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The suicide index : putting my father's death in order / Joan Wickersham.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York : Mariner Books, 2009.Description: 316 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780151014903
  • 0151014906
  • 9780156033800
  • 0156033801
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Suicide -- Act of -- Attempt to imagine -- Bare-bones account -- Immediate aftermath -- Anger about -- Attitude toward his -- Mine -- Belief that change of scene might unlock emotion concerning -- Day after -- Brother's appearance -- Concern that he will be viewed differently now -- "Little room" discussion with his business partner -- Search warrant -- Speculation relating to bulge -- Deviation from chronological narrative of -- Factors that may have had direct or indirect bearing on expensive good time -- Pots of money -- Uneasy problem of blame -- Finding some humor in -- Ashes -- Valentine's Day -- Glimpses of his character relevant to Information from his brother sparked by -- Intrafamilial relationships reexamined in light of Munich -- My grandmother -- Items found in my husband's closet and -- Life summarized in an attempt to illuminate -- Numbness and -- Bullwinkle -- Chicken pox -- Duration -- Food -- Husband -- Psychiatric response -- Various reprieves -- Opposing versions of -- Other people's stories concerning -- Other shoe and -- Philosophical conundrums stemming from -- First -- Second -- Possible ways to talk to a child about -- Family tree -- Full disclosure -- Not yet -- Rational approach -- Weapons god -- Psychiatry as an indirect means of addressing -- Psychological impact of -- Readings in the literature of -- Romances of mother in years following -- "Things" folder and -- Thoughts on method of -- Where I am now.
Summary: When you kill yourself, you kill every memory everyone has of you. You're saying, I'm gone and you can't even be sure who it is that's gone, because you never knew me. Sixteen years ago, Joan Wickersham's father shot himself in the head. The father she loved would never have killed himself, and yet he had. His death made a mystery of his entire life. Using an index, that most formal and orderly of structures, Wickersham explores this chaotic and incomprehensible reality. Every bit of family history, marriage, parents, business failures, and every encounter with friends, doctors, and other survivors exposes another facet of elusive truth. Dark, funny, sad, and gripping, at once a philosophical and deeply personal exploration, The Suicide Index is, finally, a daughter's anguished, loving elegy to her father.
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Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 155.937 W636 Available 33111011299951
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

When you kill yourself, you kill every memory everyone has of you. You're saying "I'm gone and you can't even be sure who it is that's gone, because you never knew me."

Sixteen years ago, Joan Wickersham's father shot himself in the head. The father she loved would never have killed himself, and yet he had. His death made a mystery of his entire life. Using an index--that most formal and orderly of structures--Wickersham explores this chaotic and incomprehensible reality. Every bit of family history--marriage, parents, business failures--and every encounter with friends, doctors, and other survivors exposes another facet of elusivetruth. Dark, funny, sad, and gripping, at once a philosophical and deeply personal exploration, The Suicide Index is, finally, a daughter's anguished, loving elegy to her father.

"1st Mariner Books edition 2009."

Suicide -- Act of -- Attempt to imagine -- Bare-bones account -- Immediate aftermath -- Anger about -- Attitude toward his -- Mine -- Belief that change of scene might unlock emotion concerning -- Day after -- Brother's appearance -- Concern that he will be viewed differently now -- "Little room" discussion with his business partner -- Search warrant -- Speculation relating to bulge -- Deviation from chronological narrative of -- Factors that may have had direct or indirect bearing on expensive good time -- Pots of money -- Uneasy problem of blame -- Finding some humor in -- Ashes -- Valentine's Day -- Glimpses of his character relevant to Information from his brother sparked by -- Intrafamilial relationships reexamined in light of Munich -- My grandmother -- Items found in my husband's closet and -- Life summarized in an attempt to illuminate -- Numbness and -- Bullwinkle -- Chicken pox -- Duration -- Food -- Husband -- Psychiatric response -- Various reprieves -- Opposing versions of -- Other people's stories concerning -- Other shoe and -- Philosophical conundrums stemming from -- First -- Second -- Possible ways to talk to a child about -- Family tree -- Full disclosure -- Not yet -- Rational approach -- Weapons god -- Psychiatry as an indirect means of addressing -- Psychological impact of -- Readings in the literature of -- Romances of mother in years following -- "Things" folder and -- Thoughts on method of -- Where I am now.

When you kill yourself, you kill every memory everyone has of you. You're saying, I'm gone and you can't even be sure who it is that's gone, because you never knew me. Sixteen years ago, Joan Wickersham's father shot himself in the head. The father she loved would never have killed himself, and yet he had. His death made a mystery of his entire life. Using an index, that most formal and orderly of structures, Wickersham explores this chaotic and incomprehensible reality. Every bit of family history, marriage, parents, business failures, and every encounter with friends, doctors, and other survivors exposes another facet of elusive truth. Dark, funny, sad, and gripping, at once a philosophical and deeply personal exploration, The Suicide Index is, finally, a daughter's anguished, loving elegy to her father.

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