Acquire Today Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives To Suicide For Teens, Freaks, And Other Outlaws Constructed By Kate Bornstein Published As Publication Copy

written more for teens and people in active mental health crisis, but i love the framing and i love the idea of having a list of things, large or small, to try in order to shift a mood a little bit toward the better.
not all of them resonated with me, that is okay. it has inspired me to think about what mythings should be, Kate Bornstein era um menino que não se sentia bem como menino e queria ser uma menina, Foi vítima de bullying e pensou suicidarse várias vezes, Quando cresceu e conseguiu transformarse em mulher, descobriu que também não estava bem como mulher! E passou a experimentar outras identidades e nenhuma.
Hoje tenta explicar a sua sexualidade com a expressão "femme sadomasoquista submiss", mas afirma que isso não é importante, e que vai mudando de identidade como quem muda de roupa, de acordo com as suas necessidades e humores.


O seu livro é simultaneamente um hino à liberdade de expressão "o maior bem da vida, todo o propósito da liberdade e talvez aquilo que todos os seres humanos do planeta têm em comum é, sem dúvida, a busca da felicidade.
. . Quem é que tem o direito de decidir qual o tipo de felicidade que está correcto" e uma celebração da diferença "Experimentas algo melhor e ficas a querer mais.
Não há nada de errado nisso, Porra, não há nada melhor!",

Quando o que está em causa é uma infelicidade tão grande que pode levar ao suicídio, qualquer comportamento é válido, diz Kate Bornstein, desde que não se seja "mauzinh" para os outros.
E isso inclui permitirse ser sexy contra os tabus da sociedade e da Igreja, mostrarse tal como se é ou fingirse de louc, pedir ajuda ou fugir e esconderse, brincar com a morte ou passar fome, mentir ou falar verdade, experimentar drogas.
. .

Sim, entrámos no mundo do relativo, muito longe dos critérios absolutos e binários do é bom ou é mau, é rapaz ou rapariga, és nosso amigo ou nosso inimigo", o mundo do "ou isto ou aquilo".
"Imagina um mundo onde qualquer pessoa pudesse, de uma forma segura e até alegre, expressarse como sempre quis, Em que nada relativo aos corpos com que as pessoas nasceram ou àquilo que escolheram fazer com eles a forma com os vestem, como os decoram, ou como os alteram ou aumentam fizesse com que se rissem delas, ou que se fizesse deles alvos, ou que de alguma forma os privasse dos seus direitos.
Consegues imaginar um mundo assim" Ok, I'll admit it I have a big, fat crush on Kate Bornstein, Big brains are a huge turn on,

But as far as the book goes, I'd have to give itstars, As someone who works with queer and questioning youth, I have

found this book to be invaluable both for myself and for the youth I work with.


I've seen some reviews call in to question the focus on sexuality in a book meant for younger readers.
Newsflash: youth are expressing their sexuality and gender at younger and younger ages and looking for safe ways/safe places to do so.


The chart on suicide alternatives is ingenious, A lot of what she says may be controversial, but I can't say that I disagree, After all is it worse to use alcohol to numb your pain or to kill yourself

Kate describes well what it's like to feel like an outsider and the lengths that people will go to to make sure you stay feeling that way.
But the triumph is her call to take pride in our differences, to reclaim "freak" as a badge of honor, and to go on living even if it's only one step at a time.

The first part of the book in which the author explains what made her suicidal and what we should change into society was a bit irrelevant to me because it was focused on transgender's issues.
I am not concerned by that, not because i'm cis straight but because sexuality and genders are not something that matters to me.
While some people struggle to put anouns label on themselves, i just don't feel the need to define or categorize myself.


Regarding the writing style, it was not perfect but it was clear enough so the reader could get the point.


The second part of the book is more interesting : it's a list ofthings you could do instead of killing yourself.
Some of them will not appeal to you, some of them you've already done but i'm sure there is at least one reason that you could use for the time being, and i think that if an idea in this book kept your mind away from suicide for even a minute or two, that's awesome.


As i read theideas, i noticed how many of them i've done, some with the conscious attempt to fight depression, other just because that was all i could do at a certain point.
Some of them i've considered but never did and some other i didn't think about,

That's why i think that this book is great, because it has some real talk in it, Also the fact that someone out there took the time to write a book for us with the genuine intention to help us is heart warming.


The main message of this book is : pursue happiness, be the best you can be, don't be mean to yourself and to others.
I picked this book up on a whim, and was severely disappointed, As someone who lost my sister to suicide, has struggled with it themselves, and battles with Depression and a handful of other mental issues, this book generalizes suicide and neglects many aspects of mental illness.


I know Bornstein means well, but her upbeat attitude and bubbly writing style is really offputting to someone who is on the verge of killing themselves.
For someone without a mental illness, her demeanor may be beneficial, but for someone who is so distraught that they're wanting to take their own life, her cando point of view is cringeworthy.
When someone gets to this point, they don't need Sharon from Yoga class to come in and tell them, "You just really need to get laid!", they need someone with a deep understanding of that anguish to be real with them, and understand that the suicidal person's perspective on life is skewed and dark.
To me, this book felt uncomfortably similar to having someone say, "Oh, you're suicidal Have you tried meditating"

Not to say the small things don't help.
They really do. But when you're at a point where brushing your teeth is equivalent to climbing Mt, Everest, most of these alternatives really aren't helpful,

The book focuses too much on sex and gender if the book was titled "Alternatives to Suicide for People Struggling with Their Gender Identity and Sexual Self," that would be one thing.
But it's not, and looks at suicide from a narrow scope, It's like this book was written for a very specific person, and should have advertised itself that way from the getgo.
And I imagine people who are asexual and suicidal would not benefit from picking up a SuicideAlternatives book that goes on to emphasize how great and important to life sex is.


I get that Bornstein wants to give people a wide range of alternatives to suicide, but encouraging starving and selfharm is never okay, and in my sister's situation, encouraging her to shop would have only worsened her problems since she was Bipolar, she went on shopping sprees when she was manic, and became financially in debt and kneedeep in loans.
To encourage her to spend more would have only worsened her depression when she came down from her high, It's not as cutanddry as "do this unhealthy coping mechanism that's incredibly dangerous in the longterm or kill yourself, " It's not thisorthat. And while I understand better than anyone that addictions and unhealthy coping technically work for their purpose and are not something you want to snatch away from a person it's their security blanket, after all, it still shouldn't be endorsed in any way, shape, or form.
I get that Bornstein would rather have someone cut themselves than kill themselves, but we absolutely don't have to look at it as that black and white.


You really can't just look at suicide as a singular thing, and while I give Bornstein props for trying to help, I really only see this book as helping a very small, specific group of people.
It's good of her to want to lend a hand to people contemplating suicide, and I feel for her and what she's been through, but if you're going to tackle a topic this serious, you need to do some MAJOR psychiatric research, not look at just your own experiences for reference, and do more thanpages of "moisturize and touch yourself.
" Read like. .pages and I don't get the point of this book other than making me bored, I would hazard a guess that this is the most badass selfhelp book on the market, Kate Bornsteins advice on how to climb out of your suicidal hole ranges from that which is simple moisturize! touch yourself not like that unless you want to! to that which is offkilter remove the word hello from your vocabulary and tell people what you really feel when you see them ummm, yeah, I didnt really get that one.
Bornstein is refreshingly blunt drugs, cutting, starving yourself are all better than death, after all and posits just one rule when finding ways to stay alive: dont hurt anyone else in the process.


Badass selfhelp book it may be, but its still a selfhelp book and one that borrows extensively from other selfhelp books.
That treacly, patronizing tone to the advice, which seems to saturate all selfhelp books, cant quite be wrung out by Bornsteins progressivism.


Nonetheless, for a short book, Hello Cruel World gives a lot of interesting stuff to chew over even for those of us who arent suicidal, but are just feeling a little lost.
i can't even begin to explain how important this book is, it's very practical and kind, instead of most suicide prevention sources, which are mostly very warm and kind and feel like a warm hug and telling people it'll be okay, this book tells you it's okay that you're not doing okay right now.
it gives you a pat on the back and a list of things to do to stay alive, not all of them are good things, some are very bad, for you or for others, but if it could keep you alive for a couple more days it's worth it, use those extra days to find better coping mechanisms or getting help, it never questions why you got to feeling like you do, or how, it simply gives you the tools you need to feel better and live longer, it makes sense of a world that often doesn't, and accepts you as you are, no questions asked. i wish i could give it to myyear old self, she could've really used it, i've still learned a lot from reading this and i really hope more people find this book, because it could do a whole lot of good.
Whether struggling with sexuality, bullying, or abuse, just a few things that can lead to depression and thoughts of suicide, the book Hello Cruel World:Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, amp Other Outlaws can open the eyes of the reader to not only their own challenges, but those their peers maybe suffering through as well.
This is a brutally honest look at a multitude of possibilities other than ending ones life, Kate Bornstein exposes her own personal struggle with sexuality as a young boy, her journey to find herself and becoming okay with not living under a label provided by society.
This book will make you laugh and itll make you think!

I appreciated the thoughtfulness of this nonfiction novel, the way the author opens up and exposes her own experiences, and really loved the rating system.
Of course, Im in favor of four hearts amp four umbrellas, but anything that would help a kid get through a bad place to hopefully come out better on the other side would be acceptable.
I picked this up earlier this year as a bit of an introduction to Kate Bornstein's written work, I avoid selfhelp books like the plague, but the title of this book has intrigued me for a couple of years now.
The "Don't kill yourself! Kill what you don't like about yourself" message is concrete and positive, and I think it could be helpful for a lot of people.


Recalling my own teen years, I think this book is a vital resource for teens or young adults, and not limited to queer youth.
But I think it should be part of the essential kit issued to every queer teen, along with the toaster and copy of the gay agenda.


As much as I wish every queer kid had a copy of this, I wish the "teens" part wasn't in the title or there was an edition for adults so this book could reach a bigger audience.
There are certainly a lot of adults who could benefit from Bornstein's suggestions about changing their lives for the better.
No matter what age you are, if you're depressed or are considering suicide, or are just stuck in a rut, give this book a shot.
It wasn't just for freaks, teens and, . .
It's useful, especially last part of book when it categorized alternatives, "Look, do you mind that I'm talking so much about gender" Not at all, Kate, . . not at all. I've been meaning to read this book for a couple of years, and finally got around to it, While I'm not a teen, or suicidal, I don't think that you have to be in order to benefit from this book.
It would help to be some kind of outsider, though, I don't agree with, or know how to make sense of, everything that Kate is saying here, A few parts were kind of alienating, But, I think this book is better and more realistic than those that tell you to change ALL THE THINGS! and suddenly BE HAPPY! I appreciate how Kate says that like the gender binary, the happiness/sadness binary isn't really helping anyone.
You probably won't go from suicidal to happy, at least not for a while, but that's okay, Aside from staying alive without harming others, this book isn't presenting a standard that the reader has to live up to.
I think that's comforting. Celebrated transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein has, with more humor and spunk than any other, ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring reenvisionment of the gender system as we know it.


Here, Bornstein bravely and wittily shares personal and unorthodox methods of survival in an often cruel world, A oneofakind guide to staying alive outside the box, Hello, Cruel World is a muchneeded unconventional approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, but alive.


Hello, Cruel World features a catalog ofalternatives to suicide that range from the playful moisturize!, to the irreverent shatter some family values, to the highly controversial.
Designed to encourage readers to give themselves permission to unleash their hearts' harmless desires, the book has only one directive: "Don't be mean.
" It is this guiding principle that brings its reader on a selfvalidating journey, which forges wholly new paths toward a resounding decision to choose life.


Tenderly intimate and unapologetically edgy, Kate Bornstein is the radical role model, the affectionate best friend, and the guiding mentor all in one.


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