THE SUICIDE SHOP: A Book Review

The Suicide Shop by: A Book Review

AUTHOR: Jean Teulé

TRANSLATOR: Sue Dyson

RELEASED DATE: 2007 (French); 2008 (English)

PAGES:  Approx. 169 pages

RATING: 4/5 STARS

While I was walking around a local book store several years ago, I chanced a glance at a book rack that contained several choice books that were either new releases or at discount price and my eyes were immediately drawn to this tiny blue paperback with the strangest title and book cover I have ever seen.

Intrigued by what it was about (although I had a fair guess, considering the title), I read the back and next thing I knew, I was taking the book home. I didn’t even finish the description on the back before I realized I was at the cash register in that book store. All I knew is that I wanted to see how such a story like this would unfold.

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HAS YOUR LIFE BEEN A FAILURE?

LET’S MAKE YOUR DEATH A SUCCESS.

That is the slogan – and motto – of the Tuvache’s family-owned business, The Suicide Shop, where a variety of weapons, poisons and equipment are sold (legally) to the miserable people that live in this post-apocalyptic future ravaged by a number of environmental disasters.

Meet the Tuvache family: Mishima, father, husband and proud owner of his family’s little shop. Lucréce, mother, wife, and maker of poisons. Vincent, the anorexic eldest son who invents new weapons. Marilyn, the obese daughter who feels little self-worth. And Alan, the youngest child…and also the black sheep of the family.

Alan is most unlike his family, who are each depressed in their own manner, to the point of wanting to commit suicide themselves. From the moment he was born, he has had a love of life that mystifies customers that enter The Suicide Shop and frustrates his parents and siblings to no end. Any attempts to demoralize him or rid him of his cheerful manner backfire, and Alan is prone to driving customers away or sabotaging the equipment in the shop.

Unused to the cheerfulness that he displays, even in the face of tragedy, the Tuvache family tries to carry on with their lives – and business – in the same depressed manner that is their entire reality. But little by little, Alan’s influence has each of his family members question the impossible: whether they, too, can come to enjoy life.

*~*~*

Despite its title, I found I enjoyed this book. The Suicide Shop was a quick and easy read, with peculiar characters in a strange setting and an easy plot to follow.

Although the topic of suicide is a serious and sensitive topic, especially for those who have been affected by it personally, I found that a good way to approach reading this book is to react to it with the same morbid curiosity and delight that we feel towards dark comedies such as The Addams Family, Beetlejuice, or any film directed, produced or imagined by Tim Burton. The Suicide Shop is a dark comedy, and while most of the humor is in a morbid sense, there are genuinely funny moments that make it possible to enjoy this book. The Suicide Shop maintains a good balance as the story unfolds: for all its morbid talk about suicide, there are enough light moments that you can tell the topic isn’t being treated with condescension or lack of sympathy, empathy or compassion.

The Suicide Shop was a little under 200 pages, and it’s a relatively small book so I wondered, when I first bought it, what would happen in this book, and why it wasn’t a very long read. Within the first few chapters, I realized several things:

First, the background setting for this story isn’t important. Some details about the post-apocalyptic world that The Suicide Shop resides in have been given – enough that you know that it’s a disaster where few people feel like living in anymore – but it’s clear from reading the book that the setting isn’t very important to the plot. Its only significance is that it provides a (legitimate) reason for The Suicide Shop to exist in this universe.

Secondly, nothing happens plot-wise within the story, at least not in a big sense. The Suicide Shop is a story driven more by the characters’ interactions with each other than by any particular event or tragedy. And I found I didn’t mind that very much, because this story was about the Tuvache family and their youngest son, and the influence they had on each other and to the people around them. That being said, while reading I did feel the story lulled nearing the end of the book because not much seemed to be happening and my enjoyment was slowly growing into boredom.

Third, I could see that the main conflict in the story would be Alan and his influence on the Tuvache family, both personally and while in The Suicide Shop. Most of the story is told from the perspectives of the parents and the siblings, and it wasn’t until near the end of the book that we finally got a glimpse into Alan’s way of thinking. And I could see why it was written that way. The Suicide Shop is about each of the Tuvache members allowing themselves to fall in love with life, to have Alan influence them to look at things differently and react differently to both each other and to others in a positive manner. And we’re allowed insight to their way of thinking as it changes, from bleak and depressive to self-appreciative and enjoyment.

Even though the book wasn’t long and you didn’t get to spend enough time with the characters to develop a strong attachment to them, you can still enjoy them. Alan became my favorite, simply because I enjoyed his character and his actions: the measures he took to sabotaging the equipment and what he did for each of his family members that eventually changed them and their views on life. I really enjoy the fact that despite his bleak surroundings, he continues to maintain a positive and cheerful outlook.

And then ending happened.

Oh. Dear. God. I was NOT expecting that ending. I had to re-read that last chapter because I could not believe that that ending happened. It’s one of those twists that you have to re-read over and over again, and then wonder to yourself if the author made a mistake somewhere. Or in this case, if the translator made a mistake…because this ending was NOT what I thought it was going to be.

Long story short: my heart broke a little. And if you happen to chance upon this book somewhere and give it a try – which, if done, shouldn’t take longer than a day because of how easy this book is and how quick you can read it (I read it in a day) – be warned: yours might break a little inside too.

Ultimately, I commend The Suicide Shop for this unique setting and story concept. A part of me did wish it was a longer book and that more details were given in regards to the setting, the characters and the history of this family, and especially to what would happen to the Tuvache family after that surprise ending (I’m not getting over this one, anytime soon, by the way.), but another part of me likes at how quick and easy a read this was, and also I enjoyed what this book was mostly about: allowing yourself to find happiness despite the bleak past, present and future of your world; falling in love with yourself and with your life; using your talents to create things; and letting go of past scars.