I thought this was a great debut! This book takes a very serious and heartbreaking subject and follows the ones left behind. The characters all handle this tragic loss differently. You will come away feeling empathy towards these flawed characters.

Described by the publisher as a "gripping story of two families brought together to celebrate an unexpected marriage, twelve years after a devastating tragedy upended their lives," The World After Alice moves back and forth in time to reveal the many secrets held by each member of Benji and Morgan's families, and the damaging effects those secrets wrought on so many lives. The writing was a bit pretentious at times, perhaps fittingly so for some of these characters who were not especially nice people, but it gave me a chance to learn some new vocabulary. I didn't find the Benji and Morgan's romance completely credible, mostly due to the difference in the couples' ages. Still, it was an engaging story, and held my interest throughout. I did love the final chapter, and found it an excellent way to end the story.

3.5 stars
This is a very character-driven novel with a slower pace that was well done but didn’t hold my attention as much as I’d hoped. I’m honestly chalking this up to my own reading preferences rather than the writing or the book itself. There was much here to love. It just wasn’t really for me.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Two connected families and all their baggage [but mostly the Weils, IMHO]. The setting: "Morgan and Benji [Weil] surprise their families with a wedding invitation to Maine, they’re aware the news of their clandestine relationship will come as a shock. Twelve years have passed since the stunning loss of sixteen-year-old Alice, Benji’s sister and Morgan’s best friend, and no one is quite the same. But the young couple decide to plunge headlong into matrimony, marking the first time their fractured families will reunite since Alice’s funeral." And so it begins--with many secrets and much backstory. So--before Alice's suicide--and after.

This is a hard book to rate. Well-written, easy enough to read and loaded with insights into emotions and situations that pack a punch. Powerful, vivid, and raw [unfortunately my notes disappeared!] Fractured family dynamics with complications. Grief, guilt, deceit.

I did not care for many of the self-absorbed characters and could have walked away at any time but kept on.

New words: mephitic, drupelet.

I thought the epilogue could have been omitted.

Often masterful, 3.5, cannot round up.

Debut novel; looking forward to reading more by Green in the future.

Benji and Morgan have invited friends and family to their wedding in Maine. Benji's sister Alice died years ago and Morgan was her best friend. As everyone comes together, all sorts of feelings arise.

As soon as I started reading and turning pages, I was hooked on this domestic drama following two families and others after a terrible loss. A loss that was never reconciled until all the main characters are brought back together again for a wedding.

Alice was a teenager when she goes missing. Her brother Benji was 12 years old. Now Benji is about to get married to Morgan who was Alice's best friend. All hell is about to break loose between the families and significant others during the wedding weekend. All the things felt, seen, heard, and stowed away will come unmoored.

The character development is fantastic as I found myself liking and disliking and circling back again when bits and pieces are doled out in a then and now time line, all the while certain suspicions start to creep up. Has there been foul play? Is Alice still out there? Who's fault was it that she's missing in the first place? Is any one person at fault? And, is the wedding still going to take place?

The World After Alice is a family drama with true insight into grief and the messy fallout after loss.

4.5 stars

Thank you to Viking for an early e-copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book! Several years after 16-year-old Alice committed suicide, her younger brother is getting married to her best friend - and it's a surprise to their families. I enjoyed this book. The vocabulary was extremely rich and I enjoyed hearing a lot of words and turns of phrases that I don't often hear - it did mean a little bit of a slower-paced reading for me, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - I was more so marveling at the use of language while still engrossed in the plot. Well done!

Thanks to NetGalley and Viking for this advance reader copy, in exchange for an honest review. The World After Alice is a story told in several timelines but, it starts us out at the wedding of Benji and Morgan. Their union comes as a surprise to their families and there is a strange connection that exists between the families and couple through Alice, Benji’s sister and Morgan’s best friend, who committed suicide twelve years prior. The story jumps between timelines of present day at the wedding and around the time shortly before and after Alice dies.

While this book may not be for everyone, as it deals with very heavy and sensitive topics, I personally thought this book was fantastic. The writing in this book was stunning; the author’s sentences, sometimes flowery and sometimes simple (often with SAT level vocab words), truly pack a punch and there were so many lines that I highlighted in this book. However, I think this style worked for the content that the author was writing about and the fact that I needed to sometimes pause or reread a sentence leant itself well to the heavy, sad tone of the story.

This is very much a character driven novel and it is truly an exploration of the wake left behind in the aftermath of suicide; the grief and unraveling of the characters is very messy and feels so true to life and because of that, you can’t help but root for them to make it through. I think I would have enjoyed a bit more of an explanation into Alice’s character and how she was intertwined with other characters but, perhaps the authors intent was to focus more so on her family and what happened as a result of this tragedy. Additionally, I felt like the story moved along swiftly enough where I did not feel “stuck” with any particular character, which I appreciated.

I would be interested to pick up future works by this author and look forward to seeing what others think of this when it is out in the world! For my part, I would recommend this to other readers who love literary fiction and character driven stories, with the caveat that it does have sensitive topics that the reader should first understand before picking up.

THE WORLD AFTER ALICE is an attempt to view the complicated lives of family members struggling to survive after a suicide has left a permanent hole in their world. A sibling and a best friend decide to marry and invite everyone to the wedding; a wedding that will offer an opportunity for grief to explode in unlikely places. This is a well-written book but a difficult topic; a combination that is not altogether desirable in an author’s first book. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

This very well written novel deals with members of a dysfunctional family at the wedding of Benji and Morgan that takes place twelve years after then 16-year-old Alice, Benji’s sister and Morgan’s best friend, committed suicide. Unfortunately, I found the characters (other than Benji) to be rather unlikable, and the plot moved rather slowly along. Nonetheless, the author provides the reader with an interesting — albeit depressing — look at how suicide affects many people other than just the person who has died. I did find this debut novel to be a good read, and I look forward to others from this author.

The book was an interesting sort of hypothetical of what it’s like for those close to someone who commits suicide and have to continue in the wake of that tragedy. It obviously was a heavy and sad concept as each character is sort of trying to make sense or even unravel why Alice killed herself, while also in some ways being stuck in aspects of their own lives.

I liked the concept of this, as suicide isn’t a one time event - it has vast repercussions and has a measure of grief that doesn’t go away from what I’ve heard and witnessed.

The characters however, I really disliked. They were all petty, selfish, self-centered and vindictive. Benji is the only one I felt had any redeeming quality, but good Lord they were awful people.

It was also super odd how the author chose to fill the book with so many complicated and little-used words. I guess maybe it was supposed to be poetic or something but it just made it hard to relate because it doesn’t relate well to most novel readers. Just felt like it was some literary competition to the point that it seemed rather pretentious. Much like the characters in the book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I usually steer away from family dramas
I find them much too emotional and have to be in the right mood

This was wonderful
Thoughtfully written and just loved it

I was sent this book by the publisher. It was not a book I probably would have chosen for myself. It was a well written book though. It had a good plot and all the characters were well connected. I tend to read something with a bit more of an upbeat storyline. So I had a harder time getting through this one.

A really good book about moving on after a soul crushing loss and finding love through it all.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

The World After Alice by Lauren Aliza Green was a true slow burn. It required some patience to read along and put pieces together and how different characters intersected etc. The tentacles of grief and loss touched each and every relationship and person. Overall, it was well written but perhaps a bit slow for me at this time in my life.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I almost didn't finish this one. I did not find the characters, particularly engaging and found the writing to be a bit overwrought. I typically like family drama with secrets revealed, but this one was not my cup of tea.

I didn’t find this book to be an enjoyable read. The characters were not likable and everyone had so many secrets that they had been holding in (for 12 years?). All of the relationships seemed superficial and it was hard to grasp anyone’s true feelings. I enjoy reading to escape to someplace more interesting than my living room. This book did not do that for me.

This is not in anyway a criticism of the plot of The World After Alice, but when I realized the story dealt with suicide and the traumatic and devastating effects on family and friends, Although I love literary, character-driven fiction, this type of story just doesn't appeal to me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC.

4 out of 5 stars. morgan and benji surprise their loved ones with a "surprise wedding." alice's death is looming in the back of everyone's mind and still difficult to overcome.

well written!

Talk about awkward family moments! Imagine your brother marries your best friend and none of the family even knows they were dating. They all gather together in Maine for the wedding as they mourn the untimely death of Alice, the teenage sister of the groom. As the festivities ensue, it becomes clear that everyone has secrets of their own that are about to be exposed and could potentially ruin the wedding of Benji and Morgan. This is a complex character study and is impressive for a debut novel. The book goes back and forth between the past and what happened to Alice and how that influences each character, to the wedding in the present day. Everyone has some baggage they are carrying, some more shocking than others and the majority of the book is focused on keeping these secrets from everyone to ensure the success of the wedding. There are a lot of intertwining plots and characters here but the author makes them all come together to support the happy couple. An interesting, complex read.