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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Apr 2020, 272 pages
Paperback:
Apr 2021, 288 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers
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The first novel for adults in almost fifteen years from the internationally bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies follows Antonia Vega, a retired English professor struggling to deal with the death of her husband, the appearance of a pregnant undocumented teen on her doorstep, and the disappearance of her sister.
Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves—lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack—but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words.
Afterlife is a compact, nimble, and sharply droll novel. Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust, it asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including—maybe especially—members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost?
Afterlife
Today, the magnet on her fridge proves prophetic: even creatures of habit can sometimes be forgetful.
You said it, Antonia agrees. She has just poured orange juice into the coffee in the mug she brought back from one of the fancier hotels. Must have been a special occasion for Sam to have chosen to stay there and for her to have allowed the expense.
You'd think you were born with money in your family, she liked to tease him.
I never had it to begin with, so I'm not afraid to spend it, Sam responded. He was always quick with a comeback. Used to get him in trouble with his dad growing up. Being fresh, it was called back then. Oh, the stories he told her.
Sam spoiled her, or tried to, and got scolded as his thanks—but it was the kind of scolding that must've made him suspect she liked being made something of.
There'll be no more of that now.
She is keeping to her routines, walking a narrow path through the loss—not allowing her thoughts to stray. Occasionally, ...
Afterlife is a thoughtful, nuanced book whose title conveys the great changes in its characters' identities—some associated with death and mourning and others with longing and an immigrant's sense of being "other." I would very much recommend this book, which uses subtlety and emotional detail to tell a complex, multifaceted and often sad story (Shelley S). This book spoke to me and I loved it. From the loss of a spouse and identity, to the complexities of family dynamics, and the question of how to deal and engage with a world run amok, the author explored my reality and concerns with kindness and humor (Christine P)...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers).
Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award-winning author of the New York Times estseller The Poet X
A stunning work of art that reminds readers Alvarez is, and always has been, in a class of her own. Jonathan Santlofer, author of The Widower's Notebook
Ravishing and heartfelt, Afterlife explores the complexities of familial devotion and tragedy against a backdrop of a world in crisis, and the ways in which we struggle to maintain hope, faith, compassion and love. This is Julia Alvarez at her best and most personal. Luis Alberto Urrea, bestselling author of The House of Broken Angels
The queen is back with the exact novel we need in this fraught era. A powerful testament of witness and humanity written with audacity and authority. Stewart O'Nan, author of Emily, Alone and Henry, Himself
From the very beginning, Julia Alvarez has proven herself a wise and funny writer with a sharp eye and ear for the joys and obligations of love and family. Now, in Afterlife, she applies her gifts to last things, as her Antonia struggles to move beyond the consolations of poetry and embrace the buzzing, blooming confusion of the world again.
In Julia Alvarez's novel Afterlife, Antonia's husband Sam dies suddenly of an aneurysm. An aneurysm is an enlargement or bulge in an artery from a weakening of the arterial wall that can cause internal bleeding if it ruptures. Most aneurysms don't rupture, and most people who have them don't experience any symptoms at all. However, when an aneurysm does burst, the effects tend to be sudden and severe, often causing complications (such as heart attack or stroke) that result in death.
Some people may associate the word "aneurysm" only with cerebral aneurysms, and it's true that many aneurysms occur in the blood vessels of the brain, but they can occur in any area of the body. Many aneurysms form in the aorta, the main artery and largest ...
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