In movie terms this is a high concept novel. Andrew is dead or
everything in his world has died but death, a female, stalks the
floors of a Roanoke Hospital somehow missing the lad. He skulks the
floors sleeping in an unfinished wing, works in the cafeteria, visits
patients in the pediatrics wing, shops in the gift shop, and haunts
the ER where his love-ones died. The five stages of the title are
those identified as the dying process in Kubler-Ross's On Death and
Dying: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.
Andrew is gay. He may have been driving when the collision that
killed his sister and parents occurred. He frequents critical care
units where patients die. He encounters other gays on staff and
fellow patients. In particular Rusty who has been the victim of
systemic bullying. Andrew or Ben has graduated high school and worked
as a volunteer fireman/paramedic. The story is about how he resolves
his issues and in particular how running from them rather then
confronting them fails to help.
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