I haven’t read a Gayle Forman book in years, but the plot to this one interested me a lot. It’s very much about grief and second chances and valuing life. There was a quote in the book from Virginia Woolf, “Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more.”. I feel like the point of the book was Amber going back into her family’s lives and teaching them how to value life.

I enjoyed reading this book, though I did find it didn’t capture me in the way that I remember books like If I Stay doing. It was disappointing and though I enjoyed reading the book, it probably isn’t one that I would revisit. It was an okay read when what I really wanted was a great read.

Still the messages of the book were strong and I think it is one that I will remember. Sometimes it’s enough to have a book where the message of the story sticks with you and leaves a lasting impression even if it wasn’t a five star read.

Gayle Forman’s After Life is an emotional powerhouse of a novel, tackling life, death, and the rippling consequences of our actions. It begins with an electrifying and surreal moment: Amber, who died in a tragic bike accident seven years ago, inexplicably returns to her family’s doorstep as if no time has passed. From there, the story unravels into a moving exploration of grief, healing, and second chances.

Forman excels at delving into the messy emotions of her characters. Amber’s return throws her family into turmoil, forcing them to confront the fractures her death left behind. Melissa, Amber’s now much-older sister, struggles with suddenly being a sibling again. Their parents, long since estranged, find themselves unwillingly reunited by Amber’s presence, with old wounds surfacing alongside new conflicts. Each of these dynamics is written with an unflinching honesty that makes the story all the more poignant.

What’s especially compelling is Amber’s journey of self-reflection. Her struggle to piece together who she was before her death—and how she wants to move forward in this second life—forms the emotional core of the novel. Her relationships with friends, her boyfriend, and even near-strangers from her past paint a vivid picture of the ways one life can touch so many others.

Forman weaves a touch of the supernatural into this contemporary story, but the focus remains firmly on the human experience. Themes of regret, forgiveness, and rediscovery resonate throughout, making the book feel both deeply personal and universally relatable.

For readers who enjoy thought-provoking stories with complex characters and emotional depth, After Life is a must-read. It’s a celebration of life’s messy, beautiful complexity and a reminder of how deeply we can impact those around us, even in ways we might not realize.

Recommended Reading and Viewing

If you enjoyed After Life, try The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, another poignant exploration of life after death and the lasting influence of one person’s existence.
For a cinematic take, the film Ghost Town (2008) blends humor and heart as it explores themes of redemption, connection, and the lingering effects of the past.

Seventeen-year-old Amber arrives home on her bike but things seem a little off. Her memory is wonky, she's cold, and stuff is different in the house. Then her mother returns and upon seeing her starts to scream. Apparently, Amber was killed by a car 7 years ago on the very bike that she is riding...

There are multiple POVs that accompany Amber's main 1st person POV. Hers is a deeply personal and expressive perspective that brings us directly into her unfiltered thoughts. There is beauty in the simplicity of the conveyance here. A beauty that emerges in the narrative as a whole. Breathing in emotions and exhaling philosophical trinkets.

This is not an overcharged melodrama, it permeates a pensive sadness. The adjacent 3rd person POVs mostly share slices of life with us, touched or changed because of Amber or an event that involves her, seeming minuscule but exhibiting perceptiveness of our humanness. The good, the bad and the tragic. They also show us the effect of the death on various characters, each unique, each palpable.

It is still an intriguing story of an unbelievable situation. It portrays the awkwardness and the weirdness marvelously as we see the main story through Amber's eyes. Gut-wrenching is an understatement of dealing with the reactions to her coming back, not to mention her own queries. It was interesting how the different stories overlapped with Amber's or between themselves and I loved seeing how they evolved. It reminded me a little of Lost, the TV show, how everyone seemed to be connected before the island. Some of the reveals had me sobbing. But the hope made me smile.

It is about life and death, the in-between and the questions of what comes after. It quietly champions the beautiful notion that as long as we remember those who have passed they will always be with us. An invitation to celebrate life and all its moments, even the small ones, to pay attention.

A soul-stirring tale of redemption, the power of love, faith, forgiveness and the belief that even just one person can change your life. Everything is connected...

Living up to her previous tear-jerkers, After Life is an ode to grief and loss and the many ways people process this. Amber died 7 years ago and life changed for the whole town. Guilt was everywhere and when she appeared again, many thought it was a miracle, some thought it a punishment. Amber had to deal with her own issues and how she was in life to others, resolving these traumas and others had ti face the consequences of their actions towards Amber. If felt cyclical and poignant, the ending felt just right with those that still needed the comfort of seeing the love, having their moment. Just beautiful .

After Life has a pretty shocking premise. A teenage girl cycles home from school on what feels like a normal day, to the shock of her family because she died seven years ago, hit by a car whilst riding that very bike. But I want to make it clear that After Life is not a horror book, not really even that much of a supernatural/fantasy story. What it is, is a beautiful, contemporary book about love, loss and grief, and how death of a loved one can change life as we know it. It jumps around through time a lot. As well as following Amber in her 'returned' present, we also go back and forth to the years before and after Amber's death. We learn about the people in her life - close family, but also those she only had a minor link to, but who were impacted by her death in sometimes surprising ways.

It is emotional, thought-provoking and compelling, and I'm sure will resonate with many who have lost loved ones.

Gayle Foreman always destroys every one of my emotions with her writing and in After Life, this wonderful trend continues.

The first novel from Gayle Forman that I read blew me away completely - I was a sobbing mess throughout much of the book and I have tried every thing that she's written since but sadly nothing has quite reached those heights for me.

This one was an interesting read - the main part of the plot was skewed (in my mind) towards a younger teen audience but then there were just a few scenes that really aren't PG13 but that also didn't need to be in the book for the plot to develop.

A mixed bag - I'll keep reading her books tho'

Do you believe in ghosts? How else do you explain a dead (and cremated!) daughter returning 7 years on?

This was a clever story, which kept me guessing until almost the very end. Is she dead, or isn't she? Amber arrives back home after a sever year absence, though she doesn't know it, and nothing in her life is as it was. Everyone can see her, and her reappearance is vital for the well-being of her family. Yet, so much water has passed under the bridge in her absence and her little sister grew up.

This was very cleverly plotted, almost thriller-like you have to disentangle many complex elements of a plot to make sense of the new status-quo. Amber seemed a little naive and I felt that the relationship between her and Missy/Melissa (sisters) was quickly rectified. Missy is the kind of accepting, non-judgemental, forgiving sibling everyone would want in their life.

You meet many characters in this book, who are loosely tied together through Amber and the events of seven years earlier. It reminded me of the butterfly effect and by the end some of the co-incidences were slightly unbelievable. There is a neat resolution and it was an interesting read, which definitely kept me hooked, but I didn't connect with the characters. Some of the events were a little predictable and the character development could have been deeper. Amber is not what she seems on any level, but her reappearance is vital for her family and friends well-being.

Forman wrote some of my all-time favourite YA stories, so I had to pick this one up for old times' sake. And, you know what? I think it's me. I think I've just outgrown this kind of story. The characters didn't jump out at me and the mystery over Amber's death couldn't hold my attention. It is very quick and easy to read, though.

Beautiful and haunting 'what if' returning-from-death tale.

4.5 stars

The idea of this in itself is tragic, moving and had to be read. 17 year old Amber died 7 years ago, on her bike, a tragedy that was never resolved. But somehow here she is, cycling home, still 17 and seemingly alive.

Her little sister Melissa is no longer 9 but the same age Amber 'was' and is. Her parents are now no longer madly in love and together. The 'forever' boyfriend with sporting and academic prospects is diminished and directionless.

Amber doesn't know why she's here, but she can see that her death affected so many people in so many ways. And she can also now look back at her own life and actions and realise her own faults and impact on others while she was alive.

Can she do anything to help everyone now she's been given this chance?

The narrative takes us around Amber's town, into the lives of her sister, her neighbours and friends, other people tangentially connected to Amber (a school photographer, an ageing and lonely teacher, Amber's best friend and boyfriend), and we see actions taken before Amber's death, in the direct aftermath of it, and several years later when the events are brought into consciousness again, just how long-lasting the effect of one life - and death - can be.

This had me fascinated, and quite sad. It had a feel of 'It's a Wonderful Life' with someone normally not able to see the effect of their life on others, and able to do something about it.

It was also a moving picture of grief, seeing the result of a young death on the whole family, as well as the radiating effects into the community. The effect on both a religious and non-religious parent was well-handled, and even quite surprising.

Amber's sister Melissa is quite key to things, the younger sibling who wasn't well-treated by her older teenage sister maybe, but who continued to talk to her even when she wasn't there and isn't surprised at her return.

An engaging, thoughtful story that is relevant to us all.

For ages 14 and above.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

An unusual and comforting look at death and grief, this book is a perfect example of YA done well. It was more complex and layered than I’d expected, which was a nice surprise. A great read.

I've been a fan of Gayle Forman's writing ever since I was a teenager and I picked up If I Stay for the first time. She has a beautiful way of managing difficult topics like death and bereavement but weaving them into beautiful stories.

This was an intriguing premise throughout and I was curious to know how it would end. However I found some of the characters were slightly flat and at times we didn't get the chance to get to know a character well enough to be interested in their future chapters. Overall, it was a sweet and quick read.

Gayle Forman’s new book is so nostalgic, it whisked me back to my teen years when I devoured her books and wept in my bedroom at the beauty and devastation she wrote. “After Life” is no different! It’s trademark Forman— it was fast paced with characters you can’t help but root for, going a journey of trauma and grief that ends up giving you hope.

Such a beautiful book!

This is a really thoughtful, twisty tale of the ripples left by the untimely death of a seventeen year old girl who dies in a car accident (and then returns seven years later, totally unaware of her own death). I love Gayle Forman's writing, I think she has an excellent grasp of the human psyche, and this is a really beautiful, layered exploration of the multivariate impacts of one terrible event on a plethora of seemingly unrelated individuals. Amber and Melissa's relationship is complex and layered, and seven years is a long time for relationships to change and twist, fracture and reform, and I think it's the centerpiece of this book. Teenaged siblings are very different to adults, and from my own sibling relationships that my feelings about my siblings would've been so different if they hadn't been given the time and space to mature as adults.
I think my difficulty with this book was that Amber is, intrinsically, a seventeen-year-old trying to solve adult problems, and I found it a little difficult at times to credit that her teenaged self, absent seven years of context, would manage to wrap up all the loose ends that her death had left dangling. But perhaps what I needed was simply to accept that this is a book and that's how books work. I might just be a bit too cynical for that.
Suspending disbelief for a time, though, the layers of the book come together beautifully to tie up in a lovely knot at the end, with a bittersweet feeling that death is a tragedy that leaves many things unsaid and changes everyone it touches, but sometimes grief is not the only thing that comes from it, and Amber, perhaps, was sent back for a reason.

This book was a very quick read for me but also discusses compelling topics such as how individuals deal with grief. Amber 17 with her life ahead of her is one day knocked off her bike in a hit and run accident. Seven years later, she returns home on the same bike as if she is still living the same day as when she left.

I really enjoyed this book, I found it interesting how Gayle highlighted the ways each family member dealt with grief differently.

I was completely entranced by this novel. From the synopsis I knew it was something I wanted to read so was grateful for the ARC. This novel is a tale about a family coping with loss. Amber rides her bike home from school, just like any normal day but when she gets home her mother screams. Why? Because Amber died seven years ago. The family is thrown into turmoil as they all including Amber struggle with what happened and Amber being back home. This novel explores the area between life and death and examining the impact people have on the world. It’s written with sensitivity and will captivate you from start to finish. Thank you to NetGalley, Bonnier Books UK and the author for the chance to review.

What a compelling five-star read. This was such an absorbing story, there was just something so special about Amber and her story, it is different to your normal story and some people may be triggered by the death and reanimation of Amber, but at its heart this is a story about love, and how much we love those we have lost. There are a couple of amazing twists in the story, some that are great and some that will leave your jaw hanging. You will just love Amber and her journey, you will be rooting for her, to keep going and not have the inevitable happen. Pick this story up and give it a go, as you need to understand the level of depth this story will take you to.

When Amber arrives home from school one afternoon, the last thing she expects is for her mother to scream at the sight of her. But Amber died 7 years ago in a cycling accident. So how, abs why, has she walked through the door as solidly corporeal as the next person?

After Life is a classic Gayle Forman novel; it will tug at your heartstrings and make you consider life and death.

It only took me two days to read this book - I think that’s the definition of an easy-read for me. I also got so distracted by it that I got rather sunburnt on my recent holiday! So clearly it’s engrossing.

There were a few things about it that stopped me from feeling like this was the amazing book I’d recommend for friends:

1. Characters: I liked the jumping around different perspectives, but some of them I felt like I didn’t get enough time in to bond with the person, and some characters just fell a little flat for my liking. Casey seemed very one dimensional bitchy friend and even her issues with her father didn’t make her much more three-dimensional in my eyes. Calvin also seems like he was just going about his life without much emotional connection to anything. I didn’t connect with as many people as I had hoped. I think I got the closest with Melissa, she was the most interesting and well rounded person in my opinion.

2. Pacing: some parts felt incredibly poetic and descriptive, when others felt quite sped through and overly fast. I couldn’t quite get a grasp on what parts I should be focused on and care more about.

3. Resolution: I loved the meaning and the cultural links with how everything ended, but it honestly felt very unsatisfying to me, and wrapped up overly quickly. I wish the mystery of who killed Amber would have been drawn out even more and breadcrumb clues left for us along the way.

What I liked:
The idea as a whole was intriguing and compelling and I hadn’t heard of a book doing this before. Even my dad found it intriguing and he pretty much solely reads science fiction high-brow style novels.

It had some lovey sweet moments showing how strong and amazing family love can be. Yes, there were relationship there too, but they seemed to be a side piece for the familial bonding which is a nice change of pace, a flip to the usual.

I think it was very fun to start at the middle and not show us Amber’s regular day at school before she disappeared. It gives us a similar amnesia effect that Amber has at the beginning, we also don’t know about her last moments or what may have caused her accident, which just makes it even more intriguing.

Overall this is a book and author I’d recommend to someone who’s looking for a beach read or something to rattle their way through and enjoy at speed. Very enjoyable with a few flaws for me.

4 stars - YA contemporary.

Afterlife depicts the return of Amber who returns home from school one day, to the shock of her Mom and Sister, as Amber died seven years previous. The story is intertwined with multiple POVs from Amber and her family and friends and those who weren’t close to Amber but affected by her death.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, but I wasn’t expecting it to be the way it was. I was expecting the story to revolve around Amber and her family and how they coped with her return . The story itself, however, is a story of how people cope with grief, and how death affects those close to you and even those not around you. The ending I found bittersweet and although I wasn’t expecting the twist I wasn’t shocked by it either.

The story is quite short but very compelling and I finished it within one sitting. I liked Amber even though she was an average character, but I think that was what the author was trying to put across. Amber was an entirely normal, typical teen - sometimes mean to her younger sister, likely to lead an average life but death still happens, and people are still affected.