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-four, when he finally took his own life with a shotgun in the Montana countryside.
This memoir is Ianthe's attempt to make sense of her famous father's suicide. What emerges in the book is a moving account of a complex, witty, caring man. A hero of the '50s and'60s counter-culture who had to endure watching fame and critical praise fade away as he drifted into relative obscurity.
Written with a clarity of recall, an understanding wit and with real control and pace, You Can't Catch Death is a fascinating insight into the legendary man, and the daughter left behind.