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  • Writer's pictureÉden Rizk

Book Review: Project Semicolon

Updated: Jul 28, 2018

*Trigger Warning*

Title: Project Semicolon: Your Story Isn't Over

Author: Officially it's Amy Bleuel, but it is composed of essays and photos from all sorts of people.

Release: September 5th, 2017

Review:

Many have heard of the organization Project Semicolon which was founded by Amy Bleuel in 2013. Project Semicolon is dedicated to suicide prevention. "A semicolon represents a sentence the author could have ended, but chose not to. The author is you the sentence is your life." The book itself has different people's stories and pictures of their semicolons. It is dedicated "to all those we have lost to suicide" which I find extremely important as the point of the book is to bring awareness to mental health issues. It also features a page before the book commences that serves as a trigger warning saying that "if you suffer from suicidal ideation or mental illness, some of the stories that follow may trigger an adverse reaction" and goes on to say that "if you do read and a story is beginning to upset you, please stop reading immediately." This is extremely important as it is a collection of different people's stories and a lot of them are raw and explicitly mention things they've gone through. When I read this book, I annotated it using two highlighters. A purple highlighter to highlight things I could relate to, be it things that I've felt or things that have happened to me, and a yellow highlighter to highlight inspirational messages, quotes, etc. I learned about the Semicolon Project a few years ago and it has always meant a lot to me as someone who suffers from multiple mental illnesses. Getting to read these people's stories and experiences truly shows you that maybe things can get better if it got better for all of these people. Some of the stories were a paragraph long and some were a few pages, but they all had similar impacts. Some stories however, were in memoriam of people that were lost. Those were just as important because they show how much the people around you would care if they lost you. Even if it doesn't feel that way to you. Altogether, these provided a sense of hope for me. The light flickers a lot but maybe I and many others will make it through whatever life decides to throw at us. There was representation of more mental illnesses than Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder too which I found super important because a lot of times, those are the only two mental disorders that people talk to even though there are many others. The acknowledgements were for "everyone who battles the symptoms of a mental illness." Following the acknowledgements are different lists of resources such as helplines, counseling and treatment, support groups, and more. Sadly, the founder of this wonderful project passed away on March 23, 2017 through suicide. I want anyone and everyone who is reading this right now to know that you are not alone. There are people all around you who care even if you think that they don't. Every single one of you. Even if you think you're an exception to that like I always have. You're not an exception. Your story will continue and things will get better. Even if you feel like there's no light at the end of the tunnel, there is but you just can't see it yet. It may get darker before the light comes but the light will come and when it does you will be glad you were alive to see it.


 
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-Éden

 
The book cover for Project Semicolon Your Story Isn't Over

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