Review: Too Intense to Ignore - Should be Required Reading
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 9, 2013
"End of the Line" by Emma Meade is an intense, pulse-thumping tale of a girl, Cassie, bent on killing herself, who stands on the Railroad tracks while a train rapidly approaches. Somehow she finds herself supernaturally transported into an eerie, ancient railroad carriage, populated by a dozen or so spirits who had each committed suicide to end their respective lives. Their task is for each of them to relate their respective stories to Cassie, because as it happens, she still has time to decide whether to live or die.This somehow feels like more than just a tale. It is too intense to fit a generic label like that. Some of the stories told by the various spirits are heart-breaking. Others make you just shake your head at the tragic waste of a life. All of them will make you recall people you know who have taken that ultimate, permanent step to end their lives. I myself know - or knew - at least three people who have taken their lives, and even though we may not have been very close at the time, I still felt as if I, personally, had somehow let them down, for them to feel so desperate they felt they had no other alternative. Suicide is NOT the victimless crime so many suicides believe it to be. This story really hits you hard with that truth. "End of the Line" should be a mandatory part of any psychological counseling where suicide prevention is one of the goals. It is an incredibly powerful message to be shared with anybody who might be considering taking that very final step. Everybody - depressed or not - really should read this. There is too much good information here to NOT be read.