Death Valley Here We Come

So far “Crash Into Me” is a real sad pathetic account of four teenagers who meet on the internet and decide to take a road trip together with the ultimate destination being the place they will die, that is, commit suicide.  The four characters, Owen, Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae, seem to all come from different backgrounds and have different reasons for feeling like death is their only escape.  Some of them have already attempted to take their life before meeting each other online.  The four of them make a list of the top ten bizarre ways to kill yourself.  A couple from the list are eating Froot Lopps and Drano, Locking yourself in a freezer, and cutting yourself and then swimming in the ocean with sharks.  What gross and morbid ideas!  I get how at some point in almost everyone’s lives there are times we experience serious sadness, pain, anxiety, or despair, especially when we loose a close family member, or maybe get rejected by a boyfriend or girlfriend, or are disappointed over not getting something you’ve really worked hard for.  None of those things, though, should drive us to feeling so defeated that we want to take our life.  Anyway, Owen narrates the story and seems to be the brains of the outfit by providing directions and things like that.  Each of the four picks out a celebrity that committed suicide and where they died and those are the places they plan to go with the final destination being Death Valley in California.  During their travels Owen recalls the questions people ask you when you try to kill yourself.  Usually they have to do with thinking about the consequences or make you try to think of how the people you care will feel.  His depression seems to be mainly over the death of his younger brother who drowns in the pool.  Jin-Ae admits to being gay and is afraid of her family’s reaction.  Up to this point, I haven’t really figured out why Audrey and Frank are suicidal.  They just seem like troubled but not enough you’d think they’d want to take their life.   Their first main stop is Woody Creek, Colorado where Hunter S. Thompson died.  That was Owen’s choice.  They stop at a hotel and when they wake up they realize that Frank took off and they need to go after him so they decide who says back and who goes after him.  The book is weird because it doesn’t have chapters that start you off with an idea.