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There are currently 24 member reviews
for Afterwards
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Shaun D. (Woodridge, IL)
A Real Letdown
After reading Rosamund Lupton's 1st book "Sisters" I eagerly awaited her sophmore effort. Was even happier to find out that I could receive an advance copy through BookBrowse but maybe I was too eager because I was very disappointed. I thought the literary device of having Grace & her daughter be like 'spirit detectives' was really reaching for something it never quite grasped. It didn't help that I found Grace to be a silly naive woman. The reveal of "who-dun-it" was a total letdown. at that point I was so irritated with Grace and her silly daughter that I just wanted the book to end. I really wanted to like this book just as much as I had Lupton's first book (which I loved) but unfortunately it just wasn't that good. It reminded me a lot of "Passages" where the main character did the same thing - run around and around a hospital never paying attention to anyone or anything but her own agenda. Totally clueless to everything except herself. Grace unfortuntately reminded me of that character.
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Shelly B. (STATEN ISLAND, NY)
Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton
The story is interesting, I wanted to know what would happen at the end. I enjoyed Rosamund's imagery, two examples are: P161 - "I'd seen each medical fact ... hitting her face like flying glass, cutting new lines." P381 - ..."A guest still at the table when the hosts are washing up the kitchen".
This type of writing added to the enjoyment of reading the book.
But, I think overall the story was a bit soapy in Grace's wanting to keep her daughter a teenager and not giving up control. She was not letting Jenny find her own different way.
For me, the vocabulary was too British, that is, too many words and phrases to figure out.
In addition, her pronoun use was very confusing.
I wasn't always sure who the speakers were at times. It took me a few sentences to realize who she was talking about.
Overall though, I enjoyed the book, and the story line was interesting. I kept trying to guess the ending.
My final say is I probably would not recommend this for a book club selection. Although I'm not unhappy I read this book
I would give the book a 3.5 rating.
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Wendy S. (schenectady, ny)
Afterwards
While I enjoyed the author's first book, I had to push myself to get through this one. All that the two central characters could see, hear, and do while "out of body" traveling was unbelievable. The mother's emotions seemed over the top at times, and the ending which I assume was supposed to make the reader joyful and teary eyed at the same time, only left me grimacing. I'm glad I didn't have to pay for this copy!
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