Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath

by S. Shakthidharan

A fearless, tender memoir from the prize-winning writer of Counting and Cracking.

Shakthi lives with his family, in the house his great-grandparents built in Colombo, Sri Lanka, before the civil war. Carried across the seas to Australia, on the strength of his grandmother's will, this house breathes the joy and grief that has passed through generations. And it's here Shakthi writes about the people he loves, all of whom come together to form a portrait of Shakthi himself.
Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath is a story of fallibility, forgiveness and grace. It's a paean to fatherhood and family, and the love and conflicts that make us.

'Raw, unflinching, poetic and profound - an artist's journey and a son's' Shankari Chandran

'A rich exploration of the mystery of finding Australia ... I loved it' Aravind Adiga

'An intimate, tender voyage into history, hunger and home' Omar Musa

'A beautiful and powerful exploration of the intensity and immutability of being a part of a family' Alice Pung

235 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 9, 2025

Reviews

[Asanga · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful beautiful story of growing up in Australia and navigating the abundance of love and challenges of family old and new.

Resonates so strongly in a South Asian context, brought me to tears. Thank you for sharing your story Shakthi.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A boy believes he exists in the world as an individual and is responsible only for himself. A man knows he is part of a whole and that he is responsible for a whole. Is this what you are telling me, Uncle? A boy thinks the past is behind him: that his future is unknown, that it is of his own making. A man knows his past is in front of him. That his future is only ever his past coming back to take its rightful place."

You know, I do go on about how I don't love memoir or life writing, and then something like Shakthidharan's Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath comes along and just proves it can be the most wonderful vehicle. This is memoir as self exploration, and through that, as a tender, loving exploration of the nature of being human. It is also a testament to the importance of heritage, to survival and to both the acts of trying for something better and for creating art.
Structured into a series of chapters, each in the second person and addressed to a different family member, Shakti's book wraps a deep, raw, emotional honesty in tender, respectful conversations. There is much laid bare here - few will not appreciate the honesty of the ugly parts of pandemic living, and the complications of parenthood in many forms. But somehow, Shakthi brings this focus not to dissecting others, but to exploring himself, and ultimately, celebrating how we are comprised of our relationships with others.
There is legacy here as well - a central motif of a house that carries a shattered dream, and built anew becomes something else. But that motif is just one of the many strands woven together, and no symbol becomes more important than the people who give it meaning. The overall does tell a story of attempted nation building, migration in the face of disillusionment and the messy buisiness of diasporic identity, and an artist's life.
I feel like I will start rambling if I try to cover this more. And honestly, it is so gorgeously written, you would be much better off reading the book at this point. I expect it will be a feature of the award circuit next year, and it is the kind which is just a treat to read, which will make you feel more human and more connected.

[Jessie Raj · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reduced me to tears and then built me back up over and over again. A gem so generously shared with all of us, especially those like myself who are part of a very complex south asian diaspora in Australia. Captivating writing - raw, beautiful, poignant and hopeful. My favourite read of 2025.

[Gaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gentle and intimate love story of sorts as the author explores his personal relationships with family, as a son, husband and father.
Told within his context of a Sri Lankan migrant family escaping the civil violence in their island home and their new lives in Sydney suburbia. The true story shares some frank insights into the cross-generational and cross-cultural perceptions of family responsibilities in Sri Lankan (and many other migrant) culture.
Adult 'independence' for Shakthi (moving out of home) is a 'betrayal' to his mother, and perhaps 'cruelty' in the eyes of his wider community.
An old story but here it is told so honestly and passionately it evokes much thought and empathy.

[Malsa Ghafoor · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read

[Sophia Best · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautifully poetic book on love, family, loss, migration and forgiveness.

I cried and cried and cried. It is rare to read a book so painfully honest, it is not easy to capture these feelings so raw in text but Shakthidharan has a gift for doing so.

[Cassandra Byers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely captivated by your writing these last few days. Poetic, pragmatic and poignant - I think this book will resonate with anyone with complex relationships in their lives, and shows how with pain there can be an underlying beauty. Thank you for sharing Shakthi.🍃

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent in every way, and compassionate and unflinching. Just like Counting and Cracking. And just like C&C, the surreal experience of having lived such similar lives, pages as if they were from my own journal.

[Lily O’Harte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sensational - I could not put it down. He’s a playwright who works with Belvoir and I just HAD to read this. He is so transparent and vulnerable about his life, with the book split into chapters dedicated to each of the most important people in his life, who he shares the highs and lows of their relationship in such a compelling way - almost written as if it were a script. It blew me away - I knew it would be good but I didn’t know it would be this good, loved every moment.

[Jade Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I’ve read all year.

This book is beautiful, moving, honest, engaging. Poetic and poignant.

A story of a young man and father who looks back at his family’s story to make sense of his own.

Highly recommend.

[Rohan Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yessss so story

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful story, gripping, heart warming and beautifully written. Told around the trauma of a family's relocation from Sri Lanka to Australia.

[Brendan Crozier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shakthi and I are best friends. So, this is hardly an objective independent review.
We met in year 7, so a lot of the characters and events in the story are known to me. Nevertheless, there was a lot that I didn't know. As a teenager (especially a boy), you go to school with someone and know so much about what they are interested in, what they think about the world, what Magic the Gathering cards they own. But perhaps you don't know so much about their interior lives. Or the lives lived behind closed doors. Or the context of what came before (to be honest, I don't think Shakthi knew a lot of that until he researched and wrote it).
This book is honest. There are themes we have discussed over so many years, about family, acceptance, love, values, and the people we create of ourselves and others as we grow. Shakthi has always been a remarkable person, and has worked hard to become a remarkable artist. Whilst this book is a memoir, it also has a lot to share about the many many difficult choices we all have to make in life, and how they build to character... or not.
It's unlikely that this book will mean as much to you as it does to me, but it's still a great Australian read; accessible, relevant, insightful and instructive. Well worth the investment of your time.

[Sabes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Making homes

This is a story about making new homes on the remains of old homes. This is literally and metaphorically. One family's story but its strands run through story of many families. It is more than a story. The author is understanding himself, his children, father, mother, his wife and why they the way they are. He dedicates each chapter to each of them and conducts a conversation with them. Through this process the truth about his people are revealed. In doing so he expands his wisdom and appreciation of the world.

The backdrop to this story is the 1983 ethnic program against Tamil in Sri Lanka. But the story focuses on rebuilding of lives in a distant land and how dreams act as preservers of hope and future.

I love this book for the writing style and the passion Sakthitharan has for making life work. A tool kit of life without claiming to be one.

[Midnightrain222 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is teaching me what it's like to actually live in Lanka and then pick up and move here. I never understood, I didn't know what I didn't know, a bit of Dunning-Kruger. I feel like this book has captured that for me. It helped me as Mr Shakthidharan put it, signed in the first page of my book, 'find a part of [my] story in this one'. I lost one of my parents late last year, and I never had the chance to have the conversation with them and piece together who they really were and understand why they did what they did. I feel like I get to do that with your book. So, from the absolute bottom of my heart, thank you.

[Mimi Nuciforo · Rating 5 out of 5]

New favourite book

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to read something from Western Sydney. I enjoyed this a lot.