Zayden

A sad book.

The prose was good, and the quotes were good. I can see the author's reading history. But in some ways the book feels unfinished - as, I suppose, it is. Some parts feel like they should have been expanded upon, or failing that, not been in the book at all. The arrangement of topics within the chapters also feels somewhat clunky. 

But, that said, this is still a book that made me tear up several times. Its goal was to introduce the reader to how it feels to deal with a terminal illness, and it succeeds at that pretty well.

The emails had a very strange tone- the characters wrote in length and in prose as if they knew they were going to be in a book. Perhaps this is true to the way email was written in 2000, but I had difficulty suspending my disbelief.

The relationship between the main characters progresses at a strange pace. In a week after first contact they are sending suggestive messages and making master-slave contracts, but then communication is cut off for a whole month? Given how desperate Agnes is said to be, this seems like too long a time.

Speaking of desperation, Agnes says she was suicidal, but there seem to be no signs of this other than the only time she says this - and that only to inform Zoe that 250 dollars have blown the feelings away.

The ending, moreover, does not feel like an ending at all. Perhaps the author wanted to make a point about how suddenly death arrives, or something, but it is not well done.

There is some nice horror in the later parts, but that isn't enough to make me like this book.

As a book that is an evoker of emotions, this is excellent. As a book that is a carrier of communication, it is not even good.

The relationship between the boy and the tree is deeply unhealthy. The revelation of how unhealthy it is comes along with much sadness, so the book does indicate that.

But then, the ending, and especially the last page, spoil everything. The whole point of the book seemed to be that one should not just take and take and take from love, and it even showed the tree to be unhappy at one point, supporting that.

But then the last page voids all consequence and destroys the message. Is it about unhealthy relationships? The love of a mother for her child? The human exploitation of nature? In no case is the message any good.