He knew a lot about his grandparents - and perhaps he feels he's been endowed with abilities to go into people's heads who are long dead - but, to a certain extent, he's making it up.

There was nowhere I could go that wouldn't be you.

And in some of the houses, people were getting old and sick and were dying, leaving others to grieve. It was happening all the time, unnoticed, and it was the thing that really mattered. What really mattered in life, what gave it weight, was death.

I think it is important to remind people of the extent of our free will.

It was morning by the clock but deepest nighttime in his body.

The window was still open.” Mr Lisbon said. “I don’t think we’d ever remembered to shut it. It was all clear to me. I knew I had to close it or else she’d go on jumping out of it forever

Everyone struggles against despair, but it always wins in the end. It has to. It's the thing that lets us say goodbye.