I spent the longest time considering Suicide Club by Rachel Heng to be a young adult novel, but now that I've read it, I see that it is, in fact, adult fiction and dystopian no less! I had no idea what to expect with this one and despite the very unique writing style, I ended up really enjoying it and the story didn't go completely over my head as most speculative fiction tends to do. While Lea is the main focus of the synopsis, she is not the only viewpoint in the book, and I did tend to get confused at times about whose POV I was in. This could be down to the audiobook only having one narrator, but it definitely would have been helpful to have labeled chapters as well.

As with a handful of John Marrs books I have recently read, the storyline in Suicide Club doesn't seem completely implausible, and there are some things that I could see happening in a REAL future world at the rate we as a population are progressing. Besides that, however, this is also a story about family and there were parts that were pretty sad and emotional. This is also on the darker side of things, but I liked the way it ended, and it was short but packs a wallop. While I wouldn't say the audio blew me away, I did enjoy listening to it and I thought Gwendoline Yeo made for a great narrator, especially as Lea. I would say it might be better to read this one, so you can really focus, but if you like dystopian worlds that don't seem completely unimaginable, I would recommend giving Suicide Club a chance.

There's an interesting premise here that extends logically from our present preoccupation with youth, health and longevity: in the US, technologies have been found that can extend life into hundreds of years with artificial blood, self-renewing skin and long-life muscles. But only for those with the 'right' genetic structure and who are prepared to sacrifice anything that can inhibit long life: meat, sugar, alcohol, anything that raises stress/cortisol/adrenaline levels - but with so many restrictions on pleasure, is a long life worth living, this book asks.

It's unusual for me to be wanting more from a piece of contemporary fiction: more usually I'm wanting it to dial back on the multiple plots, the action, the filler - but here I felt that Heng could have expanded productively: in characterisation and motivation, in world-building, in plot. At the moment, this is intriguing but feels like a single-idea book, a short story expanded into a novel.

It follows the conventional dystopia arc of a protagonist who kicks against the system but unlike, say, The Handmaid's Tale or 1984 the stakes don't feel particularly high. There are some interesting updates to Brave New World, perhaps.

Intriguing, for sure, but also a bit unsatisfying.

Wow! Lea Kirino lives in a time in future New York where a certain part of the population lives to be well over 300 years old, in an attempt to live forever. Death is illegal, suicide is "not an option." The description of her mother is haunting, she lived to be well over 100 years, Lea's age during the narrative, and is technically dead but her heart will beat for another fifty years, minimum. Lea has run into her father who did not keep up with his maintanence as well as she and her mother. She hadn't seen him in over 80 years when he disappeared from her life. She is stuck between the life she knows and spending time with her estranged father.

In addition to all of her "family drama," she is being investigated because she is thought to want to end her life, or possibly be a member of the "Suicide Club." This club is a group of people trying to make many changes in the society, including ending their bid for eternal life by committing suicide.

While I enjoyed the story, I cannot recommend this for my students. I will be very selective in the adults I recommend it to as well. I realize this is a fantasy but there are so many triggers, especially during the time we live now, that I can not recommend this to everyone without the disclaimer that there are graphic descriptions of suicides included in the storyline.

I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I somehow overlooked this futuristic tale when it first appeared on Netgalley, but it makes fascinating reading even several years later. Set in a time when the human population is decreasing and the only hope for the future is to extend the lives of the genetically preferred, this is part technological cautionary tale and part Brave New World with a bit of Thelma and Louise for seasoning.
The author wastes no time setting the stage. Instead the reader must figure out for herself what is controlling rising star Lea’s world. The emphasis on heathy mind in healthy body is taken to the nth degree with every food item, exercise activity and psychological aspect carefully evaluated for maximum value. I loved reading the descriptions of “trad meals” where rebels cook and devour meat and Lea almost collapses in horror.
. Meanwhile technology and Big Pharma have created enhancements to the human body that prevent an individual from losing their life to an accident or disease. All these advancements are offered to the genetically superior population while, as in most dystopian novels, those not selected live a very different life.
As scientific research continues to progress, the likelihood of a “Third Wave” offering immortality comes ever closer. to the genetically favored. The quandary arises when people question whether escaping Death is a good thing. Lea, who begins the book as one of the favored, finds herself questioning her place in society. Like all good dystopian novels the conflict between the rebel and society is the center of the story. Rarely have I read one with character development so nuanced. Lea’s origin and family story definitely add to the reader’s understanding of the choices she makes.
This is a rich story about one of the great moral questions of Life. It could lead to some great discussions.

I was looking forward to picking this up and starting it, but found that I was unable to make it very far at all. This book had promise, but didn't do it for me.

This book had so many great ideas but the execution was just... off. The way these really big concepts that raise such interesting concepts was executed left a lot to be desired, but the protagonist, Lea, was so annoying at times and lacked depth and maturity despite being 100, and that took me out of the story a bit. 2.5 stars rounded up.

I really enjoyed the premise and execution of this novel. It's definitely potentially triggering for suicidal thoughts, but especially in those with a chronic illness/disease/condition whether it be mental or purely physical. It's worth reading if you can, though, as it feels very realistic and true to society right now. I really enjoyed all of the characters - they all felt very real and some were so eerie because of that realistic depiction. I think it's good for fans of the Handmaid's Tale and other novels with that same style of dystopian reality.

I'm so sorry for not finishing this book and giving it a review. I DNFed it after finding the style hard to read for me personally. For a book on this premise (meaning a premise ususally set up for a fast-paced thriller), it's far too long and drawn out. I cannot say sorry enough to express my guilt for not finishing it. After a few titles like this, I started to get more careful when it comes to what to request on Netgalley. This won't happen again if I had a say in it. Again, sorry to the publisher. It’s me, not the book.

This was a fast-paced, interesting read, that I found I did not want to put down! The story is fresh, original and exciting with characters that are realistic and likable.

Suicide Club had an interesting angle on death, living forever, and euthanasia. I'm not sure how I felt about this book at the end, but it definitely kept me interested to the last page.

Not for me. In defense of the book, I should have read more of the description before requesting. From the cover and the name I thought it would be a high-school- teen-angst situation. I was not prepared for futuristic NYC and immortality.

While the premise was interesting, this story just didn't grab my attention the way I had hoped it would. I may try re-reading it in the future, but it lagged in some parts and was a DNF for me.

I struggled to finish this book. Although the concept behind the plot was intriguing, I never quite got into the author's writing style. I would recommend this to others, it just wasn't a good match for me personally.

Heng's debut novel is reminiscent of Huxley's Brave New World or even Westerfeld's Uglies series in which the social hierarchy is genetically modified to promote perfection. In this case, mortality is seen as a weakness and only those most deserving have the power to live forever. There were good bones here, but the story wasn't fleshed out as nicely as I would have hoped. In this day in age, where we are obsessed with anti-aging, even this book felt superficial to me. I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters and was left with a lot of unanswered questions - one of the biggest being how it was decided who would receive the advancements to become immortal. I did enjoy Heng's writing style and world-building and look forward to seeing what else she has to offer in the future. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I just didn't like this one. It wasn't what I expected I guess. I disliked the characters and how the plot ended up. It took so long to get through and it wasnt worth it for me

Published by Henry Holt and Co. on July 10, 2018

Suicide Club takes the concept of “pro-life” to its logical extreme by imaging a near future in which severe consequences attach to any behavior that might shorten a lifespan: eating red meat, drinking alcohol, listening to jazz, failing to exercise, exercising too much. Americans are genetically assessed at birth. Those who are designated as “lifers” become vegetarians and meditate daily. They avoid stress because cortisol is harmful, but they don’t run because running is bad for the knees.

As long as lifers return a value to society that exceeds the cost of keeping them alive, they are entitled to enhanced skin and tissues and organs, at least until they reach the end of their allotted extended lifespan, when maintenance is withdrawn and the enhancements begin to atrophy, leaving lifers trapped inside a decaying body that does not easily die. Life extension is an instrument of control; Americans who fear death behave as the government wants them to behave, for fear of losing their enhancements.

Why all of this is true is unclear. The concept is interesting, but the political environment that would allocate life extension is not developed. Governments have a tendency to control their populations and to help the powerful retain power, but all of that would happen naturally as a function of wealth, without government-imposed genetic assessments. One of the novel’s weaknesses is its failure to explore the political conditions that would allow the imagined society to exist.

In any event, Anja’s mother has reached the end of her allotted life extension; having lost her health subsidies, she is lying in bed, waiting but unable to die. Anja turns to the Suicide Club for help because, when enhanced skin and muscles are almost impossible to cut, suicide is a challenge. The government opposes the Suicide Club because, with its low birth rates, American supremacy would be challenged if people choose when to die rather than letting the government decide that they are no longer useful. That premise seems doubtful (if population were the key to supremacy, India would be more powerful than the United States), but I rolled with it for the sake of enjoying the novel.

At the age of 100, Lea Kirino still has her original body. Lea’s father Kaito has been gone for 90 years. He’s regarded as an enemy of the state. Lea works for HealthFin and follows all of society’s rules. Believing she sees her father, or perhaps his ghost, she steps into traffic to cross the street and finds herself placed on an Observation List, her Tender having concluded that she tried to commit suicide. The conformist Lea is thus assigned to the Wecovery group, where she meets the subversive Anja. How that will work out is the dynamic that drives the story.

Suicide Club rests upon intriguing themes. Healthy living, at some point, removes the flavor from life (and from food). What’s the point of living a longer life if the joy of living must be sacrificed? Sex can be risky, but it’s also fun. Taken to its extreme, as this novel suggests, healthy living might preclude attending live concerts (although current thinking is that regular attendance at live concerts actually helps people live longer). As the novel points out, notions about what is or is not healthy regularly change and are often contradictory. Still, America’s most repressive traditions have always held that if something feels good, it must be bad for you and should be forbidden.

As is customary in novels, key characters cast off the assumptions that have driven their lives and discover important truths. At the same time, I can’t say that Rachel Heng made me care whether the key characters lived or died. Anja and Lea are both too lifeless to worry about; they might as well be dead already.

There are times when the plot seems forced, as if it is meant to teach lessons rather than to tell a story. Even the subtitle (A Novel about Living) force-feeds the novel’s lessons to the reader. For those reasons, while Suicide Club is interesting and while Rachel Heng’s writing style makes the novel easy to read, the story falls short of being compelling.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

The premise was promising and I couldn't wait to read. However, once I started, I could not get into this book. It just didn't grab my attention.

I read this so fast and all while on a vacation full of activities. Honestly, the journey was more fun than the destination. When it was over, I was also over it. I suppose that is fitting, as I would not want to live in this future. The world is well draw and frightening. I enjoyed the flawed main characters and the suspicious men in their lives.

First off, I seriously loved the concept behind this story. Secondly, I loved the execution. It’s a very well written dystopian; if you could live forever, would you? And also what cost? I just devoured this book!

Very interesting take on the near future and the topic of assisted suicide.. The characters very well written and the story was intriguing.. Rachel Heng is a great storyteller.