Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
ISBN: 1594480001
Plot Summary: Amir led a privileged life in Afghanistan prior to the Communist revolution: he and his father lived in a spacious villa with servants, and his father was a well-respected man in his community. Amir had an unequal yet genuine friendship with Hassan, the son of his father's servant. Yet when Hassan is brutally attacked by a group of boys, Amir stands by and does nothing, and later falsely accuses his friend of stealing, causing both him and his father to leave the estate, so that he will not have to feel guilty anymore. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Amir and his father have to leave the country, eventually moving to Fremont, California, where Amir meets and falls in love with a young woman from the local Afghan community. After his father's death, Amir gets a telephone call from an old family friend, asking him to come back to Afghanistan to rescue Hassan's son. In the process, Amir comes face to face with parts of his past that he would rather forget, and slowly tries to help his best friend's son begin the healing process.
Showing posts with label suicide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suicide. Show all posts
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Title: It's Kind of a Funny Story
Author: Ned Vizzini
ISBN: 078685197X
Plot Summary: Craig Gilner, a middle-class teenager from Brooklyn, feels lucky when he is accepted into a prestigious New York public high school. However, once he gets in, he is soon overwhelmed by academic pressure, and starts self-medicating with drugs and purging to handle the stress until his parents agree to send him to a therapist. The therapist prescribes anti-depressants, but Craig decides to stop taking them, and soon becomes suicidally depressed. At a loss, he checks himself into a mental hospital with his parents' blessing, hoping this will help him deal with his issues. While there, he meets a variety of different people, each with their own issues, and comes to gain new insight on himself in the process.
Author: Ned Vizzini
ISBN: 078685197X
Plot Summary: Craig Gilner, a middle-class teenager from Brooklyn, feels lucky when he is accepted into a prestigious New York public high school. However, once he gets in, he is soon overwhelmed by academic pressure, and starts self-medicating with drugs and purging to handle the stress until his parents agree to send him to a therapist. The therapist prescribes anti-depressants, but Craig decides to stop taking them, and soon becomes suicidally depressed. At a loss, he checks himself into a mental hospital with his parents' blessing, hoping this will help him deal with his issues. While there, he meets a variety of different people, each with their own issues, and comes to gain new insight on himself in the process.
Go Ask Alice
Title: Go Ask Alice
Author: Beatrice Sparks (writing as "Anonymous")
ISBN: 1416914633
Plot Summary: The anonymous narrator, a teenage girl, comes from a good home, but feels out of place at home and in school. At first, she deals with typical teenage concerns: dieting and weight loss, boys, meeting new friends when her father moves. Then, she is introduced to drugs at a party, where she is unwittingly slipped a dose of LSD in her soda as part of a drinking/drug game. In short order, her life spirals downwards into a morass of meaningless sex, shady companions, and ever more dangerous drugs. Her diary entries disintegrate along with her life, degenerating into angry, almost meaningless stream of consciousness written on whatever she can find. She eventually gets cleaned up and moves back in with her parents, but finds the "good" kids will no longer associate with her, and her drug-using acquaintances threaten her for being a snitch. After being slipped yet another dose of LSD against her will, she winds up in a mental hospital. Eventually her condition improves, and she again returns home, determined to rebuild her life - but it is too late.
Author: Beatrice Sparks (writing as "Anonymous")
ISBN: 1416914633
Plot Summary: The anonymous narrator, a teenage girl, comes from a good home, but feels out of place at home and in school. At first, she deals with typical teenage concerns: dieting and weight loss, boys, meeting new friends when her father moves. Then, she is introduced to drugs at a party, where she is unwittingly slipped a dose of LSD in her soda as part of a drinking/drug game. In short order, her life spirals downwards into a morass of meaningless sex, shady companions, and ever more dangerous drugs. Her diary entries disintegrate along with her life, degenerating into angry, almost meaningless stream of consciousness written on whatever she can find. She eventually gets cleaned up and moves back in with her parents, but finds the "good" kids will no longer associate with her, and her drug-using acquaintances threaten her for being a snitch. After being slipped yet another dose of LSD against her will, she winds up in a mental hospital. Eventually her condition improves, and she again returns home, determined to rebuild her life - but it is too late.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)