[Book Review] The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

Synopsis (from Goodreads) :

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

My rating : 4.5/5 stars

My review : 

The Astonishing Colour of After was the most recent contemporary book that I picked up, and I must say that I had a great time reading it.

This book tells us a story of the main character, Leigh, who unfortunately had lost her mother, who devastatingly committed suicide. If you are okay or familiar with tough issues – depression, for example - then this book is for you. If you are not, then the story might appear a bit heavy for you to handle. Do read at your own risks.

First of all, I love the settings of this book. I managed to go to America and Taiwan when I drowned into the deepest ocean of the world this book created. It is pleasantly interesting to have some Asian perspectives in this book, as I am an Asian myself. When I was reading this book, I managed to know more about certain cultures, and this point excites me as I get to teach myself to be more considerate with others and respect everyone for his or her philosophy of life.

Secondly, the characters. I loved Leigh throughout the book, as she definitely had character developments, and I kept on rooting for her to get a happy ending after all that she had been through. Other minor characters such as her best friends, her family members etc. had their own character developments as well. Overall, I am super satisfied with how the characters being portrayed.

Thirdly, the plot. I would like to thank the author for creating a unique plot that is unpredictable. I had surprises as there were things that I did not expect to actually happen, but they did anyway. Throughout the book, I acknowledged the smart way of dividing the plot into different sections – the present, the past, the memories. These are the parts that I think I should mention, as they will be useful for future readers to actually consider these few aspects before getting the book. When I was reading the book, I noticed that the plot was crafted wonderfully, and it became even more intriguing as you get along with it. However, I did feel like there were certain parts of the plot that I will have to say, quite dragging, which is a turn off for me. Overall, the plot was acceptably amazing. I was satisfied to know more about the cause of the depression, the secrets, and I appreciate some small bits of romance here and there as well. So, good points for the plot.

Next, the writing style. Throughout this book, I really, really acknowledged Emily’s writing style. It was casual and poetic, to the point that it would never make you sick. I was thankful that it was written moderately, to the point that her writing style was not complicated but it was not that simple as well. One word to describe her writing style is, meaningful. Her writing style is meaningful.

Overall, this book has caught my attention since last year and I have finally gotten myself into it. I highly recommend this book to those who want to jump into another intriguing and unique world, with some aspects of life that are purely relatable. If you would like to take the offer of getting involved in a book that is both sad and beautiful, you should definitely go with this book and seal the deal.

My final rating for this book is 4.5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended!