After You've Gone: A Novel

by Jeffrey Lent

After You’ve Gone in paperback, it is a moving, sublime love story set in the cataclysmic decades around the turn of the twentieth century. Henry Dorn has spent years building a family, but it only takes a single afternoon for it to fall apart. Abruptly widowed of the love of his life, Henry buys a steamer ticket for Amsterdam, the city of his heritage, hoping to start life anew. But nothing could have prepared him for the woman he meets on the the fiery, self-sufficient Lydia Pearce, one of a new generation of women. Before long the two have fallen into an affair of a depth and significance for which neither was prepared. But the memory of his wife and the vexed relationship he had with their son haunt Henry in the midst of his new beginning. Jeffrey Lent is one of our finest novelists, and After You’ve Gone delivers a tale that beautifully charts the sweep of a life, the grim reach of a war, and the discovery—and loss—of life-defining love

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2008

About the author

Jeffrey Lent was born in Vermont and grew up there and in western New York State, on dairy farms powered mainly by draft horses. He studied Literature and Psychology at Franconia College in New Hampshire and SUNY Purchase. He lived for many years in North Carolina, an enriching and formative experience. Lent currently resides with his wife and two daughters in central Vermont.

His novel In the Fall was a national bestseller reprinted four times in its first month of publication, was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book for 2000, and earned Jeffrey placement in both Barnes & Noble’s and Borders’ new writer programs; his follow-up, Lost Nation, was a summer reading pick of The Washington Post and USA Today. Both novels were BookSense picks, Book of the Month main selections, and have been widely translated. His most recent novel is Before We Sleep.

Reviews

[Alissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh.

I loved "In the Fall," and "Lost Nation" is one of my favorite books.

Jeffrey Lent is still a great writer, but he just went through some mad-lib motions for this one. It felt like a rip-off of about 100 different things, most notably, a heterosexual spin on "A Single Man" meets the most depressing scenes from "The Shipping News" smushed together with the intolerable parts of "The End of the Affair." WHY DO THEY LOVE EACH OTHER, AND WHO CARES! Stop moping about with your GD cello playing, already. You're in Amsterdam. Do some drugs. Smell the roses.



And the ending! All I can say is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTJpLB...

[Bekah Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

A jaw-droppingly gorgeous story and beautiful writing to boot. I haven’t loved a book so much in ages. I am surprised this author is not more popular.

[Kathryn Bashaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books takes place in the 1920s in the United States and Amsterdam. Henry Dorn is a college professor whose beloved wife and troubled son, a WWI veteran, are killed in a car accident. This complete unraveling of life as he knew it inspires Henry to resign from his position and plan an extended trip to Amsterdam, from where his ancestors embarked for the New World two centuries earlier. Henry himself discovers a new world as he falls in love again, takes up the cello and evaluates his life so far. The story alternates between his current life in Amsterdam, waiting for his new beloved to return from Paris, and his flashbacks to important events in his past, going all the way back to his childhood in Canada. The story is beautifully told, with lovely sensory detail. The only thing that bugged me a little was the overuse of incomplete sentences. I'm not a Grammar Nazi; sometimes an incomplete sentence is the exact right thing, and I suspect Lent was trying to set some kind of mood, somehow get inside his character's head. But he did it so much that at times it was distracting.

[Devra Gartenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In the Fall" was one of my favorite novels ever, so I approached this one with high hopes. One of the protagonist's ancestors left the Netherlands under shady circumstances, so when Henry travels back there, I expected him to begin unraveling a complex, fascinating tale in the way that "In the Fall" kept adding layers of family history. But this novel was much simpler, with virtually no surprises, and I found myself feeling disappointed.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have loved each of Jeffrey Lents books. Each one is so different from the one before, that they cannot be compared one to another. I found this a great read

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel moves back and forth between a marriage/family life and widowhood. While I am not a fan of non linear storytelling, in this case it is very successful in positioning the before and after. There are many lyrical turns of phrase "It seemed he was floating on the bed, cushioned buoyant between the sheets, warm as all life within a willful cocoon of inner peace."

Henry, the main character, is a professor at a women's college. On the surface he is solid bourgeoisie but he has a past which comes to the surface as the novel moves along. Mr. Lent has written very interesting characters and lets them play off each other. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and hope to read Mr. Lent's other works.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first question on this bok was "Why?" Why did the author even write this book. I see no reason. The story is just plain boring and the characters just as boring. We don't get to know the characters who tragically died at the beginning. So, there is no tragedy in their losses. The dialogue is average at best. And I never got a real feel for Amsterdam. Descriptions ran on for pages without a paragraph break. My second question was also "Why?" Why did I even read this book? Back to historical fiction...

[Lindsey shone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every novel Jeffrey Lent has written is excellent and this is no exception. I usually start off wondering where he is going and try to second guess the plot. I am usually wrong, often surprised and never disappointed. He always writes 10 words when 3 would suffice but I love that. This book flows well, despite jumping back and forth 3 Specific periods of his life, is easy to follow and left me wishing there was more.

[Debbie Sprague · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story. Intimate. The prose lyrical, detailed, vivid. Henry Dorn has lost his wife. He decides to try and start a new life in Amsterdam. There he meets Lydia, falls into an affair and falls in love. But life is complicated, haunted by the past, the differences in their circumstances, their ages, their families, and financial situation. We examine all of this through the mind of Henry and how he prepares for their reunion during the Christmas holiday……..

[Jennie Ventura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Struggled to get through this. Found myself skimming over pages.

[Enia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life is precious. Life is fragile. Don't want anything too much, and just enjoy what comes your way. It was a lovely read.

[Alida Schleyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the way Jeffrey Lent writes. This is a great story, we'll tol, we'll structured about love, aging, wisdom, and reinvention. I highly recommend this book.

[Kathy Schulstad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man travels to Amsterdam after his wife and son die. He meets a woman on the boat. Excellent writing - not a fast-paced story.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me of Marianne Robinson's novel, Gilead. A character study of Henry Dorn as he recollect his life. Abrupt, unkind ending

[Donna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Purchased in 2009 and either never read or didn't finish.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 2 out of 5]

A difficult story line to follow.

[Donna Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a read! Traveling through time. Finding love. And yet again! And then - my breath - gone -at the end... Must read!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting the way Lent lays out the book, jumping around in Henry’s life. The episodes of Henry’s other times in his life serve to round out the character, and are inserted to enhance or explain something going on in the “current “ time.
I read In The Fall many years ago, and saw mr Lent at a reading. He was so young and it was his first book. I’d hoped then that he’d write more books. I’ve read some of his others, but this one is of the same caliber as his first.

[Milo · Rating 3 out of 5]

as with other readers, i found the sentence fragments and sparse punctuation a bit annoying. i found myself reading certain pages and paragraphs multiple times - thinking i had missed something.

i like Lent's stories a great deal, well let's say i really liked In the Fall and Lost Nation. it took me a while to realize i liked A Peculiar Grace, as it was so far afield from the the other two. with After You've Gone, my like-o-meter was all over the place.

the characters, other than Henry and Lydia, were like sound bytes. you hear them and see them, but all you get is a mere sample. i got the same feel with plot development. if you're going to Amsterdam to look for clues and insight about your father then do it. if you mention that you did part of your education at Yale, then talk about Yale or New Haven, rather than let a line out and yank it back in before anyone has a chance to hook on.

still, i liked the idea of the story enough to finish. i'm not sorry i spent the time reading it, but i wouldn't recommend it either. not even to Jeffrey Lent fans.

[Sheila Decosse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story initially set in upstate New York in the early 1900's follows the life of a male professor at Elmira College for Women, before that time in Nova Scotia and afterwards in Amsterdam. Lent's writing about place is fully detailed and engrossing. So too if not more so is his deep insight .into his characters and his rendering of powerful character moments and feelings. These qualities caught me and impressed me deeply. However, The plot line of the book as it advances more into a romance genre left me wanting something finer. Perhaps this is because I am not a devoted reader of the romance genre..
I now have read reviews of his earlier novels... morally deep and some times violent.. as I read the reviews.
Personally I hope he writes another novel deep and serious and historical, but perhaps not violent,because his writing and character insight delighted me.

[Allyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The entire structure was very interesting. On paper I would have expected it to be annoying and disjointed, but he wove the stories together masterfully. Jumping years to tell his tale was very inventive and probably very challenging. Initially I thought it a lazy maneuver but much like short stories, a well crafted tale or story appears effortless when really it is full of effort.
I was very curious how he would end it, but it fit perfectly. Poignantly.
I very much enjoyed A Peculiar Grace which was very different, but in both novels, he captured and wrote feelings evocatively, beautifully.
Speaking for men and women equally which is a rare gift.
Easy reading, flowing feeling, incredible descriptions- setting the scene, and hard to put down.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a family tragedy, Henry Dorn leaves his life in America behind travels to Holland, the country of his ancestors. He is no longer a husband, a father, grandfather, a college professor. He embarks on a second life so to speak. He mets a woman on the passage to Holland and they begin an affair. And when she leaves him to travel to Paris, he is afraid he has lost love for the second time in his life. They do have plans to reunite but once again, tragedy finds Henry.

The story is written in several different themes-when Henry was a young man in Nova Scotia, as a newly married college professor, as a father struggling to help his son-scarred by WWI.

It is a good read-I especially liked the settings of Ithaca NY and also Holland.

[Robert Schwab · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about loss, and the search for redemption following the loss. The main character and most of the supporting characters are well developed and believable, and I had great sympathy for the protagonist, Henry Dorn, who loses his wife and son in an accident and travels overseas to his family's ancestral home to try and make a new life. Lent's writing, as it was in In The Fall, is beautiful, but at the same time, occasionally distracting, owing to his propensity for writing in sentence fragments. Nevertheless, the story is strong and well-told. My only criticism is the ending, which I found disappointing. I think Lent could have done better, but after all, it is his story, and a story worth reading.

[Barner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so enjoyed two other Lent books I've read so I was looking forward to this one. A disappointment. This is a sad love story; the characters are interesting, preplexing really, the main character inconsistent, in my opinion. Much of the plot is predictable, especially the end.

I would like to have know the real outcome of life of the Russian cello player, The trouble of the son who returns from WWI seems real and his father's failureto understand is a little troubling. Such a good man and yet-------

I do not think you have to read this one, BUT I do recommed Lost Nation and In the FAll.

[Susan Hester · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wife of many years dies. Professor of Literature husband exiles himself to Holland because of a long-lost tie in the family tree. Finds a new love on the ship to Holland. Book describes the ups and downs of their relationship as well as his attempts at learning to play the cello from another exile from Russia. Basically ignores his adult children and his mother, left in America. The secrets of his father are revealed by an uncle. This book is non-linear in chronology making it somewhat interesting, but so much of it is undeveloped. Can't think of anyone to whom I would recommend it.

[Sarah Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jefrey Lent's writing style enchanted and infuriated me. Some of his sentences are a paragraph long and must be re-read for comprehension - but his use of language is beautiful. The story about a man in his late fifties is told in multiple time periods and locations. It is spare, at times mesmerizingly slow, and yet always left me wondering where the story was leading. I will read more of this author.

[R.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hope this one is better than the last which I couldn't even finish. I loved his first two books, especially In The Fall which I recommend to anyone who wants a passionate, well crafted, story of humanity.

More than 1/2way thru and its marvelous. a style of writing that I could never emulate.

Another ball out of the park Lent. Marvelous in a way I normally don't admire.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The grief of the widower in this story made me stop and cry several times. His love and longing for his deceased wife was poignant. He has recently retired from his teaching job and lost a wife so we follow him in his struggles to reinvent himself. He moves to Europe, takes up the cello, goes on a cruise and meets a new love. The love story is sweet and authentic with sympathetic characters.

[Abby Fick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written (as always). Not happy with the ending, but that's not a criticism. Hard to say more without putting a spoiler out there, but I couldn't believe where Lent went with it at the end. Didn't see that coming at all. And any WOW moment while reading is pretty rare and incredible, even a bad one. But then this is one incredible author.

[Itasca Community Library]

Asra says:

I liked “After You’ve Gone,” but preferred Lent’s previous novel “A Peculiar Grace.” This mainly had to with the surprise ending of this novel, which I think readers will either view as fateful, or without closure. I fell into the latter category, which isn’t to say that the book wasn’t good. It just left me wanting more.