Death Becomes Them
July 15th, 2009 by
While it’s not your average summer read, Death Becomes Them, Alix Strauss’ anthology on famous suicides, is a gripping novel indeed. Despite the somewhat cliché title, Strauss’ focus is both serious and in-depth. Aside from presenting readers with information on the most popular suicide methods (gunshot (57%) for males and poisoning (38%) for women), the book is replete with copies of suicide notes, diary entries, death certificates, and newspaper articles.
However, what is most appealing about the book is not the subject matter per se, but the motives behind it. While most people may assume that readers will be attracted to this book for its gory and gruesome details, it is clear that these were not Strauss’ intentions when writing the book. Covering such famous deaths as Virginia Woolf, Sigmund Freud, Kurt Cobain, Adolph Hitler, and Vincent van Gogh, her focus is not so much on how these celebrities killed themselves but on why. For each suicide, Strauss provides the expected factual information, but where she deviates is when she provides insight into their mental state. The book gives detailed information concerning their actions the day of their death, possible motives for their death, and evidence of their intent to commit suicide as shown through their works and actions.
While this novel is an anthology, it reads more like a detective novel with Strauss serving as the lead detective in a murder case. The novel is divided up into sections that group each suicide by their profession. The sections are divided into: authors, actors, musicians, artists, and powerful people.
One might assume that the further one reads of this book, the more bored one gets. However, this is not the case. Rather than encountering boredom, one encounters depression. And not depression for the obvious reason: that of feeling sorry for those who died. One feels depressed because the more one reads, the more one begins to relate to each suicide. Strauss has masterfully constructed her novel in such a humane way as to make the suicides of these once famous and unattainable people accessible to the public.
Although the book will not shock you with gory, stomach-churning details, your stomach will turn, as you soon will realize that underneath it all—underneath all the fame, glory, money, beauty, and brilliance—we are all the same and thus, all have the potential to end up dying in the same way.
-Jessie Schiewe
