In The Book of the After, Rebecca Higgie gives us a book that’s difficult to define by genre, hard to summarise, and sometimes challenging to read. It’s also deeply rewarding, memorable, and absorbing. I loved it.
In 2049, “The Book of the After” is a cult classic – a book supposedly written by the dead, letting people know what happens after death. Not everyone believes that what it says is true, but even the doubters find it hard to shake.
Negus Kebede is one of those doubters. He wanted a quiet life as an academic, teaching literature and treasuring the love of his life. But events push him in other directions; we meet him as a person who’s suffered great losses and been pushed into a life he didn’t want. Others see his leadership and good qualities; he wonders what he is without his love.
If the Book is true, then Negus could yet be reunited with his love. But unknown to him, one of the dead is haunting him, hoping to change the destinies of Negus, Australia, and the world.
It is really, really hard to give you a good indication of the plot without also handing you spoilers. This is an expansive novel, crossing eras and countries, sprawling across the years and multiple lives, and with multiple points of view. Negus’s story is unpacked gradually and in a way that holds surprises all through the novel. Your understanding of what’s going on will change frequently.
This is a love story, and a fantasy, with a dash of science fiction, side ventures into historical fiction, and a (kind of) time travel novel. There are elements of sub-genres (like environmental dystopia). I found it impossible to categorise, and the novel is the stronger for it: life doesn’t have tidy lines, and nor does this story.
Strong characters carry readers through the tangled plot until all comes clear. Readers will invest in multiple characters. I felt genuine anguish for more than one of them. The final impression of this novel is neither sad nor depressing, but Higgie evokes the full range of emotions on behalf of her characters as we travel through the story.
This is a novel that unfolds gradually, and in unexpected ways. I found it took me a while to settle into it, but once connections between the characters began to emerge, I was hooked. It’s worth persevering through the first dozen chapters – they’re short, I promise! Although it took a bit longer than many novels to grab me, it was ultimately one of the most rewarding I’ve read.
I highly recommend this – it’ll make you work a bit, but this is a novel that will also make you feel a lot, and which is likely to stay with you for a long time.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club Members are reading The Book of the After by Rebecca Higgie. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember, and I love sharing that joy.
I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, across all genres. There’s not much I won’t at least try. I’ve been an enthusiastic book reviewer for years. I particularly enjoy discovering writers new to me, and sharing good writing with others.
My career has included time spent writing and editing technical documents, but it’s fiction that really moves me. I’ve reviewed for a number of different outlets over the years, and have been a judge in literary competitions.
I’m now raising little bookworms of my own, which brings a whole new kind of joy to sharing books.
More of my reviews can be found on my review blog www.otherdreamsotherlives.home.blog .
Upon starting this book, it did take me a while to wonder what I was actually reading. It seemed to be fiction and also before and after but on reading more, I did notice historical features.
I came to realise that the storyline is also a book on what happens when we die and it is all incorporated in how lives are shaped for the living.
There is a love story within this book of Characters Negus & Eleanor, and it was them that had me wanting to keep reading to see what happens. Eleanor is a Prime Minister and Negus is her Deputy. There is of course Political talk in the book, and I did notice mentions of the Voice Referendum, the black summer fires and climate change.
There is also a character called Guy in the book with his own storyline.
In the book there are some gruesome details of someone’s life which had me squirming a little.
As I was reading, the storyline is a look into the future of Australia, which in itself is a bit scarey.
To me this novel was like fiction, romance and historical all entwined in the huge read of 540 pages.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Freemantle Press for sending me this book to read. It certainly opened my eyes.
The Book of The After starts off in 2049. Set in Australia.
Prime Minister Eleanor Rigby is in an unhappy marriage but has found her soul mate in her Deputy Negus. Negus is a believer in “The Book of The After” A book that explains what happens to us when we die. Some believe and some don’t.
The story flicks back and forth between Eleanor and Negus.
There is also Guy who drags us back to the 1600s when he plotted to blow up the houses of parliament. Guy is still around in the After and still causing havoc.
Then there is the story of Little Bee who is one of the children in the cancer ward of the hospital.
All of these things are linked and it sounds very confusing but once you start reading you will understand.
I love a good story that I can dive into and spend some time with and that is certainly this book with being 550 pages.
I really enjoyed getting to know the characters.
Maybe The Book of the After has it right.
I started to read this book but after a couple of chapters, I gave up. Sorry to say, it wasn’t a book I would finish.
The Book of the After by Rebecca Higgie
A love story that stretches across centuries, mixing grief, politics and a big question what happens after we die? I found this story hard to follow and found i was wandering off whilst reading i didnt finish it as I couldnt get my head around it .
Good for a reader who can take their time and absorb it all .