Vanessa's Reviews > Reasons to Stay Alive

Wow. Wow. Wow. What an absorbing and powerful read. This was a book I purposefully set out to read slowly and in snippets mainly because many of the books themes took me to places too familiar and disturbing but I also couldn’t look away instead I devoured this in almost one sitting. Like a tragic car accident you can’t help staring at, I couldn’t stop reading. There’s times this book felt suffocating and uncomfortable like reliving a past nightmare. I even felt while reading this book a resurfacing of old feelings a sense of heightened anxiety...transference much? A lack of sleep was inevitable. Learning about someone’s pain and suffering is not fun but it was comforting. I commend Matt Haig for his brutal honesty in depicting the agonising realities of anxiety/depression. The descriptions almost gave me a twist in the stomach so gut wrenchingly real and awful. Being a lifelong anxiety sufferer the words on these pages were unbelievably accurate and insightful. I only wish this book was around when I was gripped in the worst periods of my life, how reassuring it would have been to know I didn’t suffer alone. I won’t forget this book. If I could hug it I would. 5 life affirming and enlightening stars.