After You'd Gone

published	March 19th 2001 by Viking Adult
first published	2002
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0670894486 (isbn13: 9780670894482)
ebook
pages	372
description	A young woman named Alice Raikes boards a train to Scotland to visit her family. But when she arrives, she witnesses something so shocking that she in...more [close] A young woman named Alice Raikes boards a train to Scotland to visit her family. But when she arrives, she witnesses something so shocking that she insists on returning to London that very minute. Only a few hours later, Alice is lying in a coma after an accident that may or may not have been a suicide attempt. With Alice's life hanging in the balance, her family gathers at her bedside. As they wait, argue, and remember, long-buried tensions rise to the surface. The more they talk, the more, it seems, they conceal from each other. Alice, meanwhile, sliding between different levels of consciousness, recalls her past and a recent love affair. Skipping around in time, knitting together the different points of view with astonishing dexterity and beautiful prose, Maggie O'Farrell has created a story of love and family relationships that is reminiscent of the very best of Edna O'Brien and Mary Gordon. With one of the most heart-stopping openings in modern fiction, After You'd Gone is a work of extraordinary psychological depth and impressive maturity. [close]
date added	03-02-07 edit book

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Did Alice live or die?	1	12	04/17/2008 11:41AM

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Cam rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

04/13/08

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: suckers for character development, those looking for a wholly original read

I picked up this book after it was passionately recommended to me by an avid reader; I had never heard of Maggie O'Farrell and wasn't quite sure what to expect from the description on the back. Was it a mystery? A love story? An artsy character study?

Actually, it was all three. The book is centered on the story of Alice, a 20-something Londoner who is painted as a quiet, astute observer with a wicked sense of humor and a magnetic presence. The crux is her relationship with John Friedmann, a ...more I picked up this book after it was passionately recommended to me by an avid reader; I had never heard of Maggie O'Farrell and wasn't quite sure what to expect from the description on the back. Was it a mystery? A love story? An artsy character study?

Actually, it was all three. The book is centered on the story of Alice, a 20-something Londoner who is painted as a quiet, astute observer with a wicked sense of humor and a magnetic presence. The crux is her relationship with John Friedmann, a cerebral but very likable newspaper reporter, and from this center, the story pulses outward into Alice's family history, as far back as her grandmother's girlhood. O'Farrell employs shifting viewpoints in telling her story: sometimes it's told in third-person vignettes of individual characters, and sometimes in the first person of any one of them: Alice's mother, grandmother, John, and Alice herself. The viewpoint changes with varying frequency, and the story it tells is not linear but threaded together in what sometimes seems to be a haphazard fashion but, in the end, isn't at all.

The book opens with the classic main-character-sleepwalking-through-life story: something has happened to Alice, but we don't yet know what it is. She is suspended in the dark depths of sadness, oblivious to the world going on around her. She takes an unplanned trip home to Scotland one day, where she sees something so upsetting in the train station that she turns around and returns straight to London, where she promptly steps in front of a bus and is slammed into a coma. We're never told if it was intentional or not (though the book's other characters generally believe that it was), even during first-person sections from Alice herself. Up to this point, I wavered a bit; the train station scene, when she sees this unknown image that upsets her so much, seemed a bit out of nowhere and overly dramatic, and the beginning premise wasn't all that original. I couldn't yet tell if Alice was going to be an insufferable annoyance or a sympathetic character. What made me stick with it was O'Farrell's gift for imagery--I could see, smell, and feel the things she described in a way that I rarely experience with books.

As the story bore on and the viewpoints started to shift, I was completely drawn in. I know everyone has different criteria for determining what makes an excellent book, and for me, it's the character development. I don't even need much of a plot if the characters are richly drawn; I still miss the characters in most of my favorite books as if they were real people in my life. This was one of those books, and what was most impressive about it was that I didn't see it coming. There weren't many literal, descriptive passages about the characters, and when it came down to it, I didn't really have a "fact sheet" on any of them, even at the end of the book. I got to know these characters in the same way I get to know people in real life: by hearing their stories, watching the way they interact and respond to different settings and situations, and learning about them through one another's perspectives. It felt like O'Farrell created such vivid, multidimensional characters simply by letting them speak through her. They were surprising, complicated, and not always likable, but they were very, very real.

I was particularly intrigued by Alice's mother, Ann, a strangely cold, emotionless personality. I was really impressed with the way O'Farrell avoided making her a totally alienating character--she's not likable, but there's an intense, and intensely sad, humanness just beneath her steely exterior that didn't have to be there--a lesser author would have stopped short.

My willing ride along the unpredictable currents of this book was tempered only by O'Farrell's depiction of her male characters. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I couldn't buy the desperate, obsessive, I-can't-live-without-you throes of love every man in Alice's life seemed to be thrust into within minutes of meeting her. I got that Alice had a bewitching presence about her, but the scenes between her and her suitors--especially those first few meetings with John--were a bit much. I found myself rolling my eyes and thinking, "Give me a break."

But O'Farrell's ability to paint her characters and their relationships with such emotion and depth made After You'd Gone an unforgettable book, and an absolutely beautiful, heartbreaking, perfect ending sealed the deal for me. I highly recommend for those who want an engrossing (and therefore relatively quick) read, or for those who, like me, love to get washed away in nostalgia for their favorite written characters....less

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Paul rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

12/14/07

bookshelves: i-don-t-know-why-i-read-this, novels, whats-all-the-fuss-about

This was a romance and it was kind of blah. But intense. Anyway, let's forget about After You'd Gone and talk about movies. One particular movie. I realise goodreads is for books but I found a piece of beautiful writing about the vain search for modern romance in a movie called Kissing Jessica Stein. Okay, the first part of this movie is all about a thirty-ish woman in New York who can't meet the right
guy, fairly usual but quite funny too. Then it takes
off in a different direction, which I'l...more

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6 comments

margueya rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

09/01/08

Maggie O'Farrel is a great discovery - thanks Khay - this book was similar to Esme (which was both impressive and unimpressive - on the one hand, it's amazing to see how someone can be so crafty at developing multiple narratives and plot lines, but then when it happens twice you kind of feel like even something unique can be a formula) in that, without paining the reader (ie, Time Travlers Wife), the author delivers a story that is both captivating and mysterious, the pieces coming to light slow...more

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Boof rated it:

(review of isbn 0747268169)

08/04/08

bookshelves: fiction, read-in-2008

Read in February, 2008

After having read the exceptional "The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox" I picked this up prepared for another rollocking read. In fairness, it is a very good book and it only took me 2 days to read because, as with Esme Lennox, the chapters are the sort that make you not able to put it down for wanting to know what happens next. However, I must admit that I wasn't suprised to learn that this book was the authors debut.

After You'd Gone packs an emotional punch in terms of grief and lo...more

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Tara rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

08/11/08

bookshelves: summer-reads

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: those who are already fans of O'Farrell

If I could give this book 4.5 stars, I would. It was a poignant tale with some of the most realistic description of the human condition this reader has ever seen.

In O'Farrell's trademark style, the book jumps around in time and perspectives. In her other 2 novels (My Lover's Lover & The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox) the jumping around was not too distracting but in After You'd Gone I found myself having to read back sometimes to keep track of time frames and char...more

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Jennifer added it

08/23/08

bookshelves: literary

Read in August, 2008

From the first chapter, I could tell this novel came from the same mind as The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. O'Farrell has an amazing gift for writing people who have become, as I think of it, "unstuck." She deftly combines memory and experience, so the reader never gets lost in time, despite the characters' disregard for it.

In After You'd Gone, Alice...more

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1 comments

Jaymi rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

12/06/07

Read in November, 2007

I really liked this book. I thought it was interesting how the author wove the story back and forth from present to past and throughout different character's points of view. I like how each little bit gave you an inkling of what the end would be, but I still felt surprised by the end. The love story here was so real and heartbreaking. I fell in love with their relationship and each of the characters.

I read this book really fast because I wanted to see how the story would unfold. I think this...more

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Suzanne rated it:

06/25/08

bookshelves: adult-fiction

After reading The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, I wanted to read more by this author. After You'd Gone is O'Farrell's first novel and was very good. Not as good as Esme, but still spellbinding. It can be a little confusing--most of the book is told from 3rd person point of view but there are parts that are narrated by Alice herself. It also jumps around in time to reveal the events (both direct and indirect) that led up Alice's coma. I can't decide if the ending is ambiguous or if I am not smart...more

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Angela rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

07/21/08

O'Farrell has become a new favorite author for me. I wish I could have given it 5 stars but there were a few things about the book that could have been better. Considering the huge impact John has on Alice's life, I would have liked to have heard his voice in the story more. While I liked the grandmother's character I don't understand why we need to delve into her past. There was the potential for a huge twist to the story, concerning Alice's heritage, that never pans out. That being said, this ...more

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Asia rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

05/08/07

bookshelves: tissues-needed

Read in March, 2007

This book definitely keeps you interested. The lives of the women is wonderfully punctuated with torrid and passionate love affairs. I thought the best part of the book was at the end when the real sadness comes through. I don't think I've ever read such beautiful and sorrowful words. It really mesmerized me I was totally encompassed in the world she created. I however hate the ending. I felt like it completely leaves you without closure. But I would read this book again, purely on the strength...more

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Julie rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

06/14/08

Read in June, 2008

From the move ticket I found hidden amongst the pages of this book, I realized that the last time I read it was 2002. I didn't remember much of it, which was good because I got to enjoy the story again!

Beautiful, beautiful prose...almost worth reading just for that. O'Farrell does a lovely job switching viewpoints and constantly making us check to ensure we know what time period we're in. In some books this is an annoying technique, but I loved it here. Good read!

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Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

04/16/08

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Sarah by: no one
recommends it for: adults only

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

2 comments

Lori rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

10/08/07

Read in October, 2007

This was an absolutely stunning debut novel; I look forward to reading the rest of O'Farrell's books based upon the skill with which she wrote this one. After initially struggling to get into the book, I was riveted, and terribly affected by the characters and the story they told. One of my favorite books in recent memory.

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Louise rated it:

(review of isbn 0747268169)

02/10/08

Read in October, 2007

My favourite book of 2007 and possibly one of my top ten reads ever. DON'T READ IN A PUBLIC PLACE as it will make you bawl. Beautiffuly written, heart wrenching and scarily emotive, this is the one book I would recommend like a shot as a must-read.

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Tracy rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

02/28/08

Read in February, 2008

I found this book confusing in the beginning but once I got a handle on the characters and time lines it was really hard to put down. I only wish some of the flashbacks had been a little longer or more detailed.

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Alex rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

07/22/08

Not as refined or utterly transportative as ESME, but this, O'Farrell's first novel, suggests all the darkness and linguistic brilliance of the new novel. Definitely "a good read" with an ending worth waiting for.

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Peter rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

06/14/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in June, 2008

recommended to Peter by: mother

Captivating - not a genre that's of great interest to me. Vivid characters and great character development; tragic past revealed in a unique way, and with great skill - very intense.

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Mikayla rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

07/18/07

Read in January, 2002

After I'd read this book, I couldn't even talk about it without crying. I was 19, but I think even if I read it now I would still find it beautifully written, evocative, and tragic.

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Bri rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

05/17/07

Beautifully written, this story is compelling, tragic, and wonderfully romantic. You cannot help but wonder who Alice is, what she saw and if she is going to wake up...

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Kristina rated it:

(review of isbn 0142000329)

07/22/08

Read in July, 2008

I can't say I love it quite as much as I loved 'The Disappearing Act of Esme Lennox' but 'After You'd Gone' is still keeping me on the edge of the page.

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