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Product Description
Review
Among the "five Canadian books you may not necessarily hear much about," but which "should be on reading radars everywhere"—The Globe and Mail
"Clear-eyed ... Robertson is no stranger to confronting unsavoury truths."—That Shakespearian Rag
"Clear-eyed ... Robertson is no stranger to confronting unsavoury truths."—That Shakespearian Rag
Product Description
Shortly after completing his sixth novel, Ray Robertson suffered from a depression of suicidal intensity. After physically and mentally recovering, he found that he’d been provided with a rare opportunity: to write a book exploring from a uniquely advantageous perspective two of life’s most central and enduring questions: What makes human beings happy? What makes a life worth living?
Featured on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos.
Featured on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos.
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3.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Erudite Curmudgeon, May 7 2012
By Lauren B. Davis - Published on Amazon.com
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This review is from: Why Not?: Fifteen Reasons to Live (Paperback)
Ray Robertson, whom I know slightly, is a bit of a curmudgeon, which is something I admire and find oddly loveable, especially an humorous, erudite curmudgeon, which Robertson proves himself to be here.Shortly after completing his sixth novel, Robertson suffered a relapse of his obsessive-compulsive disorder and a serious depression. He recovered, thank heaven, and part of that recovery and its aftermath was his occupation with answering, to his own satisfaction, why someone should keep on living. This book is the result -- fifteen essays, each on something that merits one's next breath.
In Robertson's wonderfully cheeky, cranky, funny and learned style he writes of work, love, intoxication, art, the material world, individuality, humor, meaning, friendship (including canine), solitude, the critical mind, praise, duty, home and, yes, death.
It's true that I don't agree with him on all points -- so let's get this out of the way first -- but perhaps as a recovering alcoholic it is impossible for me to admire drunkenness as a reason to keep living. Quite the opposite, in fact, and his (and Andre Dubus') admiration of the incandescently plastered Richard Yates seems a bit off. It wasn't Yates' writing life that tortured him into an agonized death -- it was the booze. I feel both Robertson and Dubus gloss it. I get annoyed when people romanticize that sort of thing. And then, too, Robertson's rants against Canadian literary prizes and thus-favored writers seems a bit like sour grapes, which is a pity.
Those complaints aside -- and I would love to spend an evening arguing these points, while listening to some of Robertson's impressive record collection (yes, vinyl!) -- I enjoyed this book immensely. I loved being led through Robertson's vast storehouse of philosophical/literary quotes and allusions. He ranges from Seneca to Woolf to Edmund Wilson to John Berryman to Thoreau, to Camus to Flaubert to William Cowper to Susan Ertz . . . and more. I also admire his jazzy and often hilarious riffs on being proudly working class, politics, religion, lots of Nietzsche, marriage and dogs. The passages on friendship of the canine variety moved me deeply. I don't think I've read anything that captures my own experience so well. (Take THAT you fans of schmaltzy "Art of Running in the Rain" books.)
The book is thoughtful and thought-provoking. His reminder that "stolen days are always the best," and by implication ALL days are stolen days, matters. This is a moral writer as well as a clever one and they are rare these days. I wish I had had this book when I was suffering from own Dark Night of the Soul a few years back. I shall remember it for next time.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Weird, wonderful, insightful--hilarious, April 23 2012
By Mike Ritchie - Published on Amazon.com
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When I read the other review, (as I am the second), I was skeptical about the enjoyment I might gain from reading this book. Was I ever wrong! Or better put; was she ever wrong. The best advice I give before reading this is quite simple--do not read if you cannot understand advanced word, thought, or communicative processes.I not only found the book entertaining, but thought provoking, serious, deep, sincere, funny, personal, self-aware, and enjoyable to the very last word. The perfect blend of his own intelligent selection of words, combined with quotes from the masters give incredible insight to many of the mysteries of life and the human experience within it.
If you prefer fluff--skip this one. On the other hand, if you are looking for an entertaining, thought provoking, inside view of the intelligent mind within all of us--read Why Not?: Fifteen Reasons to Live. You will not be disappointed.
Mike Ritchie
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Why bother?, Feb 8 2012
By Lydele - Published on Amazon.com
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This review is from: Why Not?: Fifteen Reasons to Live (Paperback)
A very few interesting thoughts interspersed with a lot of drivel make this a bit of a slog to get through. His overuse of quotes from much more eloquent authors is annoying and is a reminder that the author of this book really has very little to say.
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