How should we start, sweetie?
-- Jayson Greene (chapter 1)

Importance: The first line of Greene’s memoir deserves special attention. It sets a tone of tenderness throughout the book, and gestures at the book’s audience: part of Greene’s intention in writing Once More We Saw Stars is telling Greta about all that she missed after her premature death; the book is in many ways for her. His use of the first person plural pronoun here – “we” – even grants Greta a kind of co-authorship, as if he is consulting with her as he writes the book. The fact that Greene defers to her in the form of a question is also revealing: even though it is rhetorical, it is clear to the reader by the end of the book that Greene really does believe that his daughter’s spirit is still alive in some sense, a fragile but extant thing that can be consulted...