Rating:  Summary: A Spiritual Eye Opener Review: My little brother committed sucide and we later realized he was severly ill with Paranoid Schizophrenia. This book was brought to our attention by loving family members. Thank God they did. It has helped my mother and I to cope with things better and to understand what Suicide is from a childs point of view. You must be open minded enough to think about all the things Anne is trying to tell us. You just try to get as much as you can from this book, you don't have to agree with everything.I would like to mention that it has alot of things that coincide with both Native American beliefs and Christian...all you have to do is REALLY think about it don't take the words exactly for their face value....INTELLIGENCE.... ...I am a Native American full blooded, born and raised....
Rating:  Summary: bad news Review: Okay- I've got some bad news. Stephen doesn't live. He's dead. He committed suicide. This book was written by Anne Puryear, pretending to be her dead son. Sick book, sick author. If I had a mother like Anne, I'd probably have offed myself too. This woman is a nut. She should be in jail.
Rating:  Summary: Tabloid-like Trash Review: Save your money........... I was actually looking forward to this book, but it's trash. It's about a young boy who off's himself. The boy's mother writes this book after communication with her son after he's dead. What a vile concept. The mother is a real work of art. She asks us to accept the notion tat her son can kill himself and still come back and visit. If this book were valid, I think I might prefer death to life. According to the book, death is pretty okay. You can sleep in, you become wiser... How is this going to prevent anyone from suicide? How about this- death is final- you will never see your loved ones again- it is over! Complete. That would scare me- not this version. The book's saving grace is it has a chapter on warning signs. Ive been there- this part is invaluable.
Rating:  Summary: Oh No He Doesn't Review: Stephen doesn't live anywhere except in the fanciful mind of his mother, the author. I had a son who tried to commit suicide- I bought this book in the hopes of helping him. After reading the book myself, I decided against ever letting near the book. Had my son succeeded in taking his own life, the LAST thing I would do is write a book like this one. In this book, we are explained that her son is ALIVE in the spirit world and talks to her regularly. They laugh, they cry, they're best buddies. Stephen Puryear- my heart goes out to you. You were good looking, had true talent, you had everything. This book breaks my heart.
Rating:  Summary: Helpful in many respects re suicide Review: The whole point about the book is to get over the idea that one can communicate with one's loved one beyond the grave - especially problematic allegedly if dealing with suicides. I am not sure if the author has been in contact or not since the messages which come through could easily stem from her noted wide reading on the more esoteric material concerning the after death state etc. nevertheless it will bring comfort even on this informational basis since it is well researched and helpful in many ways.
Rating:  Summary: A life changing book Review: This book brought more insight than any bible, any lecture, any priest or preacher or deacon has ever brought to my life. totally turned it around. I loved it and recommend it to everyone i know.
Rating:  Summary: A wonderful book and awareness of our children Review: This book helps us as parents realize how sensitive our children really are and how they are affected by the environment they are brought into. I had a young sister who committed suicide in 1983 and as devastated as I was, I prayed very hard for answers about the unknown. My life has dramatically changed since that time as I have been guided into the life of spirituality (not religion)through the many books that I believe have been inspired such as this one by God.It has also heighten my awareness and understanding of my precious children and their needs. I thank God for them. I work in a profession that teaches suicide prevention and I will highly recommend this book to anyone who is open to the truth in life and afterlife. Thank you Stephen and Anne!
Rating:  Summary: Very Sad Review: This book is heartbreaking. A young man dies. A tragedy. But even more so because the young man took his own life. The book reprints the young man's suicide note and it just about broke my heart. The young man, Stephen, was quite obviously an intelligent man with a good sense of humor and a wonderful life to look forward to. His mother wrote this book. In this book, we learn that her son, after his death, visited her from the spirit world, and a large part of this book are messages from Stephen, her son. The young man who took his life. Stephen comforts his mother. Stephen warns against suicide. Through his mother, Stephen writes about what happens directly after death. The problem is, the mother uses her "conversations" with her son to absolve herself from all responsability surrounding his death. I found the book to be tremendously self-serving for the mother. I also found the book to be scary. The way "Stephen" describes his transformation from the living to the "non-living" may actually convince somebody that suicide is a viable option. The worst thing is, I don't belive "Stephen" is alive. He may live- but in the sense of a memory- not in the sense described in the book. I'm sure this book may comfort those grieving a loss of a loved one, but please be extreemly careful before giving this book to someone you believe to be suicidal. This book is all about new-age mysticism. If that's what you're seeking, there are much better books out there than this!
Rating:  Summary: Ripe for parody Review: This book is hilarious. If you read this book as satire, it works. If you read it as comedy, it works. If you read it as the true story of a mother communicating with her dead son, it don't work. If there really wasn't a young man named Stephen who committed suicide, this book would be merely bad. But there was a troubled young man who took his life in a very cruel way. And this book trivializes that. Anne Puryear was a mess. She admits it. She had several failed marriages. She admits that. But she also tells us her husband(s) were more to blame than her. When she does admit shortcomings, it's in a very manipulating passive-agressive way. When she admits guilt, she expects us to fawn over the fact she's admitting guilt when she's not guilty at all. Remember, everything in this book is from her perspective. Don't be fooled, Stephen isn't channeling through her. He's gone. She has the audacity to "use" his voice to re-inforce her own selfish manipulative views that she and Stephen were victims of everyone else around them. I hated this book. I hated the idea of this book. I also had to read it. I thought it would be like one of those books you love to hate. I was wrong. I hate everything about this vile book.
Rating:  Summary: Ripe for parody Review: This book is hilarious. If you read this book as satire, it works. If you read it as comedy, it works. If you read it as the true story of a mother communicating with her dead son, it don't work. If there really wasn't a young man named Stephen who committed suicide, this book would be merely bad. But there was a troubled young man who took his life in a very cruel way. And this book trivializes that. Anne Puryear was a mess. She admits it. She had several failed marriages. She admits that. But she also tells us her husband(s) were more to blame than her. When she does admit shortcomings, it's in a very manipulating passive-agressive way. When she admits guilt, she expects us to fawn over the fact she's admitting guilt when she's not guilty at all. Remember, everything in this book is from her perspective. Don't be fooled, Stephen isn't channeling through her. He's gone. She has the audacity to "use" his voice to re-inforce her own selfish manipulative views that she and Stephen were victims of everyone else around them. I hated this book. I hated the idea of this book. I also had to read it. I thought it would be like one of those books you love to hate. I was wrong. I hate everything about this vile book.
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