Rating: 
Summary: my fav memoir
Review: i've never experienced some of things kettlewell talks about,but i can relate to the emotional and physical outcome perfectly.no,she didn't go through any seemingly tragic times,no,there was nothing extraordinary about her family,and yet she was depressed,she had an eating disorder,and she self-injured.so,one might ask why did she do it?how did she stop?this books leaves you with,really,none of those answers.to some this might be the thing that makes them hate this book.but,i think it allows people to see that you don't have to have some great epiphany before you can stop destructive actions.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Read If You're Squeamish
Review: ...I take that back. Read it even if you ARE sqeamish. You need to. Especially if you have a disgusted view of people who cut or otherwise self-injure themselves.This book will take you into their world, and let you understand WHY they do this. Written by a former self-injurer herself, the author is more than qualified to talk about it. The book is autobiographical in nature, but Caroline Kettlewell's story is that of so many teenagers, adults, even children today. Definitely worth it.
Rating:
Summary: A great introughling book, very inlighterning
Review: a thought that this book is one of the best books ever written, it was nice to read about someone that is going throught he same thing and to know that you are the only one out that is a self mutilator.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: As a child and family therapist who is confronted with cutting and self-mutilation far too often, I found this author's memoir to be quite disappointing. She seems to be more concerned with getting in a record number of 10-point words than she is with giving voice to her difficulties in layperson terms. I don't feel that this overly-heady and intellectualized life story sheds any light on the hopelessness and isolation of cutting, nor does it seem to offer any assurance or empathy toward individuals who are actively cutting. I don't believe that an average client who cuts could get through the first paragraph, let alone the whole insufferable text.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty decent book on SI, however not that great
Review: As a self-injurer myself I thought this book was a good read but not really helpful to those who self-injure. I thought that this book was decent but not all that great. The entire book was about her experiences as a self-injurer and an anorexic. She goes off on a lot of various topics, which do not really pertain to either topic. As far as her recovery her story is not all that inspiring. The last part was rather short that addressed this topic. I was left wanted to know more, since she had explained other topics in such detail. Her factors for recovering were rather trivial, medication (which for some people like myself don't work, or are not effective), having a baby, and reaching the age of 30 (or about that age). Her story overall was not all that different from thousands of others and seamed a little mundane (personally). However it is a very good account to way a self-injurer thinks and feels. The anorexia part of this book is equally as good. However the book on the overall focuses on self-injury. Several parts of this book I think would be a little 'triggery' to those who continue to self injure like myself. There are a few parts where she talks about the act of cutting in great detail, which may trigger someone to follow suit. There was a statistic that was in this book that I really disagree with, she said that about 60% of self-injurers also have or have had an eating disorder. I know many self-injurers and some do have an eating disorder but not nearly enough to justify that number. I would recommend this book to family and friends who know or have found out someone they love is a self-injurer. However for those who do self injure I would not recommend this book. I would like to see more books on SI that addressed the male SI population more, instead of solely focusing on the female self-injurers. However I do admit that the male self-injurer population is considerably lower.
Rating:
Summary: Every scar tells a story
Review: As you grow up, you're taught that every scar tells a story and I believe that Caroline Kettlewell has proved that point. This book is a remarkable memoir of growing up with self-mutilation. She tells of how it looked, felt, etc. It can get a bit graphic, but sometimes, you need the graphic stuff in order to understand the feelings. I think that this book is exquisite. I think every self-injurer could identify with the feelings that Caroline went through. I think that non-'cutters' could identify with some of the feelings, too. This book gives cutters a feeling of not being alone and non-cutters a way to understand what it's like to hurt so much that you have to hurt yourself. There aren't enough words to describe how awesome this book is. I just hope that it helps you to understand how serious self-mutilation really is.
Rating: 
Summary: I love books about people with disorders
Review: BUT.... This book was somewhat boring to me. This girl had an extremly boring life. I usually like books like this because I am going to be studying psychology really soon. But this book was alright. Not what i expected. If you want to read a good book get the quiet room by Lori Schiller.
Rating:
Summary: conflict of style
Review: From the first sentence to the last, Kettlewell describes her addiction to self mutilation in painstaking detail and precise language. Although I could identify with her experiences, the structure of the language and ivy league precision of her writing style took away from the passion and depth behind the pain and roots of self-mutilation. Such passionate and manic symptoms should be described with the same wreckless abandon and emotional turmoil that fuel them. The crafty language just manages to subdue and organize something that really isn't that cut and dried.
Rating:
Summary: Please Read My Review
Review: Hello. Caroline Kettlewell is extremly wordy. This depressed me greatly because it made me releize that my vocabulary sucks. Other than that though, I enjoyed this book. As someone who use to (kind of still does blah blah) take a steak knife to my little arm I thought she did the topic justice. Of course she doesn't give concrete answers for cutting but that's probably because it's the same as asking why do people smoke or do other drugs or repeatedly go to work late? There's no definite answer but she does tell you (though not bluntly) why she cuts herself. She also doesn't tell you what made her quit and I'm guessing it's because she herself doesn't really know. The book is real quoteable though, I have so many paragraphs in it highlighted. Sometimes when I feel like some horrid monster I just pick up the book and read my highlights and then I feel warm and good and fuzzy and all that good stuff inside. It's true, I do this. Keep in mind that this is a memoir and not a novel so if you want something with a definite storyline you won't get it here. I'll leave you with a quote:
"I can tell you that a well-timed wound focuses the mind marvelously-- don't you remember the sudden clarity that followed a skinned knee, a split lip, when all the world came down to body and blood, nerve endings and adrenaline?" By the by, she also has a bout with annorexia but she doesn't dwell as deeply into it as she does the cutting. And though I said she is very wordy it's not difficult to read but it's not mind numbingly easy either.
Rating:
Summary: Skin Game review
Review: I (as a cutter myself) know the emotions the author is realiting to in this book, at first i found it as an excellent referenst to say to people "read this page - that is how i feel today" and then i got to the grafic parts, she goes into a lot of detail, a word of warning to anyone reading this on their road to recovery, make sure u are safe when reading as some of its contents may be Triggering.
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