Rating: 
Summary: The negative reviewers must have never lost a child!
Review: I have also lost a child, an 11-year old, to suicide, and reading books like this are the only things that really help. I know my son also contacts me, and Steven's story confirms that. The negative reviews must have come from people who have not lost children to suicide; therefore, they have no idea what they are talking about. A book like this really hits home. If there is a book out there on this subject, I own it, and this books helps. There is nothing positive about suicide in this book, in fact, I WOULD give it to someone who was thinking about suicide, as reading this book might make a change for the better.
Rating: 
Summary: Assisted Suicide?
Review: I never read a book that made me so angry. The author appears to be very self-centered. I came away with the feeling that her son took his life to get her attention and to help her gain the attention and recognition that she so desperately wanted. His suicide notes state that he has more to say and some books to write. These are not the suicide notes of a child in pain, who thinks that death is the only way to end the pain. They are the notes of a child trying to get his mother's love and approval. Since she is so taken up with her latest husband, her latest church(?), and her spirit guides- Stephen realized that he needs to become a spirit on the other side to get her attention. Throughout the book, the author constantly blames others for everything in her son's life. My heart breaks for the boy's first two fathers. I am sure they could show a very different side as to why Stephen lost his way and believed he would be better off dead. I agree with the review that this book should have been written from a jail cell, the author drove her son to suicide so that she could write this book. The author either has a very active imagination or knows she made up this book. The portions of her book that are from Stephen, are filled with her perspective of life, not his. What kind of a mother would not ask for her son's body or his ashes, after the school was done with their examination? If we look at the papers she signed to permit the examination, there must be a section asking what is to be done. The author spent more time breaking up her marriages and those of her next targets, than she did being a mother. I recently lost a 16 year old niece to suicide and believe she has been contacting us. However, my experience, and the experiences I am aware of from of other survivors of suicide and from those who have had after-death communications are totally different from what is portrayed in this book.The author should not be able to profit from her part in his death. I am sorry I bought this book.
Rating: 
Summary: This book can change your way of thinking forever
Review: I read this book a while ago and I'm proud to say that it has changed my life in a way that I can never fully express. This book has really made me feel at peace and wonderful in way I never thought a simple book could. In the book the author says she will write more books with her son and I for one will be at the head of the line as soon as I hear they are out. Thank you Ann and Stephen. Your forever friend and hopeful.
Rating:
Summary: True to life
Review: I read this book just a few months after the suicide of my fourteen year old daughter. It helped me to know that other people survived such a loss. I was afraid to read the notes Stephen left, when I thumbed through the pages and saw them. Later, I was glad I did.
Rating:
Summary: An endorsement of LIFE, not suicide!
Review: I thought this was a wonderful book. I will attempt to explain why by commenting on several other comments that have been made here.The reviewers who hated this book seem to be concentrated in two distinct camps: (1) Those that hated the book because it was dictated by a "dead" person-- and this does not conform to their personal beliefs about the afterlife and (2) Those who hated this book because the son, Stephen, seems to be having a great time in the afterlife-- and therefore it seems to them that this book actually ENDORSES suicide. I would like to comment on these two ideas. First, there are a group of reviewers who call this book junk because a "dead" boy is speaking to his mother-- at best, the negative reviewers say that the mother is delusional with grief, at worst that she is crazy. There is no way that we can prove one way or another if this is true or not-- that is, whether a boy is actually communicating from beyond the grave. However, to dismiss the claim so peremptorily with such comments as "Stephen doesn't live anywhere except in the fanciful mind of his mother, the author" and "This is new age tripe at it's worst" is not only dismissing the author, but almost every major world religion-- Christianity, Islam and Judaism all purport a belief in life after death. I am not an expert on Islam, but there are examples in both the Old and New Testament of so-called after-death communication. So to call this book "New Age tripe" simply because the author claims to have had an experience which has been reported in holy literature for over 4000 years is simply incorrect. After-death communication is not even close to "New" Age-- in fact, it is very "Old" Age. Whether it is TRUE or not is another question altogether-- but to dismiss the claim out of hand is irresponsible, and in fact insulting to many so-called mainstream religious doctrines. (However, it doesn't matter if you believe this or not. You can still come away the message even if you do not believe in life after death.) Second, there are those who hated this book because it seemed to them to endorse suicide. This in my mind is the more relevant point. However, upon reading this book I did not see how this book endorsed suicide at all-- in fact, it was strongly anti-suicide, as far as I could tell. True, the son is now seemingly doing well on the other side, but in no way does this endorse suicide. In fact, in the book it is emphasized again and again that killing himself was the worst possible thing that Stephen could have done-- that by doing so, he lost out on so much, on so many opportunities. Yes, he is doing OK now, but even so he will NEVER be able to accomplish the things that he could have had he chosen to live. This is a regret and a pain that he says that he will carry for his eternity. That sounds like a little piece of hell to me-- knowing that you had a tremendous, golden opportunity, but that you rejected it permanenetly... and that now, no matter what you do, you can NEVER get that opportunity again. Sure, you might be able to do other things, but those things you rejected you will NEVER get a chance to do again. In life that is rarely the case-- you always get another chance-- but if you kill youself you've ended the game forever, no matter what the score is. Rather than encouraging me to kill myself, this message is a powerful endorsement for LIVING LIFE! I don't KNOW if Anne Puryear actually spoke to her son or not (I BELIEVE that she did,) and it doesn't really matter if she did or not, since I do KNOW that this book does NOT encourage suicide-- in fact, it is one of the strongest endorsements AGAINST suicide and FOR LIFE that I have read-- whether you take the story as a metaphor or literally true. That, I feel, is the most important message of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Touching and sad but his account of the afterlife was warm.
Review: I was very touched by the whole story. First the mothers account of the whole story and then Stephens. His story of how he killed himself and his afterlife I found very thought pervoking. It gives some comfort to death and the hopes for an afterlife. I like the message given to young people that this is not the solution or end of your problems.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, helpful and honest book
Review: I wish I had had such a book after my child took his life. This is the must helpful book and you can sense the truth in it. Contrary to the ugly review that was sent suggesting this book was dangerous and would cause kids to kill themselves, it does just the opposite. Anyone who reads this book would choose NOT to kill themselves, but work harder to accomplish whatever they have come to do. This is confirmed by hundreds of accounts of near-death experiences where when the person returns they want to do all they can until the time comes when they die. I commend Anne Puryear for her courage and perseverence.
Rating:
Summary: Please Stop
Review: If you had a son or daughter take their own life, would you try to profit from it? This is a sad sad story of a sad young man who took his own life to become closer to his delusional mother. Wake up, Anne. You talked all this physic nonsense and new age mumbo jumbo to your vulnerable and hurting son. And you have the audacity to write a book in his name after he is gone? This is not his story. It is your sick, twisted story, told in your words. Not his. You are evil.
Rating:
Summary: I think this book is dangerous.
Review: Letting your child read this book is like letting him or her play with a loaded gun! The book claims to be anit-suicide and then paints a very rosey picture of the afterlife- one that would be preferable to many a confused child whose life on earth seems to be momentarily unbearable! This book is written by a four-time married, at my count, woman who seems to be unable to take responsibilty for anything. Where the book may comfort HER by having her dead son assure her that nothing that ever happened was her fault, including his suicide and the breakup of her fist three marriages (indeed, Stephen is the one who spied on her third from the nether world and reported the alleged indescretions), I seriously doubt the book can comfort any sane person. If I want to talk to anybody communicating with their dead son who hung himself from a tree, I think I'd rather go to the local Mental Institution than to pick up her book. At least they're not trying to profit from a trajedy that could have been prevented if their mother hadn't been so obsessed.
Rating:
Summary: Throwing this book away
Review: My boyfriend's son committed suicide this past year. We grieve and look for answers. There are none to be found here.You will grieve for Stephen whose mom did little to help him while he was alive.What's more disturbing is this woman's overarching sense of achievement. Although her son is dead, they "communicate and have written this book together". This woman did not attend a single teacher's meeting, nor engage any medical help, but somehow she's has won some kind of "afterlife jackpot". Hard stuff to swallow for those of us who fought more valiantly, lost a battle against clinical depression and miss our loved one dearly. Shame on Simon and Schuster for publishing this drivel.
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