Hey, it's NPR's book of the day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. How do you write about suicide? How do you

write about it truthfully and meaningfully without romanticizing it or without blaming the person who

killed themselves? Today, we've got two books approaching suicide and mental health from

different angles. In a bit, we'll hear about a graphic novel co-written by a young woman with her own experiences

of suicidal ideation, who took a more supernatural route to writing about it.

But first, Us After is a memoir written by reporter Rachel Zimmerman, whose husband

killed himself.

And the book is about the

rebuilding process that a family has to undergo after something like that happens. And she spoke with

hearing as Robin Young about that day and about the cup of coffee she wishes she never got. That's ahead.

We have two disclosures before our next segment. First, the guest, Rachel Zimmerman, is

known to us, a terrific reporter. She tackled tough topics for the Wall Street Journal of Washington

Post, and at our mothership, WBUR, where she'd chew like a dog with a bone on health reporting.

But then there was one story she wanted to bury. She even called journalists and

asked that they please not write it. It was the story of her husband, Seth, the accomplished MIT

professor who wore shorts to class was kind of the Willy Wonka of the robotics world. He played

ultimate frisbee any game that involved their two little girls down in the sand for a

drip castle. He kept a bottle of bubbles in the car you never know when you'll need to blow

bubbles. He was that guy. And then one day there was a knock at their door, a policeman there to tell

Rachel, Seth had taken his life. Now that's the other disclosure. We're going to talk about

Seth's suicide

and what Rachel Zimmerman, this fierce reporter, learned about suicide after Seth died. So if you

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