After You

Let me start by saying that I haven't finished the book yet. I don't have to finish it to know how I feel about it and I LOVE it. Other reviewers tell you what the story is about so I won't repeat it. I don't have alot of time to read, I have a very active 2 year old but I've been picking it up when he goes to sleep and I find myself very much looking forward to it even though that means I don't get to watch the news. I've never read this author before but I will most definitely look at her other books. This is so emotional and it pulls you in. I almost hate to go to bed when I want to read! It's been a really long time since I've read a book that had that effect on me. This story is so emotional, I can "see" the characters and Sophie is a beautiful, struggling little girl. I want to hold her and soothe her, I want to hug Ellie and thank her for taking care of a child who isn't her responsibility. I can't wait to get even further into this book but I'm not looking forward to it ending. I'm so glad I chose this book to read, I love to read and this book is a good example of what a great book should be. I just finished the book. It's a GREAT book, probably the best I've read in a few years. I didn't see the way it ended coming at all and it's good to have a surprise once in a while! I wish it went on and on, letting me watch Ellie's life unfolding even further. I will definitely hold onto this book so I can read it again later. Love it!!

I really can't believe how much I liked this book. I read Buxbaum's "Opposite of Love", which I liked, but this book just blew me away. Her language is beautiful. I stopped many times to reread a sentence or a metaphor. She is able to write amazing sentences while never taking away from the urgency of the story. I couldn't put the book down. I had to know what happened next. Beside a tiny plot point near the end of the book that I felt was a bit superfluous, the book was perfect. Definitely one of the best books I've read in a very long time.

I didn't want to like this book, but I did! I thought it was going to be formulaic and predictable, and at times it was, but overall it was a page turner without a packaged ending. Warning...if you like Jodi Picoult books, you won't like "After You" because Ms. Buxbaum cleverly leaves story lines unfinished. You'll actually have something worth talking about at book club! Ms. Buxbaum raises many questions, including do we ever really know those closest to us, and do they ever really know us? Do we give people a fair chance to know us? There are no answers, but it does give you pause for thought, and a rewarding story line too.

After You: A Novel is a story about the bonds that connect and sustain us. In the beginning moments, we meet Ellie, after the death of her best friend Lucy, when she goes to London for the funeral and then stays to take care of eight-year-old Sophie, who witnessed her mother's murder. And who has stopped talking. We follow their journey to healing, one plodding step at a time, and are gifted with the pain; and then the slowly returning moments of pleasure as the two read "The Secret Garden" together; we follow them as Sophie's language returns, as she verbalizes her feelings and reaches out to those around her. But back in Boston, in the home Ellie shared with Phillip, a marriage is disintegrating. It began when the couple lost their own baby--stillborn at eight months gestation--when they could not or would not share their grief. What will happen now? To Sophie, whose retreat from language masked a larger issue; to Ellie, who is discovering that her best friend Lucy had many secrets...secrets that would have damaged the lives of those around her. Can Ellie's marriage outlast the damage she and Phillip have created? Finding out the answers to these questions kept me swiftly turning pages, reveling in the beautiful story and its satisfying conclusion.

Julie Buxbaum's The Opposite of Love was one of my favorite books of 2008. I'm a huge fan of Buxbaum's writing, so when she told me that she had a new book coming out in August, I couldn't wait to read it. I was a little nervous because I had very high expectations, but I shouldn't have worried. After You is a thoughtful and touching book that I couldn't put down. I loved so many things about After You that I don't even know where to start. The character of Ellie was wonderfully written. I sympathized with her completely - her panic at the death of her best friend Lucy, her unconditional love for Lucy's daughter Sophie, and her inability to move on with life after the death of her unborn child, Oliver. Though we are in very different places in our lives, I saw a lot of myself in Ellie, a lot of my own hesitation and fears. I think that is what I love most about Julie Buxbaum's writing - her ability to develop three-dimensional characters that are completely real. I also really enjoyed Buxbaum's use of the children's novel The Secret Garden in order to help Sophie overcome her grief at her mother Lucy's death. As a child, I absolutely loved The Secret Garden. But more than that, Buxbaum's premise that books can help us cope, even in the darkest times, really spoke to me. It wasn't just Sophie who healed through The Secret Garden; Ellie used it as a way to deal with her grief as well. That was a wonderful message that permeated through the book. Additionally, Julie Buxbaum's writing is absolutely beautiful. She has a way with words that is difficult to describe, so I'm just going to share some passages here with you. "Perhaps these are the most frightening moments of married life, when you turn to your partner and realize you have promised to spend the rest of your life with someone you no longer recognize. Someone you can no longer even see.'" "Wanting may be the worst feeling of all, next to hope. But hope is the worst. Hope is the moment before peeing on the negative stick. Hope is the moment before they tell you they can't find a heartbeat. Hope is a setup, a bait and switch, an illusion." The literary quality of Buxbaum's writing elevates After You to an entirely different level. As a result, I believe that even if you aren't a fan of chick lit or women's fiction, you will find something to love in After You. I can't gush enough about how wonderful Julie Buxbaum's novels are, or how much I enjoyed After You. The characters were wonderfully drawn and the story was compelling. I couldn't put the book down because I was so anxious to find out what happens to Ellie, to make sure that she learns to live again after Lucy's death. This was an absolutely wonderful book that I highly recommend!