Life After Yes: A Novel
3.5/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
“[A] funny and a wickedly accurate picture of the life of a particular breed of Manhattanites—and it’s also thought-provoking and deeply moving.”
—Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project
A young woman deals with the aftermath of her father’s death while she struggles to commit to a future with her fiancé in Life After Yes, the poignant, wry, and very accomplished debut novel from Aidan Donnelley Rowley. A story of hope and light in the darkness in the bestselling vein of Juliette Fay, Cecilia Ahearn, and Jacqueline Sheehan, newcomer Rowley has captured all the angst and pain of truly becoming an adult, and has done so with unusual heart and grace, inspiring Julie Buxbaum to rave, “Her flawed and complex characters will stick with you long after Life After Yes’s final pages.”
Aidan Donnelley Rowley
Born and raised in New York City, Aidan Donnelley Rowley graduated from Yale University and received her law degree from Columbia University. She is the author of a previous novel, Life After Yes, and the creator of the Happier Hours Literary Salons. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and three daughters.
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Reviews for Life After Yes
26 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Talk about an unlikeable main character! It reminds me of a movie that's advertised as a romantic comedy that's neither romantic nor a comedy, a la "The Break Up.". I'm not sure why this couple stayed together.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I was fascinated by this hard working, hard drinking young woman, who was far more obsessed with looking good on her wedding day than she was with her groom.Quinn's groom was a sweet mama's boy, but the book wasn't really about him. I had trouble keeping Quinn's friends straight, but the book wasn't about them either. All the supporting characters (her family, her coworkers, her personal trainer/therapist) were fun and worked well enough.The odd thing about this book was that I kept thinking that a happy ending would consist of Quinn and Sage realizing that neither of them was ready to get married-- they both needed to grow up a little. You'd think that I'd hope that they'd do that growing up, because it seems like they could make a nice couple down the road, but that wasn't what I was thinking.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary: Prudence Quinn O'Malley, the protagonist of Life After Yes, is whisked off to Paris by her boyfriend for a romantic weekend and a proposal. Back in her New York lawyer life with a sparkly diamond on her hand, she has doubts about her future, her fiancé and herself. Her father, recently killed in the September 11 attacks, is very present in her memory and she desperately wishes for his wisdom as she navigates that rocky period between the giving of one ring and the giving of a second.Full disclosure: Aidan Donnelley Rowley is the author of the Ivy League Insecurities blog, which I read daily without fail. Thus the fact that I "know" her a fraction and have some measure of interaction with her, compared to all those anonymous authors out there, may colour my review slightly; although I have tried not to let it. I would definitely recommend the blog!Quinn is of course ex-Ivy League, a lawyer, slim, beautiful, fashionable, with a good salary and an investment banker partner. So far, so standard. But Quinn is not a black-and-white protagonist, she definitely has her flaws: her drinking verges on the alcoholic, she's clearly not yet over her long-term boyfriend whom she dumped not all that long ago in order to take up with her now fiancé, and she fails quite a few moral tests during the course of the book. I savoured this very realistic character - not the perfect athletic superwoman so many authors choose, and not the ditzy airhead (see Bridget Jones, Confessions of a Shopaholic...). I wanted to believe better of her on several occasions, and it's not often you feel let down by the heroine. (Although Jane Eyre and I are going to have words one day about her running off into the wilderness without any money and leaving her belonging on the coach. Because that was all pretty stupid and not really worthy of Jane). Quinn's grief is crippling and real, and this (as many of the reviewers pointed out on the cover) gives depth and texture to what could otherwise be passed off as chick-lit fluff. I loved Quinn's mother - wise, feisty, suffering her grief in private, but clearly a woman who knows how to have her fun, and knows her daughter very well. Sage didn't convince me - he seemed pretty dull. What did Quinn see in him? His mother is terrible, truly awful, but there is a beautiful moment towards the end which does eventually endear her to the reader. His father, like Quinn's, is absent, although for very different reasons, and I think Rowley didn't particularly want Sage's father to contend with the strength of the void left by Quinn's father's death. I struggled with most of the minor characters - Kayla was too extreme, Avery too pale - I didn't really understand why Quinn would be friends with them. Quinn's brother Michael was very interesting and I was sorry not to see more of him in the plot.Rowley has chosen a particularly unusual period of life about which to write - I am far more used to "getting the guy" being the resolution of the story. We follow Quinn from near-commitment to actual commitment and it permits us to live her doubts, her fears - all those emotions that brides-to-be are supposed to suffer through, but silently.All in all, a very enjoyable read, most commendable as a debut, and I hope to read plenty more of Rowley's writing (not just on her blog!)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From My Blog...Deeply philosophical, sharp and witty, without a doubt Aidan Donnelley Rowley's book, Life After Yes, will be one of my top picks for the year. Reading Life After Yes is similar to spending time listening to your best friend, the one with all the wit, yet never realising they are witty, telling their story. I personally have a friend like this and I adore listening his stories so for me, Rowley's writing feels familiar and her characters quickly become friends. The main character, Prudence Quinn O'Malley is going through a series of major life changes. Her father was killed in one of the towers during 9/11, a few months later she is whisked off to Paris and becomes engaged, all the while trying to navigate the world of being a relatively new attorney. As Quinn thinks of her life she has disturbing dreams of her ex-boyfriend Phelps, her current Fiancé Sage McIntyre and Victor, her personal trainer. Quinn is a flawed and uncertain, making her endearing to the reader, along with her quick wit and unpretentious behavior, she is a delightful character. Rowley writes a masterfully crafted novel, with flashbacks, personal character revelations, and descriptive imagery. Throughout the novel it is quite clear Rowley wants to share her love of Manhattan with the reader. Quinn's two best friends Avery and Kayla are complete opposites and together comprise both sides of Quinn. The subject matter is at times rather deep, philosophical, and uncertain, yet Rowley uses her characters' sharp wits to keep the story from becoming too heavy or depressing. Life After Yes is a novel that the reader will fall into and not want to end. Past, present and the fear of the unknown future are all intricately woven into this wonderful book. I highly recommend Life After Yes to any reader, and strongly advise book discussion groups to chose this novel.