3.5 Stars 
 My initial reaction was 2 stars. It has creativity and a super emotional story line. As soon as I finished the book, I was all "What's the big deal??" I didn't understand why it received such high ratings. It was simple and predictable. The plot was fast, sometimes too fast, and the characters, generally unlikeable except Conor and his mom. It was quirky almost. I didn't like it. 
 However, with a day behind me and as the mother of two young boys, it was gut-wrenching. Absolutely, horribly, grab you by the heart, gut-wrenching, tear storm of the shortest book in the world. (view spoiler)[ The most shocking part of all was this juxtaposition of the natural, earthly forces of the world all working together to form these horrible, seemingly unfair conclusions. Why do bad things happen to good people?! It all came across like the sadness of the world was just part of living. This is not a book of happy endings, but of truth. The truth is that terrible things happen. It's part of life. This was, all in all, an incredibly primitive yet genius way of telling a very honest story. Overly simple yet surprisingly poignant. (hide spoiler)]