Stephen Lives

Rating:
Summary: good suicide survivor's resource- little else.
Review: as i see it, anne set out to do the impossible here- to communicate reassurances to those whose young friends or family have committed suicide, while also trying to DETER those who are contemplating suicide by outlining the spiritual torment awaiting them on the other side. despite this conflicted set of purposes, however, i found the majority of the book to be a moving account of the gut-wrenching period she experienced, both before and after her son's fateful and tragic decision. it is definitely worth reading as a suicide survivor's account- until the last chapters, that is.

the problem occurs when the recollections of getting through her ordeal are followed by THIS plea from her (allright; from STEPHEN): "don't do it. please don't do it. there are other options". sorry, i wanted more from this book.

and so, for me, it's at this point that STEPHEN LIVES deflates into little more than a maudlin ventriloquist routine, with steven "saying" predictable things about suicide while anne presents him as some kind of enlightened sage with breakthrough revelations about the hereafter. it becomes just another repackaging of the standard "please don't do it" suicide message that's been there for centuries, NOW served up in modern "channelling" style. NO; i did not expect a plea for mass suicide from stephen, but i expected MORE in the way of spiritual liberation than i got.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I actually bought this book twice. The first time I read it I gave my copy to a mother who lost her child though suicide who my son had the unfortunate circumstance to have found this child dead. This book was highly recommended by the voice of God in Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsh. This is why I bought it. I purchased a second copy to read again. I only am writing this review after reading all the negative reviews on this book. I can only imagine that this book could bring comfort to any parent who has lost a child. If you believe in the afterlife, then this book will offer great comfort. I know for a fact that loved ones return after they die. It has happened too many times in my own life to be just a coincidence. I really feel sorry for people who have so much negativity in their lives and can't see or don't want to see the light. This book is not for everyone. That much is obvious a lot of the reviews that I have read. Kudos to Anne Puryear for having the courage to write it.

Rating:
Summary: Suicide is final
Review: I had a son who took his own life. I mourn every day. I search for comfort. I bought this book.

Anne Puryear would give me words of comfort, I thought. Anne Puryear has ben there. Anne Puryear has survived. The suicide of a son or daughter is the most cruel blow life can give. I needed some reassurance I'd get through this.

This book made me physically ill. I agree with the reviewers that put most of the blame on the author. Think of this- her son actually believed he would communicate with his mother, and others, after his death. When he hung himself by the neck, he fully expected to "wake up" in another world and have a relationship with his mother on another level he was never able to have here on earth.

Are you getting this? To this troubled young man, suicide WAS the answer. It wasn't some final act. It was merely a stepping stone to get to a better place. Where did he get this information? Television? Books? The Internet? Rock and Roll? SOme weird cult? No! He got it from HIS MOTHER!

He succeeded. He died. Was his Mother racked with guilt over his death? Not quite- she wrote a book in HIS name.

This is the part that galls me. If the book be true, I don't care what anybody else says, Stephen is literally better off dead. He's wise now, you see. He gives out all sorts of good advice- from nutrition to psychology to religion to relationships. And, through his Mommy, he "wrote" a book.

Sure, he does the "don't do it" bit, but at the same time, the after world he's describing is quite possibly a lot better than life here in the real world for many a troubled teen.

I still mourn my son. I also mourn Stephen. And I am mad. Anne Puryear was an unfit mother, and now she's making a profit over the biggest tragedy of all.

I hope she reads this review. She makes me sick.

Rating:
Summary: Suicide is final
Review: I had a son who took his own life. I mourn every day. I search for comfort. I bought this book.

Anne Puryear would give me words of comfort, I thought. Anne Puryear has ben there. Anne Puryear has survived. The suicide of a son or daughter is the most cruel blow life can give. I needed some reassurance I'd get through this.

This book made me physically ill. I agree with the reviewers that put most of the blame on the author. Think of this- her son actually believed he would communicate with his mother, and others, after his death. When he hung himself by the neck, he fully expected to "wake up" in another world and have a relationship with his mother on another level he was never able to have here on earth.

Are you getting this? To this troubled young man, suicide WAS the answer. It wasn't some final act. It was merely a stepping stone to get to a better place. Where did he get this information? Television? Books? The Internet? Rock and Roll? SOme weird cult? No! He got it from HIS MOTHER!

He succeeded. He died. Was his Mother racked with guilt over his death? Not quite- she wrote a book in HIS name.

This is the part that galls me. If the book be true, I don't care what anybody else says, Stephen is literally better off dead. He's wise now, you see. He gives out all sorts of good advice- from nutrition to psychology to religion to relationships. And, through his Mommy, he "wrote" a book.

Sure, he does the "don't do it" bit, but at the same time, the after world he's describing is quite possibly a lot better than life here in the real world for many a troubled teen.

I still mourn my son. I also mourn Stephen. And I am mad. Anne Puryear was an unfit mother, and now she's making a profit over the biggest tragedy of all.

I hope she reads this review. She makes me sick.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Finish It
Review: I had to stop 1/2way through this book. I was becoming very angry at this woman.

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: 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: 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: Assisted Suicide?
Review: This book is ridiculous. Stephen is a dead child. What a tremedous loss. A suicide. His mother wrote this book after his death trying to convince the reader she communicates with her son after his death.

The only thing she convinced me of is she is partly to blame for his suicide.

This book should've been written from jail cell.

Rating:
Summary: life over death
Review: This book will convince any suicidal child life is preferrable over death!