After You'd Gone

Rating:
Summary: An Emotional Ride
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing, Breathtaking, Lingering Read
Review: I accidentally discovered this beautifully written book in the public library, and borrowed it becoz of the positive reviews printed inside the book.

It's difficult for me to catch up with the difficulties of this book indeed. I just thought it WONT be written by a American writer, since it's too difficult....luckily the theme is not difficult. A love story. And it's good. Powerful and impressing, the ending is a bit vaguely conveyed though, making me wonder if i hv missed some small paragraphs so that i don understand it. Looking forward to her latest work.

Rating:
Summary: A book that stays with you
Review: I just finished this book on Friday and it is still with me three days later. To me, that is the sign of a truly good story. And the story of John and Alice was a beautiful love story. Every aspect of this book, flipping from past to present, from John and Alice to Ann and Ben (Alice's parents)draws the reader that much more into the story. I have to say I wanted more from the ending. I needed confirmation from the author that what I think was happening was actually happening. This is not a book where you can flip to the ending to find out what happens or expect all the loose ends to be tied up.

This is going to be my #1 recommended book for the next while. Well done!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: My Mum sent me this for a birthday present, but I didn't get around to reading it for a while. After I had, I was so impressed with it that I sent her this one and the one after it for her Christmas. She already called to thank me! Got me feeling quite homesick too!

Excellent protrayal of love and loss and I felt I could finally understand something of what my mother went through when she lost her second husband after only a short time together.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: My Mum sent me this for a birthday present, but I didn't get around to reading it for a while. After I had, I was so impressed with it that I sent her this one and the one after it for her Christmas. She already called to thank me! Got me feeling quite homesick too!

Excellent protrayal of love and loss and I felt I could finally understand something of what my mother went through when she lost her second husband after only a short time together.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing book - I'd recommend it to anyone
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, must read
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Leaves you wanting for more.......
Review: This is a magnificently written book. I read this book in 2.5 days---which is a record-break for me, really, considering the fact that I am a busy mom-of-2 and never read! :)

The best feature of this book is the way it just grips you until the end. You start off with who the heck is Alice? Then it all just unfolds itself. The writer's style is magnificent, though, honestly, in the beginning, I did feel it was strange with the frequent change of tenses and people, incidents etc--- but soon enough, I was totally absorbed and couldn't wait until the end. The end was very emotional for me.

The romance part has been delivered wonderfully as well. In fact, it is a love story, extremely passionate and yet in the end, sad.

The length of the story is just right--- not too much, not too little.

I am currently living in London and I feel that this helped me understand the British part of this book really well.

Finally, Go For It! Read it and you will love it, I guarantee.

Rating:
Summary: Would highly recommend this British Fiction
Review: This was a wonderful book. I am thankful that I took notes throughout because the story lines switch back & forth from past to present so keep that in mind. The notes were helpful to me but may not be necessary for the more experienced reader.

It was a beautiful story of love, family secrets, and secrets revealed. I thought the characters were developed well.

The book included a side story that Dr. Coleman had custody of daughter Melanie & his wife lived with his best friend. Didn't think this had anything to do with the story however. The ending could have been developed a bit more. I felt it left me hanging somehow. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book & look forward to future books by this talented author.