“Occasionally, she takes sips of sorrow, afraid the big wave might wash her away.” Antonia Vega is a retired college professor, writer, poet, wife of the local Vermont doctor who recently passed away. She’s coming up on her grief deadline while dealing with life still moving on and bringing waves of different events, tragedies, and questions of identity that seem to never end. This story is what happens after the happily ever after and when a reader is left bereft when she wants to get the words right, armed with writers and their words in her mind to try to make sense of the world around them. A few months away from the year anniversary of her husband’s death, Antonia is accosted by the disappearance of her older sister, Izzy, who was supposed to meet up her sisters, Tilly and Mona, to celebrate Antonia’s first birthday after her husband’s death. Meanwhile, back in her home, Antonia has become entangled in the lives of the immigrant workers in her neighbor’s ranch, and a recently arrived younger girlfriend who’s pregnant. I loved following along with Antonia’s thoughts and the voyage we accompanied her on. The sisterly dynamics were spot-on, explained under rules that the sisterhood understand and are never said and never questioned. Each sister has an assigned ringtone in their phones that’s supposed to be ascribed to their characters, “makes it easier when you can pin someone down as a type with a ringtone or label”. Alvarez writes so much in these 272 pages, she writes about immigration, never fully assimilating even when you have a job teaching English for four decades, afterlife, sisterhood, patriarchy, economic dependence on immigration in the United States especially for farmers, humanity and the lack of humanity that abounds, and so much more. I truly loved so many of the passages I read. Events segue from one to another in a way that did leave me scrambling but helped me to sympathize with Antonia’s predicaments. Trigger warning for suicide, mental illness, and one fat phobic comment that jarred me a bit. No idea what it was doing there and it could have been taken out but it didn’t take away from the book. The side characters, especially the immigrant workers, were a bit two dimensional, helping to propel the story and the hardships that are faced to people that come to the United States so I wish that would have been explored more. However, this wasn’t the purpose of the story. We are following Antonia and seeing the world through her eyes as she just tries to reshape her world after so many griefs. I love her introspection, her own calling out about her privilege and how that taints how she sees the world around her. Plus, she’s a reader and I love following her thoughts. I truly recommend this. “Death does not wound us without, at the same time, lifting us toward a more prefect understanding of this being and ourselves”. (less)

Afterlife is told from the point of view of Antonia, one of four daughters of Dominican immigrants to the U.S. Now in her 60s and financially well off, she is simultaneously dealing with the death of her beloved husband, trying to help the undocumented Mexican workers at her next door neighbor’s farm, and the disappearance of her bipolar sister. While this is an own voices narrative, it’s an interesting reflection on the privilege that Antonia has, while simultaneously facing some (but not all of) the same racism that the undocumented characters face in her small Vermont town.

This is Julia Alvarez’s first adult novel and it took me a while to get into her writing style, but I soon appreciated the beauty of her poetic phrasing (one favorite: “she uses that term passing, death no more than a lane on a highway, for those speeding into the unknown.”)

There are some beautiful reflections on death, grief, and loss, so if you are dealing with the death of a loved one, this novel may either be very cathartic for you, or may be the last thing you need. The title is referred to frequently as Antonia grapples with her loss and how best to remember and honor the people she loves. This one hooked me during this quarantine while I’ve had trouble focusing on reading, so I recommend if you are in the mood for an engrossing but somewhat depressing story. I loved it.

*** I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***

I'm not sure where to begin with Afterlife. It is a unique book. I have found myself pondering it since I started it. The initial issues I had with this book was that it had a slow start and so many characters that each had nicknames too that it was hard to sort out who was who. The writing style is also hard to follow with super long paragraphs and no indication of who is speaking so it was some times confusing and I had to go back and reread it to try to figure it out. I think it would have been interesting to have read this in a literature class or book club where I could have discussed this book's complexities with others. This is a story of grieving, death, mental illness, undocumented immigrants, sisterhood, and home. I would recommend if you are looking for a "difficult" book to read, not a light book.

What is the afterlife? This is the question literary luminary Julia Alvarez poses in Afterlife, a novel centering on retired English professor Antonia Vega grieving the loss of her husband, Sam Sawyer. Afterlife takes on several different meaning and not the typical life beyond death concept. In short, Antonia is having an existential crisis following her husband’s untimely death. Existentialism pervades her life in the wake of retirement, as she was supposed to enjoy this time with her husband in his twilight of his career. Antonia’s main quandary is one that many struggle with following the death of a loved one---how to live an exemplary life in the shadow of a deceased family member. In other words, how to live their legacy. Alvarez is a consummate storyteller to be certain with engaging writing style especially when illuminating the intricacies of relationships between sisters.

Antonia Vega resides in a rural, quaint house in Burlington, Vermont as a widow after her husband, a local physician, has an unexpected stroke the year before. Life moves forward deliberately after Vega’s recent retirement as a university writing professor. Alvarez often conveys Antonia’s loss through the window of literature. Ever the professor, Antonia often ponders such authors as Rilke or Tolstoy looking to them to help her make sense of her life without Sam. However, Antonia’s three sisters, Mona, a therapist; Tilly, a caterer, and Izzy, a therapist, all converge when Antonia’s husband passes. It seems that the writer, intellectual sister of the family is not used to being the center of attention. A series of happenstances occur, causing Antonia to question her actions in the wake of her husband’s death. Particularly noteworthy is the request by her neighbor’s farm laborer, Mario, for Antonia’s assistance with the safe passage of his girlfriend to Vermont. The request comes with strings attached as Mario begs Antonia to allow his girlfriend to stay in her home. Antonia is struck by what her husband might do in this situation, thus forming the crux of the “afterlife” question. Later, Antonia also faces an unforeseen family tragedy that also tests her muster for the “afterlife.”

The question of living up to the legacy of a deceased loved one can be complicated. In going through the grieving process, we hope to end up on the other side—healed and living our loved one’s legacy. In peeling back the layers of this question, Alvarez succeeds in creating a heartfelt, engaging story but one that leaves you thinking long past the last page. Those who relish a Latinx literature, especially those posing such moral questions will enjoy the book.

<i> Afterlife</i> is Julia Alvarez's return to adult fiction after a 15 year hiatus, and it was well worth the wait. The story centers on Antonia, the second oldest of four immigrant sisters from the DR. At the very start of the novel, we meet Antonia just as she's retired from teaching literature at a local university. While waiting for her husband to meet her for dinner at a local restaurant, he unexpectedly dies of a heart attack on the way there. <i>Afterlife</i> is the story of Antonia trying to move on after her husband's death while also dealing with her three sisters as they try to navigate the illness of the eldest sister (Izzy). At the same time, Antonia finds herself involved in the life of a pregnant teenager who came to the U.S. to be with her migrant farm worker boyfriend.

Woven into the novel are bits of literature from other authors including Tolstoy's short story "Three Questions": "what is the most important time to start any work?" "Who is the most important person for him?" and "what is the most important thing to do?" Antonia struggles with these questions as she tries to wrestle with her obligations to others and her obligations to herself admist the chaos.

I really loved <i>Afterlife</i>. Antonia's struggle with doing the right thing even when she doesn't want to or when she wants to be selfish in order to grieve really made her so human.

Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the ARC of this novel.

“Who are you, beyond your job, beyond your spouse?” is the question that Antonia is trying to answer in ‘Afterlife’, Julia Alvarez’s (born 1950) first adult novel in over almost a decade and a half. “It is my novel as an ‘elder’”, the author explains it took a while to better grasp the hindsight and insights of this stage of her life.

After a lifetime serving as an English professor in rural Vermont, Dominican-born Antonia retires and loses her beloved husband on the same day. A year later, life lures her out of her self-imposed solitary when she finds a desperate undocumented pregnant girl in her house and her eldest sister, who may be mentally-ill, disappears. She will need to come to terms with her other three sisters, stubborn neighbor, and local sheriff, as well as the questions and voices in her head, to see this to a peaceful resolution in this novel that brilliantly encapsulates the anxieties of the turn of the decade, avoiding stereotypes to tactfully explore the human side of these social issues.

Characters are relatable, each developed and with a voice of their own. Particularly admirable is the grace of Antonia’s mourning, whose heart is broken, but isn’t broken herself. The complex dynamics of the sisters are so real and deep that you could be tempted to feel them as a single heart with four heads. The tone of the novel hints that hot and cold awkwardness that is keeping to your Latin American psyche as you exist in the US.

Introspective, painfully beautiful and hard to forget.

This book was written beautifully, but I felt it was a few different themes that only had Antonia (protagonist) in common. I never felt the flow of the story line through out the book. Instead it felt choppy. AND there are no quotation marks to indicate speaking. Why do writers do this? I often found myself unsure if I was reading thoughts or actual conversations.
It's title, Afterlife, I guess implies Antonia's life after retirement and unexpectedly losing her husband. From there however, we have a back and forth of a missing sister and a pregnant immigrant, in the US illegally. I didn't love it, but think maybe it's just me.
I still want to give a big thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the opportunity to read this pre-publication edition!

The book Afterlife tells the story of Antonia, a retired woman who has recently been widowed. She is struggling to adapt to living without her husband while also balancing the needs of her three sisters. She is also brought into the drama of trying to help a neighboring undocumented young man, which further upends her life. This book offers interesting takes on the family especially, as four older women try to balance out each other's needs after a lifetime of drama and conflict. Still, the story at times felt predictable and trying to balance too many things together at once.

This one wasn’t for me. The story/plot didn’t offer anything interesting to keep me reading, so I didn’t finish it.

I just finished Afterlife by Julia Alvarez last night! With everything going on lately, it took me a lot longer than I expected to finish but I really enjoyed it. It is a beautifully written story that at times are sad, especially being about a woman who loses her husband and must figure out who she is without him, but is also saturated with love, kindness and compassion. Thank you so much to @algonquinbooks and @writerjalvarez for sending me the advanced review copy! Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
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Afterlife is a story about Antonia, a retired, immigrant English teacher originally from the Dominican Republic who loses her husband Sam during a fateful car accident and soon after, one of her sisters also disappears. Then, on top of all that, a pregnant, undocumented teenager arrives on her doorstep. Antonia must pick up the pieces of her life and deal with her husband's heartbreaking death while also having to circumnavigate the additional stress of her sister and taking care of the pregnant teen.
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Afterlife comes out next Tuesday, April 7th and is available for pre-order now.

I am so thankful to have been given the opportunity to read this - she is one of my faves. I liked this story of 4 sisters (not THOSE four sisters) as they navigate grief and old age and some more timely issues like immigration and mental health. It read quickly, and i wish i had felt a deeper connection to the sisters. Overall - a good solid 4 star read.

This is a beautiful book. It follows the story of one woman in the years immediately following her husband's death. Her interactions with her sisters and her neighbors make up the plot, as she figures out what makes a family and what are responsibilities to others are. How do we know when we are helping? What are the different ways to care? How do we care for ourselves? The writing and the characters keep the reader caring about what happens, but it is the main character's questions about how to live that stayed with me long after the story was done.

Afterlife tells a spellbinding story following the many branches of Antonia’s life. A recent widow, Antonia is stuck in grief from day to day. But when her assistance is needed she is pulled out of her misery and forced to refocus. Soon Antonia is able to remember her husband in ways that bring not just tears of sadness but also of joy and laughter. From her rural Vermont home she is met with a purpose to help both her neighbour’s migrant worker and from her sisters, to help one of her own.

Filled with poetic language and beautiful scenery, the author has written a story that will stand the test of time. Her characters are full and unique and yet people you might know in your own life. Alvarez has written in ways to pace the reader, slowing the story to bring focus to a moment and then adding moments of tight suspense where the reader is on the edge of their seat with feelings of dread and worry.

Thank you to @algonquinbooks and Julia Alvarez for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the relationship between Antonia and her sisters, and the way that immigration issues were discussed through the plot of the story.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Antonia, a retired English professor, is a new widow. She has continual drama with her three colorful sisters, one of whom is in constant turmoil and for whom the other three are attempting to stage an intervention. Antonia is also involved in her community and develops a relationship with a young man and his pregnant girlfriend.

Alvarez addresses grief, mental illness and undocumented immigration in this novel about a retired English professor in rural Vermont struggling after the loss of her husband, who is drawn into both family issues and trying to help an undocumented teenager.

Contemporary and relevant, Alvarez continues to give a tender voice to a Latina American experience. “The sisterhood” plays an important role in this one, as an Alvarez reader would expect, but there is the added elements of the 21st century academic perspective and navigating the waters of recent loss/grief. The writing begins in a choppy fashion; however, it becomes more readable as the novel progresses. I’m not certain that that stylistic choice is all that effective, but the characters and the pathos of the parallel storylines easily compensate for it by the story’s end.

I love Julia Alvarez' writing. In the Time of the Butterflies is one of my favorite books, and How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents is just plain wonderful. This latest from Alvarez is a bit different, but well worth the time.

Told from the perspective of Antonia, a retired literature professor, who is still mourning the death of her husband, this is a mostly introspective work. How does one deal with the loneliness, the social pressures, and all the details of life without your life partner? A neighbor's hired man (an illegal immigrant) looks to Antonia for help getting his girlfriend safely into Vermont, and (of course) things don't go as planned. When one of her 3 sisters disappears, seeming to drop off the face of the earth amid some financial and personal issues, Antonia has something new to deal with.

This is a book about love, loss, family, expectations, and societal issues about immigration, mental illness, and even climate change. At first, I was frustrated with so many issues, but Antonia is such a strong, sympathetic character that I just went with the story. She infuses quotes from the authors Antonia used to teach in her classes, and this (almost stream of consciousness) story brings home to the reader that life is messy and nothing has easy answers. I came to love Antonia.. This is not a book for everyone, but a definite "must read" for Alvarez fans.

"You, who quite truly knew him, can quite truly continue in his spirit and on his path. Make it the task of your mourning to explore what he had expected of you, had hoped for you, had wished to happen to you...his influence has not vanished from your existence..."~from The Dark Interval by Rainer Maria Rilke

Reading about the death of a loved one during the time of Coronavirus is difficult. I feel the cold blade of fear which I daily push back down into my subconscious, then "tie my hat and crease my shawl" to perform my tasks and obligations.

Afterlife is the story of Hispanic retired literature teacher Antonia who mourns the loss of her husband Sam. She struggles to understand how to now live. Her sisters are calling her to join them in confronting their sibling's bipolar illness. An illegal immigrant employed by her Vermont farmer neighbor implores her to help him bring his girl to join him.

All these demands! Antonia just wants to tend her own garden and live with her sorrow. But knowing Sam has changed her. His compassion remains an example of how to live in this world. Sam"seems to be resurrecting inside her," and she wonders, "is this all his afterlife will amount to? Saminspired deeds from the people who love him?"

Antonia's mind is filled with the books she loved and taught, including Rainer Maria Rilke. Last year I had read The Dark Interval which shares Rilke's letters of condolences. Alvarez's novel embodies Rilke's philosophy.

Against her nature and inclination, Sam leads Antonia to risk becoming involved in the lives and problems of other people. "Living your life is a full-time job," a sister justifies. Isn't that the truth? Then, a therapist reads Rilke to the sisters: "Death does not wound us without, at the same time, lifting us toward a more perfect understanding of this being and of ourselves."

Antonia's students always responded to Rilke's poem 'Archaic Torso of Apollo" which ends, "you must change your life." It is a line that has haunted ever me since I first read it. The question Antonia wonders, is how and when do we change it?

It is a question to be asked over and over. There is no end to such a consideration. We read a book and what we learn reminds us that we must change our life. We see a work of art, Rilke his Greek torso, for Antonia the Landscape with The Fall of Icarus, or when hear a symphony, or observe a beautiful spring flower or a deep woods filled with birdsong--

All the world is life-changing if we allow ourselves to truly live and open our senses and hearts and minds. To be alive is life-changing. To die is life-changing.

Antonia accepts the challenge to be Saminspired.

Alvarez is a brilliant writer who has combined a deep reflection on existence with timely questions. There is no better time for this message.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

What a soul-searching story of finding our truest self in a time of anxiety and stress. Beautifully written, it is easy to identify with the main character as she struggles to understand her oldest, possibly mentally ill, sister and has to cope with a pregnant, undocumented 16-year-old immigrant discovered in her garage, all shortly after her husband's death and her own retirement. So many quotes and references to good literature too.

Thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the ARC to read and review.