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The Astonishing Color of After

Emily X.R. Pan

Start date: April 26, 2022

Finish date: May 23, 2022

Why we're reading this: The Astonishing Color of After is Forest Avenue Library Book Discussion's May selection! This book club w…more
[close] The Astonishing Color of After is Forest Avenue Library Book Discussion's May selection! This book club will be held in person at Forest Avenue Library on Monday, 5/23 at 6:00 PM. Visit our website or call 515-283-4152 for more details, including current COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions.

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What Members Thought

Jan 16, 2022 Danielle rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, audiobooks-read, ya-lit, mental-health, contemporary, project-lit-ya, magical-realism

"Whose fault was it? That's the question on everyone's mind, isn't it? Nobody will ever say it out loud. It's a question people would call inappropriate. The kind of things where everyone tells you, 'It's nobody's fault.' But is that even true? It's only human nature to look for a place to lay the blame. Our fingers are more than ready to do the pointing, but it's like we're all blindfolded and spinning.
What makes a person want to die?"

This is one of those books that has been sitting on my TBR s "Whose fault was it? That's the question on everyone's mind, isn't it? Nobody will ever say it out loud. It's a question people would call inappropriate. The kind of things where everyone tells you, 'It's nobody's fault.' But is that even true? It's only human nature to look for a place to lay the blame. Our fingers are more than ready to do the pointing, but it's like we're all blindfolded and spinning.
What makes a person want to die?"

This is one of those books that has been sitting on my TBR since it first came out in 2018. When it first released, I heard great things about the book and I was instantly drawn to the cover. Like so many books, this sat around unread. I finally decided to read this as I work towards reading the entire Project LIT catalog of books. I knew next to nothing going into this book and while I think that worked, I also wasn't expecting to read a book that was both extremely heavy and full of magical realism.

Leigh is a teenager reeling from the loss of her mother. Her mother died by suicide and it was a surprise both to Leigh and her father. While Leigh's mother died, Leigh was kissing her best friend and crush, Axel. As Leigh figures out who she is and what her life looks like without her mother in her life, Leigh is confident in one thing: she knows her mother turned into a bird after she died. While dealing with her grief, Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. Leigh has seen her mother as a bird both at home and while she is in Taiwan. In Taiwan, Leigh begins to uncover the secrets of her family and develops a relationship with her grandparents.

This book is truly unique because it alternates timelines, tells a story from her parent's younger years while also exploring Leigh's life without her mother, and has quite a bit of magical realism in it. Magical realism is something that has always been difficult for me in books and this book proved to be no different. At times I loved the magical realism and at other times I really didn't like it. Despite the magical realism, this book is a beautiful look at how suicide upends those left behind as well as showing that life and new family relationships can blossom out of tragedy. This is a heavy read, but one I am glad to have experienced.

TW: Suicide, death of a parent, grief, depression, racism, electroconvulsive therapy ...more

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Feb 03, 2019 Jeanine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, ya, mental-illness, soul-crushing, grief, love, suicide, magical-realism, immigrant, diverse

AMAZING book!

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Jan 18, 2019 Courtney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: project-lit

4.5 stars

"How could a person like her be depressed? She was full of energy and life and passion. The word depressed made me think of this group of kids at school who wore all black and thick eyeliner and listened to angry music and never showed their teeth. The ones who people sometimes called emo, making it sound like a bad word.
My mother wasn't like that. Not at all."

This book was a beautiful portrayal of depression and surviving a family member's suicide. I don't read a lot of magical realism ...more

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Jan 14, 2019 Christine Comito rated it really liked it

When 16-year-old Leigh's mother dies by suicide Leigh is left with the aftermath and how to cope with loss of her mother. Though her father seems unsupportive of her art and not easy to talk to about her mother, he agrees to take Leigh to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time where Leigh learns about her mother and her mother's family in unique ways that help her cope. ...more

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Nov 22, 2023 Jesse Hershberger rated it liked it

My biggest issue with this book is that it takes two stories and tries to make them seem equally important. I couldn't buy into that and the focus seemed too split throughout. It does contain some beautiful prose, and I appreciated Lee's growth throughout. ...more

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