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The Trick Is To Keep Breathing (Vintage Classics) Paperback – August 6, 2015

by Janice Galloway (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 282 ratings
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Trick is to Keep Breathing
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  1. Print length
    236 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vintage Classics
  4. Publication date
    August 6, 2015
  5. Dimensions
    5.12 x 0.59 x 7.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781784870133
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1784870133
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1784870137
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage Classics (August 6, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 236 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781784870133
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1784870133
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.12 x 0.59 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 282 ratings

About the author

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Janice Galloway

Janice Galloway

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Janice Galloway studied at Glasgow University and worked as a teacher. Her awards include: MIND/Allan Lane Award for The Trick is to Keep Breathing, the McVitie’s Prize for Foreign Parts, the E.M. Forster Award (presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters), the Creative Scotland Award, Saltire Scottish Book of the Year for Clara and the SMIT non-fiction Book of the Year for This is not about Me. She has written and presented three radio series for BBC Scotland (Life as a Man, Imagined Lives and Chopin’s Scottish Swansong) and works extensively with musicians and visual artists including Sally Beamish, Anne Bevan, Michael Wolchover, Norman McBeath and Alasdair Nicolson.

Freight Books is delighted to publish Janice's short story collection, Jellyfish.

Access her new website at www.janicegalloway.net.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
282 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lauryn
5.0 out of 5 stars Painful, but So Beautiful
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2000
Verified Purchase
This novel is painful to read because Janice Galloway's descriptions of Joy Stone's feelings and experiences are so accurate. We've all felt the way Joy feels at some time or another. The accuracy is so startling that at times it's tempting to forget that this is fiction, and not a non-fiction depression narrative, like "The Beast" or "Girl, Interrupted." Perhaps this is why Galloway added the subtitle, "A Novel." This novel is truly inspiring; it's refreshing to read a novel about depression which maintains a sense of humor. Galloway uses a number of unusual narrative techniques, including spontaneously breaking into dialogues when she's on the phone or talking to doctors, and putting comments in the margins to represent the thoughts that we all have, but don't always acknowledge, even to ourselves. This is a novel I'm sure I'll go back to again and again, because even though the subject matter is depressing and painful, this novel is so beautifully written and the ending is uplifting. This novel will be with me for quite some time.
15 people found this helpful
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DevDev
4.0 out of 5 stars The book is amazing. Just wish I would have received the package ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2015
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The book is amazing. Just wish I would have received the package without it being damaged. Looks like someone took a knife to it. I was replacing an old copy with this one. A bit dissapointed in the delivery but I love the book.
One person found this helpful
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Rachel
3.0 out of 5 stars Not a light and happy read.
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2011
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Wow, this book might linger with me for quite a while. It's told in a stream of consciousness, diary type style which was very difficult to follow. Much like The Bell Jar, this woman's head is NOT a fun place to be. The main character, ironically named Joy, is trying to cope with the recent death of her boyfriend while they were on vacation. Her thoughts are disjointed and all over the place. There are random and often nonsensical comments written in the margins as well as flashbacks told in small bits and pieces. It's a mess but it works because Joy is an absolute mess. I thought I had dealt with depression before, turns out, my head is practically a Disney movie by comparison.

If you want an in depth, front row look into one woman's free-fall into depression, eating disorders, alcoholism, and what was sure to be an eventual suicide had the book gone any longer, than you'll want to pick this up. If you are looking for a fun lighthearted read or just have enough of your own depression to deal with, this may not be the book for you. As for me, I'm off to eat some chocolate in hopes of cheering up a bit.
5 people found this helpful
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Ella Mc
5.0 out of 5 stars Funny & realistic portrait of feminist mental illness
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2019
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A complete breakdown has never been so funny or so realistic all at once. Galloway distills perceptions of femininity in her protagonist until they fly in the face of mental health. She is both funny and strong, suffering post-trauma, asking for help and punishing herself for doing so. There is deep pain here along with one of the funniest accounts of mental illness I've ever read. An excellent read.
2 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT READ!
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2015
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2nd time reading this....was made into a play some years ago at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland. GREAT READ!
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lynne oldfield
4.0 out of 5 stars Heartache
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2014
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Oh to be able to write so well. Pity the subject was harrowing. A touch of humour would have helped. A must read for anyone who likes classic quality writing.
One person found this helpful
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KLG
1.0 out of 5 stars Twaddle
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2016
Verified Purchase
Oh, the vulnerability… oh, the sensitivity… oh, the pain… oh, the bull! This book is the embodiment of archetypical narcissistic, self-obsessed, self-centered, pseudo-psycho drivel. If you have time (and money) to waste, then this the book for you.
One person found this helpful
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Lady Fancifull
5.0 out of 5 stars New York Times book review said it best
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2013
The front of my paperback edition carries the following strapline from a NYT book review :

'Resembles Tristram Shandy as rewritten by Sylvia Plath'

That is it, in a nutshell. Both TS and Plath's The Bell Jar (50th Anniversary Edition) are, above all, wonderful and creative pieces of writerly craft. As is this. Janice Galloway combines the plangent, melancholy, mordantly funny, sharp-eyed anarchic WEIRDNESS of Tristram Shandy with the excruciatingly painful, honest, revelatory expose of a mind (very like yours and mine) cracking and giving way under the pressures of holding it together in a world which seems set-up precisely to force shattering in the first place - like The Bell Jar

A beautifully constructed book, which like Tristram Shandy uses the visual aspect of what a printed book looks like to express something of what the book is about - without giving too much away here, as i don't want to spoil the reader in their surprised response. This book, in non-linear fashion is the story of one woman and how she holds (and does not hold) together. Galloway, as I realise from having previously read two volumes of her later published autobiography This is Not About Me and All Made Up, has distilled some of her own life into this imaginative fiction.

The prizes and awards this first novel garnered are deserved and unsurprising. And, most searingly, the MIND/Allan Lane award. Aspects of mental health care are scorchingly shown.

Be warned, this book will have you laughing at the black humour of our protagonist at the very moment that the fierceness of her pain feels like a knife in the gut
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Lady Fancifull
5.0 out of 5 stars New York Times book review said it best
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2013
Verified Purchase
The front of my paperback edition carries the following strapline from a NYT book review :

'Resembles Tristram Shandy as rewritten by Sylvia Plath'

That is it, in a nutshell. Both TS and Plath's  The Bell Jar (50th Anniversary Edition)  are, above all, wonderful and creative pieces of writerly craft. As is this. Janice Galloway combines the plangent, melancholy, mordantly funny, sharp-eyed anarchic WEIRDNESS of Tristram Shandy with the excruciatingly painful, honest, revelatory expose of a mind (very like yours and mine) cracking and giving way under the pressures of holding it together in a world which seems set-up precisely to force shattering in the first place - like The Bell Jar

A beautifully constructed book, which like Tristram Shandy uses the visual aspect of what a printed book looks like to express something of what the book is about - without giving too much away here, as i don't want to spoil the reader in their surprised response. This book, in non-linear fashion is the story of one woman and how she holds (and does not hold) together. Galloway, as I realise from having previously read two volumes of her later published autobiography  This is Not About Me  and  All Made Up , has distilled some of her own life into this imaginative fiction.

The prizes and awards this first novel garnered are deserved and unsurprising. And, most searingly, the MIND/Allan Lane award. Aspects of mental health care are scorchingly shown.

Be warned, this book will have you laughing at the black humour of our protagonist at the very moment that the fierceness of her pain feels like a knife in the gut
5 people found this helpful
 Report
A. Afzal
4.0 out of 5 stars Book that leaves a deep impression
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 27, 2014
Verified Purchase
This isn't a book you'd read if you're feeling down or in winter, it is bleak and even the rare moments of hope are pretty subdued. I found the central character a person I have huge sympathy and empathy for, a lot of her brain numbing and frustrating conversations with medical "experts" ring very true for me. I often think of her as I grate my teeth speaking with doctors. Infact, I often think that most of them could do with reading a novel like this as part of their medical training.
11 people found this helpful
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Felinefriendly
3.0 out of 5 stars An average book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2020
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An average book
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Zoë Wells
5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what a tired English Lit student wishes was assigned more often
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2018
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An incredible book that hooks you from the first pages and pulls you along until the end. The story itself doesn't try to be overly complicated, but the format is exceptional: some crazy typography used throughout. It's difficult to say what about this makes it work so well, but I'd say it's the first book I've ever read that captured what "train of thought" feels like in real life.

Literary, but definitely accessible to all audiences. Just a superb book that I've reread several times this year, only a few of which were for essays.
10 people found this helpful
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LISA ROSSETTI
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it'd own!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 13, 2013
Verified Purchase
This book was recommended by BBC's "Open Book". I'd never heard of Janice Galloway before and I'm glad I've found her writings. I work with stories and expressive writing in mental health and Social Care, so I was intrigued by the idea of writing sboit mental ill health. The author writes with searing honesty, extraordinary powers of observation and manages to describe uncomfortable and chaotic states of mind in a way that utterly engages. A fascinating, sometimes grimly painful, yet compassionate book. I bought her two biographies as well, also couldn't put them down.
One person found this helpful
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