Review "Suicide Game"

Some information

Title: Suicide Game

Author: Haidji

Pages: 358

Published: October 2013

Publisher: Createspace

My scource: Author (thank you!)

My score on Goodreads: 4 stars

Covertext

Eight thousand candidates sign up for the Suicide Game. Only one can win. Their destination: the Night Stadium, a place of makeup and music, fear and adrenaline, blood and romance, celebration and death.

Each candidate has his or her own reason for entering the Game. The Council runs the Game. The outcome of the Game is left to fate...in the laps of the gods. The candidates will jump to their deaths in order to win everything, before capacity crowds in the Stadium. The public follows every jump, live on TV and on their mobile screens, choosing their favorite candidates and betting on their lives. 

The Game’s community also includes geeks, mafia, makeup artists, master chefs, models, musicians, ordinary workers, spies, terrorists, and many others. SG - Suicide Game is the story of the candidates’ journey. It boldly imagines a place where death and denial are interwoven with hope, choices and the innate desire for happiness. Impressive in the totality of its vision, it is an exploration of the best and worst things in our lives, nightmares and especially, our dreams.

My review

Strange title, strange story, not my genre at all,... I didn't think I would like this book the way I did. Can't say I completely changed my mind. For me, it's still a strange book with a very odd theme. On the other hand I believe it could be refreshing to read this kind of story. A book about a Game where people choose to commit suicide before the eyes of thousands of people is one of a kind. It's possible you're offended by this story, but author Haidji dares to write it down for us and we should appreciate that!

It's not because the author dared to write this kind of story I gave "Suicide Game" 4 stars. It's because of the messages hidden in the book. Haidji shows us some people who were let down by society. People who don't want to live anymore or are prepared to offer their lives for others. Second of all I liked the writing style. Though this was not my genre at all, I wanted to know what would happen next and kept on reading. It's a style that drags you along. 

One thing I didn't like was the repeated "intro" of the Game. Every step of the Game a hostess cheers on the people who are ready to jump and at the same time she tries to spread enthusiasm. Every step of the Game is consequently accompanied by the exact same words and this started to bother me after a while. 

Another thing I would have changed if I could was the Game itself. This Suicide Game could be called "Jump Game" too. There isn't much variation in the way the contestants test their luck.

Suicide Game puts you to thinking about our society. What if... ? What if this kind of Games where people commit suicide to entertain others would be accepted in our world? I think I would be indignant! In this Game the public pays a lot of money to see people die. They bet on who's going to survive and who isn't. They buy T-shirts with the Suicide Game symbol on them, eat suicide dogs, clap when big groups of people face death,... It's horrific! The contradiction in this game is that after a while the public starts to care for the contestants. They don't want their favorites to die, they cry when they see who's behind the candidate. A human being of flesh and blood. The public starts to realise they could be on the other side of the Game too. Maybe one day they will wake up disappointed in society too or they will see they have nobody in their life to rely on... That's the day they could enter the Suicide Game too and when that day arrives they wouldn't be clapping during every jump. They would be scared... 

I hope that everybody who's willing to read this book will start to think about it like I did and love it.