I'm rapidly becoming a big fan of Anders Nilsen's work, and Don't Go Where I Can't Follow has got to be the cornerstone piece of his career to date. While this is a short work, easily read in an hour or so, it is deeply affecting, and personal and powerful to an astonishing degree.

My only real disappointment with this work is the dearth of information about Cheryl Weaver, Nilsen's late fiance, and the subject of this book. Although we get to know Cheryl from a variety of different angles, the work still feels just a little too short to really allow us the room to get to know Cheryl, which makes it a little harder to really understand Nilsen's great pain upon losing her. Not because the reader can't sympathize, but more because it feels like Nilsen has kept the subject of his love (and this book) at arm's length, despite an obvious desire to be open and direct in telling this story.

Despite that complaint, I still love Don't Go Where I Can't Follow, and am enthralled with Nilsen's multimedia approach. His incorporation of letters, postcards, and personal photos allows him to tell a sad story without drowning in morbid, overwrought prose, and this technique proves to be perfect for the material at hand. ( )