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2.91 AVERAGE
2.91 AVERAGE
Didn't really understand the point of the book. Everything was random and disconnected.
I've never read a Gary Soto book I didn't like, and this was no exception. In Afterlife, 17-year old Chuy is stabbed to death by some cabron in the restroom of a Fresno nightclub after Chuy compliments his shoes. When he finds himself dead and floating above his former body, he spends the next 4 days tooling around town, doing the sort of things ghosts might do.
He looks in on his family, his best friend, his killer, and the girl he was supposed to meet at the club that fateful night. He finds that he can reach inside people's bodies and make them feel cold and sick, or simply comfort them with his presence. He also watches a llama take a dump. ([b:Nickel and Dime|342677|Nickel and Dime|Gary Soto|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173899479s/342677.jpg|333031] made me a fan of how Gary Soto describes animals taking a dump.)
He meets two other ghosts, a pretty young suicide victim named Crystal and a homeless man who died in the park, and they kindle a kind of strange post-mortem friendship.
While all of this happens, Chuy is gradually disappearing, starting with his hands and feet.
What happens when you disappear completely? Do you go to heaven or hell? Someplace else? Or are you just gone? Soto leaves that question up to the reader.
I decided to read this after a young woman asked me to recommend a book she could finish in two hours. This is the one she chose, and she came back two hours later to tell me how much she enjoyed it. I would not hesitate to recommend it again to anyone looking for a brief yet thought-provoking YA read.
He looks in on his family, his best friend, his killer, and the girl he was supposed to meet at the club that fateful night. He finds that he can reach inside people's bodies and make them feel cold and sick, or simply comfort them with his presence. He also watches a llama take a dump. ([b:Nickel and Dime|342677|Nickel and Dime|Gary Soto|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173899479s/342677.jpg|333031] made me a fan of how Gary Soto describes animals taking a dump.)
He meets two other ghosts, a pretty young suicide victim named Crystal and a homeless man who died in the park, and they kindle a kind of strange post-mortem friendship.
While all of this happens, Chuy is gradually disappearing, starting with his hands and feet.
What happens when you disappear completely? Do you go to heaven or hell? Someplace else? Or are you just gone? Soto leaves that question up to the reader.
I decided to read this after a young woman asked me to recommend a book she could finish in two hours. This is the one she chose, and she came back two hours later to tell me how much she enjoyed it. I would not hesitate to recommend it again to anyone looking for a brief yet thought-provoking YA read.
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence
This was really interesting. Its not the type of book i would normally read but i kinda liked it.
They say autumn is the color of death,...
It's like there's a story in it somewhere but I just couldn't understand it. It has a concept but the story went from one place to another, and when I reached the ending, I wasn't satisfied.
It's like there's a story in it somewhere but I just couldn't understand it. It has a concept but the story went from one place to another, and when I reached the ending, I wasn't satisfied.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Hmm. I've HEARD from different reputable sources that this book is like reluctant reader candy. It hasn't circulated much here, but I'm planning to booktalk it with some other ghost books and see if it goes.
It was a quick read, and I liked it okay, but it wasn't that satisfying for me personally? Like Chuy gets stabbed for basically no reason, and then finds the guy who did it, and I thought maybe it would be like a ghost mystery where he solves his own murder, but, spoiler, nothing really happens there, which I found sort of unsatisfying. Is that the point? Like sometimes your murder goes unsolved and you better just accept that before you fade from this earthly plane? Also the love-at-first-sight thing with the only other ghost he meets felt kinda weak to me.
The bilingual ghost narrator is cool, and I wish we had more overall diversity in the YA ghost/horror genre.
It was a quick read, and I liked it okay, but it wasn't that satisfying for me personally? Like Chuy gets stabbed for basically no reason, and then finds the guy who did it, and I thought maybe it would be like a ghost mystery where he solves his own murder, but, spoiler, nothing really happens there, which I found sort of unsatisfying. Is that the point? Like sometimes your murder goes unsolved and you better just accept that before you fade from this earthly plane? Also the love-at-first-sight thing with the only other ghost he meets felt kinda weak to me.
The bilingual ghost narrator is cool, and I wish we had more overall diversity in the YA ghost/horror genre.
I read this book when it first came out and enjoyed it.
This time I read it in preparation for a writing unit. Lots of interesting ideas to investigate.
This time I read it in preparation for a writing unit. Lots of interesting ideas to investigate.
I have such a soft spot for YA books about teen narrators coping with their own deaths and exploring life after life. This type of story seems to require more wisdom from its narrator than YA books dealing with typical, everyday teen conflicts.
Like Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere, this book was both gorgeous and sad. Chuy is a sweet character, more endearing than Zevin's protagonist. It broke my heart that he fell in love with almost every girl he met, such a typical horny teenage boy with best intentions. For the most part, his voice was realistic, although I'm not sure that a teenage boy would have been as unselfish and wise as he was. Maybe.
I loved, too, that the closer time comes to the date of Chuy's funeral, the more his ghost body disappears, leaving the question of what really happens to a soul in the afterlife up in the air. The idea that the afterlife is unknown or personal is very nice to me. The whole concept reminded me of that bittersweet end of the first episode of Dead Like Me, when the little girl's soul runs off to her heaven, literally a fairground. I didn't cry at the end of this book like I ALWAYS cry during that episode, but I did feel a lot of the same sad, sad happiness.
Like Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere, this book was both gorgeous and sad. Chuy is a sweet character, more endearing than Zevin's protagonist. It broke my heart that he fell in love with almost every girl he met, such a typical horny teenage boy with best intentions. For the most part, his voice was realistic, although I'm not sure that a teenage boy would have been as unselfish and wise as he was. Maybe.
I loved, too, that the closer time comes to the date of Chuy's funeral, the more his ghost body disappears, leaving the question of what really happens to a soul in the afterlife up in the air. The idea that the afterlife is unknown or personal is very nice to me. The whole concept reminded me of that bittersweet end of the first episode of Dead Like Me, when the little girl's soul runs off to her heaven, literally a fairground. I didn't cry at the end of this book like I ALWAYS cry during that episode, but I did feel a lot of the same sad, sad happiness.
This book started out in a promising and unique (for young-adult anyway) fashion by opening with the murder of the narrator. As a ghost, he then moves out into the world to encounter his grieving family and his unrepentant murderer. But despite some promising characters and possible conflicts, not enough happens in this book. It's not intensely emotional enough to really evoke a strong reaction. And in the absence of real angst the narrative wanders on waiting for a major plot point. Until it ends. The writing is competent but I never felt really touched by either Chuy's predicament or his family's grief. And the love interest was clearly a relationship of opportunity. The concept was clever but something more was needed.