Oh, this book. Sigh. In the beginning I had no interest in reading yet another YA contemporary talking about grieving the death of family members. Theres really, truly only so much I can read about grief plots. But then, inspired by high praise from early reviewers, I was convinced to give THE BEGINNING OF AFTER a shotonly to wish, after a long and drawn-out struggle, that I had just stuck with my original instincts.
To give credit where credit is due, I actually quite admire what THE BEGINNING OF AFTER attempted to do, and that is to talk about the less sympathetic aspects of grief. Meaning: When strangers learn of your tragedy and offer to do you favors, do you accept or reject? When classmates start paying more attention to you as a result, how do you react? I admire that Jennifer Castle unflinchingly let Laurel explore these unappealing and perhaps even shocking aspects of losing loved ones, because its the truth: tragedy is tragedy, but tragedy in some cases is also opportunity, and wed be willingly blindfolding ourselves if we dont acknowledge that.
However, I forced myself to get to the halfway point before I finally had to knowledge that absolutely nothing relevant to the premise has happened yet. The first half of the book is such a trove of Things to Avoid When Writing Yet Another YA Novel About Grief: popular girls approaching the MC, formerly uninterested guys approaching the MC, former best friend drifting away, etc. You might ask, wheres David? as the very idea of him begins to seem far more interesting than reading about every single minute detail of Laurels life. Well, you see, thats a very good question. Because for the first half of the book, Davids mostly on the other side of the country. Hows that for plot and character development?!
Readers, Im done. Maybe the second half of this overly long book has some merit, but if youve given me a 400-plus page book in which approximately 150 of the first 200 pages could be condensed into three chapters, Im going to hand it write back to you and tell you to do some heavy rethinking in terms of revisions before you ask me to take it seriously.
To give credit where credit is due, I actually quite admire what THE BEGINNING OF AFTER attempted to do, and that is to talk about the less sympathetic aspects of grief. Meaning: When strangers learn of your tragedy and offer to do you favors, do you accept or reject? When classmates start paying more attention to you as a result, how do you react? I admire that Jennifer Castle unflinchingly let Laurel explore these unappealing and perhaps even shocking aspects of losing loved ones, because its the truth: tragedy is tragedy, but tragedy in some cases is also opportunity, and wed be willingly blindfolding ourselves if we dont acknowledge that.
However, I forced myself to get to the halfway point before I finally had to knowledge that absolutely nothing relevant to the premise has happened yet. The first half of the book is such a trove of Things to Avoid When Writing Yet Another YA Novel About Grief: popular girls approaching the MC, formerly uninterested guys approaching the MC, former best friend drifting away, etc. You might ask, wheres David? as the very idea of him begins to seem far more interesting than reading about every single minute detail of Laurels life. Well, you see, thats a very good question. Because for the first half of the book, Davids mostly on the other side of the country. Hows that for plot and character development?!
Readers, Im done. Maybe the second half of this overly long book has some merit, but if youve given me a 400-plus page book in which approximately 150 of the first 200 pages could be condensed into three chapters, Im going to hand it write back to you and tell you to do some heavy rethinking in terms of revisions before you ask me to take it seriously.
I will begin by saying I typically need a good romance for me to enjoy a novel, and while The Beginning of After does have a thin ribbon of a love story, the real story is of Laurel. Its watching a girl be smashed apart and then pieced back together. Jennifer Castles debut novel is thought-provoking and moving, and its impossible not to fall for Laurel.
Laurel is quite the average teenager (stressing about SATs and boys) until the night her father, mother, and brother are all killed in a horrific accident. In the weeks that follow, she keeps pushing her emotions deeper and deeper under until they surface at the most inconvenient of times and she breaks. Then begins the painstakingly grueling process of letting herself heal and figuring out how to live in a world that makes absolutely no sense.
The journey that Laurel embarks on is both heart wrenching and hope inspiring. There is a simple elegance to this story that rings true with everyone because this is something that happens in everyday life. The threat of a vampire attack is fairly non-existent in everyday life. The idea that your entire family could be torn from you in a single, horrific moment? That is a jarring reality that this novel forces you to confront and accept.
The Beginning of After is a book I had to digest slowly and in increments. Castle does such a realistic job of putting you in the moment with Laurel, that it becomes easy to share the burden of her pain on an emotional level. I found I needed to walk away from the book several times (often stopping in each room of my house to check on family members and reassure myself of their location) so that I could breathe. By the conclusion of the book, I saw Laurels hope shining like a beacon on the horizon.
Laurel is quite the average teenager (stressing about SATs and boys) until the night her father, mother, and brother are all killed in a horrific accident. In the weeks that follow, she keeps pushing her emotions deeper and deeper under until they surface at the most inconvenient of times and she breaks. Then begins the painstakingly grueling process of letting herself heal and figuring out how to live in a world that makes absolutely no sense.
The journey that Laurel embarks on is both heart wrenching and hope inspiring. There is a simple elegance to this story that rings true with everyone because this is something that happens in everyday life. The threat of a vampire attack is fairly non-existent in everyday life. The idea that your entire family could be torn from you in a single, horrific moment? That is a jarring reality that this novel forces you to confront and accept.
The Beginning of After is a book I had to digest slowly and in increments. Castle does such a realistic job of putting you in the moment with Laurel, that it becomes easy to share the burden of her pain on an emotional level. I found I needed to walk away from the book several times (often stopping in each room of my house to check on family members and reassure myself of their location) so that I could breathe. By the conclusion of the book, I saw Laurels hope shining like a beacon on the horizon.
