Everything After by Sharon Pywell

At some point soon I want to develop a standard way to do book reviews, but until then it's just going to be off the cuff, so my apologies in advance.

Overall Rating: * * * * (4/5)

I really wanted to give this book a 5/5, but I just couldn't do it. It was an amazing book. It moved me, it made me cry, I was very connected to the story and the characters, but there was always something missing. I think I was confused at first, and for too long, which delayed my really getting into the story. Iris, Angie, Perry and Eddie are the children of Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Charlie's best friends. For the first 50 pages or more I thought Eleanor and the kids' mother had been sisters. When you read the book you'll understand why this causes confusion and difficulty relating to the story. I also felt like the reader was introduced too quickly to everyone, which made it difficult to get a handle on each character's personality and role in the story. The number of characters is manageable overall, but as just mentioned, the relationships aren't perfectly clear at first so all the kids (5 in all) just kind of jumble together. But then sooner rather than later it's critical to understand who belongs to whom. That's really my only criticism.

The story is dramatic, but not unbelievable. It's romantic in some ways, but avoids cliches. For me, the fact that it was from a different time (Vietnam era) made it that much more interesting. I am a huge fan of historical fiction, and while this wasn't technically in that genre, the reader does get a sense of what some families experienced during that difficult time. I liked the book enough that I didn't mind flipping back to make sure I understood the relationships. This is a big deal because I rarely have patience for that and am more likely to just put the book down forever than spend the time to figure it out.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for any reader that enjoys novels and historical fiction. It's the kind of book that makes you want to wake up and immediately get cozy on the couch so you can spend as long as it takes (3 hours) to finish the book and find out what happens. That's exactly what I did this morning and it was wonderful!