At the Library
“Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me,” by Anna Mehler Paperny, Penguin Random House, 2019, 307 pages
“How do you talk about trying to die?” reads the opening line of reporter Anna Mehler Paperny’s first book, “Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me.”
In this book, the answer is with raw honesty and grim humour, beginning with her own firsthand experience of institutionalization. Paperny warns us, though, that this is not a triumphant book. It is both a story of personal pain and a detailed journalistic investigation into how we treat — and fail to treat — the most debilitating chronic illness in the world. The result is a book that is both personal and political, informative and emotional, and absolutely vital.
Those who have experienced Canada’s mental health-care system firsthand may find “Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me” to be a difficult reading experience, but the affirmation and insight offered by Paperny cannot be understated. For those who have not experienced “depression in the first person,” this book is even more critical, particularly in this time where stressors are higher and supports more difficult to access.
So, how do we talk about trying to die? It will be hard. It will be uncomfortable.
“But,” Paperny cautions us, “the stakes are too high not to.”