Book Review: Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

[I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review originally appeared on my Instagram 4.3.20]

I had zero motivation today. So little that I crawled back in bed after breakfast and stayed there all day. I read Julia Alvarez’s “Afterlife” and it was a perfect match. Not a heart-stopping storyline with twists and turns, but more of a calm and introspective novel. During my reading, I often thought of Didion’s “Year of Magical Thinking” and Kingsolver’s “Prodigal Summer” I loved Alvarez’s portrayal of four Latina sisters, “the sisterhood” as a complex and layered unit. Her characters (migrant workers in her community, a pregnant teenager, the local sheriff) are all trying to do the right thing but they aren’t perfect and she doesn’t make any of them martyrs. How refreshing.