Monday, May 28, 2012

Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

3.5 Star

The school is on fire. Her children are inside.

Grace runs toward the burning building, desperate to reach them.

In the aftermath of the devastating fire which tears her family apart, Grace embarks on a mission to find the person responsible and protect her children from further harm.  This fire was not an accident, and her daughter Jenny may still be in grave danger. Grace is the only one who can discover the culprit, and she will do whatever it takes to save her family and find out who committed the crime that rocked their lives.  While unearthing truths about her life that may help her find answers, Grace learns more about everyone around her -- and finds she has courage she never knew she possessed.

Sabrina-Kate - 3.5 Star

I enjoyed Afterwards, but unfortunately it frustrated me at times because I was anxious for the ending to be revealed in order to know who really caused the tragic fire which is a testament to the power of the story within. The premise of two people in comas being able to bond as they did in waking life was an interesting one which seemed to somewhat work in this case, despite my initial reservations about it.

I did however keep vacillating on what I was feeling about this book. At times I was very hooked, other times I was hoping a chapter would move on already, sometimes I found the story strange and utterly unbelievable and then I'd find myself empathizing with the characters. The feelings of the spirits/angels or whatever the main characters are purported to be seemed to vary and it didn't always seem to make sense to me how they would travel or act.

The other troubling point is the fact that the mother seems to be narrating much of the story to her husband though it doesn't always remain in that voice so it can somewhat become a bit confusing. All in all, I enjoyed the book but didn't love it. The story was good because it was unpredictable but unfortunately I felt it was also a bit much in the end.

Thank you to Crown Publishing for our review copy!

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