AFTER LIFE, Gayle Forman, Quill Tree Books (Harper Collins), ISBN 978-0-0633-4614-7, January 2025, $19.99, 272pp.
After Life is a fine example of my long-held belief that one is never too old for a “Young Adult” book. The story begins with a lyrical description of a young woman riding her bicycle home, and expressing the pleasures of that kind of homeward journey. Once there she is confused by some things that seem out of place, but then she hears her mother pulling into the garage, and when she goes out to say hello, her mother begins to scream….
Amber, who had been thinking about her upcoming Senior Prom and graduation, finds out that she had died seven years previously in a hit-and-run accident. Her little sister is now the age she had been, and many of the fundamental relationships that we expect in our lives had changed. The story unfolds as a series of short chapters, alternating between her experiences, and providing the stories of people around her, spread over many years, but creating a tapestry view of the life she had lived. She tries to respond to the new world of her hometown, with mixed results.
The interweaving threads of her life, family, friends, and acquaintances slowly come together to create a new view of all these lives. The story is beautifully told, with great emotional depth, and I hope readers will enjoy it as much as I did.
