Matt McCarthy of USA Today gave it 4 out of 4 stars and said, "It's a story so remarkable, so stunning, and so affecting that I had to take dozens of breaks just to compose myself enough to get through it."[6] Nick Romeo of The Boston Globe wrote that it, "possesses the gravity and wisdom of an ancient Greek tragedy."[7] Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly stated that the book was "so original—and so devastating. . . . Its only fault is that the book, like his life, ends much too early."[8]