Rating: 
Summary: I know because I am there...
Review: To be completly honest with you I am only fourteen. I have been cutting for almost a year. If I pull up my sleeves you will see my scars of battles past. You will see the scars and symbols of present and future battles also. But what we need to remember is that underneath these perfect purple poems is a person. Not always a suicidal one either. Please if you need help be like me and get it. read this book and tell someone don't just embrace the pain.
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Summary: Written with compassion and respect
Review: Being one of the subjects that Marilee touch upon in this book I was absolutly terrified when I had been told that it was in the book stores. I was not sure if we would be conveyed as freaks of nature. Once I read it I was relieved to see that she was not on a mission to exploit the real pain that we are experiencing from day to day. She really come off as someone who had went out of her way to break the preconceived notions that society has been all too happy to hold us to. I didn't agree with all of her personal take on things but I still finished with a tremendous satisfaction that someone had finally taken the time to go deeper in to a subject that society is often more willing to ignore and pass of as a way to get attention.Marilee, THANK YOU for making me feel that I deserve some understanding. With exposure from talented authors like you this will not be a lost cause.
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Summary: I couldn't stop reading it
Review: OK, it's a subject most of my friends don't want to know anything about. That's why I don't tell them I am a cutter. I discovered I am not alone about four years ago. Although I read another "ok" book on cutting, I just got Marilee Strong's book in paperback because some people in my support group really raved over it. I cried a couple of times reading it, but I couldn't put it down. I feel like someone understands us besides just the "shrink talk" that just tries to put things in neat little unreal boxes. Marilee goes way inside what cutting is about. She doesn't gloss over things and she doesn't seem to act like we should all just "get better" really quickly or "just stop it already"! I'm just a cutter and I'm not a shrink, but I think this person really "gets it." If you are a cutter or if you know someone or just want to understand what it's really like for us, this book will turn your head around.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent book for everone to read
Review: This book is incredibly informative. Though not for the faint of heart, it sheds a lot of light on our relationships to pain and how some people react to it and into our own psyche. It doesn't matter if you have this problem or not to be able to read this book. It can show you how some of our most unconscious actions can affect those closest to us. A must read for anyone with children.
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Summary: the fastest way inside the head of someone who SI's
Review: I have the utmost regard for this book, and not just because I run the webpage/email list Ms. Strong drew many of her subjects from. I have to admit that I was leery of her project at first; self-injury has become the quick-n-easy story of the 90s, if nothing else, and too often reporters/authors use it as a way of proving whatever their pet point of the moment happens to be. It's too simple to overgeneralize about people who self-injure, and strong doesn't fall into that trap. When I got an advance copy last fall and skimmed it, my first thought was "My people are being heard!" What Marilee does is make those who harm themselves into real people. You come to know them, to gain a sort of understanding of how they got into the place they've reached, to see why they feel that injuring their bodies is the only way to keep their souls intact. You may not agree with them, but you'll finish this book understanding a lot more about where the compulsion comes from. Much of this is accomplished by the trick of illustrating the copious technical information about self-injury with quotes from people who self-injure. The people never get lost in the exposition, and Strong isn't afraid to leave some questions unanswered. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful...provided hope.
Review: This book was very informative. It answered a lot of my questions and provided me with new information. It also offers a sense of hope...self-mutilation is something you CAN survive.
Rating:
Summary: This is THE book on the subject!
Review: It's interesting that all of a sudden there are several books on self-injury. But I've read them all (strong personal interest) and this is really THE book. Strong really knows her stuff, both the "inside the heads" view of self-injurers and even making sense of how the brain seems to work that helps to explain self-injury. The experiences of people she writes about are so real, and so vivid. And caring! Maybe its because Strong is not a therapist and therefore doesn't have any "blinders" on the way therapists unfortunately often do. Sometimes even when therapists treat people with self-injury (and even write about it), they really don't seem to have a deep level of empathy. Strong touched my soul with her book!
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Summary: It may tempt me to cut, but after the stories I heard....
Review: I am a recovering cutter, and the book tempted me to cut, but at the same time, hearing the stories of others stopped me from going through with the urge.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: I am IN the book, and I found the rest of it to be very thought-provoking. Didn't rehash the same tired theories I've read about. I even got my Mom to buy a copy.
Rating:
Summary: A long overdue, person-centered look at self injury.
Review: Thankfully there's now a book on self harm that moves away from the sensationalism of Stephen Levenkrom's "Cutting", and is more accessible than the clinical focus of Favazza's work. "A Bright Red Scream" features plenty of quotes from people who self injure, and aims to dispell a lot of the myths around self harm - which it does most efficaciously. People who do self injure should be warned that this book might be "triggery", and might well spark off a "wanting to cut" episode. There aren't really any practical tips in this book to overcome that, so you might want to get as safe as you can first, and read it in small chunks. Two personal gripes with this book - one is Ms Strong's frequent use of the word "cutters" to refer to people who self harm .. I really dislike this as a label.. I feel it reduces me to nothing but my behaviour. Whilst it is certainly shorter than other terms, and some people do use it, I have found that as I heal, and work to overcome my self injury, I see my self more and more as "Kirsti", and less as "a cutter". The second is that although she mentions the internet resources, no actual webpages or URLs are given..while I can't correct that here, as it would violate Amazon.com's guidelines, I think that it could have easily been included as an appendix. Overall, Ms Strong has written an excellent book, which I wouldn't hesitate to give to anyone who wants to know more about what really underlies self injury.
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