WAAAHHH. This was the closest I've come to putting a book down in a long time. Not because it is bad, it's actually kind of brilliant, but I haven't been this emotionally wrecked since I read "Code Name Verity." For once, it was fortunate that I only have time to read in short bursts. While I felt compelled to drive through it, it was helpful to take emotional breaks. Get a full kleenex box out as moments in this tale are gut-wrenching. In short, Mia has a decision to make. She is at death's door, has lost so much of a life that was pretty good, and she must make a decision -- to stay or go. This much, I kind of knew before I read the book. What I wasn't prepared for were the graphic details of the incident which lands her at this point, the really personal, engaging writing which hits you in the heart with gentle, simple prose and stories which have a universality. They say that life flashes before your eyes in the moments before death. In this case, Mia sees many of her life "moments" crystallized as non-judgemental lessons, wrestling with a kind of subtle spirituality throughout. Ms. Forman gets a lot of things right. Nurses are the humanizing factor in the antiseptic settings of hospitals, love often happens when you aren't expecting it, and the most painful funerals are the ones where the reality of a person's life is denied by their family. The biggest lesson of all, stated by Mia, is that living can be much harder than dying, but the pull of life is very strong. It's a page turner which will have you guessing until the very last sentence. A powerful, poignant story, and one I'm glad I stuck with.
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