Review: Life After

Life in Argentina is a nightmare for Dani. Her father's broken after the loss of his sister and his family business. He sits home every day, sleeping or starring at the wall. Plus he flies off the handle at a moment's notice. Her mother works too hard for too little money. Dani needs to watch her younger sister. Everything's just hard. She lives for those quiet moments with her boyfriend Roberto. Lately those are few and far between. Now, his family is talking of moving.

She doesn't know how she'll survive without him. There are nights when she goes to bed hungry. There are nights when the lights don't work. There are nights her anger grows until it threatens to explode. She's so angry with her father for his behavior, angry at her mother for allowing her father to act so hurtful, and angry at life.

Dani can't imagine life will magically improve, but suddenly they have the chance to move to America themselves. Her father refuses to entertain the idea. He's too proud to accept handouts. Dani can't believe him. Why would he want to stay in Argentina where life is so hard? Finally, he breaks down and agrees to the move. When Dani finally reaches America, will life be better for her or will the move come with a whole new set of troubles?

My Thoughts: Wow, a very powerful and emotional novel. Dani's life brings out a wealth of emotions from sympathy to horror to sorrow to hope. A very interesting way to look at the aftermath of 9-11 from a different perspective - a real eye opening novel. I've felt this way about the authors to previous books as well: Confessions of a Closet Catholic and Purge.

The Cover: Confession - at first I hated this cover, I mean yeah it's pretty, but I didn't really get it. And then after reading it, it's beautiful, really simply amazing.

Source: Sent from the publisher at the author's request