Review: The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle

From Goodreads: Anyone who’s had something truly crappy happen to them will tell you: It’s all about Before and After. What I’m talking about here is the ka-pow, shake-you-to-your-core-and-turn-your-bones-to-plastic kind of crappy. Sixteen-year-old Laurel’s world changes instantly when her parents and brother are killed in a terrible car accident. Behind the wheel is the father of her bad-boy neighbor, David Kaufman, whose mother is also killed. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Laurel navigates a new reality in which she and her best friend grow apart, boys may or may not be approaching her out of pity, overpowering memories lurk everywhere, and Mr. Kaufman is comatose but still very much alive. Through it all there is David, who swoops in and out of Laurel’s life and to whom she finds herself attracted against her better judgment. She will forever be connected to him by their mutual loss - a connection that will change them both in unexpected ways. 

My Rating: 2.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: I’ve always been interested in books dealing with hard subjects like grief, abuse, etc. So when I heard that Jennifer Castle’s The Beginning of After was available on NetGalley, I requested it immediately.

Unfortunately, The Beginning of After wasn’t what I expected. Rather than finding myself in tears, I struggled to finish the book because I felt emotionally detached from the characters. It’s not that the writing was bad, but since Laurel’s family is killed right in the beginning of the novel and she doesn’t reflect about them that much, I felt like I barely knew them and couldn’t really mourn their loss. In fact, Laurel tends to avoid her emotions, dealing with her grief by remaining stoic for the most part – she does break down occasionally – and rarely thinking about her family. While I didn’t expect her to stop living, things like prom and dating probably wouldn’t be really high concerns for me if I had lost my entire family.

Speaking of dating, neither of the guys in The Beginning of After appealed to me. Joe was kind of boring – the one remarkable thing about him was that he drew people as comic book characters – and it seemed like the only reason Laurel was interested in him was because he provided her with a shot at normalcy. David on the other hand was a jerk. Sure he seemed to understand Laurel in a way that nobody else could and has a history with her that we only get glimpses of; but after Mr. Kaufman becomes comatose, David stays in the hospital for a bit and then shirks all his responsibilities by hitting the road so that he can be anonymous. I understood his urge to get away from everything, but trying to abandon his dog didn’t make David a great guy in my eyes.

If you’re in the mood for a novel like The Beginning of After, I’d highly recommend reading Gayle Forman’s If I Stay and its sequel Where She Went instead.

The Beginning of After will be released by HarperTeen on September 6, 2011. 

Comments About the Cover: It’s very pretty! The girl looks closed off and appears as if she’s thinking about something serious. Now if only Laurel had contemplated about her family that much, I’d be happy.

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (HarperTeen) for free via NetGalley.