Waking Up Alive: The Descent The Suicide Attempt and the Return to Life is a book about suffering and the relief of suffering. “It's hard to imagine a hopeful or inspiring book on suicide,” writes the San Francisco Chronicle, “until you begin reading the astonishing Waking Up, Alive.” True, the words around these 50 people before they tried to kill themselves were often ones like “acutely depressed,” “isolated” “in unbearable pain” and “suffering in quiet desperation,” but the failed suicide attempt act itself appears to have performed a quiet miracle, forcing their lives into a new direction.