I'd give this 5 stars, except I'm too liberal with my 5-stars and need to hold back. But I was instantly drawn into Rob's true story of falling in love with Renee, their few years together, and her unexpected death, all tracked by music and mixes: the falling-in-love tape, the falling asleep tape, the dish-washing tape. Although the music was a wonderful lens, and just about everyone will recognize at least one song on Rob's lists, for me the depiction of the relationship was the best part. It described falling in love without any cliched angels or butterflies, even mentioning fear, as one reviewer said, "of losing oneself, of not being able to keep the other safe enough, of recognizing the other will be on hand to witness your inevitable worst." 
 By reading the descriptions of the author's grief, I feel like I can better understand such a loss, even though I have not experienced it. "I had no voice to talk with because she was my whole language. Without her to talk to, there was nothing to say" (p. 156). And yet, when Rob has a "divine revelation" that it's time to get out of the apartment more, it's one of the funniest moments of the book. Just like in real life, you can't always separate the funny from the sad.