Johanna Kelly's Book Review

The Burn Journals
By Brent Runyon
4 1/2 stars

This was a wonderful book. This is a true story about a boy's suicide attempt. The main character, Brent, is a fourteen year-old boy who wants to make everyone laugh. It seems as if his whole life revolved around making others laugh. One day in the boy's locker room, Brent's friend gave him a book of matches. To be funny, Brent set the whole book on fire. He then threw the flaming book into a locker, and put the lock on the locker. The school would surely expel the one responsible for this. Brent realized he had to solve this and he decided to finally kill himself after a long struggle with his suicidal mind.

Brent always was intrigued by fire. He loved the look of a flaming match. He had tried to kill himself numerous times, but no one knew about them. One day, Brent took his bathrobe, doused it in gasoline, and put it on. He then took a lit match, drew it closer, and lit the robe on fire. Brent suffered third-degree burns on over 85% of his body.

This book is unfortunately true. Brent decided to write a book which lets us take a deeper look into the suicidal mind. A mind that few are ever let into. This book tells us that suicide is never the answer. Brent spent nine months in a hospital. He realized that no matter what he did, nothing should have caused him want to die. Brent realized how much he had. Hopefully, by reading this book, we could be more understanding of the depressed person. Brent did tell classmates, but he was never taken seriously.

I give this book 4 1/2 stars. The author's true story never gets boring, and while reading this, you can't help but feel sorry for Brent and his family.