BookTalk
“Anyone who’s had something truly crappy happen to them will tell you: It’s all about Before and After.” (6, ePub ed.)
So begins this tale of After. Laurel Meisner and her once-friend-turned-bad-boy neighbor David ditch their respective families plans to grab ice cream after a seder dinner. David claimed calculus homework with a friend. But given the fact that he’d practically quit school this past year…his excuse was fooling no one. Laurel, however, was in the middle of an intense round of SAT studying. I.E. unyoke: meaning to separate. During Before her SAT Prep mental image for the word was separating the yoke from the white of an egg. When a police officer appears at Laurel’s home hours later to inform her of the car accident that has killed her family her first thought is that she now has a whole new SAT Prep image for unyoke: to separate.
Now begins the After. The grief, the breakdowns, the breakthroughs, and the survival skills. Laurel’s journey is real and at times it’s not pretty. Best friends don’t always know how to be supportive. Hot guys are just trying their best. And maybe the one person she should not fall for is the one she does. After is a hard place to be…but theres no going back to Before. And Laurel will learn that living her life on her own terms is exactly what she needs.
Review
This story was just so real. I personally lived through a death in my family while I was in High School. Granted it wasn’t the mass casualty situation that Laurel lived through, but losing my sister was more than enough to have me empathizing with the main character. So much of what Castle was writing was exactly how I remember feeling. Laurel was doing things and responding to stuff the same way I did.
I mean I had no major breakdowns in public places. And I didn’t hit the low that Laurel did but some of the little things. The allowing yourself moments of pretending everything was ok…that the people you loved were still here…just out, or down the hall, or asleep. I got that.
I know that this book has had some mixed reviews. And it’s for sure not everyone’s idea of a pleasant read. But I think that as adults we sometimes forget that teens can feel a need to and/or even enjoy watching a fictional character go through something tragic. It’s what realistic fiction is all about. Watching a person deal with a situation in a true life kind of way. It appeases that voyeuristic need in all of us.
Really, that’s about it. There is no big bang, no perfect coming of age, no white horse to save the day, or paranormal angel to reconnect the family. What I can tell you is that this book is real. So real it makes me feel like Castle must have experienced something similar in her own life. When Laurel’s potential boyfriend hugs her delicately she thinks “Seriously, Joe, you can touch me without breaking me. In fact, you might even put me a little bit back together.” (142, ePub). My own potential boyfriend at the time showed up at my house during my own day After…he gave me the biggest, warmest, most crushing, bear-hug I’d ever had. It was a hug that touched me so deeply I wrote about it in our wedding vows 9 years later.
In the end this book might not be for everyone. But if you’re a lover of realistic fiction this well written novel will fit like a glove.
Rating: 9/10 One of the best realistic fiction novels I’ve ever done.
Sara O
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