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Rosen Trevithick

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The Selfish Act Kindle Edition

by Rosen Trevithick (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.8 32 ratings

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A short story from the 'Seesaw' collection by number 1 bestselling author, Rosen Trevithick.

Written in response to Jeremy Clarkson's remarks about the selfish nature of suicide on railway lines, "The Selfish Act" is a short story that paints a more insightful portrait of the mind of a suicidal person.

Morwenna has a very satisfying life, but she's plagued by an undiagnosed mental health problem that she refers to as, "Too many thoughts."

When she wakes up the morning after her engagement party, feeling disconnected from the world, her despair drives her to a railway bridge. She finds herself trapped between the reality of phone calls from loved ones and the alternative universe painted by desperate depression.

Please note: This is a political response, intended to contribute to the debate about whether or not suicide is selfish. If you want to be entertained, another title by Rosen Trevithick might be more appropriate.

~ 5,500 words.

Print length

19 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

December 10, 2011
File size

997 KB
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Enhanced typesetting

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006KIXMYW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kernow-Isca Publications; 1.1.0 edition (December 10, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 10, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 997 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 19 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #4,895,670 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #6,606 in Metaphysical Fiction
- #15,492 in Metaphysical & Visionary Fiction (Books)
- #15,832 in 30-Minute Literature & Fiction Short Reads

Customer Reviews:
3.8 32 ratings

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Rosen Trevithick

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Rosen is a bestselling author, who writes fiction for children and adults.

She was born in Cornwall and grew up on Restronguet Creek. She studied Experimental Psychology at St Catherine's College, Oxford, before moving back to the West Country. She now lives on the south coast of Devon with two imaginary cats, fantasising about getting a real one.

In 2011 Rosen was an aspiring author. Writing was a hobby. The following January sales of her books on Kindle took off, and by October she has sold 27,000 copies and her total download count exceeds 220,000. She now has three books in print: Pompomberry House, Seesaw and The Troll Trap, as well as many digital titles.

Rosen writes in a variety of genres with a strong leaning towards comedy. She has also dabbled with psychological fiction and mystery writing.

She loves wild swimming, mountain biking, interesting boots, quiffs, 'sampling' chocolate and cooking tasty treats. She dislikes house spiders, doing laundry and people putting costumes on their cats.

Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5

32 global ratings

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greyhounded

Tragically the reality of many.

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2012

Verified Purchase

Until one has experienced the desperation and hopelessness of severe and unrelenting depression, mental illness, or overwhelming and soul crushing stress there can be no foundation for judgment.

Not one person knows with absolute certainty what another's life is like or what demons they battle on a daily basis. We all keep secrets. We all have our strengths and our weaknesses. And like Morwenna, we want to protect the people we love.

Sometimes we don't have the resources or experience to deal with depression - such as the many teenagers that seek solace in death. Sometimes we just don't have the strength to fight anymore. Sometimes the voices just get too loud and we will do anything to silence them.

Is this a selfish act? I don't think so.

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2012

This is one of Rosen's heart-wrenchingly sad short stories. Rosen (as shown in her book Seesaw ) can write very funny and also full of pain. This is one of the pain ones.

Mowenna has what seems a happy life but she is far, far too troubled. One happy day, she can't take no more and we are with her as she tries to deal with it the only way she can.

I hope I never feel like this. The story really makes you want to hold her and tell her everything will be alright. You get an insight into the workings of the mind of someone on the edge and it's a very, very scary place.

Despite the pain and sadness, this is a story that needs to be read.

* I bought this from Amazon's UK site which is why it doesn't say "Amazon Verified Purchase"

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Linda

Thought Provoking

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2012

I downloaded this book a while ago, when it was free, and in the UK, hence the reason this is not shown as a verified purchase on .com.

This is an unusual short story, dealing with the unsound mind and how it feels to be inside someone suffering from bipolar or similar conditions.

The writing is excellent, easy to read and expressive. Five stars for that aspect. The formatting was good too, no issues there.

The story itself? I would urge everyone who has never had suicidal tendencies to read this story because it gives the point of view of a suicidal person. I would suggest to anyone with suicidal tendencies to think carefully before reading it, in case they are liable to fall victim to the same thoughts and emotions.

The premise of the story is that people ("normal" people) view suicide by jumping in front of a train as a selfish act. I certainly feel this way. I feel that suicide in general is quite self-indulgent, but I am seeing it from a (relatively) sound mind, not one where the clamour of thoughts is deafening. Many years ago I was a cadet on a train which was held up. I politely asked the passing guard why there was a delay. He said that they don't normally say, but there had been a suicide and they were having to switch the train to a different line. The group I was with were shocked soon afterwards when we passed the scene. There was a torso, just the torso, looking like a pathetic bunch of rags wrapped round meat on the butcher's slab. We passed so fast we had barely time to register what we were seeing. It was so sad, and nowadays I think a tent would have been erected before any trains would be allowed to pass. From my point of view, we were inconvenienced by a hold up and saw something unpleasant, just as I have been inconvenienced by jumpers on the underground in London, such that I loathe going to London nowadays. No real thought to the hell the jumper has been in to bring them to that pass. (Which is selfish of me.)

I have also, via a forum, heard of train drivers suffering post traumatic stress disorder and being unable to work ever again. That's their livelihood and even their mental wellbeing ruined by "this selfish act". And what about the police officers who have to do the retrieving? Or the anguished relatives and friends?

That kind of makes me angry with the jumper. It is selfish. Or it would be, if the person were able to think straight. But that's the point; an unsound mind is not reasonable.

It may be that my intolerance of this behaviour is coloured by the above, and what I saw then, and the other families I know, who have put up with the stress of worrying about a family member's suicide attempts, knowing it was just a matter of time.

So this is the context in which I read this story. I found it enlightening, and interesting. (Slight spoiler ahead) I felt that there was a certain defensiveness in the story itself, trying to show that it might not be selfish but selflessness on the part of the jumper... from their diseased viewpoint, at least. However, I did not feel lectured to, because the writing is so good. It just gave me a lot to think about.

It also, I think, shows that people with such afflictions need treatment and understanding.

So I think the story deserves five stars too.

One person found this helpful

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JSE

Intense

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2012

The Selfish Act may be a short story but is goes deep in its intensity. The 'voice' of the main character, and especially her final words, will haunt you for a long, long time.

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2015

This may be a short story but it is a powerful one. It certainly isn't for entertainment but is an insightful look into mental illness, where readers may learn something of what it feels like to be suicidal.

A well written and observational piece.

Helpful

Naomi B.

Engrossing and absolutely heartbreaking

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2012

I wish I could give this more than 5 stars. Again, Trevithick has shown herself as a master of the short story. This one the story of a woman who suffers from depression and views suicide as her only release. In both books of hers which I have read where mental illness is core to the storyline, she has put an incredible insight into the thought processes and "inner voice" of victim's of it.

In The Selfish Act born from celebrity, Jeremy Clarkson's (yes, I did put his name to it..he should wallow in his stupidity) ignorant, unempathetic, self centered statement, which again proves that you don't need to be a brain surgeon or Mother Theresa to be wealthy or popular in this world. Trevithick puts a face to depression and the desperate act suicide in 21 engrossing pages.

Trevithick has shown class and professionalism in how this book is written. Suicide is a desperate last resort many take and not to be the punchline of a spoiled, pompous neandrathal's joke.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

NS Weir

The Last Stance Of A Desperate Person

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 1, 2014

Verified Purchase

This short story from Rosen is very, very moving and deeply emotional. I found myself gripped from the first sentence and all I wanted to do was hug Morwenna and tell her everything was going to be okay; that things could/would be sorted out.

Mental health issues are still a bit of a taboo subject and it can be very hard for people who have never suffered from any type of mental illness to understand those who ARE suffering from it. Suicide is, in my opion, the last stance of someone who has went way over the edge; someone who no-one can reach and whom will not belive you even if you try telling them the truth. Someone who cannot be helped because they are beyond the ability to help themselves.

Let's not judge those who have commited the selfish act; let us try and see what life is like from their point of view because you just never know, it could be YOU one day.

Joo

The Selfish Act

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is one of Rosen's heart-wrenchingly sad short stories. Rosen (as shown in her book Seesaw ) can write very funny and also full of pain. This is one of the pain ones.

Mowenna has what seems a happy life but she is far, far too troubled. One happy day, she can't take no more and we are with her as she tries to deal with it the only way she can.

I hope I never feel like this. The story really makes you want to hold her and tell her everything will be alright. You get an insight into the workings of the mind of someone on the edge and it's a very, very scary place.

Despite the pain and sadness, this is a story that needs to be read.

2 people found this helpful

Rebecca Thompson

Sad But Very Short.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2012

Verified Purchase

I downloaded this a freebie and hadn't really read any of the reviews or descriptions before purchasing this which I should have done.
This is a short story written in response to the recent debate about whether or not suicide is selfish.
Morwenna suffers from depression and the story begins with her on a railway bridge trying to decide whether or not to jump and reflecting back on the events that have lead her to this point.
The story itself was very short and I read it in about 10 minutes. It was very sad but I really would have liked to have seen the story developed more as we only got to see things from Morwenna's point of view.
A sequel would have been nice so I could have seen how Morwenna's family dealt with her actions and how her depression affected their lives.

One person found this helpful

A L H

Moving

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2015

Verified Purchase

What we have here is a very short but totally moving story that puts you into the mind of a suicidal person. This is not going to be for everyone due to the subject matter, but if you want to take your mind to places it doesn't normally go, this is highly recommended. Rosen Trevithick is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. She is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects and does so in a sensitive and appropriate way.

I feel that enjoy is the wrong word to use with a story such as this, but I am glad that I read it.

Wendy Unsworth

Thought Provoking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2016

Verified Purchase

In this short story, a newly engaged young woman, struggling with mental illness, makes her way to a railway line. The story is both thoughtful and thought provoking. Illustrating very simply but masterfully the gulf between those who suffer from mental illness and those trying to help and understand them.

Speaking from the viewpoint of good health it is impossible to know the processes that leave the mentally ill in such anguish. We feel that we should be able to reason with them, to apply our own thought processes to them but that is neither possible nor fair.

The author has made a bold statement here within a few pages and I, for one, applaud her.

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