The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order
by Joan Wickersham
ISBN: 9780151014903

"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.

Wickersham's exploration into her father's suicide so many years after his death sounds like a book that any of us who have been touched by the suicide of someone we know would like to read. Just yesterday I discovered that a woman I met a few months ago had committed suicide at the age of 48. She seemed to be a happy, well-rounded woman so her suicide came as a shock. How many times have we wondered what makes a person think this is their only alternative? I'm looking forward to reading more excerpts from her story--I looked on line at the index from her book & it appears she is asking & trying to find answers to why some make this decision to finish their life early. The cover looks interesting as well--the empty shoes he left behind, the upside down gun that seems symbolic of a life that for some reason seemed upside down to him & of course, the fond memory of sitting on her dad's shoulders. This is one book I will consider taking the time to add to my "TBR" list.

I added this book on my to read list on my page at Goodreads.com. I am interested to see what develops in the story.