Rhian EllisBesprekingen

I registered this book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14428538

A strange little story about a woman who grows up with mediums and other "spiritual" characters, who live together in a shabby little town. When people want their palms read, their past lives elucidated, to hear from their grandparents, they find someone in Train Line. Naomi grows up with a mother who works as a medium and in her youth she assisted her by pretending to be various dead children in the dark. So she knows much of it is fakery.

It's a bit of a shock when she discovers she has some actual kind of gift in this area.

She then accidentally does something that solidifies her place in the spiritual world but also makes her an outlaw in the earthly world. And she has to get away.

From the arresting opening passage to the bittersweet epilogue, After Life kept me entranced; I had trouble putting this book down. The cast of characters could have been kooky caricatures in less skillful hands, but instead they were real people with ambitions and problems and hygiene issues. The mystery aspect was deftly handled as to keep me riveted, and despite her questionable reliability, I cared deeply for our narrator and what would become of her. I couldn't help make connections to Shirley Jackson's Merricat Blackwood along the way. Jackson fans will find a home here.

Here's a memorable first line: "First I had to get his body into the boat."

The narrator is Naomi Ash, a practicing medium (and library cataloger), who isn't necessarily likable but seriously fascinating. This book is creepy with an element of mystery--though this is not a whodunit but a whydunit.

Note: This is a Nancy Pearl Book Lust Rediscoveries pick, and I received a free copy from an Amazon book event back in Oct 2012.

I could not put this down once I started reading. It had me rooting for the main character and hoping no one would discover her crime. I also found the spiritualism aspect fascinating.

Slow with an Unlikable Heroine

AFTER LIFE is the hardest book for me to rate since I've begun reading and reviewing books on Amazon KIndle.
Brian Ellis is a sumptuous writer: her descriptions are luscious and full and evocative; her analogies stunning. But there is much more to novel_-making than gorgeous writing, and that's called story, and to a lesser extent, character. There really is no story here. Ellis starts us off with a bang, then leaves us hanging for most of the rest of the book- dying of boredom amidst her beautiful prose.
And what about character? No one really to root much for here- not even the dead guy. The mother- daughter relationship, to me, simply never develops. And as for Naomi...oh, my. Perhaps a spoiler alert, but some of her actions toward Peter, the boyfriend she accidentally- yes, it was an accident, kills are horrendous- arguably far worse than the so-called called crime itself as that was, in fact as stated, an accident in the middle of a fight. Naomi messes with the guys head; and then her actions afterward- the cover-up are truly inexcusable. And inexplicable. She has no arc. And why, in God's name does not ONE of all these psychics pick up on this in TEN years! Are they all protecting her? All fakes? Ellis can't seem to make up her line-up especially about the Mom, which leaves the whole book wobbly.
But there is that writing!
For that reason alone, I will certainly search out this author for other work.
Her writing is something you can feast on. I hope she developed her storytelling after this one.

(8) This was a great little book - both entertaining and well-written. I am enjoying Nancy Pearl's 'Rediscoveries' series which are little known gems of novels written from 1960-2000 which have gone out of print. (The best part of all is that they are free in the Kindle Lenders Library if you have Amazon Prime!)

This is a story told in the voice of Naomi Ash who is a medium in a modern day spiritualists colony in upstate New York. It is a bit of ghost story, but really more about the characters and painting a picture of a place, and about love and regret. There is quite a bit of psychological tension as well as the novel opens up with Naomi burying a body. The novel hummed right along, eminently readable and satisfying with occasional bits of remarkable prose.

I highly recommend this novel to those who like such authors as Morag Joss, Rose Tremain, Shirley Jackson, maybe even Sarah Waters though Waters novels have more gravitas than this. If you are looking for a quick easy read that is not however genre fiction to literally and figuratively 'lift your spirits' this is a perfect though little known choice.

I enjoyed this debut novel. Ellis has written an interesting, first-person narrative with an almost indefinable aura to it.

Naomi Ash a medium, in a town full of mediums plying their questionable trade. But Naomi has a secret: She killed a man, and now, ten years later, the chickens are coming home to roost.

The above summary - whilst accurate - really gives a false impression of After Life. It's not a whodunnit (though there is mystery), it's not a thriller (though there is tension), and it's certainly not a supernatural novel (though there are spooky elements). I suppose if I had to pigeonhole it in a genre, it would be a sort of coming-of-age novel - even though Naomi is over thirty.

Really it's a novel about relationships, especially mother and daughter relationships, and the for-all-its-psychics-sleepy town of Train Line.

Ellis captures Naomi's voice perfectly. Her character really leaps off the page. Indeed, characterisation in general is very good in this book; every denizen of Train Line is fleshed out, and there's a sense that they are all leading their own lives that the novel just brushes against.

Train Line itself (based on the real 'psychic village' of Lily Dale) is another character, and it's a great, kind of John Irving-esque location, filled with eccentrics and hugging the lake.

The book has a solid structure, and I felt it really delivered on all its promises. Best debut I've read for a while.

This is a relatively quiet book in which Naomi, the daughter of a spiritualist, aspires to follow in the footsteps of her mother. It was, however, the opening line of this book that was the reason I purchased it. This novel opens as follows:

"First I had to get his body into the boat".

Excuse me? Whose body? How did it get in your control? Where were you taking it? Who are you, anyway?

Interestingly, we don't get to know much about the person who became the "body" until the middle of the book. In the first half of this novel Naomi talks about her life and how she learned the art of spiritualism. It's only later (and that was fine with me) that the reader comes to learn why the "body" needed to get into the boat in the first place.

This book begins with Naomi disposing of the body of her ex-boyfriend, who she has just murdered. Then we get to learn how and why this happened. The setting is a town in upstate New York inhabited by a group of Mediums of various sorts; it is bustling during the season, but is a sleepy backwater in the winter. Naomi grew up there and has carried on the "trade", which seems to be a combination of actual psychic powers and basic hucksterism. Though I have no sympathy for the occult, I was drawn in to the story a Naomi as she copes with her mother and her life and her dire deed. This is a reissue and is part of a series chosen by Nancy Pearl, Seattle's favorite librarian.

This is a novel that is hard to define in terms of genre. It is suspenseful, but not really a mystery. At the beginning of the novel we know immediately that the narrator has caused someone’s death, but we don’t know the circumstances, and this became one of the central questions that kept me reading. It has elements of family drama, with a conflicted mother-daughter relationship, and it certainly has a somewhat Gothic feel to it.
The narrator, Naomi Ash, is the daughter of a medium who takes her, as a child, to a small spiritualist community in rural New York. Naomi’s unusual childhood likely plays into who she becomes—a fairly isolated, somewhat socially awkward young woman. She’s not a reliable narrator, and she’s not exactly endearing as a protagonist, but her story is nonetheless quite compelling.
The greatest strength of the novel is the writing itself. The sense of place, the emotions of the characters, the tension of the plot, are conveyed with such gorgeous language that reading it is like savoring a delicious dessert. I think that this author could likely make a pan of dishwater something utterly fascinating through her writing, and that’s likely why I so greatly enjoyed this novel, even when I couldn’t quite feel a connection to the narrator. Normally if I don’t feel a hard and fast connection with the main character that’s a deal-breaker for me, but in this case Naomi’s character, while not always likeable, was well-developed, and the beauty of the writing made this a very worthwhile read.½

Even though the crux of this novel revolves around a murder, it is not a mystery story. The protagonist tells us with the first sentence that she has killed someone. Instead, she relates to us the aftermath of that violent act.

It is ten years after Peter died, when his body is discoverd and all the grief and guilt comes flooding back to Naomi; a lonely woman who has difficulty forming relationships with others. She is over weight and has low self esteem, which is compounded by her rocky relationship with her mother.

Naomi is a medium who lives in a town full of mediums. The town of Train Line is based on the real town of Lily Dale. Everyone living there is part of the Spiritualist movement. Her mother is a popular medium who is a total fake. She is only involved in Spiritualism to gain attention. Naomi is actually a true medium, maybe the only one in the whole town. She sees visions and hears voices of the long departed. This becomes a conflict when she sees all the phonies around her and feels she has to explain to non-believers that faking it is part of the process.

Naomi loves her mother, but her mother is completely self involved and has never paid enough attention to her. She transfers her feelings of abandonment to Vivian, the little girl she babysits. When Naomi's relationship to the deceased is discovered, Vivian is taken away from her and this precipitates her downward spiral.

I couldn't put this book down because I really liked the characher of Naomi. I knew she was a murderer, but I wanted a decent if not happy outcome for her. I also enjoyed the few historical references to Spiritualism that are scattered throughout the book. The author mentions the Fox sisters who started the Spiritual movement and the town of Lily Dale. She also writes about spirit photography and the Victorian obsession with premature burial. I recommend this book to those who have an interest in Spiritualism and likes reading first person narratives.

This story is set in the small town of Train Line, New York, which is inhabited by a community of psychics, fortune tellers and clairvoyants. Some of what they do is trickery but it soon becomes difficult to know just how much is genuine and how much is fake. Ellis writes so eloquently that she brings the whole town and its people to life. I was interested not just in the main characters but also in all the rest of the community. I was swept along by the events and was kept intrigued throughout. Even though I knew from the very beginning that Naomi, the main character had committed a murder, I still found her to be an endearing character and an immensely likeable one at that. The plot is totally unique and utterly captivating. It's been a while since I read such an absorbing novel and I devoured every word. Ellis has created such a clever storyline - just how does a person commit a murder and then keep it secret in a town populated with psychics?

This is a mystery with a twist. We know from the beginning who died and who is responsible for that death. What we don't know is why it happened. As interesting as the psychological exploration is, the real peculiarity lies in trying to keep a secret in a town filled with mediums. What irony. This town is called Train Line, but think Lily Dale, a spiritualist community in New York, as the model for the setting.

Naomi Ash is an odd character...overweight, unkept, unmotivated - the sort of girl who would read her boyfriend's private journal. Yet she had a sweet, wistful side that at times overshadowed her self-destructive behavior. We never really find out what makes Naomi "tick," but I was fascinated by this truly unique individual who is haunted by her actions. I probably would have liked this book better if I had any confidence in spiritual mediums. I will remain skeptical until I have a visit with someone from the Afterlife.

I had to think about the impact of this book before trying to write an adequate review. I think the mark of a good book is one that perplexes, challenges and haunts. All three of those are reactions I have to the authors debut novel.

Unlike many mystery books wherein we are introduced to a murder and wonder who did it, After Life begins with a statement by the perpetrator acknowledging her misdeed. The opening line -- "First I had to get his body into the boat" -- sets the tone as throughout the book we learn details of the murder, but it isn't until the end, when the reader learns why it occurred.

Naomi Ash by all accounts should not be a like able character, yet in the authors clear, perceptive writing, one cannot help but grow to feel empathy for Naomi.

Deftly weaving a tale of spiritualism, while tracing the roots of this movement from its beginnings in the US, we are transported to Train Line, NY. Therein, the reader feels as though they are a part of the every day happenings of a small town, filled with eccentric, mystical folk who are not above using a little fakery to assist people in reaching their loved ones who have passed to the other side.

Naomi follows in her mother's footsteps and taps into abilities in the spiritualistic realm. Dabbling with her talents, she is sporadically successful in her endeavors, but as with all things in her life, she lacks a drive, gumption and motivation to take control. She is lazy, rarely bathes and fails to develop social skills. She cares little for her appearance, has no friends and seems incapable of sustaining any depth of feeling.

Peter Morton arrives in her life and takes her by surprise. Finding she is capable of love is a unique revelation. Her joy is short term. The book weaves past with present when we learn that ten years ago, she killed Peter and buried his body in the surrounding woods of Train Life.

When a contractor unearths the body, she prays that Peter is not one of the spirits that can communicate with her.

Slow in pace, this book takes the reader by surprise. The author superbly weaves a story of guilt and redemption, of truth and lies, of black, white and gray.

Recommended.

“First I had to get his body into the boat” begins narrator and medium Naomi Ash. The storytelling shifts back and forth between her life some ten years later at the age of thirty, around the time the victim’s body is discovered, and the time leading up to her lover’s death, when Naomi was first becoming a medium. Naomi is a failure in nearly every sense. She babysits a little girl she adores, but aches for children of her own. She has real mediumistic powers, but is also willing to fake it (as her mother always has). She lives in rented room and has no friends. Her clothes are ragged and neither they nor she is particularly clean. She wants things that are, to all appearances, in her power—yet will take no action to get them. Apparently, it was Peter’s death and her responsibility for it that caused her to enter this holding pattern. Though she loses everything, she also gains much from confronting her fears. The novel ends on a small but significant note of triumph. With its failed narrator and casual acceptance of spiritualism, After Life isn’t an everyday read, but it’s both intriguing and enjoyable.

#48. 2006

I received this book ages ago at a BookCrossing meetup, and finally it called to me from the shelf to be read. I was looking for something “light,” and this actually did fit the bill, although it’s not a cheerful book, really.

It’s told from the PoV of a woman who lives in a community of psychics (I think that part is real – I mean, I’ve heard of communities like this that really do exist), and works as a medium. She also has a bit of a secret that she’s managed to keep for a very long time, considering all her neighbors are psychic, too.

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD:

I enjoyed the pacing of this book – we know some of the specifics of what she did early on, but not the why and how until much later, by which time I developed a liking for her that might not have developed if I’d known the whole story from the start. The setting was interesting to me, too – I’ve always been interested in the spiritualist community, although not so much that I ever feel I’d want to participate. I felt as though this gave me a glimpse (albeit fictional) inside this community, at its inner workings.

An interesting book. Not the best ever, but it kept me turning the pages.½