Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Afterwife by Polly Williams


Review by Charlotte 




Sophie Brady dies young after a traffic accident.  She then attends her own funeral and watches her friends mourn her.  Sophie has moved out of her life as a human, but still can watch those she left behind.  Unfortunately, it seems that only animals will realize she is there.

Sophie’s friends, including Jenny her best friend, have banded together and are helping Ollie, Sophie’s husband and Freddie, Sophie’s son.  They bring meals, arrange daycare, and anything else that the grieving Ollie and Freddie need.  Sophie realizes that he needs more than just things and decided that Ollie needs to find love again and sets about finding the perfect woman. 

As Jenny keeps helping Ollie and spending time with Freddie, her feelings change.  They all help each other mourn Sophie, but also become friends. Not friends because of Sophie, but friends with each other.  Although Jenny is engaged to Sam with the wedding very quickly approaching she is struggling with getting excited for her wedding.  She just feels that something is wrong.  Something just isn’t quite right with the reasoning that Sam is pushing her to get married now, after a long relationship with no rush towards marriage.  Her feelings are also changing.  She is no longer enjoying spending time with Sam and is spending more and more time with Ollie and Freddie, which causes more conflict in her relationship with Sam.

All the characters were amazing in Afterwife.   Everyone was easy to relate to and believe in.  Tash made me cringe.  She seemed to be that friend who really wasn’t. Taking the information her friends shared and using it to get what she wanted.  When she brought drugs into the story she instantly became that character I hated.   Sophie made me wonder.  Can the dead see their life and affect what happens after they are gone?  I loved how she only wanted what was best for Freddie, Ollie, and Jenny.  The relationship between Ollie and Jenny was perfect.  At first just being there remembering Sophie, then becoming friends, and then caring more and more.  Both were cautious and not rushing into anything, actually trying to deny how close they were becoming.  It was great to see a true relationship develop, not just sex and lust. 
 
Afterwife is a story of love, friends, grief and loss, and finally finding love again.  I was worried that it would be sad or morbid, but it really wasn’t.  The story was fun to read, yes I giggled at some parts.  I truly enjoyed this from the beginning to the end and cannot wait to share it with my friends.

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