Synopses & Reviews
In all of the obituaries and writing about Richard Brautigan that appeared after his suicide, none revealed to Ianthe Brautigan the father she knew. Through it took all of her courage, she delved into her memories, good and bad, to retrieve him, and began to write.
You Can't Catch Death is a frank, courageous, heartbreaking reflection on both a remarkable man and the child he left behind.
Review
"An earnest harrowing memoir of her father." --
Chicago Tribune"A sweetly beautiful, loving book. This is more than mere biography: It is a testament. it is an act of worship, of spiritual witness. It offers flashes of immense courage of character, and of great beauty." --The Baltimore Sun
"Ianthe Brautigan has written a lovely memoir of her father. Despite the melancholy and pain, it is an altogether admirable account of a daughter who has not only survived but prevailed." --Jim Harrison
"[Richard] Brautigan's spirit may be doing cartwheels. You Can't Catch Death recalls his gentleness and the darkness that led to his suicide." --People Magazine
"It's a celebration, Ianthe Brautigan. You send up sparks like the reflected roaring water did under the bridge to your father's cabin, illuminating the dark gaps in his wonderfully humorous, kind and argumentative, disciplined, creative life." --Dennis Hopper
"You Can't Catch Death not only avoids all the predictable pitfalls of blame and self-pity, it is written with a dignity. [It] fulfills Brautigan's original intent of creating a more complete picture of her famous father." --San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle
Synopsis
In all of the obituaries and writings about Richard Brautigan that appeared after his suicide, none revealed to Ianthe Brautigan the father she knew. So she began to write -- what she remembered and what she hoped to learn about her father and about herself. The Richard Brautigan who comes through these pages is the man she most often saw: warm, witty, and caring, even in his decline. You Can't Catch Death is a frank, courageous, heartbreaking reflection on both a remarkable man and the child he left behind.
About the Author
Ianthe Brautigan was twenty-four when her father committed suicide. Seven years in the making,
You Can't Catch Death is her first book. She lives in Northern California, with her husband and fifteen-year-old daughter.