To answer questions about
Preparation for the Next Life,
please sign up.
M Thompson
If you are afraid of pain you should not read this book, or fall in love, or have a child, or practice martial arts, or run a marathon. If you think that sometimes pain is just the price you have to pay sometimes then you will be richly rewarded and you will find yourself looking at the edges with a little more empathy.
Maggie Sokolik
The ending went exactly where it needed to go.
Shawn
It's as bad as you imagine, but only because it stays true and honest to real life.
Katy Defay
It was not as bad as I imagined. I had a certain fear that did not come to pass, so for that I am grateful.
Igor
Based on how the rest of the book was going, I thought the ending would be much more subversive and distressing. It ended up being - expected, in a sense. We, as readers, had been building up to it. There's so much more to the book than a simple plot twist at the conclusion that you shouldn't avoid the book just because of discomfort. There is far too much that's deeply disconcerting throughout to worry about a twist.
Ilyssa Wesche
Exactly the question I just asked myself! Glad I'm not alone in my trepidation.
Kathy Szoo
I read this question and answer before I read the book and because of Shawn's answer I was cringing as I turned each page towards the end of the book expecting the very worst to happen. The worst didn't happen but he's right , it was still very sad. Totally worth it though. Unflinchingly honest and unsentimental.
Juliette
It's heart-breaking, but worth it in spades.
Gardenia Plant
It was heartbreaking and hopeless. Realistic, perhaps, but unsatisfying.
Melissa
I don't think it was as bad as I could have imagined. It twisted a bit at the end and I had some sense of hope even though it was the darkest book I've read in a long while . . .
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more
