Thought provoking, timely, emotional, heartwarming AND heartbreaking, clever, fascinating. 

I loved how the various characters’ stories were interwoven - either overtly (

one character doesn’t know that her new boyfriend is in a support group with her sister’s girlfriend

) or subtly/as a twist. 

There was one big twist that I half expected

(the sister/wife who never opened her box actually having a short string too)

but it also still came to light in an unexpected way

(it never occurred to me that she and the husband would die TOGETHER)

.

This book was a real tearjerker. It deals not only with death, but with a lot of other big hard life stuff, like standing up to your bigoted family members at risk of being ostracized, or deciding whether bringing a child into this scary world is the right move. 

I personally thought this book made you contemplate your mortality in a way that wasn’t too heavy handed. It felt like more of an invitation to reflect, than a Cautionary Tale. I really enjoyed it a lot.