Interesting, deeply personal look at dying, caring for someone who's dying, caring for someone with a lifelong illness, and the U.S. healthcare system. I had trouble getting into the book. Shriver's writing is beautiful, but sometimes just too much, overblown. I didn't quit reading, but I had no problem putting it down and coming back days later. It wasn't until the last 150 pages or so that I really couldn't put it down.

The main character, Shep Knacker, has Jobian qualities and most of the other characters are so extremely negative and/or insensitive and horrible that it got annoying at times for me. However, I really appreciate the dialogue that this book might ignite if you start discussing its topics with others. The very real difficulties of long term sickness, money issues, life flying by us when we aren't ready to go yet... are important issues that sometimes we ignore and just can't get ourselves to address.