Rating: 4 stars
Headline: A well written short story that engages with challenging conversations around mental illness
Review:
*Warning – book and review contains themes of death and suicide*
S.I.D (Suicidal Ideations) by Smiley TheWriter is a short story monologue, narrated by the voice of Samuel, a twenty-three year old Somalian living in America. (I will refer to the book as S.I.D and author as Smiley hereafter.) Split over the five themes of time, love, pain, tears and death, from within the afterlife Samuel reflects on his past experiences that have led up to the present day, moments after jumping off a bridge and committing suicide.
Given the sensitives around this topic, Smiley handles the content well. In places there are some really nice turns of phrase, for example Samuel’s description of a troubled childhood in Somalia where he is forced to eat sand and “passed around like an empty plate”. The chapters tackle different themes in a way that layers upon the last, creating a backdrop that builds progressively toward a thrilling climax of events. Being a short story S.I.D is perfectly suited to the sombre tone carried throughout, the feeling of a character who could have had many chances to shine but has been ground down by a failed system on both sides of the Atlantic.
While the wording is well constructed, the skill and poeticism of Smiley as an author does tend to create its own bubbles of confusion. The tone of voice is so personable, so intimate and in tune with Samuel’s thoughts, feelings and experiences, it is easy to forget this title is a work of fiction as opposed to an autobiographical memoir (excluding the opening sentences that convey the narrator is already dead). More description of characters’ physical attributes and world-building would have helped ground readers in the fictional landscape. The title may also be a little lost in translation. As a British reviewer, I would not have known the acronym S.I.D was a term or descriptor related to suicide.
The inclusion of an author epilogue and American support services at the back of the book are a nice touch, however I would still be a little cautious of sharing this book widely given its strong themes of death and suicide. That said, S.I.D still remains a well written short story that engages with challenging conversations around mental illness, especially within communities where is it considered taboo.
AEB Reviews
Links:
Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “S.I.D (Suicidal Ideations)” by Smiley TheWriter
Purchase Link: “S.I.D (Suicidal Ideations)” by Smiley TheWriter (Amazon)
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