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Adam Strand'ın Otuz Dokuz Ölümü
Adam Strand depresyonda değil. Zihinsel bir hastalığı ya da hepimizin gündelik hayatta tecrübe ettiği rutinin ötesinde bir derdi de yok. Sadece canının sıkkın olduğunu söylüyor. Hayatına son vermeyi deniyor, otuz dokuz defa, ancak her defasında tekrar hayata dönüyor. Ama anlatmak istediği hikâye bu değil. Hatta herhangi bir hikâye anlatmak da istemiyor.
Henüz on yedi yaşındaki Adam Strand atlama, kesme, aşırı doz, kendini boğma, tüfek, zehirlenme gibi türlü türlü yöntemlerle kendisini otuz dokuz kez öldürür. Nedenlerini hiçbir zaman açıklamaz ve bununla beraber her teşebbüsünden birkaç saat sonra uyanmanın bir yolunu bulur. Bir nehir üzerinde, şehir meydanında bir melek heykeli üzerinde, terk edilmiş köprülerde... Nedenleri takip etmesi zor olaylar ve başlıklar içeren bu kitabı elinizden bırakamayacak, zorlayıcı ve sürükleyici bir hikayenin parçası olacaksınız! İntihar fikrinin etrafında şekillenen ve 16 yaşındaki bir lise öğrencisi gencin ve arkadaşlarının, Mississippi Nehri'nin kenarındaki bir kasabada geçen yaz mevsimini konu alan bu romanda, ALA Alex ödüllü yazarı ilginç kılan, metnin karmaşık kurgusu ya da hayret verici sonu değil, puslu iklimiyle Ortabatı Amerika ve karakterlerin iç dünyasını betimlemedeki ustalığı... Varoluşun iki yakası: ölüm içgüdüsü ile yaşam sevinci iç içe geçmiş bir şekilde ve berrak bir üslupla işleniyor romanda.
Henüz on yedi yaşındaki Adam Strand atlama, kesme, aşırı doz, kendini boğma, tüfek, zehirlenme gibi türlü türlü yöntemlerle kendisini otuz dokuz kez öldürür. Nedenlerini hiçbir zaman açıklamaz ve bununla beraber her teşebbüsünden birkaç saat sonra uyanmanın bir yolunu bulur. Bir nehir üzerinde, şehir meydanında bir melek heykeli üzerinde, terk edilmiş köprülerde... Nedenleri takip etmesi zor olaylar ve başlıklar içeren bu kitabı elinizden bırakamayacak, zorlayıcı ve sürükleyici bir hikayenin parçası olacaksınız! İntihar fikrinin etrafında şekillenen ve 16 yaşındaki bir lise öğrencisi gencin ve arkadaşlarının, Mississippi Nehri'nin kenarındaki bir kasabada geçen yaz mevsimini konu alan bu romanda, ALA Alex ödüllü yazarı ilginç kılan, metnin karmaşık kurgusu ya da hayret verici sonu değil, puslu iklimiyle Ortabatı Amerika ve karakterlerin iç dünyasını betimlemedeki ustalığı... Varoluşun iki yakası: ölüm içgüdüsü ile yaşam sevinci iç içe geçmiş bir şekilde ve berrak bir üslupla işleniyor romanda.
256 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 2013
50 people are currently reading
1937 people want to read
About the author
Gregory Galloway
10 books73 followersGregory Galloway received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His first novel, As Simple As Snow, was a recipient of the Alex Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 180 reviews
November 16, 2013
Two stars out of generosity only. It's sort of confounding to see a book that's generally well-written be so awful. If we're to believe the author's note at the end, he wrote this book after experiencing the suicide of several friends and family members, and this book is his attempt explore the psyche of the clinically and chronically depressed. It makes perfect sense, then, that he'd make the title character a suicidal teen who can't die. He flings himself off bridges, shoots himself in the head, drinks himself to death, and always comes back. We don't know why – it's literally never explained – and, to make a dopey premise even worse, everyone in his small town knows about it and just treats it like an annoyance.
So what we get for 300 pages is a thoroughly unlikable character hanging out and drinking with his thoroughly unlikable buddies, flirting with a long-time friend, driving a ten-year-old girl to the doctor, and trying to kill himself. It's told out of sequence, so we don't even really have a narrative to hang on to – it's fragments and impressions, a bunch of vignettes that never add up to anything. It feels like there's something here, like it could be a solid read, but if you're going to write a book that spends much of its time trying to be a quasi-existential meditation on the hopelessness of life – something, by the way, I'm totally on board with – the characters have to be more compelling than what we're given here.
So what we get for 300 pages is a thoroughly unlikable character hanging out and drinking with his thoroughly unlikable buddies, flirting with a long-time friend, driving a ten-year-old girl to the doctor, and trying to kill himself. It's told out of sequence, so we don't even really have a narrative to hang on to – it's fragments and impressions, a bunch of vignettes that never add up to anything. It feels like there's something here, like it could be a solid read, but if you're going to write a book that spends much of its time trying to be a quasi-existential meditation on the hopelessness of life – something, by the way, I'm totally on board with – the characters have to be more compelling than what we're given here.
June 13, 2014
Via http://onlectus.blogspot.com/2013/03/...
I don't really know how to explain this book. The concept of the story is good and new but it left me empty.
Adam has killed himself 39 times: "18 times by jumping (from bridge or building or other high place and once from the back of a truck), five by drowning, five by asphyxiation, four by poison/overdose, three by hanging, one by fire, one by gun, one by chain saw, and one by train" (page 9). Every time he comes back. He won't stay dead.
Why did Adam want to die? Well, he is not unhappy, although he is kind of bored. Killing himself is something that called to him. He was drawn to it (like something you are born with), and he kept doing it.
Interesting, right? Well, the problem is that Galloway doesn't explain what happens when Adam kills himself.
For instance, Adam jumped off a bridge. He wakes up in the hospital. My questions are: does he has scars? Does he have water in his lungs? did he at least break a leg?
On pages 76-77 Adam describes how he killed himself with a gun but he doesn't say what happened when he pulled the trigger. Did he get a hole through his chin? Did he bleed? Was he ushered to the hospital and given stitches? Did his brain splash all over the walls and he grew a new one?
I ask because Adam says that after pulling the trigger his father found him and cleaned the mess. What mess? Does that mean that although he cannot die he can bleed?
It is the same thing when he burned himself alive. He poured gas all over himself... again he didn't die. And once again Galloway doesn't mention if Adam got burned at all. Did he just set himself on fire and the fire didn't catch? Did at least his clothes get on fire? Did his hair burn? Or does Adam have Superman's skin?
I didn't like the book because all these details were left unanswered.
I didn't even want to know why he wouldn't die; but I did want to know what happened (exactly) every time Adam killed himself.
I don't really know how to explain this book. The concept of the story is good and new but it left me empty.
Adam has killed himself 39 times: "18 times by jumping (from bridge or building or other high place and once from the back of a truck), five by drowning, five by asphyxiation, four by poison/overdose, three by hanging, one by fire, one by gun, one by chain saw, and one by train" (page 9). Every time he comes back. He won't stay dead.
Why did Adam want to die? Well, he is not unhappy, although he is kind of bored. Killing himself is something that called to him. He was drawn to it (like something you are born with), and he kept doing it.
Interesting, right? Well, the problem is that Galloway doesn't explain what happens when Adam kills himself.
For instance, Adam jumped off a bridge. He wakes up in the hospital. My questions are: does he has scars? Does he have water in his lungs? did he at least break a leg?
On pages 76-77 Adam describes how he killed himself with a gun but he doesn't say what happened when he pulled the trigger. Did he get a hole through his chin? Did he bleed? Was he ushered to the hospital and given stitches? Did his brain splash all over the walls and he grew a new one?
I ask because Adam says that after pulling the trigger his father found him and cleaned the mess. What mess? Does that mean that although he cannot die he can bleed?
It is the same thing when he burned himself alive. He poured gas all over himself... again he didn't die. And once again Galloway doesn't mention if Adam got burned at all. Did he just set himself on fire and the fire didn't catch? Did at least his clothes get on fire? Did his hair burn? Or does Adam have Superman's skin?
I didn't like the book because all these details were left unanswered.
I didn't even want to know why he wouldn't die; but I did want to know what happened (exactly) every time Adam killed himself.
May 30, 2013
I've been waiting for a new novel from Galloway for, at least, five years. I can only imagine what would've happened had I read AS SIMPLE AS SNOW when it first hit the shelves. I'd've been even more impatient. Because, honestly, Galloway is one of my favorite authors. Something about his writing simply clicks with me. However, I can see why this one hasn't been getting as "rave" of reviews as ASAS.
This one isn't for everyone, and for some, I think it will piss them off, not only from the subject matter and how it's treated, but also because the main character can easily be seen as unchanging or unsympathetic. But, to me, if that's what you take away from this thing, I feel like you missed the point.
This book hit me, hard, harder than anything I've read in recent years. Seriously, I was sobbing through the last 30+ pages. As I said before, his writing simply "clicks" for me, and in this instance, it wasn't so much a click as it was a punch in the face, gut, and heart all simultaneously.
Maybe it's just the time I read this, and had it been a few months earlier or later, it wouldn't have affected me as it did, but it is what I needed in that moment. And even if the majority of the world does not respond kindly or even care about this book, for those of us that it does hit, this book is absolutely necessary.
I can only hope that one day I get to meet the author and can thank him, personally, for his writing and this book in particular.
Second Read Review:
I've never read a book twice in such a short amount of time before. Usually, years span the gap between readings--if they happen at all. (There are too many good books in this world to reread the same ones over, even if I love them to death.) Not even three months have passed since my last reading. And while I knew the story and knew everything that was coming, it still hit me. In places, it took every ounce of strength to not breakdown. I didn't lose it like last time, but, my God, this book is affecting and extremely effective. I hope it finds those others out there that need this book, that will remember it years and years from now as one of those that resonated to their deepest heartstrings. I know it will be for me, and my guess is that it will be the book that forces me to create a "Third-Read" bookshelf...
This one isn't for everyone, and for some, I think it will piss them off, not only from the subject matter and how it's treated, but also because the main character can easily be seen as unchanging or unsympathetic. But, to me, if that's what you take away from this thing, I feel like you missed the point.
This book hit me, hard, harder than anything I've read in recent years. Seriously, I was sobbing through the last 30+ pages. As I said before, his writing simply "clicks" for me, and in this instance, it wasn't so much a click as it was a punch in the face, gut, and heart all simultaneously.
Maybe it's just the time I read this, and had it been a few months earlier or later, it wouldn't have affected me as it did, but it is what I needed in that moment. And even if the majority of the world does not respond kindly or even care about this book, for those of us that it does hit, this book is absolutely necessary.
I can only hope that one day I get to meet the author and can thank him, personally, for his writing and this book in particular.
Second Read Review:
I've never read a book twice in such a short amount of time before. Usually, years span the gap between readings--if they happen at all. (There are too many good books in this world to reread the same ones over, even if I love them to death.) Not even three months have passed since my last reading. And while I knew the story and knew everything that was coming, it still hit me. In places, it took every ounce of strength to not breakdown. I didn't lose it like last time, but, my God, this book is affecting and extremely effective. I hope it finds those others out there that need this book, that will remember it years and years from now as one of those that resonated to their deepest heartstrings. I know it will be for me, and my guess is that it will be the book that forces me to create a "Third-Read" bookshelf...
January 13, 2013
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Due to copy and paste, formatting has been lost.
I don't know what it is about books with suicide, but when they end, I'm always left with this huge profound sense of peace. Does anyone else get that feeling, or is it just me? Maybe it's that the content is so out there, yet SO FREAKING true and sad that it makes me feel peaceful, because it usually doesn't end badly.
Maybe it's like philosophy, you know? I LOVE philosophy, but in an "argues with the greats, paranoid what if" kind of way. It's interesting to think about. Maybe, if one thing in your day had been different, something else in someone else's day would have been different too. It's interesting, no? And the philosophy that's presented in this book is the best kind. The kind that makes you REALLY think and question, why?
Why did Adam Strand commit suicide 39 times? Because he was bored, and it gave him peace. That's an odd way of looking at it, but it's also really interesting.
Adam was very straightforward. He was telling it like it was, from the very beginning, and I loved that. To be honest, the way this story was told was AMAZING. I was pulled in from the very first page, and the story never let me go. It's like we retreated into Adam's mind, and I absolutely could not get enough of that feeling. He was really interesting, that's for sure. Also, as I've said before, the writing was fabulous. It had an almost lyrical quality, with just a hint of lucid. It was great.
I did find a couple things really freaky deaky, though. In a cool way, of course! The WHOLE town accepts that Adam just CAN'T die. He's tried 39 times, and failed, so when someone finds him, they just kind of accept it and take him to his parents. They don't stop at the hospital, but they take him right where he needs to be. Then he wakes up. o_O
All in all, The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand was a very interesting story, told through the mind of a seventeen year old boy-- and it is one wild and interesting ride that I just couldn't put down.
Due to copy and paste, formatting has been lost.
I don't know what it is about books with suicide, but when they end, I'm always left with this huge profound sense of peace. Does anyone else get that feeling, or is it just me? Maybe it's that the content is so out there, yet SO FREAKING true and sad that it makes me feel peaceful, because it usually doesn't end badly.
Maybe it's like philosophy, you know? I LOVE philosophy, but in an "argues with the greats, paranoid what if" kind of way. It's interesting to think about. Maybe, if one thing in your day had been different, something else in someone else's day would have been different too. It's interesting, no? And the philosophy that's presented in this book is the best kind. The kind that makes you REALLY think and question, why?
Why did Adam Strand commit suicide 39 times? Because he was bored, and it gave him peace. That's an odd way of looking at it, but it's also really interesting.
Adam was very straightforward. He was telling it like it was, from the very beginning, and I loved that. To be honest, the way this story was told was AMAZING. I was pulled in from the very first page, and the story never let me go. It's like we retreated into Adam's mind, and I absolutely could not get enough of that feeling. He was really interesting, that's for sure. Also, as I've said before, the writing was fabulous. It had an almost lyrical quality, with just a hint of lucid. It was great.
I did find a couple things really freaky deaky, though. In a cool way, of course! The WHOLE town accepts that Adam just CAN'T die. He's tried 39 times, and failed, so when someone finds him, they just kind of accept it and take him to his parents. They don't stop at the hospital, but they take him right where he needs to be. Then he wakes up. o_O
All in all, The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand was a very interesting story, told through the mind of a seventeen year old boy-- and it is one wild and interesting ride that I just couldn't put down.
February 7, 2016
İlgi çekici bir ana karakteri olmasına rağmen konu akışındaki havada kalmışlığın ve yan karakterlerdeki yapaylık dozunun bu kitabı öldürdüğünü düşünüyorum. Aslında Adam Strand'ın kendi kendini öldürmeyi bir türlü başaramayışı, bu konudaki düşünceleri ve hayata bakışının anlatıldığı kısımları başarılı buldum, hatta Adam'ın iç monologlarında pek çok kısmın altını çizdim. Ama iş dış dünyaya gelince değişiyor. Ana karakterin ailesiyle, sözüne değer verdiği birkaç yetişkinle ve arkadaşlarıyla olan ilişkileri vasattı ve açıkçası anlatımı sekteye uğratıyordu. Beğeneni elbette çıkacaktır ve belki de okumaya başlamadan önce birkaç yerde gördüğüm incelemeler de beklentimi arttırmış olabilir. Kesinlikle zaman kaybı değil ama keşke yazar Adam'ın bakış açısını bir roman yazmak için değil de deneme yazmak için kullansaymış. O zaman elim direkt olarak beş yıldıza giderdi.
August 20, 2016
Kitabın ismine bakıp kitabın ölümleri işleyeceğini düşünmüştüm fakat kitabın anlattığı hikaye bu değil, hatta herhangi bir hikaye de anlatmıyor. Sadece Adam adındaki genç birinin hayatını anlatıyor. Böyle düşününce romanın sıkıcı olacağı anlaşılabilir fakat yazarın dilinin yalınlığı ve sürükleyiciliği sayesinde akıcılık yakalanmış.
Adam 39 kere kendini öldürüyor fakat yazıldığı kadarıyla yaşamak da istiyor. Kitap boyunca anlatılmak istenen ve anlatılan bu. İçinde güzel, düşündürücü diyaloglar da var. Okunabilir.
Adam 39 kere kendini öldürüyor fakat yazıldığı kadarıyla yaşamak da istiyor. Kitap boyunca anlatılmak istenen ve anlatılan bu. İçinde güzel, düşündürücü diyaloglar da var. Okunabilir.
February 14, 2019
This book was on my to-read list for five years, and I have to say it was a lot of build up for very little reward. I have a feeling I might have liked it more when I was younger, when I thought reading edgier books about darker topics like suicide were fun and interesting.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what this book is about, which was why I had such a hard time enjoying it. I want to call it a coming-of-age story, but it's not quite that. There isn't anything dark or difficult for Adam to go through, and he never changes his behavior or grows as a person simply because he never wants to. For some reason, Adam is immune to his suicide attempts. We never learn why, and the book focuses more on him goofing around with friends he doesn't really like and his boring day-to-day life. Maybe a good sci-fi twist for the explanation would have made this less dry than it was.
My biggest problem with this book is how Adam just kills himself because he's bored. He's not depressed; he doesn't have something traumatic that caused him to not want to be alive anymore. He's just bored. And that's a bit of a slap in the face for people who genuinely do have depressive and suicidal thoughts. The thing about depression is that you do not choose it, you don't pick when it comes and goes, and you don't always feel in control of your actions. There's part of you that doesn't want to live anymore, but another part of you that wants to want to live. There are so many people who commit suicide because they don't have the help they need, because the system fails them. And here is Adam, mundane teenage boy with all the resources he could possibly need, more than he could imagine, and he scoffs off therapists and laughs at medication, because he doesn't need them. He's just bored.
I know the author wrote this book because he was upset about the number of people he knew personally who had committed suicide, but it's like he just...didn't Get It. The drive to commit suicide comes from your lowest point, when your anger and hurt and frustration and loneliness have all built up and shoved their way through your veins. So for the people who have been there, for the people who are there, having an author write about a teenager doing it repeatedly because he's just not having any fun is the exact opposite of Getting It.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what this book is about, which was why I had such a hard time enjoying it. I want to call it a coming-of-age story, but it's not quite that. There isn't anything dark or difficult for Adam to go through, and he never changes his behavior or grows as a person simply because he never wants to. For some reason, Adam is immune to his suicide attempts. We never learn why, and the book focuses more on him goofing around with friends he doesn't really like and his boring day-to-day life. Maybe a good sci-fi twist for the explanation would have made this less dry than it was.
My biggest problem with this book is how Adam just kills himself because he's bored. He's not depressed; he doesn't have something traumatic that caused him to not want to be alive anymore. He's just bored. And that's a bit of a slap in the face for people who genuinely do have depressive and suicidal thoughts. The thing about depression is that you do not choose it, you don't pick when it comes and goes, and you don't always feel in control of your actions. There's part of you that doesn't want to live anymore, but another part of you that wants to want to live. There are so many people who commit suicide because they don't have the help they need, because the system fails them. And here is Adam, mundane teenage boy with all the resources he could possibly need, more than he could imagine, and he scoffs off therapists and laughs at medication, because he doesn't need them. He's just bored.
I know the author wrote this book because he was upset about the number of people he knew personally who had committed suicide, but it's like he just...didn't Get It. The drive to commit suicide comes from your lowest point, when your anger and hurt and frustration and loneliness have all built up and shoved their way through your veins. So for the people who have been there, for the people who are there, having an author write about a teenager doing it repeatedly because he's just not having any fun is the exact opposite of Getting It.
March 2, 2013
There is something kind of brilliant in the concept of this book. Young adult books are usually filled with so much angst and pathos, and it's usually centered around death -- the death of a close family member...the death of a close friend...the desire for death for one's self.
Here, Adam Strand experiences the latter. But although he kills himself...he never stays dead. What's brilliant here is that the reason for this is never explained. It's not that Adam Strand fails in his attempts to kill himself. He succeeds, every time. But he is brought back to life, mysteriously, only to suffer and whine and complain about the boring-ness of life once again.
And he does whine about life.
I get it...it's a classic YA gambit, and it actually didn't bother me too much. Life sucks and nobody understands. So what else is new?
In usual fashion, our main character makes some realizations about life, through his death and through an unlikely source (WARNING *** SPOILER ALERT *** WARNING) a young girl fighting for her life. A local minister who comes to Adam's aid, and offers advice, is also an unlikely (for Adam) source of information. But in keeping with the mystery of the book, the holy man never tries to explain why Adam doesn't ever die.
Much of the time I enjoyed this read. The premise was intriguiing, the theme was right on target with what you would expect from a YA book.
But I can't actually recommend the book.
Adam Strand himself was not identifiable.
I suspect that there are plenty of youngsters who consider, and even follow through on thoughts of suicide. Sadly, I know a couple who succeeded this past year alone. But I don't think this book would have changed their minds or opened them up to new possibilities. Adama Strand is a jerk. He's a jerk to everyone around him, and I don't know that he ever redeems himself, with the exception of helping his friend.
When left to his own devices, Adam Strand seeks comfort in a bottle of booze. Fifteen years old and he's an alcoholic. The CONSTANT use of alcohol was enough to make me think that this is not a book that either of my sons would ever read. They would not relate. I'm not sure they could even identify Adam Strand with others in their school -- and if they could, would they care about the person?
And while the guy talk among teenagers is certain to turn to sex. The dialog was often just crude. I have no doubt that young men speak this way, but I didn't find it necessary. The use of the "C" word was jarring, but purposeless.
I wanted to like this, but I am mostly glad that I'm done with it.
Here, Adam Strand experiences the latter. But although he kills himself...he never stays dead. What's brilliant here is that the reason for this is never explained. It's not that Adam Strand fails in his attempts to kill himself. He succeeds, every time. But he is brought back to life, mysteriously, only to suffer and whine and complain about the boring-ness of life once again.
And he does whine about life.
I get it...it's a classic YA gambit, and it actually didn't bother me too much. Life sucks and nobody understands. So what else is new?
In usual fashion, our main character makes some realizations about life, through his death and through an unlikely source (WARNING *** SPOILER ALERT *** WARNING) a young girl fighting for her life. A local minister who comes to Adam's aid, and offers advice, is also an unlikely (for Adam) source of information. But in keeping with the mystery of the book, the holy man never tries to explain why Adam doesn't ever die.
Much of the time I enjoyed this read. The premise was intriguiing, the theme was right on target with what you would expect from a YA book.
But I can't actually recommend the book.
Adam Strand himself was not identifiable.
I suspect that there are plenty of youngsters who consider, and even follow through on thoughts of suicide. Sadly, I know a couple who succeeded this past year alone. But I don't think this book would have changed their minds or opened them up to new possibilities. Adama Strand is a jerk. He's a jerk to everyone around him, and I don't know that he ever redeems himself, with the exception of helping his friend.
When left to his own devices, Adam Strand seeks comfort in a bottle of booze. Fifteen years old and he's an alcoholic. The CONSTANT use of alcohol was enough to make me think that this is not a book that either of my sons would ever read. They would not relate. I'm not sure they could even identify Adam Strand with others in their school -- and if they could, would they care about the person?
And while the guy talk among teenagers is certain to turn to sex. The dialog was often just crude. I have no doubt that young men speak this way, but I didn't find it necessary. The use of the "C" word was jarring, but purposeless.
I wanted to like this, but I am mostly glad that I'm done with it.
June 16, 2015
When people ask me what my favorite book is, I can’t give them an answer. I don’t have one. But if someone asked me what my least favorite book is, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the answer is The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand. There are many things wrong with this book, written as, of all things, an anti-suicide tract. But its worst flaw – and I say this not as hyperbole or as a snarky comment but the pure literal truth – is that it will make people more likely to commit suicide, not less.
39 Deaths is about a disaffected teenager who attempts to commit suicide – and succeeds. Again and again and again. And comes back to life each time. No one, of course, sees this as a miracle, but simply as a thing that happens. People take his resurrections with stoic calm and boredom. That’s problematic. But far more problematic is the fact that there is no real plot to this story. Just a bunch of vignettes about Adam pondering life’s meaninglessness and random events happening.
Can we talk about the total lack of interest that most people had in Adam’s unique circumstances? I prefer actions to have consequences in the books I read. If something amazing is happening, I want to know about its implications, about how it affects the world. I think that’s why I like urban fantasy so much, actually. Anyway, Adam’s situation barely fazes anyone. You’d think that he’d be of interest to people, maybe kidnapped by someone wanting to gain the same level of immortality, but nothing of the kind happens. It’s just a thing that is.
Adam himself was a static character, who never learned from his mistakes and languished in apathy and sadness. Multiple times, I started wishing that he could just DIE already from his suicides, and stop tormenting me with his story. He was gloomy and depressing, and I didn’t understand why he did what he did. It made no sense. I couldn’t connect to him at all. I get depression. I’ve been depressed. But my experience with depression doesn’t resemble Adam’s at all.
The idea behind 39 Deaths is to prevent people from committing suicide. Why do people commit suicide? Mostly because they feel life is meaningless and will never get any better. The true problem with this book is that it affirms both of these things. A lack of coherent plot only affirms the meaningless of life. A lack of coherent development affirms that life won’t change. This is harmful and dangerous – perhaps even deadly. Galloway has unwittingly accomplished the exact opposite of what he intended, and created a book that glorifies suicide.
Put this book down if you’ve picked it up. Don’t even crack it open. I beg of you.
39 Deaths is about a disaffected teenager who attempts to commit suicide – and succeeds. Again and again and again. And comes back to life each time. No one, of course, sees this as a miracle, but simply as a thing that happens. People take his resurrections with stoic calm and boredom. That’s problematic. But far more problematic is the fact that there is no real plot to this story. Just a bunch of vignettes about Adam pondering life’s meaninglessness and random events happening.
Can we talk about the total lack of interest that most people had in Adam’s unique circumstances? I prefer actions to have consequences in the books I read. If something amazing is happening, I want to know about its implications, about how it affects the world. I think that’s why I like urban fantasy so much, actually. Anyway, Adam’s situation barely fazes anyone. You’d think that he’d be of interest to people, maybe kidnapped by someone wanting to gain the same level of immortality, but nothing of the kind happens. It’s just a thing that is.
Adam himself was a static character, who never learned from his mistakes and languished in apathy and sadness. Multiple times, I started wishing that he could just DIE already from his suicides, and stop tormenting me with his story. He was gloomy and depressing, and I didn’t understand why he did what he did. It made no sense. I couldn’t connect to him at all. I get depression. I’ve been depressed. But my experience with depression doesn’t resemble Adam’s at all.
The idea behind 39 Deaths is to prevent people from committing suicide. Why do people commit suicide? Mostly because they feel life is meaningless and will never get any better. The true problem with this book is that it affirms both of these things. A lack of coherent plot only affirms the meaningless of life. A lack of coherent development affirms that life won’t change. This is harmful and dangerous – perhaps even deadly. Galloway has unwittingly accomplished the exact opposite of what he intended, and created a book that glorifies suicide.
Put this book down if you’ve picked it up. Don’t even crack it open. I beg of you.
April 7, 2013
Usually, I love risky books in YA that deal with the darker issues (or tough stuff issues, depending on the content) - the more risky, the better. I love authors who don't quite want to stay in the safe status quo, and so I thought that "39 Deaths" would make it into this category of awesome. Sadly, I was mistaken. "39 Deaths" has a promising premise, but ultimately fails to deliver in pretty much every way.
Where to start? Ah, yes, the sensory imagery and language. Only rarely did Adam talk about how he died in the sensory arena, but sadly, there was way more telling than showing when it came to the previous 38 deaths of Adam Strand, and that was disappointing. I mean, when you're going into details about your suicides, at least show them. Sounds callous, but it's true. Most of the sensory imagery that was supposed to be in this book before I DNF'd it just wasn't here. There was a lot of summarizing, a lot of telling of how Adam has gotten to this point in his life so far. It kind of felt like those summaries you get with TV shows, to be honest.
Next, the worldbuilding: it was pretty much non-existent, externally. Internally, there was some worldbuilding going on, but not enough to really keep things going with tension and reflection on all of those deaths that supposedly spur him forward with this relationship with this girl as part of the plot. His voice as a character, while sometimes dry and witty, is more or less very flat most of the time. Which was a huge disappointment, because it further emphasized how much better this book could have been.
Several edits and maybe a few more rewrites were needed to really make this one pop right off the page, and into the awesome category of risktakers. The concept was great, but...concept isn't everything. Execution is what makes things happen for the reader. The rules of the world really count - and with how the deaths occur (does he just wake up? How long does he remain dead for? How has this gone undiscovered for so long) to name one large rule of the world - isn't even really established at all. It was incredibly frustrating.
So while I applaud Galloway on trying to get onto the edgier side of YA, I just can't recommend "39 Deaths". But that's just how I feel about it. "The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand" is out now in North America from Penguin, so be sure to check it out when you get the chance!
(posted to goodreads, shelfari, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com)
Where to start? Ah, yes, the sensory imagery and language. Only rarely did Adam talk about how he died in the sensory arena, but sadly, there was way more telling than showing when it came to the previous 38 deaths of Adam Strand, and that was disappointing. I mean, when you're going into details about your suicides, at least show them. Sounds callous, but it's true. Most of the sensory imagery that was supposed to be in this book before I DNF'd it just wasn't here. There was a lot of summarizing, a lot of telling of how Adam has gotten to this point in his life so far. It kind of felt like those summaries you get with TV shows, to be honest.
Next, the worldbuilding: it was pretty much non-existent, externally. Internally, there was some worldbuilding going on, but not enough to really keep things going with tension and reflection on all of those deaths that supposedly spur him forward with this relationship with this girl as part of the plot. His voice as a character, while sometimes dry and witty, is more or less very flat most of the time. Which was a huge disappointment, because it further emphasized how much better this book could have been.
Several edits and maybe a few more rewrites were needed to really make this one pop right off the page, and into the awesome category of risktakers. The concept was great, but...concept isn't everything. Execution is what makes things happen for the reader. The rules of the world really count - and with how the deaths occur (does he just wake up? How long does he remain dead for? How has this gone undiscovered for so long) to name one large rule of the world - isn't even really established at all. It was incredibly frustrating.
So while I applaud Galloway on trying to get onto the edgier side of YA, I just can't recommend "39 Deaths". But that's just how I feel about it. "The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand" is out now in North America from Penguin, so be sure to check it out when you get the chance!
(posted to goodreads, shelfari, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com)
August 4, 2015
I read and reviewed this arc for School Library Journal.
Seventeen-year-old Adam Strand is addicted to committing suicide. Bored, self-absorbed, and desperate to have some control over his own life, he has committed suicide thirty-nine times in seven years. Each time, however, he has awoken hours or days later, physically unscathed. By now, the people in Adam’s town, a bleak factory community in rural Iowa, have come to view his failed suicides as more of a nuisance than a miracle. Adam’s narrative includes several nonlinear flashbacks dating back to his early childhood, but the primary storyline takes place over the course of the summer between his junior and senior years of high school. The chapter titles, which include the chronological number of the suicide contained within, help to keep the timeline from becoming confusing, though the lack of action may still leave some readers restless. Much of the story includes situations in which Adam and his friends sit around by the river, getting drunk and watching a dead cow decompose, or in which Adam complains about his parents’ many idiosyncrasies. Galloway’s exquisite writing, however, more than makes up for the novel’s slow pace. Using raw imagery, metaphor, and prose, he perfectly crafts Adam’s philosophical, meandering account of his life, and his deaths. He relates Adam’s plight to that of Sisyphus, and also includes references to the works of Kafka, Twain, and Poe, among others. Fans of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why will appreciate Adam’s thoughtful, authentic voice, and the honesty and boldness with which Galloway treats the issue of suicide.
Seventeen-year-old Adam Strand is addicted to committing suicide. Bored, self-absorbed, and desperate to have some control over his own life, he has committed suicide thirty-nine times in seven years. Each time, however, he has awoken hours or days later, physically unscathed. By now, the people in Adam’s town, a bleak factory community in rural Iowa, have come to view his failed suicides as more of a nuisance than a miracle. Adam’s narrative includes several nonlinear flashbacks dating back to his early childhood, but the primary storyline takes place over the course of the summer between his junior and senior years of high school. The chapter titles, which include the chronological number of the suicide contained within, help to keep the timeline from becoming confusing, though the lack of action may still leave some readers restless. Much of the story includes situations in which Adam and his friends sit around by the river, getting drunk and watching a dead cow decompose, or in which Adam complains about his parents’ many idiosyncrasies. Galloway’s exquisite writing, however, more than makes up for the novel’s slow pace. Using raw imagery, metaphor, and prose, he perfectly crafts Adam’s philosophical, meandering account of his life, and his deaths. He relates Adam’s plight to that of Sisyphus, and also includes references to the works of Kafka, Twain, and Poe, among others. Fans of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why will appreciate Adam’s thoughtful, authentic voice, and the honesty and boldness with which Galloway treats the issue of suicide.
March 5, 2013
I just couldn't get into this book. I suffered through the whole thing waiting for the turning point where I'd care about Adam's apathy, but I found I got more and more disgusted with him and his behavior. I also was frustrated that I felt like - probably due to the sophisticated level of the writing - there was something I was missing, a point the author wanted to make that just didn't come through. Nor do I understand Adam's eventual slow transformation away from someone who commits repeated attempts at suicide. All in all, I thought it was overwritten for the tale it told & lacked almost any likeable characters (Maddy excluded). I get that life isn't all pretty roses & happy endings. I also get that real people suffer who choose suicide & those who are left behind to live with that choice by someone who loves them. Somehow this book feels like it diminishes their real pain & replaces it with Adam's apathetic self-centeredness. (And yes, I do recognize the selfishness of suicide as a choice, but Adam's self-centeredness feels like a different type somehow.) All in all, I can't recommend it being worth anyone's time.
January 5, 2013
I'm not saying much about this one because I'm planning to review it professionally, but this was a really unusual, compelling, strange read. I've read so much YA lately that's been simplistic to the point of talking down to the audience, but 39 Deaths is so much more sophisticated, in prose style and in concept, that it really shows books for teenage readers don't need to be skeletal or exaggerated to connect.
July 25, 2023
Rating: 2 Stars!!
Review:
This was my first time reading a book by Gregory Galloway so i wasnt sure what to expect but i have to say i was iffy about this one considering the low reviews ive read on Goodreads and sadly i was right since i didnt really like this one.
The Characters were okay but not the best. I felt like Adam was a very selfish Teen who wanted to end his life because he didnt enjoy it which i felt was a petty thing to do.
The Setting was OK but not very descriptive.
Overall an OK YA Book but could of been better!! I'll explore more of Gregory's books but i hope the others arent like this one was.
Review:
This was my first time reading a book by Gregory Galloway so i wasnt sure what to expect but i have to say i was iffy about this one considering the low reviews ive read on Goodreads and sadly i was right since i didnt really like this one.
The Characters were okay but not the best. I felt like Adam was a very selfish Teen who wanted to end his life because he didnt enjoy it which i felt was a petty thing to do.
The Setting was OK but not very descriptive.
Overall an OK YA Book but could of been better!! I'll explore more of Gregory's books but i hope the others arent like this one was.
June 26, 2019
This book really makes you think. It's dark. I mean really dark. Adam is either really chronically depressed, or he is so apathetic & detached, he truly doesn't care. He wishes he didn't exist, & he tries, 39 times over a period of several years, to commit suicide. Here's the plot twist. He dies, but comes back.
April 4, 2019
Did not enjoy the style of this book, at all.
December 8, 2013
Adam Strand is your average teenager – bored, malcontent with everything, only his boredom can seemingly never be overcome. To alleviate this intense sense of ennui Adam kills himself, he kills himself 39 times to be exact. Most often he jumps, but no matter the method he just can’t seem to stay dead. Frustrated, determined and totally unconcerned for the feelings of those around him Adam’s story remains the same until he’s forced to face the mortality of someone else.
The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand is the second YA novel written by Gregory Galloway (though his first As Simple as Snow was originally intended for an adult audience) both the book and the author would probably never have come to my attention had it not been for a great review posted by The AV Club.
39 Deaths is an interesting piece in the YA canon – as morbid as it is full of dark humour it deals with a difficult and relatively taboo subject with a bluntness that is almost unheard of. This is not the story of a suicidal teenager, this is an existential take on the disenfranchisement and ennui suffered by modern-day teenagers. Adam isn’t depressed, he’s bored, so bored that he would rather jump from bridges, swallow poison and do a slew of other things to facilitate his own death then continue on in a life he feels is pointless.
Adams proclivity towards self-annihilation strangely demonstrates just how much of your typical selfish, self-involved teenager he is. He gives little thought or consideration to how his actions affect those around him. It’s not until nearly the end of the book that he gives any real thought as to who it is that constantly finds him. Even when his friends confide how affected they were watching him jump from the back of a car Adam barely reflects on the damage he may have caused. His desperation to succeed, his uncontrollable urge and unwillingness to fight it are the perfect example of teenage self-indulgences.
Told out of sequence and interspersed with moments of everyday life – disappointment with friends, failed relationships, awkward familial relations, and littered with incredibly dry musings on everything from therapy to the high suicide rate of dentists (a fact brought about after being forced to sit and entertain the dentist father of a friend) 39 Deaths treats its readers with an understanding that Adam’s thoughts and feelings are his and his alone, they’re not a battle cry to do the same. The book never seeks to pontificate or lecture on the subject of suicide or depression. It is a fabulous example of existential literature.
Galloway’s major success is the duality of how bold and subtle his writing is – it’s a feat that only helps to make the books premise more striking because really Adam’s predilection to cause his own death can easily be transferred to any number of analogies for how callous teenagers can often be.
As the story progresses and his relationships change, as he gains more responsibility – particularly when tasked with the job of taking preteen Maddy to and from the hospital for numerous tests – Adam slowly begins to see the world in a different life, and though the pull to continue on as normal remains strong he begins to see reason in fighting the urge. He begins to mature and understand that only he can control the intensity of his weariness. In essence in living Adam begins to see the light.
Strange, profound, dark, funny and striking The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand is a bit of absurdist existentialism written to perfection. This book is a masterpiece in cleverness and originality that deals with one mans thoughts on suicide, death, mortality and “The Point, the bridge, and the emergence of the pestilence of Mormon flies and Troy Lidell” (the awesome title of chapter 7.) This book is one of those rare gems you somehow manage to stumble upon and once you read it you can’t imagine how life was before you found it.
http://thepersnickityrapscallion.word...
The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand is the second YA novel written by Gregory Galloway (though his first As Simple as Snow was originally intended for an adult audience) both the book and the author would probably never have come to my attention had it not been for a great review posted by The AV Club.
39 Deaths is an interesting piece in the YA canon – as morbid as it is full of dark humour it deals with a difficult and relatively taboo subject with a bluntness that is almost unheard of. This is not the story of a suicidal teenager, this is an existential take on the disenfranchisement and ennui suffered by modern-day teenagers. Adam isn’t depressed, he’s bored, so bored that he would rather jump from bridges, swallow poison and do a slew of other things to facilitate his own death then continue on in a life he feels is pointless.
Adams proclivity towards self-annihilation strangely demonstrates just how much of your typical selfish, self-involved teenager he is. He gives little thought or consideration to how his actions affect those around him. It’s not until nearly the end of the book that he gives any real thought as to who it is that constantly finds him. Even when his friends confide how affected they were watching him jump from the back of a car Adam barely reflects on the damage he may have caused. His desperation to succeed, his uncontrollable urge and unwillingness to fight it are the perfect example of teenage self-indulgences.
Told out of sequence and interspersed with moments of everyday life – disappointment with friends, failed relationships, awkward familial relations, and littered with incredibly dry musings on everything from therapy to the high suicide rate of dentists (a fact brought about after being forced to sit and entertain the dentist father of a friend) 39 Deaths treats its readers with an understanding that Adam’s thoughts and feelings are his and his alone, they’re not a battle cry to do the same. The book never seeks to pontificate or lecture on the subject of suicide or depression. It is a fabulous example of existential literature.
Galloway’s major success is the duality of how bold and subtle his writing is – it’s a feat that only helps to make the books premise more striking because really Adam’s predilection to cause his own death can easily be transferred to any number of analogies for how callous teenagers can often be.
As the story progresses and his relationships change, as he gains more responsibility – particularly when tasked with the job of taking preteen Maddy to and from the hospital for numerous tests – Adam slowly begins to see the world in a different life, and though the pull to continue on as normal remains strong he begins to see reason in fighting the urge. He begins to mature and understand that only he can control the intensity of his weariness. In essence in living Adam begins to see the light.
Strange, profound, dark, funny and striking The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand is a bit of absurdist existentialism written to perfection. This book is a masterpiece in cleverness and originality that deals with one mans thoughts on suicide, death, mortality and “The Point, the bridge, and the emergence of the pestilence of Mormon flies and Troy Lidell” (the awesome title of chapter 7.) This book is one of those rare gems you somehow manage to stumble upon and once you read it you can’t imagine how life was before you found it.
http://thepersnickityrapscallion.word...
November 1, 2021
The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand is a book written by Gregory Galloway and is about this one guy, Adam Strand, who just will not die. He tried killing himself 39 times, and not once did it work. He'd always wake up the next day completely unharmed, and everybody in town got sick of him real fast, regarding him as a nuisance or a freak.
Overall, I think this book is okay. It's definitely a good read (that was not intentional) and is super relatable, at least to me, but there is one glaring issue. Adam's life, town, friends, and family are all boring. There's nothing new that goes on, there's nothing interesting going on. And so is the book. Nothing really interesting ever happens. Sure, you have the time when Adam seriously tries to end his life by stashing a box in a bush down the river with drugs and other harmful things and tries to use them back to back each time he wakes up. There's also that time when Vern and Ash make a cinematic and horrifying video showing how Adam won't stay dead (similar to some creepypasta videos on YouTube) and he's front and center on the news due to lots of suicides because of the video. Or what about when Jodi and Maddy start to wonder how suicide is, and actually begin to consider it? That was interesting, but it led to nowhere. Maybe that's the whole point of the book, that Adam's life and his suicides and how he had sex with some girl and the cow that decomposes by the river go nowhere. There is no moral to anything in the story, and there is no moral to the story, which brings me right to the ending, which is very lame.
I was expecting him to leave his town by stealing a car (like he said he could), or maybe that Jodi or Maddy would kill themselves and he'd have no resolution and he'd keep trying to kill himself. The ending feels super lackluster, like it just goes on. It's as if the book got bored of itself. It just ends with him sort of understanding everything. He stops committing suicide because it's a "waste of time," which I found to be a dumb message to send to readers. Gregory Galloway painted all the people in the town as hating Adam and giving him strange looks, and as the protagonist, we should take Adam's side in things. But when he takes the side of those who he didn't care about and only inconvenienced him, it gets confusing. Who are we supposed to side with, Greg? Adam Strand, or Mr. Camp? Because you can't have the best of both worlds. You can't have both worlds at all, really. But I guess it makes sense, because Adam had both worlds, too. He could die, and he could live. He could die as many times as he want in all ways possible, and still be fine.
All in all, it's a pretty great read. Maybe it's not the best, there are certainly others that are better, but that goes with everything anyway. Maybe it's because I relate to it, because I've been in a few of these situations before. I've had experience with suicide and topics like that (not that I've ever succeeded, obviously), so maybe that's why I gave it 3 stars instead of 2. I would've given it five, but sometimes it gets pretty confusing. There was lots of missed potential, and the ending wasn't good. I'd say 3 stars overall, 5 stars in description of events and objects and details in general, 4 stars for the story, and 1 star because we don't even get to hear all 39 times, or at least not that I remember. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Have a wonderful day.
Overall, I think this book is okay. It's definitely a good read (that was not intentional) and is super relatable, at least to me, but there is one glaring issue. Adam's life, town, friends, and family are all boring. There's nothing new that goes on, there's nothing interesting going on. And so is the book. Nothing really interesting ever happens. Sure, you have the time when Adam seriously tries to end his life by stashing a box in a bush down the river with drugs and other harmful things and tries to use them back to back each time he wakes up. There's also that time when Vern and Ash make a cinematic and horrifying video showing how Adam won't stay dead (similar to some creepypasta videos on YouTube) and he's front and center on the news due to lots of suicides because of the video. Or what about when Jodi and Maddy start to wonder how suicide is, and actually begin to consider it? That was interesting, but it led to nowhere. Maybe that's the whole point of the book, that Adam's life and his suicides and how he had sex with some girl and the cow that decomposes by the river go nowhere. There is no moral to anything in the story, and there is no moral to the story, which brings me right to the ending, which is very lame.
I was expecting him to leave his town by stealing a car (like he said he could), or maybe that Jodi or Maddy would kill themselves and he'd have no resolution and he'd keep trying to kill himself. The ending feels super lackluster, like it just goes on. It's as if the book got bored of itself. It just ends with him sort of understanding everything. He stops committing suicide because it's a "waste of time," which I found to be a dumb message to send to readers. Gregory Galloway painted all the people in the town as hating Adam and giving him strange looks, and as the protagonist, we should take Adam's side in things. But when he takes the side of those who he didn't care about and only inconvenienced him, it gets confusing. Who are we supposed to side with, Greg? Adam Strand, or Mr. Camp? Because you can't have the best of both worlds. You can't have both worlds at all, really. But I guess it makes sense, because Adam had both worlds, too. He could die, and he could live. He could die as many times as he want in all ways possible, and still be fine.
All in all, it's a pretty great read. Maybe it's not the best, there are certainly others that are better, but that goes with everything anyway. Maybe it's because I relate to it, because I've been in a few of these situations before. I've had experience with suicide and topics like that (not that I've ever succeeded, obviously), so maybe that's why I gave it 3 stars instead of 2. I would've given it five, but sometimes it gets pretty confusing. There was lots of missed potential, and the ending wasn't good. I'd say 3 stars overall, 5 stars in description of events and objects and details in general, 4 stars for the story, and 1 star because we don't even get to hear all 39 times, or at least not that I remember. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Have a wonderful day.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2013
The Good
The writing. This book's prose is very poetic. Adam's musings about life, death, and the people around him are enlightening and insightful. I love books like this that hold a mirror up to your own life and the people in it, forcing you to see things from an entirely different perspective.
The questions. Adam brings up many interesting questions that stick with you long after the book is finished. Is one life more valuable than another? How can we know that? Why do bad things happen to good, innocent people? What really happens when we die? Is suicide a selfish act? Is it really anyone's business, even if it is? Should we all feel an obligation to keep ourselves alive to appease others, even if we are miserable living? It is amazing the number of thought-provoking points Galloway brings up so effortlessly.
Adam's revelation. This book follows Adam through a journey of self-discovery, and the revelation he reaches at the end of the novel was very satisfying. I liked that not all questions are answered and the reader is left to wonder about many different things, including Adam's fate.
The Bad
The lack of detail. Adam describes his death experiences as "silence" and "peace" and "nothing". While I appreciate what Galloway was trying to illustrate, I would have liked more information, if not about the time when Adam is dead, at least about what happens when he is found. More specifically, I would have really liked some writing from the point of view of those who had to clean up Adam's disfigured, mangled body and carry it to safety. I think including these passages would have better illustrated the implications of Adam's actions and given the novel more depth.
The lack of zealots and scientists. At some point in the story Adam finally gets some media attention, but it was totally unbelievable to me that there would not be more attention paid to someone with his "skill set". If Adam were a real person, every molecule of his body would be poked, prodded, and researched, and religious zealots would surround his house, thinking he is the second coming or the next messiah.
Favorite Quote
Overall Rating
The writing. This book's prose is very poetic. Adam's musings about life, death, and the people around him are enlightening and insightful. I love books like this that hold a mirror up to your own life and the people in it, forcing you to see things from an entirely different perspective.
The questions. Adam brings up many interesting questions that stick with you long after the book is finished. Is one life more valuable than another? How can we know that? Why do bad things happen to good, innocent people? What really happens when we die? Is suicide a selfish act? Is it really anyone's business, even if it is? Should we all feel an obligation to keep ourselves alive to appease others, even if we are miserable living? It is amazing the number of thought-provoking points Galloway brings up so effortlessly.
Adam's revelation. This book follows Adam through a journey of self-discovery, and the revelation he reaches at the end of the novel was very satisfying. I liked that not all questions are answered and the reader is left to wonder about many different things, including Adam's fate.
The Bad
The lack of detail. Adam describes his death experiences as "silence" and "peace" and "nothing". While I appreciate what Galloway was trying to illustrate, I would have liked more information, if not about the time when Adam is dead, at least about what happens when he is found. More specifically, I would have really liked some writing from the point of view of those who had to clean up Adam's disfigured, mangled body and carry it to safety. I think including these passages would have better illustrated the implications of Adam's actions and given the novel more depth.
The lack of zealots and scientists. At some point in the story Adam finally gets some media attention, but it was totally unbelievable to me that there would not be more attention paid to someone with his "skill set". If Adam were a real person, every molecule of his body would be poked, prodded, and researched, and religious zealots would surround his house, thinking he is the second coming or the next messiah.
Favorite Quote
"Everybody's got their own disease, I think, but not everyone's got their own cure. I thought I did, but I was wrong."
Overall Rating
4/5 - This book was so insightful and raised a number of really interesting questions. I enjoyed the poetic nature of the writing, but found the lack of media attention a little unbelievable.
February 6, 2016
Perhaps about a 3.5 but not good enough to have 4 stars...maybe after lots of thinking
First, I should state that this book is extremely exhausting to read. It's like Adam's whole death thing made me tired reading it or the thought of summer so I couldn't finish as fast as I would have liked to. Nonetheless, page 261 whispered to me to finish and so I did. It's a little plain and normal for me. Self-discovery didn't necessarily happen. It was like a change of mind all of a sudden. I think Galloway did say some good things but stretched them to the point I had to reread the whole paragraph.
I won't write the whole quote because it's practically the whole page (261) so I'll write a small part of it. "I mean I'm afraid to die. I'm not afraid now. I want to do it now while I'm still strong enough." This is his reason in a quite vague and simplified state when he finally kind of gets his shit together and he's not dying because he feels addicted to it.
The oddity this book is indeed. Adam truly dies every single time but he comes back. He's not a zombie just plain human. He doesn't stay dead. The boy doesn't "die" even when he blows his brains out or doesn't even gets impaired in some way. Try not to get pissed at the fact nature seems to have blessed the boy with immortality only 'till he fixes some stuff in his mind. Somethings have to be there to create the story.
Adam Strand. The boy who kills himself 39 times in the story and some deaths are depicted but not so that you can easily recognize something happens. So basically life is pretty monotonous. He does all sorts of things, talks to all these people (sorry I'm plagued with the vague), and gets involved in all sorts of things and people (Maddy for example). Anyway, in the end, he changes his mindset and turns the page in his notebook.
....And that's all I have to say on Strand....
December 24, 2013
The 39 deaths of Adam Strand by Gregory Galloway is a fiction novel about Adam Strand the main character who attempts to commit suicide 39 times. In all of those tries he manages to stay alive, He isn’t suicidal or depressed, he is just bored and questions the concept of life. He wants some “action” some thrill in his life. He uses many methods of suicide from asphyxiation to different ways to jump off a bridge. He sees a therapist but only because he has to, but that doesn't stop him from trying to kill himself. Apart from that he has a regular life like any high school students, he has friends participates in what he has to.
Overall this book was good, but had some problem with developing the plot, the character, and it got pretty boring. There wasn't really a climax since he tries to kill himself in almost every chapter. The book was repetitive, which is shown when he meets different girls has “fun” with them and later tries to kill himself, or he goes out with his friends they talk then he unsuccessfully commits suicide. The other issue is character development. The author talks about some characters but doesn't give background information or we don’t see them later. This wasn't for every characters though, the author focused on the relationship between Adam and his friends, he makes the reader feel part of that relationship.
Although the book had some minor issues I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. Someone shouldn't expect this to be a great book, but it has its accomplishments. Even though the story goes almost nowhere, it is like going through a journey, where one gets bored with life which might reflect why this book gets repetitive, because the main message is that life is repetitive and boring. One should be open minded and think deeply about this book.
Overall this book was good, but had some problem with developing the plot, the character, and it got pretty boring. There wasn't really a climax since he tries to kill himself in almost every chapter. The book was repetitive, which is shown when he meets different girls has “fun” with them and later tries to kill himself, or he goes out with his friends they talk then he unsuccessfully commits suicide. The other issue is character development. The author talks about some characters but doesn't give background information or we don’t see them later. This wasn't for every characters though, the author focused on the relationship between Adam and his friends, he makes the reader feel part of that relationship.
Although the book had some minor issues I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. Someone shouldn't expect this to be a great book, but it has its accomplishments. Even though the story goes almost nowhere, it is like going through a journey, where one gets bored with life which might reflect why this book gets repetitive, because the main message is that life is repetitive and boring. One should be open minded and think deeply about this book.
April 23, 2018
The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand was a disappointment, to say the least.
After reading the cover flap, I thought I was going to be reading a book that explores the life and mind of a teenage boy who is set on killing himself but, in the end, learns some lesson or moral or SOMETHING that makes this book worth reading. Boy, was I wrong.
Apparently, according to the afterword, Galloway was attempting to write about and understand the mind of a suicidal person, as he has known several people to commit suicide. That's all well and good, and I even think that it could be a great idea. The issue here is the execution: there is no consistent timeline as the story jumps around to different points in Adam's life with no heads up or explanation, nothing new or interesting happens, and there is no satisfying conclusion, moral, nothing.
Unfortunately, this book comes across as what it really is: some guy writing stuff down to try and make sense of something that he just doesn't get. It seems like no research on causes or reasons for suicide went into this (or any research for that matter) and the art of telling a story is totally lost in the rambling and nonsensical writings of this book.
In the end, I feel like this is more of a messy journal for Galloway to write ideas down in than it is a book for any other reader.
314 pages
After reading the cover flap, I thought I was going to be reading a book that explores the life and mind of a teenage boy who is set on killing himself but, in the end, learns some lesson or moral or SOMETHING that makes this book worth reading. Boy, was I wrong.
Apparently, according to the afterword, Galloway was attempting to write about and understand the mind of a suicidal person, as he has known several people to commit suicide. That's all well and good, and I even think that it could be a great idea. The issue here is the execution: there is no consistent timeline as the story jumps around to different points in Adam's life with no heads up or explanation, nothing new or interesting happens, and there is no satisfying conclusion, moral, nothing.
Unfortunately, this book comes across as what it really is: some guy writing stuff down to try and make sense of something that he just doesn't get. It seems like no research on causes or reasons for suicide went into this (or any research for that matter) and the art of telling a story is totally lost in the rambling and nonsensical writings of this book.
In the end, I feel like this is more of a messy journal for Galloway to write ideas down in than it is a book for any other reader.
314 pages
December 13, 2012
The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand was dark in an irreverent way that many YA books attempt, but few succeed. Galloway's novel focused on a purposeless, empty young man who was unable to end his life, despite 39 attempts. This protagonist was realistic in his conversations with other characters, but his inner thoughts--not to mention the premise--felt contrived. The book was split into many tiny chapters with clever names that often repeated background information--sometimes it felt as though this novel had been published piecemeal and was pushed together into a novel. Despite all this, the description of Strand's inner thoughts as well as the scenery were almost poetic in their use of devices--metaphor, imagery, and sentence structure. Minor characters were surprisingly rounded, and I found myself wanting more development of their stories. At times, there was a stream of consciousness feel that pulled the reader back into believing the fantastical yet entirely realistic situation of a suicidal young man who never dies. As a whole, the book took an oft explored subject in an entirely new direction that ought to appeal to those who have felt as jaded and stuck as Strand.
October 14, 2014
I read this in pieces between other books because I wanted to finish it but didn't find it engaging enough to just sit down and read. Adam Strand is almost wish fulfillment for anyone who has ever lost someone to suicide. It's not that Adam can't get hurt or die, exactly, he just can't do it to himself. This gives his family and community seemingly infinite opportunities to intervene, though for the most part they lose interest, seeing Adam more as a nuisance or a joke. The ways in which people do or do not try to help Adam are interesting and sad. When, toward the end of the book, a video of Adam jumping goes viral, inspiring several suicides around the country, he can't muster any emotion but jealousy and it seems he really doesn't see the value in life, not just in his. By the end he seems to have grown out of it though. ?
As a mediation on suicide, I think this works, but as a novel it doesn't quite. The timeline jumps all over the place, there is no plot, there is no character development, and only a few small moments of relationship development.
As a mediation on suicide, I think this works, but as a novel it doesn't quite. The timeline jumps all over the place, there is no plot, there is no character development, and only a few small moments of relationship development.
February 9, 2013
Just as the title suggests, Adam Strand experiences death. He kills himself repeatedly, but he’s back to the life of the living, mysteriously intact, every time. His parents send him to a therapist. There are some colorful characters in the way of friends and a “transcendentalist” teacher, but Adam himself is lackluster. I didn’t connect to him in any way.
Concerning his suicides, it seemed like they were listed in between scenes. He kills himself, then again…oh, and again. I didn’t care for the repetition. I believe I would have liked this more if the story had revolved around a few suicide attempts. Still, I would read Galloway in the future. Despite certain areas of characterization and plot that I didn’t enjoy, his writing style is compelling and I even added another one of his books to my wish list. I received the galley from NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher.
Concerning his suicides, it seemed like they were listed in between scenes. He kills himself, then again…oh, and again. I didn’t care for the repetition. I believe I would have liked this more if the story had revolved around a few suicide attempts. Still, I would read Galloway in the future. Despite certain areas of characterization and plot that I didn’t enjoy, his writing style is compelling and I even added another one of his books to my wish list. I received the galley from NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher.
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January 7, 2015The 39 Deaths Of Adam Strand is a fictional story by Gregory Galloway. The main character is, Adam Strand; A teenager who kills himself 39 times; 18 times by jumping (from bridge or building or other high place and once from the back of a truck), five by drowning, five by asphyxiation, four by poison/overdose, three by hanging, one by fire, one by gun, one by chain saw, and one by train. And he doesn't die. He wakes up the next morning perfectly fine. In the book it's stated that he is not depressed he just not satisfied with life, therefore he "tries" to kill him self, many times. By the end of the book he learns that maybe this is a sign. Maybe trying to kill yourself many times for no reason isn't a smart choice. This book made me cry. I don't know why, but it did. It was a good book. Um yeah.
March 22, 2014
Being the adventurous person I am when it comes to reading (I'm not, but let's pretend I am), I rarely dislike books. This was the rare book I didn't enjoy that much. I'm really picky when it comes to interesting characters, characters I feel like I can bond with; I like characters who feel like they are more than just fictional characters in a fictional book. That being said, Adam was boring. The only trait I can think of for him is bored. This made the entire novel boring. I found myself skimming through parts because it was so repetitive. I have to give Galloway credit for the skipping around of suicide attempts though, as it made the book just a bit more interesting. But other than that, it was just kind of...eh.
October 26, 2013
I loved this book. I think it's because I can relate to it so much. Adam, the main character is so utterly bored, he opts to kill himself. He can't. He keeps coming back. That honestly sounds terrible, wanting something so bad and not being able to have it. However, Adam talks about being bored, a lot. He talks about how he does the same thing every day and doesn't really care and I totally feel it. I totally know how he's feeling. The great thing about this book is that there's no crazy love story. Love isn't the hero here. There's not really a hero, in this book. Adam wants to die and by the end, changes. I've gone through that same change. This book is an absolute must-read.
May 23, 2013
I'm really surprised that I even finished this book. It was insufferable. Adam's inner monologue was so boring, so tedious, so self-centered. I would just skim several pages in a chapter because I knew it was all just nonsense and didn't add anything to the story line. The book doesn't answer any questions that you have. The story line isn't described well at all. If I could I would give the book 0 stars. It was awful. I do not recommend it.
April 11, 2013
This was a difficult book to get through because of the cavalier way that this very somber subject is treated. While it could be argued that Adam's self-centeredness and drab outlook is realistic, it would have been nice to see more growth or depth throughout the book. Also, there are a ton of threads left hanging about Adam's physical condition and with the exception of a couple characters that were nicely drawn, several blurred together, like drinking buddy #1, #2, and #3.
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