How Not to Kill Yourself: Portrait of a Suicidal Mind

(Hardback)

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The last time Clancy Martin tried to kill himself was in his basement with a dog leash. Weaving an intimate and unflinching account of his multiple suicide attempts with the personal experiences of those who have reached out to him over the years, Martin draws an insightful and, at times, comic portrait of the suicidal mind. He investigates the thinking of great writers who have attempted the unmentionable, from David Foster Wallace to Yiyun Li, and asks what philosophy has to say for and against suicide. Both a disarming memoir and a cultural exploration of a hopeless state of mind, How Not to Kill Yourself allows us to grapple honestly with an enduring social taboo and shows that the desire to kill oneself like other self-destructive impulses is almost always temporary.

Reviews

'A rock for people whove been troubled by suicidal ideation, or have someone in their lives who is, and want to understand the mentality, which can seem utterly mystifying to theunafflicted. Swirling with anguish and argument, tempered by practicality, it airs an often taboo topic with the authority of someone writing what he knows.'

-- New York Times

[An] incredibly personal mix of memoir and literary criticism this book also feels vitally important because it goes deeply into a conversation about mental health so few of us ever have compelling.

-- Vulture

'How Not to Kill Yourselfis a remarkable book self-flaying in its honesty, harrowing in its dark narrative turns, clear in its philosophising, and ultimately consoling in its message of hope. Treating sometimes dangerous material with care,ClancyMartin's book is illuminating, riveting, and for those of us who are suffering, or know people who are potentially life-savingly helpful.'

-- Scott Stossel

'The most honest, complicit, searing, and discomfiting book Ive ever read about suicide (and Ive read quite a fewout of purely scholarly interest, of course). All great narratives pose a battle between the force of life and the force of death; How Not To Kill Yourself does this as brilliantly and powerfully as any book I have encountered in quite some time. Thrilling and useful.'

-- David Shields, author of The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead

'In this unusually brave book, Clancy Martin dissects the anatomy of his own suicide attempts and, deploying other peoples stories and a wide range of literary sources, gives voice to the large questions that suicide raises: why some people want to live and others do not; why some fluctuate between the poles; why he is grateful to have survived his attempts but still hears the siren call of self-annihilation. He writes confidently, philosophically, dramatically, and with great clarity about a life that has been both wondrous and agonising.'

-- Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon

'Suicide is impossibly difficult to understand but Clancy Martin gives first-person insight into why some choose to kill themselves; importantly, he also gives witness to the kind of hard work it takes for a suicidal person to opt for life.'

-- Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind and Fires in the Dark

'Clancy Martin reminds us that the most existential questions around suicidewhat drives a person to want to die and what has kept them aliveare not answered by the act itself but by people like him, who have long suffered and are authentically seeking what it means to go on living. He fearlessly and relentlessly asks these questions of himself and is thankfully here today to offer his many valuable lessons, both for those who are struggling with thoughts of suicide and those who work to help them.'

-- Dr. John S. Draper, Former Project Director of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network

'Clancy Martin has written an extraordinary, thoughtful book that combines his heartbreaking experience with clear-eyed suggestions. I dont think Ive ever read anything quite like it. Requiredand, yes, somehow optimistic reading--for anyone interested in this enormous mental health problem.'

-- D. T. Max, author of Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: The Life of David Foster Wallace

Bleak, funny, unforgiving Its written extremely finely, with wit and enviable self-control. A genuinely fresh, disconcerting voice.

-- Zadie Smith on How to Sell

Dirty, greatly original, and very hard to stop reading.

-- Jonathan Franzen on How to Sell

'A disturbing and transfixing dissection of suicide and its circumstances.'

-- Kirkus Reviews

Transfixing... Funny but never flippant, Martin takes into account throughout the weight of his subject This provocative dive into a difficult subject shouldnt be missed.

-- Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Clancy Martins work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harpers, Esquire, Laphams Quarterly, The Paris Review and many other prominent publications. A Guggenheim Fellow and Pushcart Prize winner, he has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award and won many fellowships and prizes. His books include the critically acclaimed How To Sell and Love and Lies. He holds joint appointments as Professor of Philosophy at The University of Missouri in Kansas City and at Ashoka University in New Delhi, and as Professor of Business Ethics at The Bloch School of Management at UMKC.