This story is pretty much American Psycho meets Exquisite Corpse if Jughead Jones (angsty CW edition) was the narrator, written by someone who never totally outgrew their middle school edgelord phase. The novel’s raw and honest writing style offers readers a candid look into the complexities of human emotions.

In the early 1990s the rising popularity of the video cassette gave birth to a seedy, underground world of illicit pornography. There’s a sense of sarcasm to his narrative that I’m not convinced can come from the emotionless person he claims to be. It's no surprise that she ended up in the career she has chosen and I commend her for her bravery in taking a very negative human experience and turning it into a lifetime career in helping others. I give “Dead Inside” by Chandler Morrison a 4/5 because even though this was one disturbing, graphic, and gory read, I enjoyed the hell out of it.I walk back to the living room and pick up my discarded shirt, taking my cigarettes out of the pocket and lighting one.

In this way, Morrison encourages readers to reflect on their own lives as they observe characters dealing with such difficult topics as grief and depression. Today she speaks at fundraisers, schools and libraries, convincing teens that books work better than drugs. I thought there were moments inside this novel that had excellent issues to ponder and the novel being a memoir made it hit home even harder.

It was like watching a car crash victim being scraped up off of the pavement, you don’t want to watch but you just can’t bring yourself to avert your gaze. As Nate moves forward on his path towards liberation from his inner darkness and anxieties, he learns how to accept life for what it is—a powerful reminder for all those looking for solace in times of despair. Whether it's contributing to end global warming, helping the homeless population, or reaching the healthiest version of yourself possible—knowing that there are tasks to be carried out every day to draw closer to these goals can be a source of motivation. She tried everything she could to look cool and to fit in: she wore pants (since according to her, the type of pants you wear determines whether you’re one of the cool kids or not), smoked pot with her friends, pretended to be asleep when someone tried to molest her and so on and so forth. Because all I got was a grown man that thinks and talks like an edgy tumblr teen and scenes so absurdly over-the-top I laughed as I read them.

Someone might use it to describe a situation where their hopes or motivations are dashed, shifting suddenly from a hopeful mood to a sad or depressed state. It’s a feeling that’s hard to explain but let’s just say, you feel guilty for reading this and will want to read a book to cleanse yourself because it’s that grimy and obscenely sexual. Cyndy thought she had finally become someone as she was now “cool” but this “coolness” came at a cost. I wish there had been more follow-up, but I suppose for a YA read, it makes sense; it stuck to its arc.Through Nate’s journey from despair to hope, readers are able to witness the immense strength that can be found within oneself when conquering one’s fears and finding purpose through resilience. i’ve never been any kind of athlete or anything, but am i seriously the only person who realizes that infants are the perfect punting shape? It can also be an expression people use when they are so upset or embarrassed by something that they cope by numbing their emotions. It is fascinating and important to hear teenage Etler’s voice but the memoir seems to lack a lot of the women that Etler is now and I would have liked very much to hear more of her opinion. However, while medication like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) help with symptoms of these conditions, they also tend to affect how the brain processes emotions.

Through this lens, Morrison encourages readers to challenge conventional societal norms and explore solutions for common issues such as depression, anxiety, and addiction. There is no trigger warning out there that can prepare you for the horrors that lay waiting within this book. Even when describing scenes that are so foreign to me as someone who did not endure a forced sham of a rehab facility and imprisonment, her descriptions are so vivid that there was nothing left for me to misinterpret or be confused by. I also believe that this memoir would have benefit from a little more of Etler’s adult voice interjecting.

I feel like there wasn't much of a storyline to this, it's one of those extreme horror novels that are written just to shock and disgust the reader. Two equally fucked-up human beings embarked on a journey of necrophilia and cannibalism like you’ve never seen before. The list truly goes on and on with all of the strange things these kids were forced to do, and from the outside this program made it look like they were only using tough love and peer pressure techniques to get these kids off drugs (see video on my blog post). I listened intently as she told her story, absorbed as she lives her days out in the straightling facility.