Effie is a top-notch singer. That voice just adds so much meaning about the message we're trying to send ? that Iowa is a great state to live in.

I'm not really putting this very well. My point is this: This book contains precisely zero Important Life Lessons, or Little-Known Facts About Love, or sappy tear-jerking Moments When We Knew We Had Left Our Childhood Behind for Good, or whatever. And, unlike most books in which a girl gets cancer, there are definitely no sugary paradoxical single-sentence-paragraphs that you're supposed to think are deep because they're in italics. Do you know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about sentences like this:

The cancer had taken her eyeballs, yet she saw the world with more clarity than ever before.

Barf. Forget it. For me personally, things are in no way more meaningful because I got to know Rachel before she died. If anything, things are less meaningful. All right?

It seems like they are after Rick for every little thing. I?m just trying to run it like a business and keep it going smooth, but now it seems like everybody is attacking each other. Only lately has there been a lot of turmoil.

Even though we were shoulder to shoulder, there was a sense of intimacy and we're working hard to maintain that sense. With the inclusion of different activities, (such as) health screenings, kids' activities and rock climbing, some things you can't do in the winter otherwise, we're maintaining that intimacy and getting more elbow room.

I think it's a smart move to put together a plan toward bettering the plight of African-Americans.

I think this is a monumental move by our state. This acknowledges our African-American history. This is a huge deal for a state that is 2 percent black.