As today is University Mental Health Day, World Book Day and World Wildlife Day, I’ve combined all three to bring you reviews of two books I’ve read recently: Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig, and The Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson.
Trigger warning: discussion of suicide
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
I read Reasons to Stay Alive in one sitting. Yes, I was on a train with little else to do for 5 hours, but I think this is the sort of book that I would have holed myself up in my room to read so I wouldn’t be disturbed.
At 24, Matt Haig almost jumped off a cliff because of the pain he was going through due to depression. He didn’t jump, and this book is about his life after that moment. Part memoir, part advice, it describes the battle that is everyday life for someone with depression, and the joy that can be found in life if you just keep going.
Haig is open about his lowest moments, but always remains optimistic. There are imagined conversations between his current self and the self that wanted to jump, illustrating just how hopeless he felt at the time and how glad he now is that some core part of him didn’t quite believe the things he used to tell himself. He has an incredible way of describing things that are usually so hard to put into words, which will be a comfort to anyone struggling with a mental illness.
Reasons to Stay Alive deals with a difficult subject, but Haig’s writing style – laid-back yet sometimes almost poetically beautiful – and the short chapters make is easier to handle. Between Haig’s story there are statistics and lists of pieces of advice he’d give to other people. The book covers issues like suicide, stigma around mental illness, guilt and the strain depression can put on relationships, but still feels positive. Matt Haig is a man truly grateful for his life and you can feel it through his words.
To tie in with the wildlife theme I give you some nature-related items from one of the lists in the book – “How to live (forty pieces of advice I feel to be helpful but which I don’t always follow)”:
- “Wherever you are, at any moment, try and find something beautiful
- Look at trees. Be near trees. Plant trees. (Trees are great.)
- You are just a human, and everything you do and feel is a natural thing, because we are natural animals. You are nature. You are a hominid ape. You are in the world and the world is in you. Everything connects.”
Whether you have depression, know someone who is depressed or just want to read a very good book and educate yourself, I do not hesitate in recommending Reasons to Stay Alive.
The Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson
Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that can cause a range of mental health issues. The Horse Boy is the story of Rupert Isaacson’s search for a way to help his autistic son using traditional healing and Rowan’s strong natural connection to wildlife, and to horses especially.
I started reading this book because I am a “horse person” and have always felt that there’s something special about horses and their ability to understand people. Throughout the journey the family takes, horses seem to behave differently around the autistic Rowan, and I was fascinated to learn that the mind of someone on the autistic spectrum often processes the world in a similar way to horses and other animals. Horses seem to act as a sort of therapy, freeing Rowan from some of the normal constraints he faces.
Admittedly, I am something of a sceptic when it comes to alternative healing methods, like the Shamanic ceremonies performed on the Isaacsons that focus on negative energy, but Rupert Isaacson writes as someone who acknowledges that these things can be hard to believe. He documents the steps they take to improve Rowan’s condition as well as the significant changes he shows, leaving it up to the reader to decide whether there is a link, and always talks about ‘healing’ rather than ‘curing’.
Whatever your opinion on spiritual healing, there is a lot to learn from this book about the Mongolian people and the beliefs of different groups around the world, as well as about our relationship with nature and with other people. There are plenty of funny moments to balance the horribly honest glimpses of how hard life can be as the parent of an autistic child. This is a frank account of the difficulties a family can face, but it is ultimately an uplifting story about perseverance driven by love, and about a touching relationship between a boy and horses.