“After You” — Julie Buxbaum

Greyson left for training almost two weeks ago, and for a couple of days, I didn’t know exactly what to do with myself!  He had bought me some books for my birthday, as I’ve mentioned, and as I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep one night, I realized that I was hungry.  Not for a meal — for a story.

I walked out into my living room and looked at the pile of books adorning my side table and picked one up, held it in my hands, and carefully brought it back to our bedroom.  I opened it up and immediately was transported into the center of this story of love, life, guilt, and hope.

Julie Buxbaum’s words are like that of good poetry — soft yet strong, painful at times, joyful at others — and her analogies are incredible.  While reading her novel I would, at times, nod my head and be screaming inside saying, “Yes!  Yes!  That is exactly how it feels!”  Any author that can make me do that is fantastic, in my book.

Jodi Picoult one of my favorite authors, writes about this book:

‘After You’ highlights — beautifully and compellingly — the truth that sometimes we have to lose the people closest to us to find ourselves.

I can’t tell you much about this novel without giving away some of the most important, sacred, unbelievable elements of it; but I can tell you that this is a story of love and loss, of hope and despair, and of friendship and family.  I sincerely recommend that you pick up a copy and lose yourself, as I did, within the pages.

I give this novel 5 out of 5 stars.

Tagged as: book review. after you. julie buxbaum.