I wasn't always comfortable with the language in this book although I thought it was very well written. I was bored by the way that death was portrayed. I hope it is not that boring in real death. The lives of the characters were interesting, if sad and ridiculous (human). Message: Treasure life right now, we don't know how long it will last.

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Sent via US mail to NZ BXing Convention

Part of the delightful surprise today when we went to the Post Office and there was a box of books for our convention; each one including a local postcard; parcel also included laser cuts and scrapbooking embellishments.

Thanks very much for thinking of us.

Picked up from the book buffet tables, at some point during the convention. The photo is of the mystery guest we had at the Meet and Greet.
I've heard of this author, but don't think I've read any of her books. Love the photo of the barbershop, Olivia Poolside! Thanks!

I quite enjoyed this book. Like oliviapoolside, I thought the scenes of Murmur from 'beyond the grave' were less interesting than the main story, although I did like the way Murmur discovers more about her life, and her mother's life, after her death. The story is superficially similar to The Lovely Bones, but far more skilfully done. Some of the characters seemed unnecessarily cliched (mais oui!), but overall I found this well written. Thanks oliviapoolside!

Picked up at tonight's meetup.

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I really enjoyed this book (and agree with TheLetterB, it's much better done than The Lovely Bones!). I worked out the solution to the "mystery" very early on, but that wasn't really the point of the book, so it didn't matter. The different voices and using ephemera added a lot, especially in the scenes we see from multiple points of view, each interpreting (and remembering) what happened totally differently.

One thing that did fascinate me was the glimpse at another side of Florida. So much of my knowledge of America comes from films and TV, so my image of Florida has always been of the Miami Vice/retirement homes/Disneyland sort. For some reason, it never occurred to me that Florida was part of the "South" (I know geographically it is, but I mean the culture and accent and things like that), so it was a surprise for this book to feel so similar to others I've read set in other southern states.

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Given to lytteltonwitch.

Will take away with me to read while on holiday

Picked up from Lyttelton Witch at Christchurch Bookcrossing Group dinner last night (12/06/07) at Cafe Bleu. Looking forward to reading it. Excited to see from journal entries that this book has traveled all the way from Washington DC. I visited that city a couple of years ago so that gave the journey of this book an extra meaning for me.

Oops, just re-read the history and realised this book originated in Washington State not Washington DC - not on top of my game tonight!! Anyway hopefully might visit Seattle one day. Still looking forward to a good read with this book.
Cheers.

Quite enjoyed this book. It was a little different in that the main character, namely Murmur Lee, dies at the beginning of the book. Each chapter from then on is either on her insight into being dead or the views of her various friends who are mourning for her and trying to discover the truth of how she died.

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