After Life

content warning: death, grief

POV: multi
keywords/phrases: death, grief, loss, family, forgiveness
tropes: family drama, first love, unresolved issues
spice: 0🔥
language: 0🤬

read this if… you love complex characters and deeply emotional storylines!

the good

• The characters. This author writes very deep and complex characters, whether you love them or hate them.
• The storyline is so emotional, and it’s one that really makes the reader think about how they’d react to similar situations.
• Diversity among the characters. There is diversity in race, religion, and sexuality, which is nice to see.

the bad

• The optics on a couple things, although I’m certain the author didn’t recognize it as such, but they feel like things that someone should have seen and noted.
  • Amber (a white girl) treated Dina (a Black girl) horribly as a child, from best friends to ditching her completely. But yet Dina stays loyal and kind. In and of itself, not a bad thing. But it felt as though it made her somewhat subservient to Amber’s personality, which I did not like.
  • Without spoilers, I will say that there are elements of Amber’s story that are similar to Dina’s, yet Dina’s are glossed over.
  • Without spoilers, the act of betrayal Amber commits against Dina is reprehensible, and it doesn’t feel like it was given the gravity it should have.

This was a beautiful read, deeply emotional, although there were aspects I had some issues with. Forman never fails to draw me into the story, and then wring me out until I’m a teary mess. It tugs at the heart strings, and is incredibly thought-provoking.

The story shifts between different timelines for different characters, allowing for multiple perspectives. This technique really emphasizes how death affects not only the one who has passed but also those left behind to deal with the grief. Each perspective unlocks a little bit more about Amber, our heroine who was killed in a hit-and-run accident at just 17. We see the perspectives of her parents, her friends, her boyfriend, her sister, even a few only tangentially connected. Together, they tell a story that goes straight to the heart.

That being said, the optics of how Dina was portrayed and written bothered me. Do I believe it was intentional by the author? No, I don’t. But it does feel like something someone should have noticed along the way. The way Dina (a Black girl) was treated by Amber (a white girl) was at time atrocious. Yes, there is recognition of that, but there are moments when it felt like there was grace given to Amber for acts that don’t deserve that grace. That feels a little uncomfortable. It’s difficult to discuss without spoilers, but suffice it to say that there were things about Dina’s story that seemed just as important as Amber’s, but they were just glossed over while Amber’s was given huge significance.