Right After the Weather

Right After the Weather by Carol Anshaw

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Cate works as a set designer in Chicago. She lives with her conspiracy theory-obsessed ex-husband, Graham (and his dog, Sailor). She has a budding new romance with another woman, Maureen. She has a best friend, Neale, who lives with her son in a shady part of town. And somewhere in there is a lover on the side, Dana.

Their lives are lived somewhere above the fray: a series of ordinary relationship concerns and career choices. Until Cate encounters a violent assault on Neale taking place in her own apartment.
That horrific assault and its aftermath becomes the defining moment of each of their lives, overriding anything that ever happened before and anything that is still to come. No matter their history or how they ever classified their relationship, from that point on, it becomes about that day and what happened in Neale’s apartment.

The assault at the heart of the story becomes the point “before” and everything else is “after.” Right After the Weather is about both the before and the after of a life-changing event.

This is some terrific writing. The plot is spare, and the story is told in present tense (“Cate prowls,” “Cate walks,” etc.) which lends an immediacy to the action. The relationships of all the characters are shown as logical extensions of how their previous relationships have ended. It’s deceptively simple yet so effective.

Excellent book.







View all my reviews