mistake than not ending something you don't enjoy? Maybe being too afraid to try in the first place?
I can't lie. Suicide as a premise for a story is always going to be a tricky one. There are many of us whose lives have been touched by suicide to varying degrees, and the impact of it cannot be underestimated. The book doesn't seek to trivialise suicide in any way, or use it purely for entertainment, it is presented just as a fact. Mike took his own life. No more, no less. There are parts that some may struggle with, certain messages that pass back and forth between Mike and a third party, where he talks about wanting to take his own life. Some may struggle with this, but if you look beyond face value, beyond the obvious back and forth between Mike and a less than sympathetic other, then it may give you pause for thought. A criticism about how people act or react when folks say they are depressed? Maybe. A dig at the roll of the eyes when people talk about their 'mental health' because it is just the 'buzz word of the week' and only something that affects weak people, not someone like you? Quite probably. Cutting because you can see the truth in it, even though you wouldn't possibly act that way yourself (obviously). Well, almost certainly that to be honest.
But this book isn't really about Mike. It's not really about his suicide, although that is a very key factor in what comes to pass. The book is about Eli. About how he is affected by the loss of this best friend. About how he acts, and reacts, and about his own struggles with his personality and his levels of commitment. It's also about his partner, Jackie, who has a very complicated relationship with both Eli and Mike. It's about Ralph, and the two Teds. About the way in which people's lives intersect and impact upon one another in ways you don't expect with endings you cannot predict. It's about loss, and friendship and holding on to things for too long that just aren't working.
This book is multi-faceted. So many things you think are real that maybe aren't. Scenes where you will be certain that you know what is happening only to find that you have completely misjudged the situation. Misjudged a character. And character really is key in this book. If you listen to their stories just enough, you will understand the real heart of what is going on. Told through differing points of view, a series of text messages, and even passages from Eli's 'first chapters', all of the information is there, sometimes symbolic, sometimes in 'in your face' glorious technicolor, but everything you need to decode the book is presented in Mr Carver's inimitable, unconventional style. And I liked Eli, messy as his life is. Liked his laid back attitude, understood him perhaps a little too well, and could appreciate the way in which his internal conflict is played out on the page, his dedication to routine, just because.
If you look deep enough beneath the surface, it's a book that forces you to re-examine your priorities and to recognise that we get just one go at life, so why waste it in procrastination and dithering. It's complex. It's dark. It's pitted with humour and an overwhelming mixture of tragedy and, strangely enough, hope. It's vintage Will Carver. Because of the subject it's not going to be for everyone. Some may think it a touch distasteful, but then they have missed the real point of the book. It's pacing is just right, neither too fast not too slow and it gives enough gravity to the subject matter without overwhelming the reader with doom. Like all tomes from Mr Carver, it's certainly a book that is going to create discussion and one you won't forget in a hurry.
What's an even bigger mistake than not ending something you don't enjoy? Maybe being too afraid to try in the first place?
November 12, 2022
In Suicide Thursday, by Will Carver, we meet Eli Hagin, an aspiring writer who’s written hundreds of first chapters and not got any further. He works in a marketing job he hates and is in a lukewarm relationship with an office worker named Jackie, yet can’t seem to be able to leave either of them.
When his best friend, Mike, dies by suicide, Eli is devastated, but also strangely inspired to put an end to at least one thing he’s been meaning to.
As you might expect from Carver by now, this is a novel that throws convention out of the window. Suicide Thursday jumps between perspectives and times in the days leading up to, and following, the eponymous day of Mike’s death.
The reader is additionally privy to Eli’s conversations with his therapist, a selection of his abandoned “first chapters”, and a stream of text exchanges between Mike and an un-named enabler - is Eli less of a friend than he makes himself out to be?
Suicide Thursday is also notable by its complex characters, which are something else Carver excels at. Eli, Jackie and Mike’s less charitable thoughts and actions are put on display, but you nonetheless feel sympathy towards them because you see their better natures too, and give them grace because they experience inner conflict, self-contradiction, and irresolution, and fail in ways we all do sometimes.
Eli in particular has a lot to him as he really cares about, and generally acts considerately towards, people he likes, makes sharp observations you can’t help but agree with (including a harsh - but refreshingly honest - eulogy at Mike’s funeral), and has unresolved grief for his mother.
What’s more, his “first chapters” are genuinely good and striking (well, they are written by Carver), and I could very much relate to his losing momentum and not getting any further with them. Most of them are complete in themselves anyway (not to mention, my own solution has been to not aim to write something long), and I’d read the hell out of an Eli Hagin/Will Carver short story collection!
This novel also gives you pause to think about what it’s like to be suicidal, and how people respond to suicidality. As Eli explains, Mike was beyond the point where statements along the lines of ‘look at all these things you have to live for’, ‘things will get better’ and ‘you’ll hurt all these people who love you’ landed with him, because he lost the capacity to see the good and imagine things getting better, and truly thought him dying would make things better for everyone.
When it comes down to it, all statements like these do is serve to help those left behind reassure themselves that they did the best they could. While the messages encouraging Mike to end his life are unethical to say the least, they do affirm and validate, rather than dismiss and deny, his very real feelings, and they are what he wants to hear. If he was always going to do it anyway, I think these messages would have made him feel less alone in his final days than anyone who refused to discuss his thoughts because it made them uncomfortable and upset.
It’s complicated, and I admire Carver for tackling this emotive and controversial subject so unflinchingly.
Suicide Thursday is unconventional, complex, and highly effective.
When his best friend, Mike, dies by suicide, Eli is devastated, but also strangely inspired to put an end to at least one thing he’s been meaning to.
As you might expect from Carver by now, this is a novel that throws convention out of the window. Suicide Thursday jumps between perspectives and times in the days leading up to, and following, the eponymous day of Mike’s death.
The reader is additionally privy to Eli’s conversations with his therapist, a selection of his abandoned “first chapters”, and a stream of text exchanges between Mike and an un-named enabler - is Eli less of a friend than he makes himself out to be?
Suicide Thursday is also notable by its complex characters, which are something else Carver excels at. Eli, Jackie and Mike’s less charitable thoughts and actions are put on display, but you nonetheless feel sympathy towards them because you see their better natures too, and give them grace because they experience inner conflict, self-contradiction, and irresolution, and fail in ways we all do sometimes.
Eli in particular has a lot to him as he really cares about, and generally acts considerately towards, people he likes, makes sharp observations you can’t help but agree with (including a harsh - but refreshingly honest - eulogy at Mike’s funeral), and has unresolved grief for his mother.
What’s more, his “first chapters” are genuinely good and striking (well, they are written by Carver), and I could very much relate to his losing momentum and not getting any further with them. Most of them are complete in themselves anyway (not to mention, my own solution has been to not aim to write something long), and I’d read the hell out of an Eli Hagin/Will Carver short story collection!
This novel also gives you pause to think about what it’s like to be suicidal, and how people respond to suicidality. As Eli explains, Mike was beyond the point where statements along the lines of ‘look at all these things you have to live for’, ‘things will get better’ and ‘you’ll hurt all these people who love you’ landed with him, because he lost the capacity to see the good and imagine things getting better, and truly thought him dying would make things better for everyone.
When it comes down to it, all statements like these do is serve to help those left behind reassure themselves that they did the best they could. While the messages encouraging Mike to end his life are unethical to say the least, they do affirm and validate, rather than dismiss and deny, his very real feelings, and they are what he wants to hear. If he was always going to do it anyway, I think these messages would have made him feel less alone in his final days than anyone who refused to discuss his thoughts because it made them uncomfortable and upset.
It’s complicated, and I admire Carver for tackling this emotive and controversial subject so unflinchingly.
Suicide Thursday is unconventional, complex, and highly effective.
November 9, 2022
What can I say! I sometimes wonder if I am clever enough to understand Carver’s more recent books. This one in particular had me in a bit of a tizz. It’s taken me ages to write a review.
Suicide Thursday is written like a diary from a number of the character’s points of view. Eli is the main one, but is he a reliable narrator? I don’t think so. Then there’s Mike – I didn’t really understand him or why he was unhappy enough to take his own life. Or to varnish the floor on the day he does it. Jackie is Eli’s girlfriend, but she is also friends with Mike. It’s a bit of a ménage à trois to be honest. Eli has all sorts of problems with Jackie, though I rather liked her. He wants to get rid of her (not literally though in a Carver novel ANYTHING could happen), but can never find the right time, so he keeps stringing her along. He doesn’t really even find her attractive, though they have great sex.
Eli’s main problem though is the first chapter thing. He has so many ideas for a novel – or novels – even the titles and the names of the characters, but he never gets any further. He has a library of first chapters and considers selling them to budding authors. I think it’s a great idea, a bit like a story prompt but more filled out. I’d probably buy one.
Then there is having characters with the same name. In the last book we had the Daves and this time we have the Teds. Is it a thing? Am I missing something? The significance of more than one person with the same name? I get the Daves, but why the Teds?
It’s a brilliant book, but far removed from the ‘norm’ – whatever that is. So if someone asks you what it’s about, just say, ‘Read the book.’
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
Suicide Thursday is written like a diary from a number of the character’s points of view. Eli is the main one, but is he a reliable narrator? I don’t think so. Then there’s Mike – I didn’t really understand him or why he was unhappy enough to take his own life. Or to varnish the floor on the day he does it. Jackie is Eli’s girlfriend, but she is also friends with Mike. It’s a bit of a ménage à trois to be honest. Eli has all sorts of problems with Jackie, though I rather liked her. He wants to get rid of her (not literally though in a Carver novel ANYTHING could happen), but can never find the right time, so he keeps stringing her along. He doesn’t really even find her attractive, though they have great sex.
Eli’s main problem though is the first chapter thing. He has so many ideas for a novel – or novels – even the titles and the names of the characters, but he never gets any further. He has a library of first chapters and considers selling them to budding authors. I think it’s a great idea, a bit like a story prompt but more filled out. I’d probably buy one.
Then there is having characters with the same name. In the last book we had the Daves and this time we have the Teds. Is it a thing? Am I missing something? The significance of more than one person with the same name? I get the Daves, but why the Teds?
It’s a brilliant book, but far removed from the ‘norm’ – whatever that is. So if someone asks you what it’s about, just say, ‘Read the book.’
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
August 15, 2025
Really not a huge fan of this book. There was no real climax and honestly I did not find myself empathizing with or rooting for any of the characters. There are some graphic details about one characters suicide, so just be weary of that.
November 19, 2022
For some time after my brother's death, I avoided reading books that dealt with the subject of suicide and even now, I'm not sure I would have read Suicide Thursday if it had been written by anybody other than Will Carver. In all honesty, it was a difficult read at times and I would urge caution before reading it. Certain scenes – particularly the funeral – hit very hard and mirrored some of my own emotions and feelings. However, I don't want to read books that just wash over me, I want to feel something, even if that something is painful and so although I don't seem to have started this review on an especially positive note, Suicide Thursday is another exceptional read from an author I have absolute trust in.
The timeline alternates between the days before and after Mike's death but although his suicide forms the backdrop to the story, this novel is really about Eli, who, unlike Mike, struggles to end anything. He resents the mundanity of his job but his mocking pity of his supervisor, Sam also reflects his fear that he will eventually end up trapped on the same treadmill. Meanwhile, his relationship with his long-term girlfriend, Jackie appears to be just as stagnant but despite constantly intending to end things with her, he never seems to be able to take that final step. It's fitting, therefore, that Eli is a frustrated author who pens endless first chapters but is seemingly incapable of progressing any further.
He coins the term, 'fruproyance' to express his combination of frustration, depression and annoyance and even though he incessantly plans to proactively change something in his life, his therapist is actually imaginary. His perception of fact and fiction becomes increasingly blurred by his emotional state and concomitant alcohol intake; in short, he is a bit of a mess and a rather exasperating character. Of course, it's these shortcomings which make him so real. Surely most of us question the direction our lives take at some point or another, particularly in a society which ostensibly values individualism but which really demands conformity?
Will Carver's caustic observation of the futile-by-design sanctimony of modern life is reflected further by Mike's inertia as he watches an interminable diet of daytime television shows which judge the behaviour of those they hypocritically rely on for content, and in Jackie's need to seek redemption through religion even though she lies during confession. As provocative as the themes may be – and this is as piercing as I've come to expect from this author – Suicide Thursday is often very funny and I loved the customary little nods to previous books, as well as Twin Peaks. It's also not without hope or compassion towards those left behind, and as apparently paradoxical as suicide being the catalyst for beginnings as well as endings may be, this is an intelligent, insightful book. It is a raw, uncompromising look at a difficult topic and the descriptions of death and sex, and the attitudes expressed throughout – including some text messages which are at best horribly insensitive and at worst, potentially complicit in Mike's decision to end his life – are likely to offend some readers. However, Will Carver never takes the easy, comfortable route and instead uses fiction like a rapier, deliberately goading us into really considering our reactions to these complex, challenging subjects. Consequently, Suicide Thursday is compelling, dark, unpredictable, totally original and, of course, completely brilliant.
The timeline alternates between the days before and after Mike's death but although his suicide forms the backdrop to the story, this novel is really about Eli, who, unlike Mike, struggles to end anything. He resents the mundanity of his job but his mocking pity of his supervisor, Sam also reflects his fear that he will eventually end up trapped on the same treadmill. Meanwhile, his relationship with his long-term girlfriend, Jackie appears to be just as stagnant but despite constantly intending to end things with her, he never seems to be able to take that final step. It's fitting, therefore, that Eli is a frustrated author who pens endless first chapters but is seemingly incapable of progressing any further.
He coins the term, 'fruproyance' to express his combination of frustration, depression and annoyance and even though he incessantly plans to proactively change something in his life, his therapist is actually imaginary. His perception of fact and fiction becomes increasingly blurred by his emotional state and concomitant alcohol intake; in short, he is a bit of a mess and a rather exasperating character. Of course, it's these shortcomings which make him so real. Surely most of us question the direction our lives take at some point or another, particularly in a society which ostensibly values individualism but which really demands conformity?
Will Carver's caustic observation of the futile-by-design sanctimony of modern life is reflected further by Mike's inertia as he watches an interminable diet of daytime television shows which judge the behaviour of those they hypocritically rely on for content, and in Jackie's need to seek redemption through religion even though she lies during confession. As provocative as the themes may be – and this is as piercing as I've come to expect from this author – Suicide Thursday is often very funny and I loved the customary little nods to previous books, as well as Twin Peaks. It's also not without hope or compassion towards those left behind, and as apparently paradoxical as suicide being the catalyst for beginnings as well as endings may be, this is an intelligent, insightful book. It is a raw, uncompromising look at a difficult topic and the descriptions of death and sex, and the attitudes expressed throughout – including some text messages which are at best horribly insensitive and at worst, potentially complicit in Mike's decision to end his life – are likely to offend some readers. However, Will Carver never takes the easy, comfortable route and instead uses fiction like a rapier, deliberately goading us into really considering our reactions to these complex, challenging subjects. Consequently, Suicide Thursday is compelling, dark, unpredictable, totally original and, of course, completely brilliant.
November 1, 2022
For Eli, nothing ever ends.
Mostly because he can't finish anything. He can't quit his terrible job that he's never going to progress in, he can't finish his relationship even though he doesn't want to be with his girlfriend, he can't stop going to the same pub along the route home from work every day, and he can't finish writing a novel despite starting 733 first chapters.
But then, his best friend Mike ends something in the most final way possible - death. But instead of pain and grief, Eli finds a new sense of determination in the wake of Mikes suicide - the determination to finally finish everything he's been putting off. To see something through until the end.
So, he picks up a pen. He writes again. He will get to chapter two this time. But there's something about the stories on Eli's pages that don't seem quite right. They're somewhere between fact and fiction, between speculation and sinister. And as his own stories move forward, he might just find the truth about Mike- the truth that could have been plucked from the pages of a horror story.
Will Carver has a way with words that is difficult to describe and even harder to categorise into a genre or style. Much like Eli, Carver manages to balance on that razor-thin line between fact and fiction, creating situations so outrageously terrifying that feel uncomfortably realistic.
Eli is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle - soon after meeting him we discover there's more to him that the cold, methodical man who knows exactly the amount of steps between his office and his local pub. There's something under the surface - a man who lives in the real world but also one of his own creation, living in a blurry grey area between reality and imagination. We get to see the world through his convoluted, confusing gaze and are left to try and decipher the truth ourselves - but can you really trust anything you see through the eyes of someone like Eli?
We also get to see from the perspectives of Eli's other non-finished jobs - his girlfriend Jackie, and Mike. Their characters were carefully crafted to keep us at arms length, not quite letting us know their secrets so we're left to discover them along with Eli.
With rapidly changing perspectives, as well as written extracts of stories, mystery text exchanges and conversations with imaginary therapists - we get engrossed in a world that is dark and mysterious, getting glimpses of before and after everything changed. It's a fast-paced story that jumps erratically from time and place but everything is perfectly planned out so the reader doesn't get lost in the noise.
The atmosphere is suffocating throughout - tense, uncomfortable and dark. The way Carver uses the smallest details like the colour of a sofa or the texture of a floor almost feels like too much but instead completely traps you in a vivid setting.
Honestly, this book is freaking weird. It's confusing in the most compelling way. The narrators are untrustworthy and unreliable. You can't always tell what is happening - and I loved every chaotic moment of it.
Mostly because he can't finish anything. He can't quit his terrible job that he's never going to progress in, he can't finish his relationship even though he doesn't want to be with his girlfriend, he can't stop going to the same pub along the route home from work every day, and he can't finish writing a novel despite starting 733 first chapters.
But then, his best friend Mike ends something in the most final way possible - death. But instead of pain and grief, Eli finds a new sense of determination in the wake of Mikes suicide - the determination to finally finish everything he's been putting off. To see something through until the end.
So, he picks up a pen. He writes again. He will get to chapter two this time. But there's something about the stories on Eli's pages that don't seem quite right. They're somewhere between fact and fiction, between speculation and sinister. And as his own stories move forward, he might just find the truth about Mike- the truth that could have been plucked from the pages of a horror story.
Will Carver has a way with words that is difficult to describe and even harder to categorise into a genre or style. Much like Eli, Carver manages to balance on that razor-thin line between fact and fiction, creating situations so outrageously terrifying that feel uncomfortably realistic.
Eli is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle - soon after meeting him we discover there's more to him that the cold, methodical man who knows exactly the amount of steps between his office and his local pub. There's something under the surface - a man who lives in the real world but also one of his own creation, living in a blurry grey area between reality and imagination. We get to see the world through his convoluted, confusing gaze and are left to try and decipher the truth ourselves - but can you really trust anything you see through the eyes of someone like Eli?
We also get to see from the perspectives of Eli's other non-finished jobs - his girlfriend Jackie, and Mike. Their characters were carefully crafted to keep us at arms length, not quite letting us know their secrets so we're left to discover them along with Eli.
With rapidly changing perspectives, as well as written extracts of stories, mystery text exchanges and conversations with imaginary therapists - we get engrossed in a world that is dark and mysterious, getting glimpses of before and after everything changed. It's a fast-paced story that jumps erratically from time and place but everything is perfectly planned out so the reader doesn't get lost in the noise.
The atmosphere is suffocating throughout - tense, uncomfortable and dark. The way Carver uses the smallest details like the colour of a sofa or the texture of a floor almost feels like too much but instead completely traps you in a vivid setting.
Honestly, this book is freaking weird. It's confusing in the most compelling way. The narrators are untrustworthy and unreliable. You can't always tell what is happening - and I loved every chaotic moment of it.
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