|
| pages = 264
| isbn = 978-1-78211-508-3
| goodreads_rating = 4.22
| goodreads_rating_date = 6 November 2025
| website = [https://canongate.co.uk/books/2246-reasons-to-stay-alive/ canongate.co.uk]
}}
📘 '''''{{Tooltip|Reasons to Stay Alive}}''''' is a 2015 nonfiction memoir by British author {{Tooltip|Matt Haig}} that recounts his severe depression and anxiety and how he learned to live again. It was published in the {{Tooltip|United Kingdom}} by {{Tooltip|Canongate}} on 5 March 2015.; Aa U.S. edition followed from {{Tooltip|Penguin Books}} in 2016.<ref name="Canongate2015">{{cite web |title=Reasons to Stay Alive |url=https://canongate.co.uk/books/2246-reasons-to-stay-alive/ |website=Canongate |publisher=Canongate Books |access-date=6 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="PRHUS2016">{{cite web |title=Reasons to Stay Alive |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/556177/reasons-to-stay-alive-by-matt-haig/ |website=Penguin Random House |publisher=Penguin Books |access-date=6 November 2025}}</ref> Stylistically, the book blends brief vignettes, lists, and “conversations across time” in a non-linear sequence meant to be dipped into rather than read straight through. <ref name="Guardian2016Kennedy">{{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Lettie |title=Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig review – one man’s battle with depression |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/31/reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig-review-depression |work=The Guardian |date=31 January 2016 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref> The book became a number-one ''{{Tooltip|Sunday Times}}'' bestseller and remained in the {{Tooltip|UK}} top ten for 49 weeks, and; it was later adapted for the stage in 2019 by {{Tooltip|Sheffield Theatres}} and {{Tooltip|English Touring Theatre}}. <ref name="HaigRTSA">{{cite web |title=Reasons to Stay Alive |url=https://www.matthaig.com/books/reasons-to-stay-alive-2/ |website=MattHaig.com |publisher=Matt Haig |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref><ref name="ETT2019">{{cite web |title=Reasons To Stay Alive |url=https://ett.org.uk/our-work/reasons-to-stay-alive/ |website=English Touring Theatre |publisher=ETTEnglish Touring Theatre |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref>
== Chapter summary ==
''This outline follows the {{Tooltip|Canongate}} hardcover first edition (5 March 2015),; ISBN 978-1-78211-508-3).''<ref name="Canongate2015" /><ref name="OCLC2015">{{cite web |title=Reasons to stay alive |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/907556143 |website=WorldCat |publisher=OCLC |access-date=6 November 2025}}</ref>
🕳️ '''1 – Falling.''' On a September day in {{Tooltip|Ibiza}}, 24-year-old {{Tooltip|Matt Haig}} walked from a quiet villa toward a seaside cliff, counting the steps he thought would end the pain. For three sleepless days he had lain in a hot room while his girlfriend, Andrea, brought water and fruit, the window propped open for air. Outside, the scent of pine and salt hung in the heat, the {{Tooltip|Mediterranean}} glittered below, and the cliff edge sat fewer than twenty paces away—he even set a target of twenty-one steps. The fear of death never vanished, but the agony of staying alive felt heavier, and he hovered at the brink, mustering courage first to die and then, unexpectedly, to live. Thoughts of his parents, sister, and Andrea—the love that would be left behind—pulled him back, and the release made him retch from stress. The first hours of breakdown come as a racing heart, a tingling at the back of the skull, panic’s suffocation, and the shock of discovering an illness others cannot see. Depression can be invisible from the outside yet catastrophic within, widening the gap between appearance and reality. In brief fragments, the section maps the drop from functioning adult to someone who can barely stand, naming the terror without clinical jargon. Extreme distress narrows attention until life feels binary—end it or endure it. Connection and time reopen the tunnel, and the project of collecting reasons to keep going begins with a single refusal to step forward.
== Background & reception ==
🖋️ '''Author & writing'''. Haig has described the book’s origin in his breakdown at 24 and his long recovery, writing publicly about suicidal thoughts and stigma in an essay for ''{{Tooltip|The Observer}}''. In a Guardian Q&A published the same day, he said his “solution” was not primarily medical and that the book sought to offer what had helped him, without prescriptions. <ref name="Guardian2015Kellaway">{{cite news |last=Kellaway |first=Kate |title=‘My solution to depression was never medical. What ultimately helped me was time’ |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/22/my-solution-to-depression-was-never-medical-matt-haig |work=The Guardian |date=22 February 2015 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref> In broadcast interviews he emphasized non-clinical supports—diet, exercise, reading—while acknowledging others may need different paths. <ref name="ABCRN2015">{{cite web |title=Reasons to Stay Alive: Matt Haig on depression |url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/allinthemind/reasons-for-staying-alive/6515446 |website=ABC Radio National –— All in the Mind |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=2 June 2015 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref> Reviewers also noted the form: short pieces, lists, and “conversations across time” between a younger and older self. <ref name="Guardian2016Kennedy" /> The book thus sits between memoir and advice, using plain, candid prose rather than clinical language. <ref name="Scotsman2015">{{cite news |title=Matt Haig on coping with depression through writing |url=https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/matt-haig-on-coping-with-depression-through-writing-1511123 |work=The Scotsman |date=4 March 2015 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref>
📈 '''Commercial reception'''. Haig’s site records that ''{{Tooltip|Reasons to Stay Alive}}'' was a ''{{Tooltip|Sunday Times}}'' number-one bestseller and stayed in the {{Tooltip|UK}} top ten for 49 weeks, with international publication by 29 publishers. <ref name="HaigRTSA" /> The book was shortlisted for {{Tooltip|Waterstones Book of the Year 2015}}. <ref name="Waterstones2015Shortlist">{{cite web |title=Waterstones Book of the Year Shortlist: Reasons to Stay Alive |url=https://www.waterstones.com/blog/waterstones-book-of-the-year-shortlist-reasons-to-stay-alive |website=Waterstones Blog |publisher=Waterstones |date=19 November 2015 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref> In the United States, {{Tooltip|Penguin Books}} released the edition in 2016, and ''{{Tooltip|Entertainment Weekly}}'' named it among the year’s notable nonfiction selections.<ref name="PRHUS2016" /><ref name="EW2016">{{cite web |title=The Best Nonfiction of 2016 So Far |url=https://ew.com/gallery/best-nonfiction-2016-so-far/ |website=Entertainment Weekly |date=1 July 2016 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref>
👍 '''Praise'''. ''{{Tooltip|The Guardian}}'' called it “a highly personal and creative response to crisis,” highlighting its humane lists and time-split dialogues. <ref name="Guardian2016Kennedy" /> The ''Star Tribune'' praised it as “equal parts self-help and memoir… quick, witty and at times profound.” <ref name="StarTrib2016">{{cite news |last=Filgate |first=Michele |title=Review: ‘Reasons to Stay Alive,’ by Matt Haig |url=https://www.startribune.com/review-reasons-to-stay-alive-by-matt-haig/373410821 |work=Star Tribune |date=1 April 2016 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref> ''{{Tooltip|Kirkus Reviews}}'' described it as “a vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.” <ref name="Kirkus2016">{{cite web |title=REASONS TO STAY ALIVE |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/matt-haig/reasons-to-stay-alive/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |publisher=Kirkus Media |date=3 November 2015 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref>
👎 '''Criticism'''. ''{{Tooltip|The Guardian}}'' review noted that therapy is “notable by its absence,” and that the solutions presented are necessarily partial and personal. <ref name="Guardian2016Kennedy" /> ''The Scotsman'' observed that the book can read like a “curious hybrid,” at times edging toward self-help in its lists and tips. <ref name="Scotsman2015" /> Some critics argued that the focus on non-clinical strategies risks underplaying professional treatment for readers who may need it. <ref name="Guardian2016Kennedy" />
🌍 '''Impact & adoption'''. The title was included on the UK “{{Tooltip|Reading Well}}” ({{Tooltip|Books on Prescription}}) lists for mental health used by public libraries and health partners. <ref name="ReadingWellYork2018">{{cite web |title=Reading Well: Books on Prescription core list (June 2018) |url=https://www.exploreyork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Reading-Well-core-list-June-2018.pdf |website=Explore York Libraries & Archives |publisher=Explore York |date=1 June 2018 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref> In 2019, {{Tooltip|Sheffield Theatres}} and {{Tooltip|English Touring Theatre}} premiered a stage adaptation that toured the {{Tooltip|UK}}, broadening its reach beyond readers. <ref name="ETT2019" />
== Related content & more ==
=== YouTube videos ===
{{Youtube thumbnail | 1gdkBt9it84B7N2oGqS0iE | SummaryMatt ofHaig ''Atomicon Habits''Reasons (9to min)Stay Alive''}}
{{Youtube thumbnail | PZ7lDrwYdZcb3nZp6PVb6Q | Summary of ''AtomicReasons Habitsto Stay Alive'' (28— Stage adaptation min)trailer}}
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