| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
After You.,
By
This review is from: After You: A Novel (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
About a hundred pages into this book, I was wondering how I got caught reading chick lit (nothing against chick lit) and one with a very unlikable main character. BUT somewhere along the way, I was pleasantly surprised by the turn the book takes and I found myself engrossed.
Ellie's best friend Lucy has just been brutally murdered while walking her daughter to school. Ellie flies out to Notting Hill to comfort her husband Greg and daughter Sophie. She is overcome with grief at the death of her closest friend and she deals with her grief by wrapping herself in Sophie. They read The Secret Garden together as Ellie tries to get Sophie to begin speaking again, something she stopped doing after her mother's death, and as a way for Sophie to lose herself in a world outside of her present one that contains mostly grief and the violence of her mother's death. My problem with Ellie was that as admirable as her flying half way around the world to help her dead friend's family may have been, she abandons her husband under the guise of "Sophie needs me". I found myself rolling my eyes through at least 100 pages as it was hard to believe that this devotion to Sophie was totally selfless. There was something in there that felt very self centered and exceedingly selfish. What kind of person abandons their job and husband for an untold amount of time and expects everyone to just understand? But somewhere along the way as Ellie becomes more honest with herself, I began to understand her better and feel more compassionate toward her. It was obvious that she idolized her friend Lucy and in her mind Lucy had the perfect life: beautiful, rich and handsome husband, intelligent daughter, fabulous job and living in one of the best parts of London. But as Ellie begins to get a grip on the life she is loosing by her choices, she begins to examine herself and discovers things about her friend that she may never have allowed herself to see before now. Ellie begins to see how both she and her husband had lost themselves after the loss of their baby and despite living in the same house, they had become strangers to each other. This book tackles some very hard and compelling lessons about marriage and all relationships in general. While its not a "and they lived happily ever after" kind of end, it is hopeful and leaves the reader pondering it long after you are done.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Book!,
By
This review is from: After You: A Novel (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Julie Buxbaum's The Opposite of Love was one of my favorite books of 2008. I'm a huge fan of Buxbaum's writing, so when she told me that she had a new book coming out in August, I couldn't wait to read it. I was a little nervous because I had very high expectations, but I shouldn't have worried. After You is a thoughtful and touching book that I couldn't put down.
I loved so many things about After You that I don't even know where to start. The character of Ellie was wonderfully written. I sympathized with her completely - her panic at the death of her best friend Lucy, her unconditional love for Lucy's daughter Sophie, and her inability to move on with life after the death of her unborn child, Oliver. Though we are in very different places in our lives, I saw a lot of myself in Ellie, a lot of my own hesitation and fears. I think that is what I love most about Julie Buxbaum's writing - her ability to develop three-dimensional characters that are completely real. I also really enjoyed Buxbaum's use of the children's novel The Secret Garden in order to help Sophie overcome her grief at her mother Lucy's death. As a child, I absolutely loved The Secret Garden. But more than that, Buxbaum's premise that books can help us cope, even in the darkest times, really spoke to me. It wasn't just Sophie who healed through The Secret Garden; Ellie used it as a way to deal with her grief as well. That was a wonderful message that permeated through the book. Additionally, Julie Buxbaum's writing is absolutely beautiful. She has a way with words that is difficult to describe, so I'm just going to share some passages here with you. "Perhaps these are the most frightening moments of married life, when you turn to your partner and realize you have promised to spend the rest of your life with someone you no longer recognize. Someone you can no longer even see.'" "Wanting may be the worst feeling of all, next to hope. But hope is the worst. Hope is the moment before peeing on the negative stick. Hope is the moment before they tell you they can't find a heartbeat. Hope is a setup, a bait and switch, an illusion." The literary quality of Buxbaum's writing elevates After You to an entirely different level. As a result, I believe that even if you aren't a fan of chick lit or women's fiction, you will find something to love in After You. I can't gush enough about how wonderful Julie Buxbaum's novels are, or how much I enjoyed After You. The characters were wonderfully drawn and the story was compelling. I couldn't put the book down because I was so anxious to find out what happens to Ellie, to make sure that she learns to live again after Lucy's death. This was an absolutely wonderful book that I highly recommend!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love this book...,
By
This review is from: After You: A Novel (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Let me start by saying that I haven't finished the book yet. I don't have to finish it to know how I feel about it and I LOVE it. Other reviewers tell you what the story is about so I won't repeat it.
I don't have alot of time to read, I have a very active 2 year old but I've been picking it up when he goes to sleep and I find myself very much looking forward to it even though that means I don't get to watch the news. I've never read this author before but I will most definitely look at her other books. This is so emotional and it pulls you in. I almost hate to go to bed when I want to read! It's been a really long time since I've read a book that had that effect on me. This story is so emotional, I can "see" the characters and Sophie is a beautiful, struggling little girl. I want to hold her and soothe her, I want to hug Ellie and thank her for taking care of a child who isn't her responsibility. I can't wait to get even further into this book but I'm not looking forward to it ending. I'm so glad I chose this book to read, I love to read and this book is a good example of what a great book should be. I just finished the book. It's a GREAT book, probably the best I've read in a few years. I didn't see the way it ended coming at all and it's good to have a surprise once in a while! I wish it went on and on, letting me watch Ellie's life unfolding even further. I will definitely hold onto this book so I can read it again later. Love it!!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
