This book is so short and has a very sweet title you'd think it's a children's novel. But don't be deceived. It deals more with death than
la dolce vita. iDEATH, to be exact.
Here's the opening sequence:
IN WATERMELON SUGAR the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar. I'll tell you about it because I am here and you are distant.
Wherever you are, we must do the best we can. It is so far to travel, and we have nothing here to travel, except watermelon sugar. I hope this works out.
I live in a shack near iDEATH. I can see iDEATH out the window. It is beautiful. I can also see it with my eyes closed and touch it. Right now it is cold and turns like something in the hand of a child. I do not know what that thing could be.
I discovered Richard Brautigan from a poet friend (Neal Imperial a.k.a. Israel Makaraig) who translated/adapted his poems in Filipino. Part of the Beat Generation, Brautigan wrote short, succint and sometimes strange poems. Most are funny you'd think they're wisecracks but everything is honest.
He wrote poems, he said in an interview, so that he could master writing sentences. To which his ultimate goal was to write paragraphs for stories. After finding this book in a bargain bin (again), I began to be more alert in looking for his books. I didn't get disappointed when I read his other strange, funny but always thought-provoking books like
Willard and his Bowling Trophies, The Abortion: An Historical Romance, and his short story collection,
Revenge of the Lawn.He was found decomposing in his ranch in Montana with a gun in his hand. Why'd he do that? Critics point to his last book,
An Unfortunate Woman. It is one profound Brautigan book, and it's one of my favorites. I guess, Richard Brautigan was simply bizarre. Like the trite goes,
Hindi n'yo ako maiintindihan. Artist ako! 
