P. Kirby’s Reviews > The Astonishing Color of After > Status Update

This is like a long exercise in purple-prose and metaphor. Interminable.

At least Leigh isn't acting like a nasty little shit toward Feng anymore. The girl/rivalry/whatever it was hate was getting older than Methuselah.

All the descriptions of food are making me ravenous.

"Years from now you'll look back on this and what'll you have? Just...a bunch of these pictures. You probably won't even want them anymore. It's like my old Coffee Grind recordings in the back of the office closes--who the hell wants to listen to a bunch of derivative crap..."

It's official. Leigh's dad is a sack-of-shit. Even if he "redeems" himself later...he'll still be a steaming pile.

Nice writing and occasionally, emotionally powerful moments. But I've been reading forever, and not much has happened except for Leigh constantly obsessing on her mother: "My mother is a a bird. A bird. A bird." Also, yet another YA novel driven by horrible parenting.

Pretty cover.