I'm having a hard time framing a coherent review of this book. It's the story of a friendship that was intense and huge and that ended in death. I read, long ago, a memoir written by Knapp, who is the friend eulogized and remembered and celebrated herein. I recall liking that book a lot.This one, though, was really hard. See, I had a friend with whom I was very close for a very long time, and then I moved across the country and though we always *said* we were going to live together when we were old, sometimes whole weeks would pass where we didn't talk. Then she got sick and in what seemed like a blinding rush, died. I was 3000 miles away and I should have been right there with her. So, yeah, reading this, which includes Caldwell being at Knapp's bedside during her sickness and death, was difficult.The book is exceedingly well-written, grueling, evocative and ultimately kind of wise. Recommended.