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marticlar's review against another edition
3.0
Alaskan experience was very unique and made me want to read more. Although thd plot was quite predicable I still enjoyed reading it. Practically read it in 2 days.
marieeve1978's review
4.0
3.5...
This book has just the right amount of creepy, when reading late at night...
However, I was a little disappointed by the ending. Also, it took me some time to get adjusted to the type of narration, sometimes as a third person, sometimes at the first person but as a little girl...
I have on my to be read pile another book from this author, Sister. I will then be able to see if it's an author that I will want to continue exploring in the future.
This book has just the right amount of creepy, when reading late at night...
However, I was a little disappointed by the ending. Also, it took me some time to get adjusted to the type of narration, sometimes as a third person, sometimes at the first person but as a little girl...
I have on my to be read pile another book from this author, Sister. I will then be able to see if it's an author that I will want to continue exploring in the future.
bookph1le's review
1.0
Where to even begin with this? I've read Lupton's previous novels, and while I thought Sisters was excellent, Afterwards was a bit of a disappointment to me. I guess it's all downhill with this author for me, but where Afterwards was a letdown, this book was just plain one of those that I hated so many things about I couldn't even get invested in it. Strap in, because this is going to be a bumpy ride chock full of spoilers, so if you don't want to know what happens in this book, stop now.
First off, the entire premise of the novel was patently absurd to me. Yasmin pulls her daughter from school and goes running off from England to Alaska in the middle of winter to confront her husband about his kissing another woman. Now, while I understand her mental anguish at this, I found the whole thing an overreaction. Had Yasmin not had a ten-year-old deaf daughter that she dragged along with her, I might have bought it. But her reaction struck me as far too extreme, particularly when she thinks about how she couldn't leave her daughter at home because she had nowhere safe to leave her, yet she brings her to Alaska in the middle of winter and then proceeds to take her out into the Arctic wilderness. Plus, it's not as if getting out to the wilderness is easy in the summer, but in the middle of winter when temperatures are brutal, fierce storms are plentiful, and you can die of hypothermia in minutes, Yasmin takes Ruby along with her. Marinate over that one for a while.
Granted, it's not until Yasmin finds out that there's been an accident and that her husband has been declared dead that she really loses her mind and sets out on her desperate quest to save him, despite all evidence that he's dead. She decides he's alive, and that's enough for her to set out on an utterly moronic quest to find him. I would have been fine had she gone on her quest alone, but the fact that she brings her ten-year-old child with her sent me right over the edge. I was incredulous that she'd take Ruby with her as she tries to get out to the middle of the Arctic nowhere.
Then, it just got better from there, stretching my suspension of disbelief until it broke into a million pieces. Yasmin and Ruby hitch a ride with an ice trucker, which was unbelievable enough, but when the trucker has a stroke, Yasmin proceeds to steal his truck and continue driving on her own. Yasmin is a physicist by training, but I did not for one second believe that someone whose entire driving experience seems to consist of driving a tiny car around England could get behind the wheel of a semi hauling a prefab house and proceed to drive it along an ice road through the Alaskan wilderness in the middle of winter. I could not believe there was any possible way someone completely inexperienced could even manage to drive a truck like that without adverse weather conditions.
I'll summarize from here because it'll take me all day if I go into the details. Yasmin and Ruby proceed from one peril to another, all because Yasmin feels this burning need to rescue a husband she has no evidence is alive. I think it's supposed to be romantic? How could it be, when it means Yasmin disregards every experienced trucker who warns her to stay in Coldfoot and ride out an impending storm, but she decides to keep on going, with her daughter in the truck with her. All the while, they're being chased by the villain, who turns out to be the most unbelievable villain possible, given that he's pursuing them in a tanker through the same dangerous wilderness Ruby and Yasmin are traversing. I get that the villain has a whole lot at stake here, but I do not believe a character like that would do the dirty work himself, particularly considering the peril he puts himself in.
From there, the book gets more ludicrous, culminating in quite possibly the most ridiculous confrontation I've ever read about in a book. I could barely read through that section because I was rolling my eyes around with such force. Suffice it to say I thought the ending was nothing short of dumb.
All this silliness aside, I wasn't even invested in the story, which is why it took me so long to read this "thriller". There are long passages where both Ruby and Yasmin wax poetic, and I found them frankly boring. I also thought the language was outright florid in some parts, and I wanted to laugh at what were supposed to be profound statements.
While I did like the understanding mother and daughter eventually reached, I thought it was better suited to an entirely different book, one that didn't involve a crazy voyage across the tundra in the middle of winter (also noteworthy, since it's Arctic winter, it's also night 24/7 because, you know, a random, inexperienced person driving an ice truck through the Alaskan wilderness wasn't ridiculous enough). It was like this book was trying to be both a literary tale about fraught family relationships and an edge-of-your-seat work of suspense. To me, it failed at both.
It's obvious that the author did a great deal of research for this book, but that didn't prevent it from coming across as fantastical to me. And while fracking is a pretty easy subject to hate on, I still found the central plot cartoonish. This is one to skip.
First off, the entire premise of the novel was patently absurd to me. Yasmin pulls her daughter from school and goes running off from England to Alaska in the middle of winter to confront her husband about his kissing another woman. Now, while I understand her mental anguish at this, I found the whole thing an overreaction. Had Yasmin not had a ten-year-old deaf daughter that she dragged along with her, I might have bought it. But her reaction struck me as far too extreme, particularly when she thinks about how she couldn't leave her daughter at home because she had nowhere safe to leave her, yet she brings her to Alaska in the middle of winter and then proceeds to take her out into the Arctic wilderness. Plus, it's not as if getting out to the wilderness is easy in the summer, but in the middle of winter when temperatures are brutal, fierce storms are plentiful, and you can die of hypothermia in minutes, Yasmin takes Ruby along with her. Marinate over that one for a while.
Granted, it's not until Yasmin finds out that there's been an accident and that her husband has been declared dead that she really loses her mind and sets out on her desperate quest to save him, despite all evidence that he's dead. She decides he's alive, and that's enough for her to set out on an utterly moronic quest to find him. I would have been fine had she gone on her quest alone, but the fact that she brings her ten-year-old child with her sent me right over the edge. I was incredulous that she'd take Ruby with her as she tries to get out to the middle of the Arctic nowhere.
Then, it just got better from there, stretching my suspension of disbelief until it broke into a million pieces. Yasmin and Ruby hitch a ride with an ice trucker, which was unbelievable enough, but when the trucker has a stroke, Yasmin proceeds to steal his truck and continue driving on her own. Yasmin is a physicist by training, but I did not for one second believe that someone whose entire driving experience seems to consist of driving a tiny car around England could get behind the wheel of a semi hauling a prefab house and proceed to drive it along an ice road through the Alaskan wilderness in the middle of winter. I could not believe there was any possible way someone completely inexperienced could even manage to drive a truck like that without adverse weather conditions.
I'll summarize from here because it'll take me all day if I go into the details. Yasmin and Ruby proceed from one peril to another, all because Yasmin feels this burning need to rescue a husband she has no evidence is alive. I think it's supposed to be romantic? How could it be, when it means Yasmin disregards every experienced trucker who warns her to stay in Coldfoot and ride out an impending storm, but she decides to keep on going, with her daughter in the truck with her. All the while, they're being chased by the villain, who turns out to be the most unbelievable villain possible, given that he's pursuing them in a tanker through the same dangerous wilderness Ruby and Yasmin are traversing. I get that the villain has a whole lot at stake here, but I do not believe a character like that would do the dirty work himself, particularly considering the peril he puts himself in.
From there, the book gets more ludicrous, culminating in quite possibly the most ridiculous confrontation I've ever read about in a book. I could barely read through that section because I was rolling my eyes around with such force. Suffice it to say I thought the ending was nothing short of dumb.
All this silliness aside, I wasn't even invested in the story, which is why it took me so long to read this "thriller". There are long passages where both Ruby and Yasmin wax poetic, and I found them frankly boring. I also thought the language was outright florid in some parts, and I wanted to laugh at what were supposed to be profound statements.
While I did like the understanding mother and daughter eventually reached, I thought it was better suited to an entirely different book, one that didn't involve a crazy voyage across the tundra in the middle of winter (also noteworthy, since it's Arctic winter, it's also night 24/7 because, you know, a random, inexperienced person driving an ice truck through the Alaskan wilderness wasn't ridiculous enough). It was like this book was trying to be both a literary tale about fraught family relationships and an edge-of-your-seat work of suspense. To me, it failed at both.
It's obvious that the author did a great deal of research for this book, but that didn't prevent it from coming across as fantastical to me. And while fracking is a pretty easy subject to hate on, I still found the central plot cartoonish. This is one to skip.
the_red_one's review against another edition
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
elsie2110's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
remia1996's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
kitkat2712's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
hestia_nl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
auri_underthing's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
the Strength. of Deafening. Silence.
Wow! Seeing the world from the perspective of a deaf child was very interesting. Very nail biting!
Wow! Seeing the world from the perspective of a deaf child was very interesting. Very nail biting!
jmj697mn's review
3.0
This seemed like two different books. The first 1/2 to 2/3rds was fantastic. The atmosphere was lovely--I felt myself shivering a few times as if I could almost feel that bitter, bitter cold. The plot was suspenseful and interesting. But that ending though.....c'mon! I was really, really disappointed. The first 225 pages get 5 stars--the last 75 pages get one star.