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Why Not?: Fifteen Reasons to Live
Shortly after completing his sixth novel, Ray Robertson suffered a depression of suicidal intensity. Soon after his recover, he decided to try and answer two of the biggest questions we can ask. What makes humans happy? And what makes a life worth living?
His answers aren’t what you might expect from a mental illness memoir—but they’re exactly what you’d expect from Ray Robertson. With the vitality of Nick Hornby and a brashness all his own, Robertson runs his hands over life, death, intoxication, and art. Unashamedly working-class and unabashedly literary, Why Not? is a rolling, rocking, anti-Sisyphean odyssey.
His answers aren’t what you might expect from a mental illness memoir—but they’re exactly what you’d expect from Ray Robertson. With the vitality of Nick Hornby and a brashness all his own, Robertson runs his hands over life, death, intoxication, and art. Unashamedly working-class and unabashedly literary, Why Not? is a rolling, rocking, anti-Sisyphean odyssey.
177 pages, Paperback
First published September 13, 2011
4 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Ray Robertson
25 books26 followersRay Robertson is the author of six novels including Moody Food and What Happened Later, a finalist for the Trillium Book Award. He has also published a collection of nonfiction, Mental Hygiene: Essays on Writers and Writing. He is a contributing book reviewer for The Globe and Mail.
Robertson lives in Toronto.
Robertson lives in Toronto.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 29, 2012
Okay, this is not yet a review. I've only read one of the essays since I bought the book last night but I did want to write down a few words to remind myself of the evening during which I bought the book.
I really enjoy the way this author writes. My favourite of his books is Gently Down the Stream. When I told him so at the signing session after his reading from Why Not?, he said his publisher would be happy to hear that. From that I surmised that it was not his own favourite. Maybe I should have asked him which one was, but I didn't. We went on to chat about the cover, when I told him that the cover was one of the things that had first attracted me to the book, he said his wife would be happy to hear that. He disclosed that the dog on the cover was their dog, Barney (Barry in the book) and that they've since added another dog to their family...Henry. When I asked if they only acquired male dogs, he responded that they got their dogs from the humane society and that it did not matter whether the dog was male or female only that it was the animal most needing a home. How could you not love a man like that? Actually I should say, how could you not love a couple like that? Indeed, it was they who gave a home to Barney and Henry. I met Ray's wife that night too and had the chance to exchange a few words. Afterward, I thought how nice it was to see that. I don't imagine it's great fun for a spouse to tag along on these sorts of trips, staying in one city just long enough to check into a hotel, attend the reading and check out, but the sharing of that experience strikes me as supportive and somehow special.
June 29, 2012:
I've now read all 15 of the essays, 15 reasons to live, some of them more than once, and, unlike the way I tend to read a book of short stories, greedily gobbling those down one after the other, I read Robertson's essays one at a time with gobs of time in between. I don't know if that was the best way to go about it. They were all interesting to me. His reasons (among them: work, art, love, friendship)were supported by personal anecdotes and philosophies and historical perspectives. These were, of course, Ray Robertson's reasons. They would not necessarily be mine or yours and some of them, taken on their own - individually that is - would not be enough to keep me from slitting my throat, I don't think. The essay about intoxication for example. Oh, I do like a good intoxicating experience now and then, but I doubt that would be enough if I was lacking in everything else, especially when the effects wore off.
The essay on love was just so lovely that I thought, "What if you did not have that? Reading about how wonderful and protective love can be and knowing you didn't have that, wouldn't you find life all that more painful."
So then I thought, "Okay, maybe you don't need to have 15 reasons. But how many would be enough to sustain a person? One? Five? Seven out of fifteen isn't even a passing grade."
I don't know that, if in the throws of depression, reading Why Not? would be a life line to me personally, but I certainly enjoyed reading Robertson's answers to the question, what makes a life worth living. And I'm glad he was able to tot up 15 good ones.
I really enjoy the way this author writes. My favourite of his books is Gently Down the Stream. When I told him so at the signing session after his reading from Why Not?, he said his publisher would be happy to hear that. From that I surmised that it was not his own favourite. Maybe I should have asked him which one was, but I didn't. We went on to chat about the cover, when I told him that the cover was one of the things that had first attracted me to the book, he said his wife would be happy to hear that. He disclosed that the dog on the cover was their dog, Barney (Barry in the book) and that they've since added another dog to their family...Henry. When I asked if they only acquired male dogs, he responded that they got their dogs from the humane society and that it did not matter whether the dog was male or female only that it was the animal most needing a home. How could you not love a man like that? Actually I should say, how could you not love a couple like that? Indeed, it was they who gave a home to Barney and Henry. I met Ray's wife that night too and had the chance to exchange a few words. Afterward, I thought how nice it was to see that. I don't imagine it's great fun for a spouse to tag along on these sorts of trips, staying in one city just long enough to check into a hotel, attend the reading and check out, but the sharing of that experience strikes me as supportive and somehow special.
June 29, 2012:
I've now read all 15 of the essays, 15 reasons to live, some of them more than once, and, unlike the way I tend to read a book of short stories, greedily gobbling those down one after the other, I read Robertson's essays one at a time with gobs of time in between. I don't know if that was the best way to go about it. They were all interesting to me. His reasons (among them: work, art, love, friendship)were supported by personal anecdotes and philosophies and historical perspectives. These were, of course, Ray Robertson's reasons. They would not necessarily be mine or yours and some of them, taken on their own - individually that is - would not be enough to keep me from slitting my throat, I don't think. The essay about intoxication for example. Oh, I do like a good intoxicating experience now and then, but I doubt that would be enough if I was lacking in everything else, especially when the effects wore off.
The essay on love was just so lovely that I thought, "What if you did not have that? Reading about how wonderful and protective love can be and knowing you didn't have that, wouldn't you find life all that more painful."
So then I thought, "Okay, maybe you don't need to have 15 reasons. But how many would be enough to sustain a person? One? Five? Seven out of fifteen isn't even a passing grade."
I don't know that, if in the throws of depression, reading Why Not? would be a life line to me personally, but I certainly enjoyed reading Robertson's answers to the question, what makes a life worth living. And I'm glad he was able to tot up 15 good ones.
December 19, 2016
Roberston wrote these essays to help him shake off a bout of depression that hit after he finished a novel. As you may guess, there are fifteen of them, on diverse topics -- art, friendship, humour and so on. He's a great writer, very insightful and knowledgeable -- my God, is he knowledgeable. How many writers cite sources as diverse as Simon Weil and Dion and the Belmonts -- in the same essay? I didn't know him at all before, but I am going to move on to his novels now.
January 6, 2020
So you're suffering from deep seated depression and you're seeking reasons to live... start with this logically sequenced guide, where reasons are broken down - friends, drink, home, love, work, death.... here's to life in all its wicked permutations!
March 5, 2018
My hometown was Chatham and I loved this book.
January 23, 2012
This isn't some sappy, self-help book filled with banal platitudes and new age mantras. Considering that author Ray Robertson suffers from near crippling OCD and barely weathered a near suicidal depression he's not one to espouse ideas like "to thine own self be true". Then again fellow writer (and, perhaps in tasteless understatement, one who didn't fare as well against his depression) David Foster Wallace would go on to say that "in the day -to-day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have a life or death importance."
Instead Ray explores 15 ideas that make life worth living. The usual suspects like Love, Art, Humor, Home and Intoxication backed up by a hefty dose of quotes from literary luminaries. It reminded me of a lot of my old English days reading Northrop Frye and bouncing all over the literary canon. Here Robertson isn't just namedropping Thoreau, Camus and Flaubert but considering the War in Iraq, watching Bob Dylan hork and growing up in Chatham Ontario loving KISS.
Instead Ray explores 15 ideas that make life worth living. The usual suspects like Love, Art, Humor, Home and Intoxication backed up by a hefty dose of quotes from literary luminaries. It reminded me of a lot of my old English days reading Northrop Frye and bouncing all over the literary canon. Here Robertson isn't just namedropping Thoreau, Camus and Flaubert but considering the War in Iraq, watching Bob Dylan hork and growing up in Chatham Ontario loving KISS.
March 5, 2014
I think I may have missed the point of this book entirely. I guess I took the title literally and thought that maybe this would be a realistic and empathetic gem of a book, the bright light to talk me out of my depressive state by someone who has been there.
It's not.
Mostly, it read like a 100-level philosophy course book report.
Or a collection of Nietzsche and Seneca quotations?
Either way, nothing really new or revolutionary here. Just some guy regurgitating poets, and scholars, and philosophers' thoughts on life and livelihood - in a very basic and elementary way.
The label on the Sailor Jerry spiced rum bottle I drank from while reading this was more inspiring.
But good for you, guy, on digging your way out.
It's not.
Mostly, it read like a 100-level philosophy course book report.
Or a collection of Nietzsche and Seneca quotations?
Either way, nothing really new or revolutionary here. Just some guy regurgitating poets, and scholars, and philosophers' thoughts on life and livelihood - in a very basic and elementary way.
The label on the Sailor Jerry spiced rum bottle I drank from while reading this was more inspiring.
But good for you, guy, on digging your way out.
February 11, 2012
Some things I really loved about this collection, some things I didn't. The collection is a book of 15 essays, all about things that make life worth living for Robertson, who suffers from OCD and OCD induced depression as a result. I understand a lot of the things that he enjoys, but there were some things that he loves that do nothing for me. This is largely a philosophical book and Robertson draws on the works of many writers. I enjoyed a lot of the references, but found some parts of this book to be a bit pretentious.
I do think he'd be a fun guy to hang out with and I would love to have a drink with him and chat about music and books.
I do think he'd be a fun guy to hang out with and I would love to have a drink with him and chat about music and books.
June 2, 2012
Ray Robertson is a friend, and I like spending time with him. Reading this book is like spending time with him in all his smart, well-read, cranky wisdom. But if you haven't read any of his books, I'd recommend his novels first -- Moody Food, What Happened Later, and Heroes are all terrific, and I'll be getting to David shortly too. That's where he's at his best as a writer.
February 13, 2012
truly impressive I saw this author at a panel last fall and he read from this book. His wit and satire is quite wonderful and his sideburns are to die for. As for the story it truly is a must read for everyone. Its a bit think in the quotes because he got his undergrad in philosophy and it shows. using Nietzsche and Seneca quotes all over the book.
December 8, 2014
Amazing. I will definitely make a note to read this book once a year. It is a straight, no nonsense philosophical book from a Canadian author. Awesome. Could not stop reading what the author had to say next!
July 29, 2011
thoreau claimed that," i would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than to be crowded on a velvet cushion."
May 11, 2015
Parts of it were great and made me consider re-reading it at some later point, which I almost never do. Other parts struck me as cynical or a bit boring.
November 13, 2011
Self-help for the crotchety. I very much enjoyed this book.
September 11, 2015
An astonishingly useless book by an astonishingly pompous ass.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews