You'd think a knife in the ribs would be the end of things, but for Chuy, that's when his life at last gets interesting. He finally sees that peopl...
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Feb 01, 2009
Rian
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Summary: In the first two pages of this novel, the main character is murdered at a nightclub; the rest of the novel chronicles his journey as a ghost through the first few days following his death. Chuy learns what it means to be dead (and to have lived) as he "visits" his friends and family and discovers the powers he does, and doesn't, have as a ghost.
Response: My first reaction to this book is to realize how different it is from my usual reading material. For example More...
Response: My first reaction to this book is to realize how different it is from my usual reading material. For example More...
Apr 07, 2010
Ana
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The book it's about this guy names chuy, he's 17 years old and he got killed at a club night party just for telling a guy he liked his shoes. After his death he became a ghost and so he sees his family and friends crying for him. When he sees the yellow shoes guy he started following him and doing things to him and realized that her body is diseaparing part by part every amount of time after a little while he mets this ghost girl named Crystal so he decided to teach her some tricks about ghost
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Mar 08, 2009
Paula
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In "The Afterlife" by Gary Soto is about a teenage boy who's name is Chuy and he is 17 years old. He goes to night club for a date, but he gets stabbed for telling a guy that he likes his yellow shoes. Then Chuy is dead and is a ghost and sees what his family and other people are doing and what he sees is that all of his family and the girl he was dating were all crying for him. What Chuy realizes is that he could have done alot of things when he was alive that he couldn't do anymore a
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Jan 05, 2011
Ben
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Nov 08, 2010
Katie
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Jun 04, 2010
Talese
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A seventeen year old boy named Chuy is in the bathroom of a nightclub when he makes the mistake of telling a man that he likes his yellow shoes. That man gets angry and stabs Chuy to death. Chuy leaves his physical body behind and wanders around Fresno. He views his mother trying to get Chuy’s uncle to find the murderer and take revenge. Chuy sees his murderer tossing the knife that killed him into a dumpster. Chuy watches his almost-girlfriend Rachel and his friend, Angel mourning his death. Ch
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Jan 28, 2010
Stephanie
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I originally chose this book because of the demographic and age group of students I teach; however, I was disappointed with my choice. It was not a horrible book, but I have read better. The main character, Chuy, is murdered within the first two pages of the book and the rest of the story deals with his life as a ghost after he dies. Although the plot did not do much for me, Gary Soto’s writing style was interesting. I enjoyed the way he placed Spanish words throughout the text to give the r
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Oct 28, 2009
rachel
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I have such a soft spot for YA books about teen narrators coping with their own deaths and exploring life after life. This type of story seems to require more wisdom from its narrator than YA books dealing with typical, everyday teen conflicts.
Like Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere, this book was both gorgeous and sad. Chuy is a sweet character, more endearing than Zevin's protagonist. It broke my heart that he fell in love with almost every girl he met, such a typical horny teenage b More...
Like Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere, this book was both gorgeous and sad. Chuy is a sweet character, more endearing than Zevin's protagonist. It broke my heart that he fell in love with almost every girl he met, such a typical horny teenage b More...
Jan 18, 2009
Lily
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The Afterlife by Gary Soto, is a unique book with an excellent "hook" by killing off the first character within the first two pages.
This book had a really interesting plot and a unique resolution. The climax was also obvious through many literary devices like the ones in which we learn about in school. However, in ninth grade i read the book, Lovely Bones which seemed to have a very similar plot and outcome. I'm not sure which came first, but if you liked one you will like the o More...
This book had a really interesting plot and a unique resolution. The climax was also obvious through many literary devices like the ones in which we learn about in school. However, in ninth grade i read the book, Lovely Bones which seemed to have a very similar plot and outcome. I'm not sure which came first, but if you liked one you will like the o More...
Jan 11, 2011
Tyrone
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The book I'm reading is called The Afterlife. Its about a boy named Chuy who died at his Homecoming dance. He was walking to the bathroom to urine. Then there was somebody at the other stall. Chuy says " I Like your shoes." I guess that the one Chuy complemented was a jock, and he must've thought Chuy was trying to be funny,so he came to the stall and stabbed Chuy like 5 times. He fell to the floor unconscious. He closed his eyes,watching as the jock leave. As he woke up he found out t
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Feb 01, 2010
Suzanne
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All over yellow shoes? Come on! I think the killer must not have been able to relate to kindness. Maybe he'd been teased before because of these shoes and what Chuy said was the last straw. Still not worth killing over! It's funny though, because Chuy was especially sincere about liking the shoes! I personally have a pair of yellow tennis shoes and get comments whenever I wear them myself, though I have never taken any comment, made in jest, seriously. What difference does it make to me wh
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Jan 20, 2010
Sarah
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Chuy gets average grades, has a charmingly boyish personality, is, according to him, average to ugly looking, mostly avoids trouble, has loving family and friends, and is randomly stabbed to death in the bathroom at a high school dance. As he floats away from his body and through his world, visiting those he's known in life, he relives memories and reflects on the past 17 years. Chuy works through stages of grief, including anger at his murderer, particularly when chance brings them back togeth
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Jan 16, 2010
Danny
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The afterlife is a new style of story in which the main character dies in the first few pages. Chuy is a 17 year old boy just trying to make it in the teen world. but, when he finally gets a date with the girl of his dreams someone stabs him in the dirty men's restroom. For the next 150 pages he is a ghost floating around invisible to everyone except other ghosts. one internal conflict Chuy has is that he is really angry that some guy randomly killed him, (well, who wouldn't?) and he stays lik
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Aug 04, 2010
Susan
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I do so like Gary Soto! And he kills his protagonist, Chuy (Jesus), in the first two pages. Chuy succumbs to a knife wielded by Yellow Shoes in a crappy bathroom at a dance hall. The rest of the book takes Chuy on a life-affirming "ride" as a soon-to-be-disappearing ghost throughout Fresno and beyond. He falls in love, realizes many loved him dearly, and is aided by a homeless man, Robert Montgomery (of all names!). He pulls a Lazarus on Montgomery who dies nonetheless. As in "
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Aug 08, 2010
Michael
rated it:
Just starting on Susan's recommendation. Just finished and came away with mixed reactions. Gary Soto creates Chuy, a teenager living in a violent Latino community. He is murdered on page 4 and spends the next 154 pages discovering himself as a dissolving ghost. Chuy visits his home, follows his murderer, meets a girl ghost and finally resolves his problems with life and death. I liked the way Soto developed a teen with insecurity who finds more self-awareness with a "new" perspective,
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Jun 14, 2010
Kimberly
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After being stabbed in a bathroom for complimenting a man’s shoes, the 17-year-old ghost of Fresno native Chuy floats from his body and blows about town to witness the effect of his death on his family and friends. Chuy floats from location to location to see a number of significant people in his life mourning him while he simultaneously learns to control his new spirit body without being swept up by the wind. The novel is not really plot-based, so while Soto throws in a love interest and ques
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Jan 04, 2009
BYRON
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Chuy is an average kid and a average looking kid and average at athletics from the poorer district of L.A. He plays basketball but only plays when their team is way ahead or way behind. We meet him in the restroom of Club Estrella, spiffing up for his date. Chuy tells a stranger in yellow shoes that Chuy likes the shoes. The guy doesn't much care for the remark. So he stabs Chuy, and Chuy dies.
Chuy is now a ghost slowly disappearing and is tossed by the wind. The latter becomes an import More...
Chuy is now a ghost slowly disappearing and is tossed by the wind. The latter becomes an import More...
Jul 16, 2011
Sydney
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After Chuy is stabbed to death in a restroom of a restaraunt, he boecomes a ghost. Visits his family and close friends to say goodbye, and even to his school to watch a basketball game, or at least some of it. He meets a ghost girl that had recently killed herself. Together they go to Samtra to see Crystal's body, family and two boyfriends. On the way to Samtra from Chuy's hometown, Fresno, they come upon a dieing man. Chuy tries saving him, and succeeds. But later, Chuy comes to find the ghost
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Apr 15, 2011
Fah
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I decided to take a chance on this book after one of my freshman students pointed to it in the library and said, "That book was hot."
Within the first two pages, the protagonist of the story is brutally and senselessly murdered. I was immediately hooked and captivated by the pages that followed...his afterlife.
As I was reading, I began to jot down useful tools to spark student interest in the future. Soto's ability to take on such a controversial topic in such More...
Dec 09, 2011
Erin
rated it:
The Afterlife
by Gary Soto
What does death feel like? Gary Soto attempts to answer this question through his character Chuy who realizes he is dead (read the book to see how) and tells the story of his Afterlife immediately after death. The novel starts out with a bang in a restroom where Chuy is in the wrong place at the wrong time...and....then, in my opinion, slowly goes downhill from there. The biggest disappointment to me is the "romantic" way Chuy describes the afterli More...
by Gary Soto
What does death feel like? Gary Soto attempts to answer this question through his character Chuy who realizes he is dead (read the book to see how) and tells the story of his Afterlife immediately after death. The novel starts out with a bang in a restroom where Chuy is in the wrong place at the wrong time...and....then, in my opinion, slowly goes downhill from there. The biggest disappointment to me is the "romantic" way Chuy describes the afterli More...
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Jan 18, 2010
Mary
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This is not a book I would normally pick out to read. However, the cover and the type/print looked inviting and the teaser certainly piqued my interest.
It does deal with death, thus the title, but it gives the reader things to ponder.
Even if you are a devout Christian and have a strong faith in God and heaven, there are still things to wonder about. Do you go straight to heaven? Do you stick around and try to say your good-byes or check on people? How does your soul leave and mov More...
It does deal with death, thus the title, but it gives the reader things to ponder.
Even if you are a devout Christian and have a strong faith in God and heaven, there are still things to wonder about. Do you go straight to heaven? Do you stick around and try to say your good-byes or check on people? How does your soul leave and mov More...
Jun 22, 2011
Kaje
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This book started out in a promising and unique (for young-adult anyway) fashion by opening with the murder of the narrator. As a ghost, he then moves out into the world to encounter his grieving family and his unrepentant murderer. But despite some promising characters and possible conflicts, not enough happens in this book. It's not intensely emotional enough to really evoke a strong reaction. And in the absence of real angst the narrative wanders on waiting for a major plot point. Until i
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Feb 17, 2009
Cindy'qee :D
rated it:
Chuy is only seventeen when he dies, stabbed to death in the bathroom of a nightclub after telling a man he liked his shoes. He drifts up from his body and wanders around Fresno and watches as his mother tries to get his uncle, only a few years older than Chuy himself, to take revenge on his unknown murderer. As his would-be girlfriend, Rachel, and his best friend, Angel, mourn his passing, Chuy's murderer, who he calls Yellow Shoes, shows no remorse at all as he tosses his knife into a dumpster
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Sep 03, 2009
Angeluismanzueta
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a hispanic teen named chuy dead, by another teen from being stabbed to death is now a ghost and wanders around the city seeing his family friends sober. and he has also met a girl who is also dead by commiting suicide and notices how much his family and friends had loved him.
one text to world connection is people in the world do not enjoy their life and they decide to commit suicide but the second you jump off the bridge, building,tower, or drown yourself you regret and you want to wish it More...
one text to world connection is people in the world do not enjoy their life and they decide to commit suicide but the second you jump off the bridge, building,tower, or drown yourself you regret and you want to wish it More...
Dec 17, 2011
Liza
rated it:
I felt a bit empty, by the time I finished reading it. However, this book is clearly a five-star read when placed in the hands of a reluctant reader. This is one of those few books that my kids either "borrow" or steal from me, because they don't want anyone else to know they are reading.
My only problem with the book is Crystal's involvement and the outcome regarding Yellow Shoes. I felt there needed to be more of a build up and the other lacked a proper resolution. However, More...
My only problem with the book is Crystal's involvement and the outcome regarding Yellow Shoes. I felt there needed to be more of a build up and the other lacked a proper resolution. However, More...
Jan 14, 2009
♥Ivy
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This book is kind of weird i did like it but something about it was odd. I thought the beginning was really random. Its sad how Chuy dosen't even get to live he's life. But its a good way to describe the "afterlife" i guess. It makes you wonder if there even is an afterlife..and if it's anything like this? Its interesting how Chuys dead but still has a life in a way since hes just floating around, going to places and is still able to see peopl but he dosen't know he could oly do that f
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Nov 05, 2011
Brian
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 12, 2009
Aziza
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The after life I just love the book so much. I want to thank the author for writing such a nice book. I want to know what kind of feeling made him to write this well. Do you think this book is sweet to you when you read it? I find this book very sweet and at a time when I read the title of the book I feel sad out of no where. I don’t even know why it makes me feel very sad after reading this book. I love the main character chug. Also the person that I hate the most is the yellow shoe man who had
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May 22, 2009
Jorge
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Gary Soto's "The Afterlife" is a story unlike any that i have ever read. In this book, Jesus (a.k.a. Chuy) will go on an epiphiny of a death time.
Chuy is your average cool high school student. He goes to a dance one night with the girl whom he asked out. But a tragic unpredicted incident occurs in the bathroom. Chuy is stabbed by a guy in yellow sneakers. Chuy thought thata few stabs to the chest would mean the end of his life, but it was only the beginning. C More...
Chuy is your average cool high school student. He goes to a dance one night with the girl whom he asked out. But a tragic unpredicted incident occurs in the bathroom. Chuy is stabbed by a guy in yellow sneakers. Chuy thought thata few stabs to the chest would mean the end of his life, but it was only the beginning. C More...
Apr 13, 2009
Erin
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Reminiscent of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, Soto's first chapter written from the first person POV REALLY grabs you. He narrates as his seventeen-year-old protagonist is stabbed and bleeds to death on a restroom floor. The protag then proceeds to narrate the rest of the story as a ghost. However, the author's self-indulgent, wandering observations about anything and everything (conveniently framed as the ghost's where-the-wind-blows POV), along with the Spanish vocabulary lessons peppered th
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