Afterlife

Written by Julia Alvarez

Narrated by Alma Cuervo

From the internationally bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents comes “a stunning work of art that reminds readers Alvarez is, and always has been, in a class of her own.” (Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award–winning author of the New York Times bestseller The Poet X)

Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep.

Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves—lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack—but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words.

Afterlife is a compact, nimble, and sharply droll novel. Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust, it asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including—maybe especially—members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost?

A Time Magazine Must-Read Book of 2020
A Most-Anticipated Book of the Year: O, The Oprah Magazine * The New YorkTimes * The Washington Post * Vogue * Bustle * BuzzFeed * Ms. magazine * The Millions * Huffington Post * PopSugar * The Lily * Goodreads * Library Journal * LitHub * Electric Literature

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781980077947

Julia Alvarez

Born in New York City in 1950, Julia Alvarez’s parents took her back to their native country, the Dominican Republic, shortly after her birth. Ten years later, the family was forced to flee to the US because of her father’s involvement in a plot to overthrow the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Alvarez has written many bestselling novels including: How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies, ¡Yo!, In the Name of Salomé, and Afterlife. She has also written collections of poems, non-fiction, and numerous books for young readers. The Cemetery of Untold Stories is her most recent novel. Her awards and recognitions include the Pura Belpré and Américas Awards for her books for young readers, the Hispanic Heritage Award, and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award. In 2013, she received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama.

Reviews for Afterlife

[Tersia Theron · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thoughtful. Uplifting in a humane way. Well read. Thank you.

[Amber Z. Khan · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The sound kept disappearing for good 20 seconds or so, missing some parts of the book.

[Mari Melting · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A beautifully told story of grief, family and immigration. Narration was very good.

[Leslie Cohen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story was interesting, the manner in which it was told was engaging. It made me contemplate my own life.

[e raptaki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well written, excellent , it was also very well read

[mamzel_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I realized I had not read any books by Soto and chose this one to rectify that situation.Chuy is a young man, full of himself, rather average but enjoying life. In a club men's room he makes a fatal error and admires another man's yellow shoes. The response was three knife wounds and Chuy died on the floor there. His spirit (ghost, whatever) rises up and sees his body on the floor and quickly figures out what is going on. He uses his new situation to float around visiting his parents and friends and even runs into the man who knifed him. He also meets folks in the same situation, one a very pretty girl.This story was in the same vein as Lovely Bones but not nearly as impactful.

[smilesalltheway_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thought this book was filled with lots of creativity. I loved the true love story in the book and I loved how the writter wrote it. If you're into true love, you schould read this book! I read this book when I was in grade 6 but I recommend it for grade 7 and up.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Seventeen and life is good for Chuy, until he attends a dance at a local nightclub and without a warning is brutally stabbed and murdered.Chuy's spirit is now free to observe the love and grief of his parents and friends. Chuy's spirit is able to watch as the man with the yellow shoes who stabbed him continues a journey down the wrong paths.This is a well written book that is touching and thought provoking. Never grasping at sentimentality, rather it is a soft ball flying in the sky.Recommended.

[replayguy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A stabbing results in the main character, Chuy, becoming a ghost. He learns about life in his town as he "haunts" and "jaunts" his way around. I wish I had noticed the glossary of Spanish terms used throughout the book, it's in the back. This may help you enjoy the book more.

[lilibrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Jesus, called Chewy by his friends, decides to go out to a club one night. In the men's room, he comments on a man's shoes, and is knifed. Dead, he travels around Fresno meeting other dead people and visiting with his family, as he slowly slips away entirely.

[syedbukhari-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

this book was about a boy who tell that what happen to him at school and with is friend, he lived happy. he hang around with them. he say when your an ordinary boy you need to take shower, smell clean and dress nice. but if you can't do that then you need to suck it up what ever people say.well he was that kind of boy. but he was not that bat he always try to be clean. he was living his normal life at school and at home. he did all those stuff that other people. once he saw a girl he started liking. she was in the school. he try to talk to her but he couldn't. he was to scared. finally he talk to that girl.they both met talk to each other and be came friends. then they be came boy friend and girl friend. until in the book i red that they were dead some body killed that boy ind the end and he was telling the story.

[bettyjo_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

teenage boy dies and sees his life from above.

[yalibcat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Soto plucks Eddie’s murdered cousin, Jesus, out of Buried Onions to tell this story. In The Afterlife we learn that Jesus is in the bathroom of a local dance club when he casually mentions to another guy that he likes his yellow shoes. The guy takes the comment the wrong way and stabs Jesus to death. As he’s dying, Jesus’ ghost rises from his body so that he is looking down on himself, watching his own murder. In the next few days, Jesus follows Yellow Shoes around town, watches his family, and even knows that his mom has given his cousin Eddie a gun to find and shoot his murderer. Eventually, Jesus meets up with another ghost, Crystal, who died from suicide. The two fall in love and finally fade away into eternity.Readers who like Buried Onions will like the familiar subplot of Eddie’s cousin who was killed by the man in Yellow Shoes. We learn, though, that the murderer is not who Eddie suspected in Buried Onions. The idea of seeing death from the perspective of a teenage ghost is fresh and one teens will enjoy. However, the relationship with Crystal seems quick and contrived; the ending disappoints.