The Burn Journals
Ratings3
Average rating1.7
15
Ratings3
Average rating1.7
BRENT RUNYON WAS 14 years old when he set himself on fire. This is a true story.In The Burn Journals, Runyon describes that devastating suicide attempt and his recovery over the following year. He takes us into the Burn Unit in a children's hospital and through painful burn care and skin-grafting procedures. Then to a rehabilitation hospital, for intensive physical, occupational, and psychological therapy. And then finally back home, to the frightening prospect of entering high school.But more importantly, Runyon takes us into his own mind. He shares his thoughts and hopes and fears with such unflinching honesty that we understand--with a terrible clarity--what it means to want to kill yourself and how it feels to struggle back toward normality.Intense, exposed, insightful, The Burn Journals is a deeply personal story with universal reach. It is impossible to look away. Impossible to remain unmoved.This truly riveting memoir is a spectacular debut for a talented new writer.From the Hardcover edition.
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I was disappointed. The book lacks insight for Brent's behavior; he doesn't even seem curious about why he set himself on fire. He also doesn't seem to have much understanding for the effect his actions had on his parents and his older brother. Instead, the book focuses on his becoming aroused during physical therapy, which nurses might want to have sex with him, and what famous people reached out to him. At fourteen, Brent was obsessed with girls, his own sense of humor, and himself. There does not seem to be any adult perspective in this book, written in adulthood. Instead, Brent seems to think his attempted self-immolation now makes him special. As a therapist, and as a reader, this approach saddens me.
