dogearedprints 's review for:

What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins

5.0

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I wasn't sure about this book at all when I picked it for Book of the Month. It intrigued me, but as someone who lost a family member to suicide I was worried there would be too much focus on that. There wasn't and instead it really focused on the healing that comes after. How you recognize that someone who is gone wasn't an angel, how you try to live your life. The message that sharing love despite your pain was so profound and I cried as I reached the end of the book. I loved Evangeline's character, I loved Rufus, I loved Isaac. Would have loved a few chapters from Lorrie's perspective but the interspersed journal entries from Jonah showed a lot of what happened to their poor family. It wasn't an easy read. There were times I had to put it down because I understood the grief Isaac was going through, but I kept picking it back up. Kind of like how life is a matter of picking up what is left when a tragedy shatters it, and you move forward and figure out how to keep going.