Book summary

Ann Cypra Oliver was raised by her mother in the counterculture of the 1960s. Her father died when she was five, and all she knew about him was that he did drugs and committed suicide. As an adult, resolving to find out more, she probed into her father's life by means of his diary, some old home movies, the books he left behind, and conversations with friends and family members. As Oliver uncovers the reality of a complex, brilliant, and tortured man--a quest that transforms her own life--she also illuminates an era that changed America in ways that continue to resonate many years later.

Media reviews

"Stylistically innovative memoir of the author's father....An emotional demonstration that Humpty Dumpty can be put together again."