MixedThe Washington PostThe book is a blend of genres: part memoir, part self-help, part philosophical and literary exploration. I would even suggest it is part novel. All of this makes the book odd, as it constantly doubles back on itself to interrogate the very things that it is doing and saying. It is filled with trigger warnings, caveats, apologies and statements of mistrust ... Cautions circulate around his uncertainty about how to talk about his own experiences. Martin is constantly painted into a corner and he knows it ... Martin writes about the books that made him more suicidal, moving between philosophy, poetry and literature. He ultimately warns against them, despite the massive airtime they receive in his narrative ... Having written this piece, I too am now implicated, having enticed others to read this book and enter the long genealogy of suicide literature. I admire this book, admire what it wants to do and be. Whether it helps, I think, might depend on which side of the wall between hope and hopelessness that the reader is on.
