Title: A sketchbook rather than a painting
Product review: Unsatisfying and manipulative. Learning this was a debut effort explains a lot.I didn't feel the narrative voice was convincingly close enough to a 14 year old's and I suppose the omniscient parts about what her mother/father/siblings/friends are feeling can be ascribed to the heaven vantage point.I found myself asking "what was the author intending?" more than I should, especially considering with a really compelling story, one forgets about the writer's existence entirely. The plot seemed to be advanced mainly through a desire for justice rather than interest in individual characters and the ending was just too Touched by Angel for my taste.There are so many better authors who can show rather than tell.I wonder if this book is so popular because of the subject matter, and to find fault with it is somehow an indictment of personal grief?
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