Saturday, September 21, 2013

After Her by Joyce Maynard- Received as a ARC from Goodreads



Ok. Here goes! My first reviewJ
I was really looking forward to reading this story!  I have Joyce Maynard’s books on my library to-read list and I was really intrigued by this story, After Her.    I even wrote the publisher when they forgot to send me my ARC… but … I was a little disappointed.  I’ve been going back and forth about giving it a 2 or 3 star.
There were something’s that I liked about the story and some that I did not:

I really loved the relationship between the sisters.  I thought it was very sweet and tender.  Their everyday “adventures” were cute and fun to read about but… there were times I could not figure out where the author was going… For example, Rachel (the older sister) starts off by describing where they live, her dad’s dedication to his work, their parents’ relationship, her relationship with her sister and then the final part-the killings by “the Sunset Strangler”. 

Another aspect that really bothered me: I understood the relationship to the sisters (they were close and loved each other), the relationship with their father. Rachel loved and worshipped her father. However, I did not understand her relationship with her mother!  She portrayed her mother as bitter and very removed from their world however, she thought it completely normal that their father would abandon his family for another woman and dedicate his career to tracking down the killer.  She also seems to celebrate her father flirting with other women while her mother seems to fade like the furniture.

I liked that the center of the story wasn’t the tracking of the killer but it really didn’t seem to fit in the story either…  The story progresses from Patty and Rachel’s childhood into their adult years and then centers around the fathers obsession with finding the killer.

                So overall a good story but nothing I would re-read or recommend.



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