After Life

Gr 9 Up–Forman has the extraordinary ability of pulling out just the right turn of phrase to tell the ephemeral stories between life and death that may make readers wonder if she has secrets about the afterlife. Amber Crane, 17, rides her bike home from school only to discover she’s been dead for seven years; naturally her family freaks out when they see her. What is going on? Her mother thinks she’s a con artist, her father thinks she’s a miracle, and her sister doesn’t seem surprised at all. So many things have changed because of Amber’s death and not all for the better. Alternating chapters cover Amber’s perspective and all the lives her death touched, from her boyfriend, to her English teacher, to even a random photojournalist as a story of a life and death unravels. Forman explores how love and death are deeply intertwined, how the memories of loved ones help to create immortality. But this is not a tragic story about the aftermath of a young girl’s early death; it is more the exploration of how all our lives are affected by all the stories of other people’s lives, whether we meet them or not. Teens in search of exploring the connections of life and surviving loss will be greatly moved by these richly created characters and the existential questions they pose that everyone would all love to have answered.