Good Morning Midnight: Life and Death in the Wild

by Chip Brown

Award-winning literary journalist Chip Brown tells the story of the life and death of a brilliant, complicated man-an outdoorsman with a troubled soul, a pioneer of the New England wilderness, who sought rebirth in nature only to end his own life on a snowy mountaintop in a gesture of chilling premeditation.

Guy Waterman checked out of his former life as a Capitol Hill speechwriter and father of three at midlife to pursue the passion that promised to deliver him from his demons: mountain climbing. Along with his second wife, he built a cabin nestled in the mountains of Vermont, without modern conveniences of any kind, in order to live purely on the land and for the land, and thereby to redefine himself in the extremes of frontier life. An accomplished jazz pianist who could recite hours of poetry, a genuine eccentric beloved by many, Waterman became the dean of the homesteading movement and the foremost historian of the mountains of the northeast. So when he methodically carried out his mountain suicide, those who loved him were left to wonder whether it was the action of a noble man, painfully aware of the encroachments of age and determined to die with dignity, or that of a tragic figure doomed by the code of the Hard Man-a man who could not find the strength to be weak and forgive his own limitations.

Chip Brown writes with exhilarating clarity about the thrill of mountain climbing and with compassion and intelligence about the mystery that begins when a life ends. Good Morning Midnight is a gripping story of survival in nature, with an existential heart.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adventure, Biography, Nature

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2003

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting NPR interview with the author led me to this book. It was not as good as the interview itself. In the end this book was killed by the same thing that many books with good writing and a good story are damaged by, I just didn't care.

I felt bad for Guy Watermans kids, thought the wife was rather lame and that Guy himself had Peter Pan syndrome much to the detriment of all the people who cared for and were involved with this seemingly interesting and compelling man. Too bad all the way around.

[Elyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with my Goodreads friend Mike that this is a 5 star book. I didn't want to stop reading, yet I read it in fragments to make sure that I could fully absorb its depth. Without divulging too many details, I will say that the most interesting parts were the thorough examination of the book's main subject, Guy Waterman; Waterman's ongoing existential struggles; the impact that his choices/actions had on his kids; the details about homesteading in New England; descriptions of hikes and hiking areas; and his relationship with his second wife. Overall, the writer is on par with Jon Krakauer, but his writing style and storytelling method is original. I highly recommend this book.

[Brigitte Durnwald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read in a while.

[Yitka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterpiece of a book, albeit a profoundly sad one.

Laura Waterman’s Losing the Garden makes for a heart-wrenching companion to this to get an even fuller picture of Guy in all his complexities.

[Julian Silva-Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good biography

[Bryn Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredibly well-written and deeply saddening. Similar to the genre of Into the Wild, it begs serious questions but also provokes deep appreciation for the wilderness and those who seem beckoned- at times fatally- to its call. Guy Waterman is a frustrating and defiant portrait of a man who was enraptured with an egocentric obsession with the wild. The saddest part of this story isn't Guy's death, even bring a suicide. The saddest part is the portrait of a man who truly seemed unable to care for anyone else's desires- and, at times, very needs- above his own whims and expectations. It's a unique thing to find someone whom nature had not humbled; it's even more rare to meet someone for whom nature has inflated their sense of self-importance. I believe this book is the portrait of such a man.

[Wes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first deep dive into alpine hiking / climbing. My outdoor dabbling doesn't touch what these guys did. It's fun to read about though. Inspires me to up my game and conquer more of the whites (11 down, 35 to go). Running north to Vermont and Jeremiah Johnson / Dick Prennekie - ing it is a romantic thought I've had, and guy and Laura did it. Self sufficient and taxless. They built a sustainable life. Guy's story is sad, regretful and real. He had the grit to live and die by his own rules. He lost or cut lots of connections and strengthened a few. That was difficult to read about. I kept rooting for him to mend or face his daemons along the way. I connect with his feelings of the wild. It can make more sense in the woods than not.

[Harold Carlson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Chip Brown did a good job of trying to understand why Guy Waterman committed suicide at the top of a mountain in the east coast. It is not a happy topic to be sure but the book was able to maintain my interest. Guy did not lead a boring life, he was very accomplished in a variety of areas. He seemed to have a lot to live for and while he had his share of aches and pains no terminal illnesses were known. Guy was a private man when it came to his demons but I really felt that Chip was able to uncover many of his secrets. Guy was well known enough in certain circles so that people wanted to know what could have driven him to end his life, I felt I understood why after reading this book.

[lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It helps to be somewhat well adjusted to read this one. It's the story of the life and suicide of Guy Waterman. He was an amazingly complex, bright, compulsive, passionate individual who lived an amazingly diverse life, culminating in a love for the White Mountains of New Hampshire which he discovered in his 30's. He became totally absorbed in conquering their heights, especially Mt. Lafayette to which he went to die when he could no longer manage the depression from which he suffered most of his life. I'll let you decide if he did the 'right thing' when he made his final decision, leaving behind an incredible life with many friends and a wife he cherished more than anything.

[Wesley Blixt · Rating 4 out of 5]

No, Guy Waterman was not a pleasant or easy man. I doubt he would have liked someone like me, though there are a lot of someones like me, including me, who revere what he represented. I didn't know him, but have come to believe that the the people who present the deepest, most complicated and most serious challenges to us -- challenging what, in fact it means to be human -- are rarely easy or easy to like. Chip Brown does and admirable job with this hard material. On a more superficial level, it reminds are serious and uniquely challenging the Whites can be.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent. Gripping and compelling all the way through, but not only that ... this is one of those stories where you don't realize how masterfully the story is being woven together until you're just about finishing it.

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you liked this, i highly recommend losing the garden, laura waterman's own account of her life with guy. i love how both books combine life, death, and the mountains.

[Tommy Harmon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn't finish. Found it boring. Sorry.

[Jill Talley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again i wish there were half-stars - i'd give it 4.5. I'm greedy with giving out five stars! BUT - this IS an amazing book. I just know it won't be for everyone. I was interested in the story after reading an article that was shared online from 'Outside' magazine. (not going to give any spoilers - you can easily search for Guy Waterman and learn about him)

This book gives you the whole story - going back to Guy's childhood and family. It's not a happy, cheerful book. But it's REAL. And it's well-written and researched. I wanted to know everything, and i feel like i found it out. It could be a trigger for depressed people - so read at your own risk. But if you want to learn about an amazing person, with high-intelligence, love of nature, yet also deep problems - you will find the true story in this book. I really didn't want to put it down.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a summit steward in New Hampshire during my graduate schooling, Wilderness Ethics was required reading prior to starting the job. When I learned about Guy’s fate, it shocked and fascinated me. How could someone who lives a life many of us dream of throw it all away? After reading Brown’s book, I feel that I have been given a new perspective on Guy Waterman’s life and death, as well as the circumstances that molded him into such a tragic person.

I appreciated Laura’s perspective being highlighted through the book, and the perspectives of family, friends and colleagues, whether they agreed with Guy’s decisions or not. I found “Poised Upon the Gale” to be the most memorable and meaningful part of book.

[Colin Grieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it was well written and researched, I found it frustrating and a little claustrophobic to spend a week reading about such an obviously stubborn, inward-looking person. I also thought the author could have spent more time examining the relationship between Guy Waterman's class background and his actions and outlook.

[Jtufts · Rating 3 out of 5]

A meticulously researched and thoroughly reported work that treats a complicated and fraught subject with sensitivity and fairness, but suffers narratively from devoting either too much or too little attention to Waterman’s sons, whose stories are compelling in their own right and in sometimes overshadow the main thrust of the book.

[Al Levinrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be very disturbing. If you’re looking for a book about mountain adventures, climbing or outdoor adventures, you better find a different book. If you’re looking for a book on the psychology of suicide, this might be a good book for you.

[Gretchen Stokes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, but it left me with an animated hatred of Guy Waterman, and more so- the hero worship of his character and all it represents. Enough to question the Leave No Trace principles birthed from his writing, even though they seem unassailable good.

[Alison]

Little too dark for my taste but enthralling, I suppose. Read it quickly

[Reyna Purcell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been years since I read this book… I still think about it from time to time.

[Jesse]

suggested

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

fascinating bio of Guy Waterman -- his growing up as son of a Yale professor who became first head of National Science Foundation, early career as a political speechwriter and very heavy drinker, getting sober on his own with the help of taking up mountain climbing and wilderness trail conservation work in New England, two long marriages (first miserable, second apparently wonderful), deaths of two of his three sons (one just went missing; one definitely died at least semi-intentionally climbing in Alaska), erratic involvement as a parent, compulsive record-keeping about everything in daily life, intensive involvement in hobbies such as baseball research and jazz piano playing, and on and on.

All of it is framed by what you know from the outset is coming and what the whole book strives to understand, that Guy ends up killing himself in his late 60's by climbing Mt. Washington and deliberately staying out so as to freeze. Told his wife a year or so in advance and tries to make arrangements to the extent possible (e.g., finishing work on next house for her, finishes the index he'd agreed to do for a baseball book, waits until after a piano concert......).

As one of his relatives comments, on some level it's not that surprising -- an old guy who's been depressed, with a history of alcohol problems, and family history of suicide would seem to be at high risk. But the methodical manner in which he carried it out, the way in which he brought his wife into the planning, etc., gives the author a lot to work with in trying to figure him out. Apparently his wife wrote a book about their lives together. I'd be interested to read that and see what she has to say. On the current account she seems to have at least raised with Guy the concept of getting help from mental health professional, but then been fairly passive about it once he refused.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because "Losing the Garden" written by his wife Laura was required reading at my son's school in New Hampshire. I have a copy of his wife's book and plan on reading that next. I thought the book was very well written though sad and somewhat depressing....not a reason to ignore the book though. Many people live with severe depression throughout their lives..it's a fact of life and I find it admirable that he achieved what he did for so long, whilst fighting off his demons the whole time. A job well done, Chip Brown.

[Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Along the lines of Krakauer's work, but I feel even more heartbreakingly personal, if something can be. This book helped me understand some friends I have and myself better in ways I hadn't imagined. There is a follow-up to the book that the man's wife wrote that is great to read after this as it gives an even fuller picture of their lives. Especially since the greatest thing this book lacks is HER story...

[Tony Paterno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read about Guy Waterman in Outside magazine many years ago. I later found the book shortly after it was released. An amazing story about a troubled man. A true look into Guy's resurrection in the wilderness to quiet his demons only to use that same wilderness to take his own life. Guy and his wife Laura were writing about the stewardship of land well before there was a Leave No Trace program to educate hikers. They were pioneers in the creation of outdoor ethics.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great biography, even if you're not into hiking and such. Guy Waterman went out into the woods and intentionally froze himself to death and his wife helped him pack. A look into a complex and tormented person, who had two sons who dissappeared on mountaineering expeditions. One of the best books I've ever read.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very moving story ... Tragic really and the end I have read many times. Definitely worth the read if you are interested in living and ending your life on your own terms. Also an insight into the psychology behind each person and why it's so critical to come to terms with your demons and deal with them rather than pretending they don't exist. Self awareness is key.

[Kevin Hinman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guy Waterman's story is a harrowing and beautiful enigma of a man's struggle against his own inner demons. Chip Brown's story is laden with clumsy lines like "depression was the only mountain he couldn't climb." To his credit, however, Brown is meticulous, leaving no stone unturned as he searched for some sort of answers following Waterman's suicide.

[Lyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read up until the friends comapared cutting the pack straps away from their friends frozen corpse as being 'very Pulp Fiction'. Irreverant and as shallow as a Wes Anderson movie. The opposite of intrepid.