After Life

I am the type of person who tries to look at a situation from every angle before making a judgment about it, good or bad. I want to walk around it, peer under it, climb over it and look down from above; I want to make sure I haven't missed a single detail. So when Naomi Ash says "First I had to get his body into the boat" in the very first line of After Life I did not immediately assume she intentionally murdered her boyfriend, Peter Morton. Nowhere does she say as much on page one. Maybe Peter Morton had an accident, like falling off the roof or a fatal health episode, like a heart attack. And maybe, just maybe, since Naomi Ash lives in such a remote area she needed to illegally dispose of his body. Thinking a little darker - maybe show more Peter and Naomi fought and things went horribly sideways. Or maybe his death was a suicide, but he made it look like murder because he wanted to frame her. In the first two hundred pages of After Life the reader cannot be sure of anything at all. For two hundred pages Naomi slowly navigates the story of her childhood, her teenage years, how she became a medium, and her current life in the community of Train Line. She carefully parses out the details of everything but Peter Morton's death. The mystery of what happened to her boyfriend stays tightly under wraps for a good portion of the book.
But the story is worth the wait. In the meantime Ellis writes with an other-worldly aura that keeps the reader entertained. She moves through language with languid grace, like slow moving water. Take for example, the way Ellis describes a voice falling flat in a deep snow-covered landscape. She is correct. If you have ever stood in a winter white landscape you know if the snow is deep enough it has a way of making sound plummet into an eerie depth of alien silence.
The plot of Ellis's short book is simple. Naomi Ash, following in her mother's footsteps, is a medium. She lives and practices her craft in a community called Train Line in the fictional town of Wallamee, in upstate New York. She has let readers know that she continues to carry the secret of disposing of the body of her boyfriend, Peter Morton. The secret has laid buried, just like Peter, for a decade. Like all skeletons, in the closet or otherwise, they eventually resurface and when Peter's bones are discovered, the whole town buzzes with the mystery. Meanwhile, coincidentally, Naomi's mother's trade is growing stale and people are tiring of her. Her radio show is about to be canceled. What better way to jump start a failing career than to solve the mystery of the bones? show less

I’m not sure where I first heard about AFTER LIFE, but when I saw it at the library, I snatched it up. It’s a unique murder mystery in that we know from the first page that the protagonist Naomi Ash has killed her boyfriend Peter, and the mystery is discovering how and why she did it. After his bones are unearthed a decade later, Naomi begins to tell us about it. The story alternates between present day events and Naomi’s memories of past events leading up to Peter’s death.

Naomi is a medium, just like her mother. They moved to a spiritualist colony in Train Line, New York, when she was young. Spiritualism is a religious belief that there is an alternate world where spirits of the dead live and certain people (mediums) can show more communicate with them. One theme that plays back and forth throughout the book is fake versus real. Naomi herself didn’t believe in it as a child as she watched how her mother “fudged” spiritual readings to make it more believable to her clients. Whether her mother was a true medium or not, I don’t know, but Naomi seemed like the real deal to me.

"…and we need each other, the dead and the living. Our lives are meaningless without the afterlife, and well, their lives are meaningless without the…antedeath."

Naomi is one of the most lost and lonely heroines I’ve read. After finishing the book, I’m still not sure how I feel about her. I don’t dislike her in spite of what she did. I mostly feel sad for her and for Peter.

The story was well written, and I enjoyed the rich descriptions the author used for the sights, smells, and characters.

"On the lake, I rowed hard, my feet braced somewhat awkwardly on either side of Peter. Mist still hung over the surface, and droplets clung to my eyelashes and hair. The lake had been carved by glaciers; it was long and slender as a crooked finger."

It’s hard to say what, exactly, AFTER LIFE was about. It was many things. Peter’s death. Naomi’s life. Her relationship with her eccentric mother. Spiritualism. What’s real and what we hope is real.

I enjoyed the author’s engaging writing style. It felt like I was in the story listening to Naomi tell me about her life, and I was hanging on every word. The plot was slow-paced in spots, because she did go into a lot of detail about everyday events, some of them didn’t seem to move the story along, but maybe they would have meaning to another reader.

AFTER LIFE was a haunting tale to say the least, one that left me with lots to think about. I’m glad I read it, and I wouldn’t hesitate to read more from this author. Recommended. show less

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 show more 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. show less

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 show more 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. show less

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 show more 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. show less

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 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, show more 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. show less