I really enjoyed this book!! The writing style was my ideal set up- I felt connected and engaged in the story within the first few pages which is always a great strength. I thought the way it moved between different characters made the story so well paced and engaging whilst giving us a fuller view of both the past and present situation.

I thought the exploration of grief was done so well and I enjoyed how all of the characters being at such different stages of life allowed the author to angle this from all of the different perspectives- it made for a really thought provoking concept.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, I think my only wish was that there was more of it- I think with the number of characters and the depth of issues explored it could have been longer and still have moved at pace (although I am in the minority being a long book lover). I think the way this book explores so many dark topics without feeling completely dark is a real skill and I will definitely be interested to read any of her future works.

This storyline offers a thought-provoking concept that delves into the various ways individuals navigate their healing journey following the loss of Alice twelve years ago.

This emotional family drama turned out to be more character-driven than I anticipated. The debut author's impressive and easily digestible writing style was a pleasant surprise. However, there were some parts that felt somewhat predictable and slow-paced, preventing it from being a five-star read for me. Nonetheless, the sweet ending left a positive impression, and I'm grateful to have experienced this story.
I eagerly anticipate the author's future releases and recommend this to fans of the genre.

This is an intriguing and very well written novel. The author has an excellent turn of phrase. Gradually, the secrets of the past are revealed following the suicide of Alice, as the families gather for Benji and Morgan’s wedding. The book occasionally goes back in time to the period of Alice’s suicide. This book should provide plenty of scope for discussion at book clubs. As well as dealing with the loss of a child, it covers other areas including the hot housing of a child, and possible boundary breaches between teacher and student.

3.5 stars. This was a raw story about a group of people bound together by both love and loss, wrapped in a web of secrets - some old, some new. There are a lot of characters to get acquainted with and it took me a while to get everyone straightened out in my mind.
The ways in which the characters feelings and reactions to the tragedy felt very realistic, it showed that everyone grieves in different ways and that experiencing something as awful as this will ripple out into decisions you make for years afterwards. It is testament to the writing that there is no sense of a trope ever, everything feels genuine.
The juxtaposition of the joyous occasion of a wedding with the sadness and anger of the attendees is a really interesting idea for a book but I feel that it leaned too much on the latter and the wedding was lost to the background mostly.
There was something remote in the writing that could well have been deliberate, I had a sense that I was watching a slightly opaque rendering that stopped me from getting too close, kept me at arms length most of the time. This could have been to give a sense of people always feeling they need to temper themselves in society, but it didn't fully work for me.

A story about grief and family. Though well written, the narrative did not engage me. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher to the arc.

This abounds with family dynamics Alice committed suicide 12 years ago and now her best friend and her brother are getting married and the families are shocked. The story unravels as everyone faces their grief

The World After Alice
By Lauren Aliza Green

A story about the ripples that grief sends out following the death of a loved one. Alice was 16 when she went missing off the George Washington Bridge. Since then, her parents have divorced and her brother is now marrying her best friend.

With it's themes of unrequited loss, marital infidelity and questionable teacher/ student relationships, and it's Upper West Side and Maine settings, this could have been a hit out of the park for me, but it didn't quite make the impression I expected. I enjoyed the reading experience, but I never really felt like Green revealed any of the characters. Each felt like an unreliable narrator, and while it's always interesting to compare perspectives, I felt as though I was being kept at arms length throughout, and that never resolved into anything that felt like a narrative arc.

Having recently read, and loved, a similarly themed book, "After Annie", by Anna Quindlen, I couldn't help but compare and contrast both novels, and unfortunately for Alice, recency bias was probably at play.

I will say that the story is highly readable, with lovely prose, and so much potential, but it lacked something in the denouement.

Publication date: 1st August 2024
Thanks to #netgalley and #penguinrandomhouse for the ARC

I was drawn in by the premise of this book, Morgan and Benji are getting married years after the death of Alice, his sister and her best friend - this is the first time their families will reunite since Alice’s funeral.

Sadly, I just couldn’t get past the writing of this book, it just didn’t flow well and came across quite pretentious which meant I never really got in to the story.

This was a really poignant story about love, grief and family, and how a wedding may (or can?) unite it all. Shared secrets and old dramas merge into the culminant moment where the bride and groom hope it will all be reconciled.

I found this book difficult to read as the story did not flow fluently for me. It’s a story full of family secrets and deals with how families grieve in different ways. I’m sure some people will absolutely love it and that’s what reading is all about.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The premise of this book sounded really interesting, but unfortunately I found the writing really dry and old fashioned in some of its sentence construction and vocabulary, so a bit of a chore to read. I also struggled with the time line changes, and I'm sorry to say I didn't finish the book. Hopefully, as I believe this is a debut novel, the author's style will become more contemporary in future books.
Thank you to netgalley and Michael Joseph for an advance copy of this book

This is a story of family secrets and follows the marriage of Morgan and Benji who kept their relationship a secret from both families but they hope the wedding will bring the families together following the loss of Alice 12 years ago who was Benji's sister and Morgan's best friend.
Loved Morgan and Benji as they tried to get the families together and put aside any resentment or secrets so they can have a peaceful wedding, but deep resentments come out as well as love affairs that threaten the wedding.
The story does keep jumping from flashbacks to Alice and then to the present day but overall a good story of family traits.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a book showing the grief the family experiences after death, and how it affects each person individually.

The writing is very dry and found it hard to get through at times and it is most definitely a character study, rather than a plot focused book.

It begins with Alice’s brother Benji announcing their wedding, and follows each family member as they get ready for the wedding and how they feel following Alice’s death.

The timeline jumped around a lot to before Alice, and after which could be a little jarring at times as it would happen mid paragraph sometimes.

All in all I feel it really represented grief in a profound way, and showed the complexities of family relationships. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

It's an interesting idea for a story - two families who have been affected by the death of the titular Alice are brought together again through the wedding of her best friend and her brother years later.

All the characters have been affected to a greater or lesser extent by her death and most carry secrets and burdens that the wedding brings to the surface.

It did take me a while to get into and though the main story of the wedding takes place over a weekend, the rest of the story and history is revealed through flashbacks. This was occasionally a bit confusing and sometimes felt a bit disjointed. This led to the pace of the story being a bit off for me. I wasn't really too bothered about most of the characters either. Overall though I did enjoy the writing style.

A good read but unfortunately not a great one for me.

A lovely and literary exploration of a family that's still grieving, 12 years after the death of daughter Alice.

Now her younger brother is getting married to her old frenemy, after hiding their relationship from both sets of parents. Gathering everyone in the same place again brings conflict and memories to the surface. Benji's parents have split up and found new partners since the loss of his sister. Morgan barely speaks to hers. All they can be sure of is the affection they have for one another.

There are multiple viewpoint characters, as we spend time with parents and grown children alike. We cross multiple points of time in the telling, too. Much of the book is preoccupied by Alice's funeral, for example (occasionally slowing down the plot, a little too my frustration), and certainly just as much at the wedding. But we see glimpses of other moments too - time Alice spends with Morgen, her brother, or with the lecturer who's now dating her mother.

I found myself caring about all of these characters almost immediately, despite their myriad flaws, and that was enough to pull me through the book, eager to find out more, despite it not being really in any way at all a page-turner. Yes, it's told in a very literary style and I did have to look up a few words now and then - but it worked for me in this story. I was carried away, past and present, keen to see their developing future.

This is the author's debut, and I'd like to come back to see what she does with her second book.

The disappearance of Alice, then accepting her death. The ripples from this event have had far reaching consequences.
The wedding of Alice's brother and her friend. A romance kept secret from both families because of the shared history.
Meeting again for the wedding the dynamics and repercussions.
A multi layered story about love and loss.

When Morgan and Benji surprise their families with a wedding invitation to Maine, they're aware that the news of their clandestine relationship will come as a shock. Twelve years have passed with the stunning loss of sixteen-year-old Alice, Benji's sister, and Alice'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. As the arriving guests descend upon the tranquil coastal town, they bring with them not only skepticism about impromptu nuptials, but also deep-seated secrets and agendas of their own.

This story takes place over a weekend. It's told in the present day, but we get flashbacks telling us what happened in the past. We learn of Alice's death twelve years ago. This character-driven story is filled with secrets and regrets. I felt the pace was a bit on the slow side. There are a few twists along the way. The epilogue is quite emotional.

Published 1st August 2024

I would like to thank #NetGalley #MichaelJoseph #PenguinRandomHouse and the author #LaurenAlizaGreen for my ARC of #TheWorldAfterAlice in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this was the best book i read in June. I couldn't put it down and it played on my mind even when i wasn't reading it. Loved the characters and the story for them.

A very emotional storyline, beautifully written, brought tears to my eyes in several sections. Lovely characters, a realistic storyline. Look forward to more from this author

This is a exquisitely written debut from Lauren Aliza Green that explores a set of flawed characters and the emotional impact and rippling repercussions of the tragic death of 16 year old Alice 12 years previously. Benji Weil is Alice's younger brother, and Morgan Helmsley was her best friend, who have been in a below the radar relationship and have sprung their surprise wedding in Maine on their families. In a story that goes back and forth in time, the mystery of Alice's death and what happened leading up to it, is untangled, along with followed afterwards.

Distraught, and haunted by the pain of grief, guilt, and loss that is inescapable, damaged by the past, there are secrets, bitterness, spite, and other agendas that simmer beneath the surface of what should be a celebratory occasion, but over which Alice's ghost hangs so heavily. Alice's parents, Nicholas and Linnie, went on to separate and get divorced, with Nicholas going on to marry the woman he had been having an affair with. Linnie is in a relationship with a younger man, Ezra, a man with his own connections with Alice. Will the darkness of the past blight Benji and Morgan's wedding?

The author does a wonderfully skilful job in the creation of the wide range of characters and their developments, at the heart of this emotional drama, and provides a fascinating insightful glimpse into what happened when sadly, Alice died. There are shards of light in what otherwise would have been a bleak and dark novel. This will likely appeal to all those readers drawn to complex, chaotic, character driven novels. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.