After You've Gone [Hardcover]

Alice Adams (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Adams's new collection of 14 short stories exhibits many of the strengths and weaknesses of earlier efforts (i.e., Return Trips , LJ 8/85). That she is a fine wordsmith capable of insightful comment on the joys and sorrows of human relationships, there is no doubt. She is also adept at examining the impact of memory on our lives. In these stories, it is the memory of someone--and, in a couple of cases, "somecat," now absent--that stimulates the chain of events. Taken individually, the stories can be quite evocative, but when considered as a whole, the characters seem all "of a type" and reading becomes more and more tedious. Certainly, the voice of the introspective, intelligent, upper-middle-class woman deserves to be heard, but if Adams wants her message to reach a wider audience, she needs to expand her vision, to offer the reader a little more contrast. For public and larger academic libraries.
- David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 229 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (September 2, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394579267
• ISBN-13: 978-0394579269
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,937,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars There seems to be no end..., June 1, 2008

By 

E. S. Charpentier (Brainerd, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After You've Gone (Hardcover)

This collection of short stories is a series of views into the lives of women, mostly. These are not extraordinary women or even very important instances in their lives. In fact, all of them seemed exceedingly ordinary. Also, none of them really end. I mean, you come to the last page of the story, and that's all it is. The last page. No summing up, no climactic moment, just....the end. After the first few it was hard to invest in any of them, knowing the conflict wouldn't be resolved and you wouldn't have any idea whether they went on the way things were or made some sort of dynamic change. It all left me feeling a little...disconcerted. I like for stories, all of them, not just short stories, to have an ending. A denouement, a punchy line at the end that changes everything, something that makes you feel the story is over and you can go on to the next.
All the stories were exceedingly well-written, though. The characters were well developed, as well as the settings, so hard to do in the protracted space of a short story. My only issue is the lack of endings, but that's enough to ruin the whole thing for me. Another reader without my particular hang-up on this issue might like this collection just fine.

4.0 out of 5 stars after youd gone, March 12, 2004

By 

Elizabeth Krall "eekmama" (west hartford, ct United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: After You've Gone (Hardcover)

I really loved this book. It captures what real romance and falling in love is really like. The writing is smooth, with deceptively simple prose. Alice
Adams captures family conflict withhout cliche. Her evocation of the love between a man and a woman rang so true without being syrupy. The mystery involved is gripping. I also enjoyed the references to North Berwick and London. Adams evokes the setting very well

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Alice Adams Classic, March 6, 2000

By 

"tushymonster" - See all my reviews

This review is from: After You've Gone (Hardcover)

This is another one of Ms. Adams collections of short stories. Like the others it refers back to some of the characters in other books (like Popsie). Ms. Adams is so excellent in her description one can almost feel the fog roll into the San Francisco bay as the stories are read. The stories of how children are affected as adults by their parents alcoholism were my favorites in this collection.