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Red Tears
 
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Red Tears (Paperback)

by Joanna Kenrick (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber (1 Mar 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0571234836
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571234837
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.6 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 19,669 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #65 in  Books > Children's Books > Lifestyle & Family Issues

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Product Description

Product Description
Emily Bowyer is a normal, confident teenager - lots of friends, loving family and a good student. But beneath the surface she has a wretched secret. Because, for Emily, life isn't as much fun as it would appear. Her friends are going off her and her parents only seem to care about her troubled brother. Plus, she's expected to complete hours of homework, to excel in her exams, to be the perfect student. Tension, pressure, anxiety, anger and self-hatred. Where does it go when no one will listen? Emily has found a way to let it all out, a way to cope when life is overwhelming. But it is private. No one must ever find out. "Red Tears" is a shocking, extremely well-researched novel about a girl who self-harms. It offers a bold and candid look at a phenomenon that afflicts thousands of Britain's teenagers.

From the Author
I wrote this book for three reasons.

Firstly, I wanted to understand more about the self-harming 'phenomenon'
myself. I have never self-harmed, and I wanted to be able to understand why
so many people were resorting to such a destructive coping method.

Secondly, I was hoping that any self-harmers who read my book would realise
that there is hope - there is a way out. It doesn't have to be this way
forever.

Thirdly, I also hoped that non self-harmers would find this book useful in
helping them talk to friends or relatives who self-harm. Teachers too,
maybe, who deal with self-harmers more and more frequently, and who often
don't have enough knowledge on the subject.
detail why I wrote Emily's story. You can also send me messages through the
site.

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Time wounded and scarred, 7 Mar 2007
By Jerry Porter (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews
Red Tears by Joanna Kenrick is an often disturbing account of how a young girl resorts to self-harm as a way of dealing with the pressures of her life. One of the strengths of the book is the way it seems deliberately to avoid any neat explanations or answers. The central character, fifteen-year-old Emily Bowyer, comes from a loving family, has plenty of friends and is academically successful. Her problems are those of an "ordinary" teenager; balancing her conflicting loyalties to friends and family and the increasing demands of her schoolwork. But Emily copes with these problems by cutting herself.
This is perhaps what makes Red Tears hit home so effectively. At the beginning Emily is stressed about her homework; a little over halfway through she is hospitalised for her self-inflicted wounds. There is a real sense that this could happen to anyone. In the first section of the book Kenrick builds from scenes of everyday life and school over ninety-odd pages of slowly mounting tension, until it becomes clear that her heroine is heading for disaster.
Emily is a memorable character, and everything she says and does is completely believable. Behind this lies not only huge amounts of research (much of it in self-injurers' support groups) but, perhaps more importantly, Kenrick's ability to write with great sympathy and humanity. She sets out to get inside the mind of someone whose behaviour would seem insane and incomprehensible to many people, and she has succeeded triumphantly.
One reviewer admitted to being "confused" by the character of Patrice, a friend of Emily's who is a domestic violence victim and also turns to self-harm for a while. I don't find this; her presence may complicate things a little but that adds depth and realism to the story. Although raising awareness of self-harm was always part of Kenrick's intention her characters come first, and she carefully avoids making them simplistic.
The ending deserves a mention. It would be easy to fall into the traps of either unrelieved despair on the one hand or an improbably tidy "happily ever after" on the other, but Kenrick avoids both. At the end her outlook - and Emily's - is realistic but hopeful, and makes a touching conclusion after the pain and desperation that came before.
Red Tears is not an easy read. The self-harm scenes are pretty explicit; necessarily so, though Kenrick is more interested in Emily's state of mind than in blood and shock tactics. She wisely warns that any self-harmers reading the novel should take responsibility for their safety. But it is a powerful experience and will be an eye-opener for many people.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good!, 12 Mar 2007
By E. Towner "doylesoneandonly" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I thought this book was great! I really didn't want it to end but also did want it to end for Emily.I have my GCSE's coming up and it is alot of pressure and work, and I can see why she would do this. What her friends did to her once happened to me so I could relate to what Emily was going through there.I was dissapointed that Emily didn't get to see that guy she met in Destiny again. But I will deffinetly be reading more of Joanna's books in the future :)
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well-written, and extremely well researched., 6 May 2007
This book doesn't just cover cutting, it also addresses the issue of depression. As someone who has never self-harmed, but has suffered from depression, I didn't expect to see so much of myself in Emily. It was rather hard to read in places, as it was a little too close to home, but I believe this is a good thing, as too many of us avoid our problems, hiding them ourselves and others, which for Emily and many others leads to cutting and other forms of self-harm.

There were things Emily thought or did that I remember doing as a confused, lost teenager, and at the time (and even now at nearly 20) I thought I was the only one who thought like that. Feeling inadequate, paranoid, not worthy of people's attention. Having people assume you're just fine and being too scared to ask for help, or worse, feeling like you don't deserve help; that you don't have a real problem. It was quite emotional reading her thoughts and looking back at myself, thinking exactly the same things. I wish I'd had this book five years ago.

The book has no ridiculously positive ending, it's realistic. It lets you know that you can get better, but it also highlights that you have to help *yourself*. And you have to let people in. I don't want to gush, but I really think this book is just fantastic.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent!
This book is excellent! You really feel as if you are with Emily the whole way. I am a recovering self harmer and buying this book helped me see I'm not alone in what I do and how... Read more
Published 1 month ago by a customer

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
Red Tears is a wonderful book that makes you feel like you are Emily.
I couldn't put the book down, I managed to read it in two days. Read more
Published 2 months ago by R. Allen

2.0 out of 5 stars I was disapointed
After reading part of this book in waterstones and leaving it I had to go back and buy it. Then when starting it I found it a good book, coping with many common teenage issues,... Read more
Published 4 months ago by B. R. Bartholomew

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and insightful
This is truly moving insight into the mind and motives of a teenage self-harmer. The narrative is well-paced and the story progresses believably. Read more
Published 6 months ago by M. L. York

4.0 out of 5 stars Read this
This is a good read, as it is not melodramatic, it is believable and the girl's point of view is believable and down-to-earth. Read more
Published 12 months ago by C J

5.0 out of 5 stars Good.
I don't self-harm and so you might think that this book has no relevance at all. But this book so clearly describes everything that goes through my head on a day to day basis... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jenny Clarke

5.0 out of 5 stars Red Tears - A tale of one girl and her journey through the dark world of depression.
I read this book in two days, and the content and some of the sayings used in the novel have stuck in my mind since I read the book. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Ms. N. F. Jones

1.0 out of 5 stars Unreal
As a self harmer, this book feels a little patronising. Written by someone who has never personally felt the urge to hurt herself, it is obvious that she doesn't understand the... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Ryan Bibb

5.0 out of 5 stars .....
I found this book when i was at the very worst of my depression, when i read the reviews i knew i had to buy it. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Ms. Jessica Rees

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Red Tears' - A must-read book
'Red Tears' is a great book. It's weird but it is like I am reading my own story about me and my friends. Like it is me saying all of these things. Read more
Published on 9 April 2007 by C. Williams

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