{"id":37357,"date":"2020-05-23T20:32:31","date_gmt":"2020-05-24T00:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37357"},"modified":"2020-05-23T20:32:31","modified_gmt":"2020-05-24T00:32:31","slug":"review-of-the-astonishing-color-of-after-by-emily-x-r-pan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37357","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Astonishing Color of After, by Emily X. R. Pan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Astonishing Color of After<\/em><\/p>\n

by Emily X. R. Pan<\/p>\n

Little, Brown and Company, 2018. 472 pages.
\nReview written in early 2018 from a book sent by the publisher
\nStarred Review
\n2019 Asian\/Pacific American Literature Award Honor
\n2019 Walter Award Honor
\n2018 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>:
\n#8 Teen Speculative Fiction<\/p>\n

Wow. This book ties together symbolism and back story and grief and young love and magical realism and puts it all together into a package with punch. That sounds trite, and this book is anything but trite.<\/p>\n

This is how Leigh begins her story.<\/p>\n

My mother is a bird. This isn\u2019t like some William Faulkner stream-of-consciousness metaphorical crap. My mother. Is literally. A bird.<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s true the way I know the stain on the bedroom floor is as permanent as the sky, the way I know my father will never forgive himself. Nobody believes me, but it is a fact. I am absolutely certain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We learn that Leigh\u2019s mother committed suicide. The same day that Leigh\u2019s best friend Axel kissed her and changed everything between them.<\/p>\n

But then her mother appeared to her as a giant red bird. She said Leigh\u2019s name. And left behind a feather.<\/p>\n

The bird finds a way to tell Leigh to go to Taipei and meet her grandparents for the first time. In Taipei there are more appearances from the red bird. Leigh and Waipo and Waigong start traveling to the places her mother loved. It is Ghost Month in Taiwan. She learns that ghosts move on after forty-nine days. There isn\u2019t much time left for her mother. She wants to figure out what her mother is trying to tell her.<\/p>\n

But meanwhile, the red bird shows her a box of incense sticks. When she burns a stick, she sees memories \u2013 memories that belong to other members of her family. She begins to understand her mother better, but also her father and her grandparents. She learns why she never met them while her mother was alive. She understands better what her mother was up against. <\/p>\n

These memories are interspersed with Leigh\u2019s travels around Taiwan and time with her grandparents and sightings of the red bird. Also interspersed are Leigh\u2019s memories of the last couple years with her friend Axel. The complication when he got a girlfriend who wasn\u2019t Leigh. Their friendship and Leigh\u2019s love of making art \u2013 which her Dad thinks she should give up to pursue something \u201cserious.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am not always a fan of magical realism. I like fantasy where I understand how it works, which this didn\u2019t fit at all. But Emily X. R. Pan won me over with her well-crafted story. The threads of grief, family history, following your passion, and falling in love with your best friend \u2013 all worked together to make an amazing book.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing this review before I\u2019ve talked with anyone else about it \u2013 so this is solely my opinion. I am just not sure if I think this fits the age range for the Newbery. Leigh is fifteen \u2013 so there will certainly be many fourteen-year-old readers. I was personally trying to rule out any books that begin with discussions of sex, and this one begins with Leigh thinking about how much she wants to kiss Axel, so it\u2019s not quite that. <\/p>\n

I do think that the approach taken in this book is to a child audience \u2013 to the teenager as a child. Leigh approaches her grief as a child missing her mother, as a child becoming acquainted with her grandparents. Yes, there\u2019s an aspect of hoping her best friendship with Axel will make the jump to an adult relationship, but that is only starting to happen.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s only my opinion. And I\u2019m only saying I do think this book is distinguished \u2013 but I\u2019m making no claims at all to it being most<\/em> distinguished. Or even if it\u2019s in my top seven. I\u2019m only saying that it made a strong impression on the first reading. I\u2019ll indulge in a little speculation — whatever the committee decides \u2013 I hope this will also get some Morris and Printz love. I am amazed that Emily X. R. Pan is a debut author! But even if she doesn\u2019t get any award recognition \u2013 this is an amazing book, and I hope many people read it. I will be looking forward to reading more books by this author.<\/p>\n

exrpan.com<\/a>
\nlbyr.com<\/a>
\ntheNOVL.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/astonishing_color_of_after.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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