Customer Reviews

After You'd Gone

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm an avid reader, an oftentimes jaded reader, and a book has to be nothing short of remarkable to make me visibly emotional. But Maggie O'Farrell's book made me both laugh and cry out loud, and kept me up all night until I finished.

After You'd Gone is a series of flashbacks, written from different perspectives, that together form a highly emotional family portrait.

You can't help but be drawn in by the characters. You feel for them, you understand them, and you ultimately care what happens to them. Oftentimes, British novels with British characters are a little more difficult for American readers to relate to. But this is not the case with O'Farrell's book.

Male or female, young or old, everyone can appreciate this story. It is an easy read, full of humor, romance, and grief - a unique combination that will stay with you long after you are finished.

I bought this book in a store yesterday on a whim - it's her first book so I've never heard anything about her - and I stayed up until 4am last night to finish it. I don't read much British (or Scottish, in this case) fiction but after "After You'd Gone" I fully intend to.

First off, it's a fascinating, addictive storyline: you honestly will not be able to put it down. Secondly, the characters are so real and recognisable they seem to reach out of the page and grab you. It's beautifully written; O'Farrell has a deft, poetic control of language. The central part is a really passionate love story. And it's that very rare thing, especially in debut novels - completely original.

It was particularly interesting for me because it centres around an affair between Jewish man and a Gentile woman, giving an insight into modern Judaeo-Christian relationships in Britain - which is not something you find every day in British fiction.

I'd advise everyone to read this. I can't wait to hear more from Ms Maggie O'Farrell.

Alice is a 28-year-old young woman who tells us on page one that she took a train from London to Scotland on the day she decided to kill herself. It won't do you any good to skip to the end to find out why. This isn't that kind of story and the answer is not all that simple, although at first you might suspect it to be. The plot is ordered in a deliberate, yet natural way that jumps back and forth in time through the eyes of Alice, her mother, her grandmother, and her husband until the individual pieces add up to our total understanding. Each little vignette is also a fascinating character study in which the reader is invited to look and draw his/her own conclusions.

A story of deep complexity and maturity, it is hard to believe that this is Maggie O'Farrell's first novel. It has all the elements of great literature, love and loss, trust and betrayal, and the sins of one generation visited upon the next. Yet the writing flows naturally and easily. I found it a compulsive read. I was so involved with the characters that I could not leave them alone for long until I reached the last page. I highly recommend this one and look forward to more of this author's work.

After You'd Gone was such an emotional book ~ in so many ways. I have never read a book that touched on love and loss in such a beautiful and right to the core kinda way, as this book does. You will feel every feeling and thought that each of these wonderful characters goes through ~ whether it's good or bad.

Maggie O'Farrell has done a wonderful job at bringing the reader right into the story. You can't help but wrap your arms around Alice, the main character. You will feel the depth of her love, the deep wounds of her loss, and the helplessness of her being in a coma.

My only wish for this brilliant book, was that the ending didn't come to such an abrupt end. I felt like I invested so much of my heart and time into this story and it just ended ... BOOM... just like that. A very quick ending that didn't do the story justice, in my opinion.

This was a truly wonderful book to read. It captures your heart. It made me laugh and it made me cry.

It is the story of a young woman who while in a coma, after supposedly trying to kill herself, remembers back on her life and on her one great love and the loss of that love.

It also is a story of family and betrayal. Above all it is a wonderful story of perfect love. It really will stay with me for awhile.

I read this book maybe six months ago and it still stays with me. It is one of the best books I've ever read. It deals with love and relationships, and families and how to leave and live with them, and mothers and daughters. All three big issues that most people have some kind of experience of. Maggie O'Farrell explores this beautifully. The story is fantastic, the writing is great, the people are terrific. It's not a simple book, it's nothing like the Bridget Jones-books that sort of deal with the same thing. This one will probably cause you a lot of pain as well as happiness. I know I walked straight to my boyfriend after I finished and told him how very very much I love him and how glad I am that I've found him. It's that kind of book. And they don't come very often. Please read it!! I just wait for the next book from Maggie O'Farrell.

This book has it all, love, loss, humour and exquisite writing. The full range of emotions are explored and will leave the reader in anticipation of more from this wonderful new writer.

Alice Raikes is the key character in the novel. In the opening scene she boards a train bound for Scotland to see her sisters. While at the train station she encounters something horrible, something that will leave leave her changed forever. She returns to London only to be involved in an accident which leaves her in a coma.

Through a series of flashbacks we are transported back and forth in time to enter into the lives of Alice, the love of her life~ John, her sisters, her grandmother and of course her mother.

The end result is a moving tale that made me laugh at times and cry at others. I loved the character of Alice, her determination and passion for her soul mate was astounding. All true love should feel like this.

I did not want this book to end. The story, the characters and the writing were all part of the journey. It was an emotional rollercoaster that I did not want to finish. Maggie O'Farrell is an author to look for. You will not be disappointed. I know that I wasn't.

This book was a worthwhile read, even though I did not care for the style in which it was written. Like so many new books these days, it is written in stream-of-conciousness style, jumping around in time, and in viewpoints of characters. If you can get past that, it is a wonderful exploration of women's feelings and emotions-specifically, a woman, her mother, and her grandmother. The book follows the romantic relationships of both the woman and her mother. The main character is in a coma after being hit by a car. She is in a Jewish-Gentile relationship. I would recommend this book to women--a book by a woman, for women, about women (most men wouldn't relate to this book). What I enjoyed about it most was that this author is extremely good at letting you feel all of the characters' emotions. All of the characters were interesting, and most of them were likable. You will definitely experience a lot of emotions reading this book. It's a little confusing at first, but once you start reading, the book is hard to put down.

This novel has definately made my list of new favorites. A fantastic piece of writing, the author's got a uncanny ability to evoke emotion like few I have ever read. If you have ever been deep in the throws of love, or had your heart broken, Ms. O'Farrell's writing will touch you deeply. This is not a happy story, but it is a superb one and ultimately redeeming on many levels. Books this good are rare, you will not be disappointed.

This book stole my heart - I cried with it, smiled with it, laughed. O'Farrell truly creates characters that the reader identifies with, she develops them and makes you feel as though they are real people. Her exploration of the subject was better than others I have read, and it wasn't toned down or softened - this book will make you hurt, and that is the beauty of it.