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129th out of 1,146 books
—
5,765 voters
The Burn Journals
by
Brent Runyon
I don’t want to get out of bed.I’m so stupid.I did so many things wrong.I don’t know what to do.I’m going to be in so much trouble.What am I going to do?I’m completely screwed.In 1991, fourteen-year-old Brent Runyon came home from school, doused his bathrobe in gasoline, put it on, and lit a match. He suffered third-degree burns over 85% of his body and spent the next year...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
October 11th 2005
by Vintage
(first published September 14th 2004)
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At age fourteen Brent Runyon came home from a bad day at school, doused himself with gasoline, and lit a match. Immediately, he regretted his painful suicide attempt. By the time help came he had already suffered second and third degree burns to 85% of his body. The stuff of dark fiction? No, the memoir of a young man whose story is as compelling as it is horrifying. Though Brent survived, the following months were undoutbedly the most painful of his life. He went through skin grafts, burn treat...more
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FIRST - this book should not be placed in the Young Adult section. I know that it's based on when he was a teen but it's got so much talk about sex, drugs and every other word seems like a cuss word. Just doesn't seem teen appropriate for me. Plus I don't think a teenager would be able to understand or connect with the book and it's subject matters.
This book was very helpful on giving insight on what it's like for people who have had something happened to them or feel out of the ordinary. I had...more
This book was very helpful on giving insight on what it's like for people who have had something happened to them or feel out of the ordinary. I had...more
5 likes · like · see review
I had heard nothing but good reviews of this book. It's a memoir about a young boy who attempted suicide by burning and his recovery. While an interesting and honest read by turns, I felt only half of the story was being told. Perhaps that's all the author was dealing with at the time - or at the time of the writing. In either case, I felt that the emotional and psychological aspects of this journey were missing. That really left me flat. Not that I expected the answer to life's big questions, b...more
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Engrossing from first page to last, this book based on Runyon's own adolescent experiences draws readers into the world of an eighth-grader whose life is irrevocably changed the day he deliberately sets himself on fire. Brent, after narrowly escaping death, wakes up in a hospital with 85% of his body severely burned and begins a slow, arduous path to recovery. Rather than analyzing reasons the patient wanted to kill himself, the first-person narrative remains focused on the immediate challenge o...more
Mar 06, 2009
Yusra
added it
The book that I read is an intense autobiography titled The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon. Through out this extraordinary book you will come to admire the little that you have and harbor the life you live. I mean you really will start to look at a minute as a fresh breath of new air, a sight of beautiful surroundings instead of just 60 seconds in an hour. I decided to give this book a try based on the captivating cover. I notice that the word burn was in a larger text than the other words. Then...more
I'm not a child psychologist so I don't always understand why teens gravitate towards books that are depressing, full of angst, always about incredible situations that most people don't find themselves in. Perhaps they need to read a story that is worse than their own perceived drama. I've worked with teenagers long enough to know that they feel their problems are the biggest and worst of anyone they know. They all worry about being popular and being picked on. They all worry that their best fr...more
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My teacher recommended this book for me, and I really am glad he did. I have never read a "present tense", or whatever it may be called, before. That is why I really liked it. It added a lot to the book. Brent Runyon did a fantastic job of showing me how he feels and what he was thinking. I cried during this book. It is so touching and just amazing. Everything he wrote painted an image in my head, which added to why I love it so much.
The book is about Brent who is what I would say "a suicidal t...more
The book is about Brent who is what I would say "a suicidal t...more
My overall rating of The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon is a 4 out of 5.
The plot starts out as a teenager that has caused a small fire at school and goes home to commit suicide after multiple attempts on his life before. He goes to his bathroom and douses his bathrobe with gasoline then starts the fire. After the incident the story shows his road to recovery with himself and his family.
I feel that that the strength of the piece is that he has to do something really bad to make himself feel bette...more
The plot starts out as a teenager that has caused a small fire at school and goes home to commit suicide after multiple attempts on his life before. He goes to his bathroom and douses his bathrobe with gasoline then starts the fire. After the incident the story shows his road to recovery with himself and his family.
I feel that that the strength of the piece is that he has to do something really bad to make himself feel bette...more
I think that Brent Runyon’s memoir The Burn Journals deserves a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.
14-year old Brent Runyon is tired of being depressed and feeling that he shouldn’t exists commits attempted suicide by setting himself on fire thinking that it will change everybody's lives and make them happy without him. Join Brent Runyon on his path to recovery from the ER to hospital to rehabilitation centers to home in this very intriguing memoir.
What I love about Runyon’s memoir is that he shows EVER...more
14-year old Brent Runyon is tired of being depressed and feeling that he shouldn’t exists commits attempted suicide by setting himself on fire thinking that it will change everybody's lives and make them happy without him. Join Brent Runyon on his path to recovery from the ER to hospital to rehabilitation centers to home in this very intriguing memoir.
What I love about Runyon’s memoir is that he shows EVER...more
Mar 06, 2013
Hayley
added it
“This hurts too much. I need to stop it. I need to get up. I stand. I don’t know how I stand, but I do, and I turn on the shower. I’m breathing water and smoke. I unlock the door and open it. My hand is all black. I walk out. There’s Craig with Rusty, our dog, next to him. They have the same expression on their faces.”
Brent Runyon, fourteen years old, is afraid to face his punishment from an incident that had happened at school. Trying to avoid the consequences, Brent goes home after school, dr...more
Brent Runyon, fourteen years old, is afraid to face his punishment from an incident that had happened at school. Trying to avoid the consequences, Brent goes home after school, dr...more
I had never read any books by Brent Runyon before this novel, so when my friend recommended it I had no idea what to expect. I went in with no idea of what the book was about except for the summary on the back cover. I was expecting a bunch of story's about people almost taking their own lives, but I was way wrong.
The main character Brent is having a really rough time in life. Whenever he does something that he knows his parents will be disappointed in him for doing he attempts to commit suicide...more
The main character Brent is having a really rough time in life. Whenever he does something that he knows his parents will be disappointed in him for doing he attempts to commit suicide...more
The Burn Journals took me on a growing journey. It taught me stuff that I needed to learn and it will teach many other readers what the need to learn. It was inspirational as well as a fun read. This true story touched my life and I believe it will touch many others. The author wrote this book about himself. He clearly had a purpose. I don’t believe it was for the readers though. The purpose for writing the book went a lot deeper than just entertainment. I believe the author wanted to set down...more
The Burn Journals is a memoir written by Brent Runyon. When Brent was 14, he doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire in an attempt to commit suicide. In this book, he recalls his life right before this life-changing event, and chronicles his physical and mental treatment over the next year.
The book is written by Brent, and he tries to stay as true to what he thought, said and did during that period of his life. He does not ‘look back’; Brent writes as though this is his life right n...more
The book is written by Brent, and he tries to stay as true to what he thought, said and did during that period of his life. He does not ‘look back’; Brent writes as though this is his life right n...more
This is a poignant memoir by a man who relates his tale of his decision to commit suicide by setting himself on fire. I had high expectations for this book. Prior to reading, I had the impression that this would be a seminal work for others - as well as family and friends who know someone - suffering from depression, low self-esteem, and suicidal tendencies. I thought this narrative would provide 1) personal insights as to the thoughts and motivations for the author’s actions, and 2) that while...more
Okay, wow. This is a true story a biography about a 14 year old boy who set himself on fire as a suicide attempt. I sort of accidentally ended up reading this book. It was handed to me, I read the blurb on the back and then started reading and didn't stop till I was done. I don't usually enjoy reading non fiction books about depressing things. This one wasn't completely depressing because leading up to when he set himself on fire there wasn't a whole lot of 'feelings' of why he did it, so you di...more
I think the authors purpose of this book is for him to help people better understand what he was going through at the time. How everyone thought they knew Brett and what was happening to him, no one knew about what was going on in his mind. He decided he didn't want to live anymore. A purpose for him to write this would to rise awareness for teenage suicide.
The theme of the book is that no matter how hard you life gets or how rough you think you have it don't give up, someone probably as it wo...more
The theme of the book is that no matter how hard you life gets or how rough you think you have it don't give up, someone probably as it wo...more
Oct 08, 2012
Hanna Noonan
added it
I think the authors purpose of writing this story is to help explain what stressed teens go through or how suicide can be a big deal towards teens. to inform the readers about suicide awareness, or even persuade them into knowing that maybe we can do things to stop suicidal thoughts towards themselves. Everyone has their own purpose of doing things. And this Author chose to express is in his book.
The theme I got from the book when reading it was that accepting who you are is part of growing up...more
The theme I got from the book when reading it was that accepting who you are is part of growing up...more
The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon is a very somber book telling the story of why Brent doused himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire. He also shares the path he took to recovery and how many times he could have just given up. Brent wrote this book as part of his recovery and never expected it to be shared with others.
The theme is between a self-help book and a autobiography. He was trying to use this book as a way to help him overcome his life changing expierence and also so people can read...more
The theme is between a self-help book and a autobiography. He was trying to use this book as a way to help him overcome his life changing expierence and also so people can read...more
I think this is a great book! It is very suspenseful and entertaining, and I never wanted to put it down. It's a non-fiction story about a suicidal teenager named Brent. He wrote this story when he got older as an opportunity to let go of his past and move on to better things. I think he's trying to tell his readers that even if things get bad, they can get better again, and that when you're going through a hard time, to not turn to hurting yourself. In the story, he says that he regrets ever hu...more
The Burn Journals is about Brent Runyon, who is 14 years old. He's popular, funny, and smart. But all of that is about to quickly change for him. During gym class, Brent thought it would be funny to light a shirt on fire. He does so, but soon the flame becomes to large to control. Out of impulse, Brent throws the shirt into a gym locker and he joins the rest of the gym class. The school gets the police into the business, and in fear Brent knows he's going to be in trouble, so he decides he's goi...more
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The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon is a memoir about a short period of time in the author's life during which he recovered from his first fatal suicide attempt. After dealing with severe depression for several years and also developing a record of not-so-stellar behavior, the author decides one day at the age of 14 that he is going to set himself on fire. Dousing himself in gasoline and laying in the bathtub after school, Brent lights the match that ultimately changes his life.
The next time Bren...more
The next time Bren...more
“The Burn Journals” by Brent Runyon is about a 14-year-old, in 1991, who went home, put on his robe, poured gasoline all over himself, and lit a match. Even though he meant to kill himself, he couldn’t bare the pain, and he turned on the shower. He suffered 3rd degree burn all over his body. He was immediately rushed to a hospital in D.C. and got treated for the next four months. During those four months he had to learn how to do many things over again, including walk, eat, and breathe. After t...more
The Burn Journals is about a 14 year old boy who is majorly depressed. He comes home from school one afternoon and goes into the bathroom. He pours gasoline all over his bathroom and lights himself up. Right away, he can't stand it. He gasps for air and runs out the door. His brother sees him and immediately calls 911. So many things are going through Brent's head. He can't take it. He is in a lot of pain but shortly after the ambulance shows up and takes him to the hospital. Brent spends a very...more
I thought this was a really good book. It starts with a 14 year old boy who is severely depressed, has attempted suicide 3 times, and he gets into trouble at school. When he was about to get expelled from school he decided he didn't want to live anymore. So, he tells people he is going to kill himself and he actually goes home and goes through with the plan. He gets in the bathtub and puts on a gasoline covered robe and lights a match. After he does he realizes that he made a bad choice and can'...more
This book is about the author's experience as a 14-year-old-8th-grader almost succeeding in his largest attempt at suicide he ever underwent. Brent was very depressed as a child, and he felt that he couldn't get anything right. His grades took a plunge as he finished 7th grade and started 8th. He cut himself, attempted to hang himself and he finally was pushed over the edge after he was bound to get expelled for setting a shirt on fire in a locker with a full pack of matches. His mind told him h...more
On February 4, 1991, fourteen-year-old Brent Runyon comes home from school, douses his bathrobe in gasoline, puts it on, and lights himself on fire. It doesn’t go the way he planned. He doesn’t die.
When I started reading this I didn’t realize it was autobiographical. The novel feels like fiction because Runyon isn’t writing a memoir. He writes in first person, present tense. Ignoring what my brain knew about real-time, I felt like nothing had happened to Brent until I made it happen by reading...more
When I started reading this I didn’t realize it was autobiographical. The novel feels like fiction because Runyon isn’t writing a memoir. He writes in first person, present tense. Ignoring what my brain knew about real-time, I felt like nothing had happened to Brent until I made it happen by reading...more
Overall, The Burn Journals isn't much fun, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be read. A grim story that can give you a new perspective can be worth a million pages of the same old thing. Unless you have intimate experience with severe burn trauma and recovery, you'll definitely get a new perspective here.
The writing style makes it an easy read, almost too easy, considering the seriousness of the content. Brent is very good at conveying his physical age, psychological state and emotional maturit...more
The writing style makes it an easy read, almost too easy, considering the seriousness of the content. Brent is very good at conveying his physical age, psychological state and emotional maturit...more
'The Burn Journals' comes across as a very honest account of Brent Runyon's very tragic suicide attempt, background leading up to it, and the aftermath in physical recovery. What frustrated me about the book is that he does not go into at all why he did it. It's really up to the reader to infer the cause. The book would be more satisfying to me if there was an epilogue that included a refection on what happened and what he did to get to the bottom of why he did this. Compare this to 'Girl, Inter...more
Nov 11, 2010
Ali
added it
This book The Burn Journals is a very interesting book, the author Brent Runyon wrote it to pretty much perfection. I have never read a book with so many descriptive words on a single page or a paragraph. He almost made it feel like I was the one watching this book in life, like watching someone burn them and watching it all happen right in front of me. I mainly like books that are being written about someone near my age than maybe being older or younger than I am. The boy in this book is 14 yea...more
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| Aiossa's Senior 5...: Nico Sirridges Book Review | 1 | 2 | Sep 30, 2012 03:24pm |
Brent Runyon was 14 years old when he set himself on fire. His first book, The Burn Journals, is a memoir of his suicide survival. He is a contributor to public radio's This American Life, and lives on Cape Cod, where he works as a newspaper reporter. His third book, Surface Tension: A Novel in Four Summers, written with longtime collaborator Christina Egloff, is in bookstores now.
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“The only problem with seeing people you know is that they know you.”
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36 people liked it
“Before everything, I used to do this thing when I was upset-I used to take all my feelings and push them down inside me. It was like they were garbage and I was compacting it to get more in. I felt like I could keep pushing all my feelings down into my socks and I wouldn't have to worry about them. I don't think I do that anymore.”
—
15 people liked it
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