The Afterlife

Seventeen and life is good for Chuy, until he attends a dance at a local nightclub and without a warning is brutally stabbed and murdered.

Chuy's spirit is now free to observe the love and grief of his parents and friends. Chuy's spirit is able to watch as the man with the yellow shoes who stabbed him continues a journey down the wrong paths.

This is a well written book that is touching and thought provoking. Never grasping at sentimentality, rather it is a soft ball flying in the sky.

Recommended.

Soto plucks Eddie’s murdered cousin, Jesus, out of Buried Onions to tell this story. In The Afterlife we learn that Jesus is in the bathroom of a local dance club when he casually mentions to another guy that he likes his yellow shoes. The guy takes the comment the wrong way and stabs Jesus to death. As he’s dying, Jesus’ ghost rises from his body so that he is looking down on himself, watching his own murder. In the next few days, Jesus follows Yellow Shoes around town, watches his family, and even knows that his mom has given his cousin Eddie a gun to find and shoot his murderer. Eventually, Jesus meets up with another ghost, Crystal, who died from suicide. The two fall in love and finally fade away into eternity.
Readers who show more like Buried Onions will like the familiar subplot of Eddie’s cousin who was killed by the man in Yellow Shoes. We learn, though, that the murderer is not who Eddie suspected in Buried Onions. The idea of seeing death from the perspective of a teenage ghost is fresh and one teens will enjoy. However, the relationship with Crystal seems quick and contrived; the ending disappoints. show less

I realized I had not read any books by Soto and chose this one to rectify that situation.

Chuy is a young man, full of himself, rather average but enjoying life. In a club men's room he makes a fatal error and admires another man's yellow shoes. The response was three knife wounds and Chuy died on the floor there. His spirit (ghost, whatever) rises up and sees his body on the floor and quickly figures out what is going on. He uses his new situation to float around visiting his parents and friends and even runs into the man who knifed him. He also meets folks in the same situation, one a very pretty girl.

This story was in the same vein as Lovely Bones but not nearly as impactful.

Interest/Grade Level: Grades 7-11

Synopsis:
Jesus (aka Chuy) is a Mexican-American teenager living in Fresno, California. While at a school dance, Chuy is murdered in the bathroom by a man wearing yellow shoes. The murder is senseless and Chuy looses his life by “Yellow Shoes” plunging a knife into his chest. Chuy rises out of his body and begins his time as a ghost before disappearing into his afterlife. Chuy realizes he can travel as a ghost and begins his rounds to see his family although they cannot see him. He sees his funeral, his friends, and family during the aftermath of departure. Along his way, he meets a girl, Crystal, who has committed suicide. They connect and proceed to say goodbye to their other existence. Time, as a show more ghost, is measured by the gradual disappearance of extremities. As Chuy and Crystal begin to loose their limbs, time grows short. Chuy and Crystal come upon a homeless man on the cusp of dying. Chuy applies the stumps of his arms to the man’s head to cool his fever and begs for the man not to die. Chuy is very attracted to Crystal though their time is short. They visit her home, see her feuding boyfriends, and see her grieving parents. She says her goodbyes. The homeless man, Robert, has died and appears to Chuy and Crystal. Robert watched Crystal kill herself but was unable to stop her from doing so as he was so ill and dying. Yellow Shoes reappears on a bus with Robert and Chuy. Robert enters Yellow Shoes’ body and gives him a good scare. Chuy is appreciative of Robert’s efforts. Chuy, Crystal, and Robert reflect on their lives in their waning ghost days before their bodies disappear completely.
Review:
This was a very interesting read given the somberness of the plot. As the main character is a Mexican-American, the author has chosen to include vocabulary words in Spanish. This enriches the story and makes the character’s culture prominent in the story. The glossary of words and phrases is available to the reader at the end of the book. While my Spanish is emerging, I found the selected words translated to be beneficial. The section of California that the story takes place (Fresno, Selma, and Modesto) are very familiar to me as my daughter went to college in Turlock (12 miles south of Modesto). The characterization of the towns and population were right on the mark. The story takes a thriller point of view as the main character, Chuy, searches for his killer. His mother has enlisted a cousin to seek revenge for the family, and mercifully, the cousin and mother decide this is not the way to honor Chuy. It was interesting to have the trio of recently departed explore a facet of death that has not been verified. I think high school students will find the plot and characters interesting, with the speculation of an intermediary life before absolute death something to consider. The author, Gary Soto, is a prolific writer and many of his stories revolve around Mexican-Americans and their families. He has received numerous literary awards for this book, including Publishers Weekly. show less

Jesus (Chuy) is in the toilets at his local dance when he turns to the guy next to him and comments on his yellow shoes. The guy turns and stabs C and kills him. The book is set in the 3 days after C dies where he hovers between life and death and visits his family, meets a girl who has killed herself and a homeless man he tries to save from dying (by touching him with his icy death hands) tries to help C exact revenge on yellow shoes. An interesting novel set in the poor Mexican districts of Texas – makes you think about life and death.

Chuy is stabbed in a nightclub restroom and left to die at age 17. His ghost floats around town as he visits his family and girlfriend, attends his funeral, spooks his murderer, and meets other ghosts. He ponders the life he no longer will live. He falls in love with the ghost of a girl who committed suicide and he helps her deal with the transition to the afterlife.

RGG: The opening scene may be horrific--a teenage boy from the LA Barrio is knifed to death; the remainder of the story we see the world through forty-eight hours or so of the boy being a ghost, including his falling in love with a girl ghost. Somber and realistic this is not light-hearted, entertaing magical realism. And the boy's acceptance of his death is worrisome. Reading Level: 14-YA.