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Book Of Living And Dying
Seventeen-year-old high-school student Sarah Wagner wrestles with her grief over losing her older brother, John, to cancer. When John’ s ghost begins haunting her room at night, Sarah seeks help from Michael— the dark and mysterious boy in her class— and her friend Donna, an angry girl on the fringe of society.
Searching desperately for a way to lay her brother’ s spirit to rest, Sarah’ s journey takes her into the mystical realm of the occult, and as her world slowly becomes unhinged, we see that all is not as it appears.
Searching desperately for a way to lay her brother’ s spirit to rest, Sarah’ s journey takes her into the mystical realm of the occult, and as her world slowly becomes unhinged, we see that all is not as it appears.
- GenresYoung Adult
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 7, 2005
1 person is currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Natale Ghent
11 books17 followersNatale Ghent has been writing stories since she was six. Her first books, written and illustrated, revolved around a family of circles: a momma circle, a papa circle and two baby circles. The momma circle wore a fur stole, distinguishing herself from the papa circle, who wore a fedora, naturally.
Natale graduated from writing about circles to writing and illustrating stories about a small fairy, and later, to stories about talking guinea pigs and eventually humans.
When Natale was very young, she wanted to be an archeologist, a ballerina, a veterinarian, a singer and a magician, but not necessarily in that order. Later in life, she realized she could be all these things and more through her writing. She says, "I never set out to be a novelist in the way that so many do these days. All I knew was that I had a voracious curiosity about life and that I loved telling stories. I simply stumbled along until writing took me by the hand and refused to let go, though I recognize now that there were many signposts guiding me along the way. I come from a long line of consummate story tellers. It just never occurred to me that I could tell stories for a living. And now I can’t imagine doing anything else."
Of NO SMALL THING she says, "The story is based on true events from my childhood. I carried it in my heart for years until it begged to be put on paper. I wrote the book for my family and for anyone, young or old, who has struggled for something they believe in. I never imagined the story would mean so much to so many children. I’m humbled by the letters and stories these children send to me."
Natale graduated from writing about circles to writing and illustrating stories about a small fairy, and later, to stories about talking guinea pigs and eventually humans.
When Natale was very young, she wanted to be an archeologist, a ballerina, a veterinarian, a singer and a magician, but not necessarily in that order. Later in life, she realized she could be all these things and more through her writing. She says, "I never set out to be a novelist in the way that so many do these days. All I knew was that I had a voracious curiosity about life and that I loved telling stories. I simply stumbled along until writing took me by the hand and refused to let go, though I recognize now that there were many signposts guiding me along the way. I come from a long line of consummate story tellers. It just never occurred to me that I could tell stories for a living. And now I can’t imagine doing anything else."
Of NO SMALL THING she says, "The story is based on true events from my childhood. I carried it in my heart for years until it begged to be put on paper. I wrote the book for my family and for anyone, young or old, who has struggled for something they believe in. I never imagined the story would mean so much to so many children. I’m humbled by the letters and stories these children send to me."
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 11, 2024
I'm too dumb to understand what happened
July 3, 2009
I understand why a lot of people don't really end up liking this book because of it's ending. But you know what? Something about the confusion and the questions makes me love it even more. I have read this book probably close to 5 times during the course of the past 3 years. And each time I read it, it was a completly new expirience for me. The way this book is written I think is amazing. It captures into this girl's world and life......or maybe I just like reading weird books about messed up people.
March 13, 2017
I actually really enjoyed the ending. It was unexpected but very interesting and gloriously dark. I bought the book expecting a simple ghost story and was pleasantly surprised by the plot twist at the end. At first I thought her relationship with Michael was unnecessary, but now I see that it was a metaphor for her drawing closer to death. The novel was very contemplative of existence as a whole, and blurred the lines between reality and dreams really well. This is honestly one of the most fascinating books I've read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2020
I understand why people may not like the end, because I personally have mixed feelings. But at the same time, it *makes* me want to re-read it because I don't want it to end in the first place. Definitely worth a read, as it's a breeze to get through!
November 29, 2024
It was really boring and I got lost halfway through
February 13, 2021
This is one of those books that landed on my bookshelf in mysterious ways. I don’t recall how I received it.This is why I started reading with little to no expectations and it ended up being way better than how I thought it would be.
I enjoyed reading it. It was quite easy to forget about the real world and to get immersed in the story.
The ending was unexpected and it left me quite perplexed and I both love it and hate it for this reason.
To be honest I enjoyed reading it but not something I would recommend to most people.
I enjoyed reading it. It was quite easy to forget about the real world and to get immersed in the story.
The ending was unexpected and it left me quite perplexed and I both love it and hate it for this reason.
To be honest I enjoyed reading it but not something I would recommend to most people.
January 3, 2009
I feel like I might have missed something with this one...definitely enjoyed it, finished it in one sitting (which makes Ghent a great storyteller who can sustain narrative momentum), but the ending kind of lost me. Strange and a little disappointing, leaving too many questions. And the subject material made me too uncomfortable; Ghent contemplates our mortality and death in general extremely well here, and the experience bummed me out. Not to mention her vivid descriptions of palliative care and watching a loved one die right before your eyes. Been there and it brought back too many bad memories.
October 26, 2009
This book I read for my english course. Well, first I thought this was going to be some kind of horror book about ghosts and all these lame things. Then, I just seemed to be some dark, depressing girl who suffers through her brother's death by hallucinating and seeing him at night. She starts doing drugs and drinking and also goes through anorexia and has her native boyfriend who believes in spirits and stuffs like this. I sincerely felt depressed after finishing this book and also was pissed off because of the ending. I didn't understand the ending. And I don't care. This is some book about teenage problems and spirituality.
March 8, 2009
I feel bad giving this two stars. The writing was well done, Ghent's turn of phrase frequently lovely and memorable.
I admit I rushed through the ending. Ghent may have dropped hints that I didn't catch. The conclusion was certainly different than I had anticipated.
I just didn't care much for the story, myself.
The descriptions of palliative care were interesting, and wrought to make one feel uncomfortable, force one to think... and they did.
Maybe I just wasn't really in the right mind-set to read this book. It was good, just not my kind of read, I guess.
I admit I rushed through the ending. Ghent may have dropped hints that I didn't catch. The conclusion was certainly different than I had anticipated.
I just didn't care much for the story, myself.
The descriptions of palliative care were interesting, and wrought to make one feel uncomfortable, force one to think... and they did.
Maybe I just wasn't really in the right mind-set to read this book. It was good, just not my kind of read, I guess.
July 14, 2012
Ghents prose is lyrical at times and I would read another of her books for that alone.
The Book of Living and Dying felt confusing however. Although not a complete skeptic,
I soon became irritated with the "ghost" character of John. Did Sarah die or not? And why didn't she have more of a reaction after Donna's confession? What was the purpose of the Fool in the tarot cards? Some loose threads and a depressing story but lovely writing.
The Book of Living and Dying felt confusing however. Although not a complete skeptic,
I soon became irritated with the "ghost" character of John. Did Sarah die or not? And why didn't she have more of a reaction after Donna's confession? What was the purpose of the Fool in the tarot cards? Some loose threads and a depressing story but lovely writing.
March 11, 2010
Strange, strange book but I really enjoyed it. The ending made sense but I'm still not sure about a few of the characters role. Mainly Donna and Peter. I understand her mom, brother and Michael though. I think... lol
June 17, 2007
Very confusing. I read this while I was away on a trip where we were constantly busy, and didn't have much time to really try to get into it. It's very strange, but very interesting.
August 24, 2008
One of the shortlisted titles for the CLA Young Adult Book Award in 2006.
October 29, 2025
I usually like books with darker themes. This, however, was not one of them. I was left extremely confused and wishing I had stopped myself from finishing it.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews