Review by Booklist Review
Nothing has changed for Amber on the fine spring day she arrives home from school, but her family is shocked to see her--since she's been dead for seven years. Hit by a car, Amber has returned as she was at 17 years old, while her friends and family have continued to age and splinter in her absence. But the specifics of her death--including the person responsible--are as mysterious as her reappearance. In accessible prose, Forman returns to her high-drama, high-interest stories of teen girls in liminal states between life and death. Amber appears as sympathetic and burdened with typical teenage flaws, of which she's newly self-aware. As in her popular If I Stay (2009), Forman revisits complex high school and family relationships, sprinkled with secrets, betrayals, and interpersonal drama. She weaves through characters and their histories to come to a satisfying conclusion. Fans of Forman's previous work and stories involving the afterlives of teens facing untimely deaths, like Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere (2005), will similarly enjoy this speculative, contemporary drama.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
High school senior Amber Crane bikes home from school one spring day per usual--only to learn that she's been dead for seven years. Stranger still, though Amber's family can see, hear, and touch her, they aren't as she remembers them. Complicated emotions temper joy as Amber struggles to confront past mistakes, "become a better person" than she was in life, and understand the ripple effects of her death, such as her mother's loss of faith, her parents' separation, her sister Melissa's coming out as gay, and a beloved aunt's estrangement from the family. Brief, deliberately paced chapters depict Amber's efforts to make amends and make sense of her situation. Glimpses into the lives that her death changed--for better or worse--are interspersed throughout, including her "Meat Puppet" boyfriend, an aspiring photographer, and a lonely English teacher. Riveting plotting by Forman (Not Nothing) culminates in a bittersweet speculative tour de force that probes what it means to live, to lose, and to love. Amber is white; supporting characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 14--up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--Forman has the extraordinary ability of pulling out just the right turn of phrase to tell the ephemeral stories between life and death that may make readers wonder if she has secrets about the afterlife. Amber Crane, 17, rides her bike home from school only to discover she's been dead for seven years; naturally her family freaks out when they see her. What is going on? Her mother thinks she's a con artist, her father thinks she's a miracle, and her sister doesn't seem surprised at all. So many things have changed because of Amber's death and not all for the better. Alternating chapters cover Amber's perspective and all the lives her death touched, from her boyfriend, to her English teacher, to even a random photojournalist as a story of a life and death unravels. Forman explores how love and death are deeply intertwined, how the memories of loved ones help to create immortality. But this is not a tragic story about the aftermath of a young girl's early death; it is more the exploration of how all our lives are affected by all the stories of other people's lives, whether we meet them or not. Teens in search of exploring the connections of life and surviving loss will be greatly moved by these richly created characters and the existential questions they pose that everyone would all love to have answered. VERDICT Smartly told with fast-paced and suspenseful chapters, there is no question librarians would be pleased to add this novel to collections.--Maria Ramusevic
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A high school senior returns to her family home--after she's been dead for years. Forman's ability to capture the voices of teens shines in this heart-wrenching story of Amber Crane's life, death, and (sort of) undeath. Amber, who reads white, died seven years ago, but on this day just before graduation, she's standing in her family home, seemingly alive. The first people to see Amber are her mother--who, clearly in shock, starts screaming--and her younger sister, Missy, who's now a blue-haired teenager. Amber doesn't even realize she's supposed to be dead until Missy tells her so. And that's when the work of trying to make sense of what Amber's doing here kicks into gear. Told from myriad points of view--so many, one could get lost--the novel threads together the lives of people in Amber's orbit (and even some who didn't know her directly), incorporating current-day perspectives as well as ones from the past. The story even goes as far back as 29 years, to the day when Amber's parents met. While some of the backstory feels extraneous, and the chapters written from adults' perspectives feel less compelling than those of the teen lead, Forman continually returns to Amber's point of view, grounding her as the heart of this story, a necessary device to keep readers invested in the enduring question: Why is she back? A spiritual, intriguing, though somewhat uneven take on life, grief, and healing. (author's note)(Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
