Structure

This book is set in the present tense, after Chika’s death and funeral. It is a year shy of the anniversary of Chika’s death when she first appears to Albom as a ghost or spirit. Albom structures the memoir around the frame of a series of conversations that he has with Chika’s ghost about her life, her treatments, and the time they spent together. These conversations take place in the present tense but include prompts, usually questions from Chika, that direct Albom’s memories back in time. For instance, in Chapter 1, Chika asks Albom in the present: “Why didn’t you (Albom and Janine) have babies?” (24). Albom follows her questions with a response in a section entitled “Me.” In the instances in which Chika asks a question about herself, Albom writes the answer in a section entitled “You.” The “Us” sections generally refer to...