Janice Galloway

A seemingly unceasing descent to madness, The Trick is to Keep Breathing has interesting tricks up its prose. Words and phrases break down, split, and transform, sentences lose itself midway and regain their momentous back only to incoherently mesh with each other, as they steer the novel’s gnawing touch of realism. Depression enshrouds it all in its despair and darkness; the dullness and repetitive nature of work further puts weight against the novel’s already heavy narrative. In spite of its largely threatening gloom, it strips the layers of stigma against mental illness down to a degree without romanticising or highlighting it as a mere pity party; the accurate portrayal of the overwhelming lack of understanding perpetuates abuse, manipulation, at times sexual coercion, even the disgusting manner of how people treat it as a laughable matter. And the mental health care system here, as much as a reflection of reality, is thoroughly frustrating and ugly which deeply represent the problematic disregard and insensitivity not only from the government but also mental health professionals themselves. It is expectedly disappointing. Only the inclusion of family history of mental illness on the female side is a little uneven and is grazed upon in haste as it sits between unsuccessfully dying and unsuccessfully living. Nonetheless, The Trick is to Keep Breathing gasps for air in relief after nearly drowning near its end; a hold onto any fragile thread of survival just to keep going.… (more)