So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away

By Richard Brautigan

Book Overview

So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away is a beautifully written, brooding gem of a novel set in the Pacific Northwest where Brautigan spent most of his childhood.

It is 1979, and a man is recalling the events of his twelfth summer, when he bought bullets for his gun instead of a hamburger. Through the eyes, ears, and voice of Brautigan's youthful protagonist, the listener is gently led into a small-town tale where the narrator accidentally shoots and kills his best friend. The novel deals with the repercussions of this tragedy and its recurring theme of "what if," which fuels anguish, regret, and self-blame, as well as some darkly comic passages of bittersweet romance and despair.

Written and published in 1982, this novel foreshadowed Brautigan's suicide in 1984. Along with An Unfortunate Woman, this is one of the author's novels that is a fitting epitaph to an author who is a complex, contradictory, and often misunderstood genius.

• Format: MP3 CD
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1504759923
• ISBN13: 9781504759922
• Release Date: November 2016
• Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
• Length: 1 Pages

Customer Reviews

One of my favorite books

I agree with those below who consider this Brautigran's best work. I'll add that SO THE WIND is among my favorite books of all time, fiction or nonfiction. It does take you to an absolutely singular emotional/geographic landscape. Each sentence feels like it's reeling you further and further into the truth. I first read the book when I was 23, on the advice of a friend. It blew me away. :) Still does.

The most achingly beautiful novel Brautigan ever wrote.

Richard Brautigan's story of a young boy whose life is forever changed by the decision not to eat a hamburger is simultaneously sweetly amusing and heartbreakingly tragic. That this novel is out of print, especially in light of his death in 1984, is equally tragic. If you read no other Brautigan work, read this novel.

Unjustly underrated, elegiac novel one of Brautigan's best

Though his earlier books still tend to hog the spotlight, sad Richard's swan song is a gem, with dark depths and a weight far beyond that of some of his more playful works. It's a tight, compact piece that really sings, however mournfully, and it's a shame it was received with an indifference that may have nailed in one more plank on the ladder to Brautigan's unfortunate demise. Its reissue in one volume with "Abortion" and "Lawn" will hopefully get the book the attention it deserves, among both the converted and the un.

Brautigan's final novel is a sweet gust of nostalgia

It is terrible to think of what Brautigan must have gone through in the final years of his life that lead him to suicide. But one of those things was definitely reflection. Here, he leaves behind his tradional creative bursts and settles in for a lush, almost southern-gothic-like novel. But it is the nostalgia tainted by a cruel and adult world. As a reader, you feel blown through the small town landscapes Brautigan gusts at you. But when you realize where he was headed, the symbolism of the central (child) character with the gun is bone-chilling. Had Brautigan recovered, and continued in this style, he would have had a whole new lease on writing. As it is, we have one example; and that one example is astonishing