The Suicide of Claire Bishop Paperback – 8 Nov. 2016

You don’t have to feel Claire’s emotional listlessness or be diagnosed with schizophrenia like West in order to feel the anxiety of disconnection, of not being able to set the way you see yourself and the way the world sees yourself side by side. What I recognize in both characters I might describe with the following scenario: You’re taking the subway from X to Y, rethinking what you’ve decided to wear and imagining the secret lives of everyone stuffed in the car with you. By the time you arrive to the subway station close to Y, you have taken in so many sensory cues that your mind begins to press them through a sieve in order to be able to process something simple like walking directions. Some days, everything that remains will seem connected, like you’re reading a book and the author has left you clues and by following them it’s possible to make sense of it all. But today, when you leave the subway, you are overcome with an empty feeling of non-understanding. Maybe you keep this feeling in your gut until you meet with your friend/date/boss and simply by being known the emotion is somewhat relieved.Or maybe, if you’re lucky and because you’re in New York, you might pass by a gallery— or hear a song, echoing through a club, whatever, it’s not really the point— maybe you witness a piece of art that is full. And because you can feel the emotional resonance of the art— you can identify with the woman in the painting, the lyric or the catch in his voice— the art seems to strangely concern you. You are just as much a part of the art as the subject or the artist. Whether or not this is real/really true, well: It’s real enough for you to hold on to.Which is why everything in Banasky’s beautifully written, semi-fantastical, mysterious nugget of a novel just seems to offer itself up honestly. I might not find all of the concrete answers that I’m looking for, but I never feel tricked.See full review here: [...]

This was a great story, a psychological mystery involving two main characters linked by a painting. Not to give it away, one feature I thoroughly enjoyed but also found disturbing was getting inside the head of a schizophrenic person, and quickly losing track of reality along with him. Everything made so much sense! But nothing made sense! I loved that and it must have taken a great deal of work to research and write it that way, taking us right along. Not only entertained, I came away with more understanding and respect for the people I encounter on downtown streets who clearly have similar brain disturbance. Anyway, it's a fantastic book and I highly recommend it.

I am about 100 pages in and don't want to put it down. The characters become more compelling, and the metaphors go deeper and become more meaningful with each chapter.

I ordered and read this book because of the reviews......how wrong was I?. This book was the most disjointed, disorganized book I have ever read in my almost sixty years on this earth. It is not well written, it is disjointed and co fusing and does not deserve the positive reviews it has gotten. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!. This book is not about the suicide of Claire Bishop, but rather the psychotic ramblings of a pathetic, under diagnosed, under understood young Jewish man. The character development is lacking. The relationships between the characters is unclear. Who is Nicollete and why is the there?. Do not waste your time or money reading this completely unsatisfying book!

The creativity and genius of the author is woven seamlessly throughout the pages of The Suicide of Claire Bishop. The characters in the book seemed to be live charismatic leaders compelling me to follow them through their thoughts and journeys. There is an ethereal quality running throughout. Reading this engrossing novel was a magical, unique, and thoroughly enjoyable experience.