You Can't Catch Death by Ianthe Brautigan

Ianthe Brautigan was nine years old when her father, the Californian beat writer Richard Brautigan, first told her he wanted to commit suicide. She was twenty-five years old when he finally realised his death wish, taking his own life with a shotgun. This memoir is Ianthe's attempt to make sense of her famous father's suicide, to come to terms with it, and to try and paint a picture of the man she knew. What emerges is a moving account of a complex, witty, caring man who was torn apart by internal demons, and of a writer who became a hero of the 50s and 60s counter-culture but had to endure watching his fame and work fade away into relative obscurity. Written with a clarity of recall, an understated wit, and with real control and pace, You Can't Catch Death is a fascinating insight into the man behind the legend, and of the daughter he left behind.