I read this book back in July. This is an autobiography of a fourteen year old named Brent Runyon. He seemed to be a normal kid but was secretly suffering from depression. Runyon had tried to commit suicide many times before. After a school prank had gotten out of hand he came home doused his robe in gasoline put the robe on and lit a match. Runyon experienced third degree burns over eighty-five percent of his body.
I read this book in a day and a half. The author's description of his injuries isn't particularly gruesome but is vivid enough that when I would get up to move around I would feel relieved that I was not wrapped up in gauze or be in that much pain.
Runyon goes through a fair amount of introspection during the book. The book indicates he goes through a lot more than I felt he did. Although he does question why he burns himself I do think there was still a lot of avoidance behavior going on as well.
Something else he doesn't do is seek the help of any of the available psychologists. I side with him on this. All but one of them seemed pompous.
This book isn't for the faint of heart. The writer went through a near death experience at such a young age and at his own hands. Even though this event took place in 1991 suicide is still a very delicate subject and this book is a testament to that ( aside from his family only the nursing staff and psychologists knew how he came to be burned).
I work with people with mental illness and I also run a crisis line and I encounter suicidal people on a regular basis. This book made me see that people can hide (or deny) their depression even after such a blatant attempt in this case self immolation.
I have not read anything else authored by Brent Runyon but I certainly would.
Brent Runyon has made appearances on This American Life on NPR. His website is: burnjournals.com. In addition there is also a myspace: myspace.com/burnjournals.
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