Stay

A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It

By: Jennifer Michael Hecht

Narrated by: Jennifer Michael Hecht

Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Worldwide, more people die by suicide than by murder, and many more are left behind to grieve. Despite distressing statistics that show suicide rates rising, the subject, long a taboo, is infrequently talked about. In this sweeping intellectual and cultural history, poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht channels her grief for two friends lost to suicide into a search for history’s most persuasive arguments against the irretrievable act, arguments she hopes to bring back into public consciousness.

From the Stoics and the Bible to Dante, Shakespeare, Wittgenstein, and such 20th-century writers as John Berryman, Hecht recasts the narrative of our “secular age” in new terms. She shows how religious prohibitions against self-killing were replaced by the Enlightenment’s insistence on the rights of the individual, even when those rights had troubling applications. This transition, she movingly argues, resulted in a profound cultural and moral loss: the loss of shared, secular, logical arguments against suicide. By examining how people in other times have found powerful reasons to stay alive when suicide seems a tempting choice, she makes a persuasive intellectual and moral case against suicide.

©2013 Jennifer Michael Hecht (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Lots of info, life saving even

Very well researched and well done. Can get boring at times and tends to repeat. However is worth the listen especially if you find yourself in the position of champion of life. Good secular argument for staying alive.

Wonderful

A compassionate secular view on suicide and a heart moving invitation to stay alive. I surely recommend it!

Good lernin!

The thing is, is she's like super smart and she knows more big words then you and how to say em. If'n yer like me n ya wanna know smart stuff, ya should probably get this book!

Brilliant, necessary book!

A rational look at the philosophy of suicide, statistics; a well spoken, articulate, wise, and generous book for those who have contemplated suicide or have known someone who has committed suicide. This is not a sappy self-help book, but a philosophical survey and a brilliant, articulate plea for understanding the arguments--beautifully read by the author. I didn't think anyone could make me change my mind about this controversial topic, but Hecht's put a few holes in my thinking. This is an impressive and necessary work. There's nothing else like it out there.

Renee Ashley

Highly recommend this book

My only quibble was that her prosody was irritating. As she reads, Hecht’s pitch and tone falls more often than not and I found myself wishing for a different reader. I suspect that she was reading as if she had written poetry and was fighting a tendency to raise the pitch and tone at the end of sentences and over corrected. I would listen to it again if it were read by a different narrator.

Informative but oddly dispassionate

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

In the introduction to Stay, the author notes that she has lost several close friends and fellow writers to suicide. She then argues why we have an obligation to stay. Powerful stuff. What follows after though is an oddly dispassionate and encyclopedic progression through historical justifications for and mostly against suicide. Some of this is interesting from a philosophical and sociological perspective but neither is it necessarily very persuasive. What seemed lacking, given the intro and the author's firm belief that we owe it to ourselves and others to live, is that she fails to engage the reader at an emotional level by bringing in any contemporary or personal connections. Still, I would say that Stay is a worthwhile read but more for those with an interest in the evolution of western society's mores toward it than a book that will convince anyone to come down from the ledge.

What about Jennifer Michael Hecht’s performance did you like?

Well read.

I return to this book again and again

Any additional comments?

Whenever I'm struggling, I come back to this book. There is always something new in it that strikes me, and gives me something to hold onto moving forward.

Thought provoking but boring.

Informative, useful for a depressive with a philosophical bent, but dry with a boring narration.

definitely a must read!

I had no idea suicide had such a detailed history but it's helped me review my view on suicide.
Fair warning the book is hard to listen to for long periods of time.

She makes a number of good points

The author provides a number of good reasons regarding why we should "Stay". For that I am glad to have listened. However, the book could use some serious editing. Too long and filled with excessive philosophical pontificating.