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2020

Format:	Large Print, Book
Author:	Alvarez, Julia, author.
Title:	Afterlife / a novel by Julia Alvarez.
Publisher, Date:	Waterville, ME : Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company, 2020. ©2020
Description:	287 pages (large print) ; 23 cm. large print
Summary:	Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of this novel, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her husband, Sam suddenly dies. And then more jolt: her big-hearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves -- lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack -- but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words.
Series:	Thorndike press large print basic
Subjects:	Authors -- Fiction. Widows -- Fiction. Grief -- Fiction. Noncitizens -- Fiction. Responsibility -- Fiction. Large type books.
Genre:	Domestic fiction.
ISBN:	9781432881948 (large print ; hardback) 1432881949 (large print ; hardback)
OCLC:	1163964771
System Availability:	1
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Library Journal Review

In this return to adult fiction by Alvarez (How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents), a retired English professor and writer is caught between her sisters' drama and the plight of a pregnant undocumented young women--all in the wake of her husband's death. Antonia Vega is still grieving for Sam a year after his fatal car accident, getting by with the help of aphorisms from her favorite poets. When eldest sister, Izzy, disappears during a manic episode, her Dominican sisterhood convenes, bringing along their usual baggage. Meanwhile, a documented worker from the neighboring farm seeks Antonia's help in finding a place for his pregnant girlfriend. Antonia navigates these tumultuous occurrences with Sam and what he would do as her guiding principle. In this life after his death, the protagonist realizes that the best way to memorialize her husband is to embody what she loved most about him. Alvarez's prose is magnetic as she delves into the intricacies of sisterhood, immigration, and grief, once again proving her mastery as a storyteller. This stirring novel reminds readers that actions (big and small) have a lasting impact--so they should always act with love. VERDICT An incisive book that will burrow itself into people's hearts and stay long after they've turned the last page. [See Prepub Alert, 10/7/19.]--Shelley M. Diaz, BookOps, New York P.L. & Brooklyn P.L.

Publishers Weekly Review

Alvarez's poignant return to adult fiction (after the young adult Tia Lola series) raises powerful questions about the care people owe themselves and others. Antonia Vega is reeling from the sudden death of her husband, Sam, who suffered an aneurysm on the day they'd planned to celebrate her retirement. As an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Antonia is determined to embrace American values of self-preservation and independence, and she keeps a running dialogue in her head with Sam about the U.S. and D.R.'s conflicting values ("We live in America, she reminds the disapproving Sam in her head, where you put your oxygen mask on first"). This outlook is challenged after she finds an undocumented and pregnant teenage girl from Mexico hiding in her garage, and when Antonia's charismatic but unstable older sister Izzy disappears. As Antonia weighs the needs of others and her own, memories of Sam's magnanimity and generosity of spirit guide her, along with sentiments from authors such as Tolstoy ("What is the right thing to do?") and Rilke ("You must change your life"). Alvarez blends light humor with deep empathy toward her characters, offering a convincing portrait of an older woman's self discovery. This will satisfy her fans and earn new ones. (Apr.)

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