I Don't Think They Heard Me: Suicide Notes and Letters by the Renowned and Infamous by Brian Whitney

Hello my lovely readers!

This book came across my my "similar books" when I was about to purchase a separate book on death/dying. The topic seemed right up my alley, so I decided to give it a shot. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
Sometimes people are ready to leave.

When they do, many write down their last thoughts in an attempt to gain understanding, revenge, or sympathy.

Others simply want to explain their actions.

What follows is a collection of suicide notes and letters written by authors, actors, artists, musicians, athletes, and murderers. Written by Aaron Hernandez, Jerry Kasinski, Hunter S, Thompson, Virginia Woolf, Kurt Cobain, O.J. Simpson, Charles Whitman, Sid Vicious, Ernest Hemingway, Jim Jones and many more.

MY THOUGHTS
I have such mixed emotions about this book. The subject is incredibly intriguing and something that was right up my alley...hence why I decided to read it.

This is definitely something I'd keep on my shelf, but it is a HEAVY book. It's the suicide notes of the well-known, of course it'd be heavy, but goodness, some are just so incredibly sad. Bill Zeller's suicide letter was probably the saddest letter I've ever read.

Some of the deceased were lovelorn or angry or had a superior sense of self. It's fascinating to get into their state of mind and see what they were thinking before they end their lives.

However, this book was poorly written. Granted, a majority of it was the writing of other people, via their suicide notes, but the parts that author Brian Whitney did write were...interesting. It was passable, but an editor was definitely needed. I'm not sure if there was an editor involved in this process and I'm pretty sure this book was self-published, despite the book being "published" by Occams Hairbrush Press. There was absolutely no information on this publishing company when I researched it.

There were an appalling amount of typos, repeated paragraphs...even instances of plagiarism from Wikipedia of all places.

The author did provide little blurbs of each person before each letter, but it need to be formatted better. For example, always include the birth and death years; don't insert your thoughts about the deceased (even if they were an intolerable incel such as Elliot Rodger) etc.

If you're into books about death and dying, I'd definitely recommend it. Just don't go in expecting stellar writing.