Life After Life

A Novel

By: Jill McCorkle

Narrated by: Holly Fielding

Jill McCorkle’s first novel in 17 years is alive with the daily triumphs and challenges of the residents and staff of Pine Haven Estates, a retirement facility now home to a good many of Fulton, North Carolina’s older citizens. Among them, third-grade teacher Sadie Randolph, who has taught every child in town and believes we are all eight years old in our hearts; Stanley Stone, once Fulton’s most prominent lawyer, now feigning dementia to escape life with his son; Marge Walker, the town’s self-appointed conveyor of social status who keeps a scrapbook of every local murder and heinous crime; and Rachel Silverman, recently widowed, whose decision to leave her Massachusetts home and settle in Fulton is a mystery to everyone but her. C.J., the pierced and tattooed young mother who runs the beauty shop, and Joanna, the hospice volunteer who discovers that her path to a good life lies with helping folks achieve good deaths, are two of the staff on whom the residents depend.

McCorkle puts her finger on the pulse of every character’s strengths, weaknesses, and secrets. And, as she connects their lives through their present circumstances, their pasts, and, in some cases, their deaths, she celebrates the blessings and wisdom of later life and infuses this remarkable novel with hope and laughter.

©2013 Jill McCorkle (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Has the the theme of "Our Town" for the aged.

Would you consider the audio edition of Life After Life to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print. I listened to the audiobook twice.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Many realistic characters, Touchingly well described.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Emotional story of life as we age. Touching for an aging child of elderly parents from a small town.

Any additional comments?

Great book if you enjoy an ensemble, character driven story. Wonderfully read.

AT A CERTAIN AGE

At a certain age everyone disappears according to Jill McCorkle in her book,"Life After Life". McCorkle writes multiple stories about several intertwined lives. McCorkle’s implied tautology is that all life is subject to disappearance; i.e. sometimes during life; most often, after death. Disappearance, particularly while alive, comes from a lack of empathy or understanding. Loss of empathy makes the young and misunderstood, and the old and disabled disappear. Every time one fails to listen to what someone is saying, they disappear. Disappearance after death comes from loss of remembrance; i.e. if one’s life is not recorded, it is forgotten. McCorkle’s book is about disappearance of the only life one lives. (Kate Atkinson also wrote a book titled "Life After Life". However Atkinson’s story is a “Slaughter House Five”’ resurrection about an alternative life for the same person. Atkinson’s alternative lives are the result of small changes in the history of one person’s life.)

McCorkle infers that love is a multifaceted experience that leads to happiness, but love is not guaranteed either by wealth, security, or intimacy. McCorkle’s story shows that poverty wears people down, infidelity drives discontent, and every life, whether well or poorly lived, eventually disappears. McCorkle shows one may get an extension of remembrance by having their life experience written down. However, in McCorkle’s story, extended-remembrance is as likely a newspaper article about murder as about a life well-lived.

Unsatisfactory ending; too many loose ends

The first 3/4 of the book was good, the last 1/4 not so much. It seems the author decided she was tired of the characters and just quickly wrote an ending without regard to plotting or any closure at all.

Many characters

There were many characters and chapters were changed between first person then third person. It was a lot to try to remember. Nothing resolves and mostly everyone dies.

Life After Life Audio book

Would loved more with this story line. Enjoyed this one very much. Will listen to this one again!